Central America
Honduras: indigenous leaders arrested after dam demonstration
Honduran police disperse a protest by indigenous Lenca communities; two days later, police claim to find a gun in a Lenca leader’s car.
Tag: control of water
The Amazon
Brazil: protesters suspend Belo Monte occupation
Activists have ended their most recent occupation of what is to be the world’s third-largest dam, while the center-left government tries to downplay the protests.
The Amazon
Protesters again block construction at Belo Monte
Police removed journalists from a construction site at a giant dam as they tried to cover the site’s latest occupation by indigenous people opposing the project.
Central America
Guatemala: emergency over mining protests
Guatemala’s government declared a state of emergency in four municipalities in the eastern highlands following clashes between police and anti-mining protesters.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan: opium crop breaks record
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan is expected to increase for a third straight year, expanding even to new areas of the country, warns the UN Office of Drugs and Crime.
The Andes
Peru: disappearing glacier sounds climate alarm
A new study published in Science finds that the critical Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Peruvian Andes has shrunk to it smallest extent since the end of the last Ice Age.
Central America
Panama: Ngöbe-Buglé leader murdered after anti-dam protest
Masked men killed an indigenous activist from the Ngöbe-BuglĂ© people after a protest against the Barro Blanco dam in Panama’s western ChiriquĂ department.
Central Asia
China: Mongol herders’ protest march blocked
Police in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region blocked an attempted cross-country march by traditional Mongol herders, with police assaulting hundreds in two incidents.
The Amazon
Brazil: protesters briefly reoccupy Belo Monte dam
Area residents carried out the fifth occupation in less than a year at a construction site for the $13 billion Belo Monte dam to protest environmental damage.
The Andes
Ecuador: campesinos march on World Water Day
World Water Day marches in Ecuador ironically coincided with the start of a brief jail sentence for three campesino leaders in Cuenca, convicted in a protest over water rights.
Central America
Panama: Ngöbe-Buglé renew anti-dam protests
Indigenous Ngöbe-Buglé activists continue to protest hydroelectric projects they say threaten their way of life in their own territory, despite previous pacts with the government.
The Andes
Peru: two dead in miners’ protest
A clash broke out as riot troops from Peru's National Police force evicted a group of informal miners from their encampment in northern La Libertad region, leaving two miners dead.