On March 18th, Sergio Rojas, a Bribri indigenous leader, was murdered after being shot 15 times in Yeri, Salitre area, in southern Costa Rica. As a member of the National Coordination of the National Front of Indigenous Peoples (FRENAPI), Rojas fought for the restitution of ancestral lands and the conservation of native ecosystems. Local organizations condemned this “vile murder” and…
March 14th marks the International Day of Action against Dams and for Rivers. Mobilizations around the world denounced the socioenvironmental impacts of these construction works that operate in hydroelectric and mining projects. The Climate Justice and Energy Program of Friends of the Earth International expressed its solidarity with the communities affected by hydroelectric dams, especially the Lenca indigenous people defending…
The thermal power plant located in Gacko municipality has caused multiple human health problems since it was built in 1983. It is the second biggest polluter in the Western Balkans due to its emission of fine particles (PM10). In 2016 alone it caused 158 deaths, 331 cases of bronchitis in children and 83 cases of chronic bronchitis in adults, 3371 children with…
Retired military police officer Ronnie Lessa (48) and former military police Élcio Vieira de Queiroz (46) were arrested in the early morning of March 12, accused of being the ones who executed Marielle Franco, councilwoman of PSOL Party and her driver, Anderson Gomes, almost a year ago. The arrest was made by the Homicide Division of the Civil Police of…
Another March 8. A new day to commemorate the rights of women, the feminist struggle to change the patriarchal and capitalist system that oppresses women, lesbians and trans women, and that aims to advance over our bodies and territories and silence us for trying to push boundaries. Another March 8. In Brazil, Latin America/Caribbean, and the world, a cry, many…
"We are the ones who put our bodies and hands to work the land", said the comrades of the Landless Rural Workers Union in Mendoza (Argentina). Also in Argentina, in Santiago del Estero, the women of the National Peasant and Indigenous Movement (MNCI-CLOC-VC) are joining urban women “for production, food sovereignty, integral agrarian reform, against displacements and patriarchy, for life…
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 February 20th, a Brazilian court ordered transnational corporation Vale SA to grant every person affected by the Brumadinho environmental massacre a minimum wage for 12 months, and in addition, each family will receive 400 reals, which is the value of a basic food basket in that South American country. The Movement of People Affected by Dams in Brazil (MAB)…
On February 14, the Norwegian government gave the green light to a new copper mining project that will cause two million tons of heavy metal waste to be dumped in Repparfjord, in Finnmark province (above the polar Arctic Circle), a fjord protected to preserve its salmon population. The decision has been met with utmost rejection and will be appealed. The…
