The Andes

Venezuela: indigenous protest for land rights

Members of the Yukpa indigenous group from Venezuela’s western Sierra de Perijá held a rally in Caracas, protesting violent aggression against their communities by cattle ranchers.

The Andes

Peru: threats against Cajamarca movement

Campesinos who support the proposed Conga mine are threatening to evict the encampment estabished at the concession bloc by the "Guardians of the Lagunas."

The Andes

Colombia: judge orders return of usurped lands

A special court for land restitution in Bolívar, Colombia, issued an historic ruling, ordering the return of 65 hectares to 14 families who had been forced from their lands by paramilitaries.

The Andes

Bolivia enacts new ‘Law of Mother Earth’

President Evo Morales signed a new "Law of Mother Earth" that extends the agrarian reform, bans GMOs, and establishes a Climate Justice Fund to remediate impacted lands. 

The Andes

Peru: OAS rights commission to hear Conga case

Campesino leaders from Cajamarca will travel to Washington DC to testify before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission about abuses related to the Conga mine project.

The Andes

Peru: campesino vigilance at Conga mine site

Campesinos in Cajamarca are organizing round-the-clock vigilance at the proposed site of the Conga gold mine, skeptical of official assurances that the project is suspended. 

The Andes

Peru: narco-mineral integration

The US Justice Department has frozen the assets of mineral companies owned by Peru’s Sánchez-Paredes family, finding that they are fronts for cocaine trafficking.

The Andes

Colombia: riot police attack student protesters

The Colombian National Police elite anti-riot squad, ESMAD, stormed the campus of the the Technological University of Chocó, which had been successfully occupied for 40 days.