The Andes
Peru: deadline for payment on expropriated lands
Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal issued a decision ordering the government to honor debt owed for land confiscated under the agrarian reform that began in the 1960s.
Tag: land
Palestine
Israel razes Bedouin village —again
Israeli forces used bulldozers to demolish the “unrecognized” Bedouin village of al-Araqeeb in the Negev desert—amid protests over a Knesset bill that would expropriate Bedouin lands.
The Andes
Colombia: ranchers fear ‘communist’ redistribution
Colombia's federation of cattle ranchers rejected the recent agrarian deal with the FARC, charging that it could lead to Venezuela-style expropriations of private property.
The Andes
Peru: peasant leader killed in Cajamarca
Carlos Vásquez Becerra, a campesino leader who opposed mining projects in Peru’s conflicted Cajamarca region, was found beaten to death in a canyon.
The Andes
Colombia: two dead in eradication protests
Following two weeks of escalating protests by local campesinos, two were killed as National Police troops opened fire at Ocaña in Colombia’s Norte de Santander department.
The Andes
Bogotá, FARC reach deal on land reform
Negotiators from Colombia's government and the FARC rebels signed an agreement on agrarian reform, calling for redistribution of illegally held or underused lands.
The Amazon
Brazil: indigenous people occupy Congress
Some 700 indigenous representatives occupied Brazil’s lower-house Chamber of Deupites in a final effort to stop attempts to change the law concerning their territorial rights.
The Andes
Colombia dropped from human rights ‘blacklist’
The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights formally removed Colombia from its human rights “black list”—as deadly terror continues against campesino leaders.
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
Colombia: peace talks advance amid violence
Colombian peasants held a mass meeting to press for agrarian reform as talks with the FARC continue in Havana—but fighting and repression continue around the country.
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.
Palestine
Jerusalem: troops fire on Palestinian protesters
As Obama left Israel for Jordan, two Palestinian youths were critically wounded when Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets on protesters at Anata north of Jerusalem.