The communications team of the 8th Continental Congress of the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-La Vía Campesina) interviewed Rafael Santiesteban, head of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), present at the Congress. The event took place on June 28 in El Laguito, in Havana, Cuba. Santiesteban reflected about the importance of the first law on Agrarian Reform…
From our territories: Unity, struggle and resistance for socialism and peoples´ sovereignty” is the slogan of this 8th Congress. 400 people are participating in it, including Latin American and Caribbean delegates, representatives of La Vía Campesina Romania, Congo, Nepal and North America, in addition to guests and allies from different countries. Nury Martínez, of Fensuagro (Colombia), member of the Political Commission…
The 7th Continental Congress of the Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-La Vía Campesina) began on June 25 in Güira de Melena (Artemisa, Cuba) with peasant youth as protagonists as they carried out their 5th Assembly. This meeting took place at the “Niceto Pérez García” Center of the National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba (ANAP). 100 delegates from 19 countries…
The leader of the Association of Rural Workers of Nicaragua (ATC) Fausto Torres, called for an “International Day for Peace in Colombia” and urged governments to demand Colombian president Iván Duque to advance in the fulfillment of the Peace Accords signed in 2016 by the State with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). “Solidarity is crucial. It depends on peasant…
After travelling through the territories of Cauca, Tolima and Sumapaz in Colombia, La Vía Campesina delegates verified that there is “lack of compliance with the implementation of the points included in the Peace Accords (signed between FARC and the government) and a general questioning about the accords and the peace process” by representatives of Iván Duque´s administration. “We´ve experienced, lived…
With an opening press conference, a meeting with members of Congress at the National Parliament Building and a meeting with social organizations, Vía Campesina´s 3rd International Mission to Colombia was launched. The goal? To verify compliance with the Peace Accords signed in 2016 by the government (then led by Juan Manuel Santos) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC,…
That night of March 2nd, 2016, when a group of hitmen broke into Berta´s home in La Esperanza (Intibucá), Gustavo Castro was there because he had traveled to present a workshop for the members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The hitmen shot and killed Berta, and injured Gustavo and left him for dead.…
March 2nd marks the third anniversary of the murder of Berta Cáceres, a political femicide that attempted to silence the struggles led by this Honduran defender together with the Lenca people and the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). With this crime, they tried to silence the struggle against the installation of extractivist projects such as Agua…
On January 10, the Honduran Public Prosecutor´s Office requested a life sentence for the murder of environmental defender Berta Cáceres against the 7 people accused of the crime, and 13 years in jail for the attempted murder of Gustavo Castro, member of Otros Mundos Chiapas – Friends of the Earth Mexico. “The sentence will be made known in the verdict,…
December 2nd marked 33 months of the murder of the Lenca people defender, Berta Cáceres, at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department (Honduras) and the attempted murder of environmental activist Gustavo Castro, member of Otros Mundos Chiapas – Friends of the Earth Mexico. The case went to trial after many irregularities in the investigation carried out by the Public…
