New study exposes a rise in peoples’ rights violations during the Covid pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean

Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) launched on Friday a new study entitled “Internationalist Solidarity and the struggle against corporate power. Reflections on the Covid 19 pandemic and corporate violations of peoples’ rights and their human rights.” The study responded to the need to better explain “the meaning of peoples’ rights and the direct link with…

The sentencing of David Castillo for the murder of Berta Cáceres: COPINH’s response

“We've been expecting this sentence for almost a year. This opens a very important stage in order to realise this guilty verdict against one of the killers of my mother, our comrade Berta Cáceres,” said Bertha Zúniga, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The leader warned that the judicial decision could still…

A Toxic Alliance: How European agrochemical corporations and the agribusiness lobby are influencing the legislative agenda in Brazil

The EU-Mercosur trade deal, agreed in 2019 but yet to be ratified, is set to benefit European agrochemical companies whilst having dire consequences for nature, local communities and Indigenous communities in South America. It will lead to a steep increase in exports of crop to Europe and import of dangerous agrochemicals to the southern cone, particularly Brazil. This is why…

El Salvador: a country with its doors open – to transnational corporations

“Agricultural policy has always responded to the different economic models adopted by the country. Models which have favoured national economic groups and transnational corporations, to the detriment of the living conditions of peasant communities, indigenous peoples and the environment”. These words come from the assessment made by CESTA - Friends of the Earth El Salvador in a recent report: Resisting…

Transnationals in Mexico: depeasantization and Walmartization*

The Mexican diagnosis of government policies that have allowed and promoted the advance of transnational corporations, produced by Otros Mundos Chiapas - Friends of the Earth Mexico, is centered on the agri-food sector and is in line with the rest of the countries of the region at a pivotal moment: the 1990s, neoliberal policies and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). In…