Mexico
Mexico: lives claimed in Chihuahua water wars
Hundreds of campeisnos occupied the governor’s office in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua to demand justice following the murder of two water rights activists.
Tag: control of water
Central America
Panama: strikes halt trade zone land sale
Days of strikes and protests in Panama’s cities forced the government to cancel a planned sale of lands in the Colón Free Trade Zone to multinational corporations.
The Amazon
Peru: indigenous development plan for Amazon
The Inter-ethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP) issued a “Plan for the Full Life of the Amazon,” calling for indigenous-directed development projects.
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.
Innu block roads in northern Quebec
Local Innu are blocking a highway outside the town of Sept-Îles to protest their exclusion from talks over Quebec’s Plan Nord mega-project to exploit timber and energy resources.
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 warned on repression of peasant protests
Human Rights Watch urged Peru’s President Ollanta Humala to take steps to prevent the unlawful killing of peasant protesters, noting growing incidents of deadly force.
Central America
Guatemala: wins, threats for peasant ecologists
Charges were dropped against 10 campesino opponents of a hydro-electric project on Maya lands in Guatemala, but other leaders remain in prison and face death threats.
The Andes
Peru: Cajamarca regional strike remobilizes
Campesinos in Peru’s Cajamarca region pledge to block operations of Newmont Mining company that they say are preparatory to the controversial Conga gold mine project.
The Andes
Peru: justice sought in slaying of mine opponent
An employee of the controversial Yanacocha gold mine in Peru’s Cajamarca region was arrested for the slaying of a local campesino leader who opposed the mine’s expansion.
The Andes
Peru: mine tailing spill contaminates Río Huallaga
Authorities in Peru admitted that wastewater laced with heavy metals from a major zinc mine has spilled into the Río Huallaga, a major tributary of the Amazon.
Southern Cone
Brazil: court blocks mega-hydro to protect Pantanal
A Brazilian judge ruled that permits for more than 120 proposed hydro-electric dams in the Upper Paraguay River Basin cannot be issued without impact assessments.