From 7 to 11 August 2023, the first in-person meeting of the Berta Cáceres International Feminist Organising School (IFOS) took place in Honduras. It was held at the ECOSOL training centre in the Comayagua department, a historic area of social resistance. "Berta understood the importance of political training and alliances to strengthen the movement. She taught us a lot and…
Three leaders of the Tembé Indigenous People were shot on Monday in the Brazilian town of Tomé-Açu, situated in the state of Pará, 200 kilometres from the state capital Belém do Pará. The incident occurred during preparations for a visit from the National Human Rights Council. According to information from the Brazilian Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the shots were fired…
Almost 100 days ago, residents of Uruguay’s capital city, Montevideo, were informed that sodium and chloride levels in their drinking would go up. This news came from the public company in charge of the national drinking water supply, OSE. The freshwater reserves of Paso Severino dam on the Santa Lucía river, which supplies water to this region, were running low…
Over 20 social organisations and networks from Latin America and the Caribbean are convening an open dialogue with government representatives and civil society to develop an international and mandatory tool to protect human rights against corporate abuse. Real World Radio interviewed Iván González, Political Coordinator at the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), member of the movement Continental Day…
Eleven years ago, the transnational oil company Chevron, formerly Texaco, received a historic sentence in Ecuador. It was forced by the justice of that country to pay a compensation of 9.5 billion dollars for the damages caused to indigenous communities and settlers in the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos in the Amazon region. This lawsuit was filed by the Union of…
A week into 2023, Jairo Bonilla and Alí Domínguez were murdered while working in Concepción, Colón Department, in Honduras, a few kilometres from their community, Guapinol. Both were defenders of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, and the Botaderos National Park, also called Carlos Escaleras, the source of 34 bodies of water. 10 days later in the same region, Omar…
Movements from Latin America and the Caribbean met in August in Honduras for a number of activities called by Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe—ATALC). On the 23rd, an open event was held called Rights for the Peoples, Obligations for Companies. It was attended by more than 15…
On the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations, activist Sandra Escobar tells us a story of pain and joy, as peoples in Honduras struggle against the expansion of oil palm plantations and build alternatives together. Approximately 198,000 hectares of Honduras are planted with oil palm crops, representing almost 2% of the country’s land. Annually, it produces 2.4 million…
On 23 August, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) together with social movements and organisations from the region held a public event in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, to discuss the urgent need to agree an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and human rights. The goal is to gain the support of democratic governments…
Costa Rica is internationally renowned as a “green country” for several reasons, including its extensive forest cover and “clean energy” generation. However, some of its agricultural and energy sector policies and laws, many of which are based on various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and over 15 bilateral agreements, contradict the environment and national sovereignty principles. Comunidades Ecologistas La Ceiba – Friends…
