Testimonies


REITOCA COMMUNITY FACES REPRESSION OVER RESISTANCE AGAINST HYDROELECTRIC DAM

Since January 2018, the population of Reitoca, a municipality of Francisco Morazan department, Honduras, is controlling the territories of the high areas of the town, where they set up a campsite to prevent a hydroelectric dam from being built on Petacón River. In the afternoon of Wednesday 24, police officers and members of the Tigre security forces came to forcibly…

8M: All women on Feminist Strike

"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…

Dialogue and peace for Venezuela

The Uruguayan central workers union, PIT-CNT, together with the Continental Conference for Democracy and against Neoliberalism, and the Union Gathering Nuestra América, held a rally in Montevideo on February 7 demanding “Dialogue and Peace for Venezuela.” The mobilization took place in the center of the Uruguayan capital, while a few blocks away took place the meeting of the International Contact…

“A great step forward for all humanity”

"A great step forward for all humanity" Meaning and projection of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants, by Diego Montón The adoption by a very large majority of the United Nations General Assembly of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas represents “a great step forward for all humanity” that “ratifies and…

HATE UNLEASHED

On December 8th, two peasant leaders of the Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil were shot to death by hooded man while they were having dinner at their campsite “Don José María Pires”, in Paraíba State. This clearly reflects a “hate speech” which has been specially targeting Brazilian popular organizations. The victims were Rodrigo Celestino and José Bernardo da Silva…

Remembering Berta

The trial against the eight men accused of murdering Berta Cáceres begins today, September 17th. She was murdered on March 2016 at her home in La Esperanza, Intibucá department, Honduras. When she was awarded with the Goldman Prize in 2015, where her role as an indigenous and Lenca people defender against the advance of looting projects such as the Agua…

Standing Strong

Thousands of demonstrators are marching from different areas of the country and heading to the Guatemalan Congress building to demand the resignation of President Jimmy Morales, and the continuation of the International Commission against Corruption in Guatemala (CICIG) that has been investigating acts of corruption in the government since 2017. Real World Radio interviewed Lucía Ixchiu, independent k'iché journalist who…

Being a defender in Central America

Marta Rivas was born 29 years ago in a settlement for Salvadoran refugees in Honduras known as “Mesa Grande”, where she lived with hundreds of children who grew up during the armed conflict that took place in El Salvador from 1980 to 1992. She was named after her community: Santa Marta, located in Cabañas department, to the North of her…

We cannot be celebrating

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. However, “we cannot be celebrating”. The planet is facing serious environmental degradation, and the necessary measures to counteract it are not being taken, warned activist Rita Uwaka with Environmental Rights Action - Friends of the Earth Nigeria. The environmentalist, who is part of the steering group…

WHO IS THE HONDURAN PUBLIC PROSECUTION OFFICE PROTECTING?

The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) held on August 7th a press conference to denounce judicial irregularities in the investigation process that is accusing eight people over Berta Cáceres femicide. The General Coordinator of COPINH, defender of peoples and territories, was murdered on March 2nd, 2016 in La Esperanza. She had been fighting against the…