The fires that started August 16 are still raging in the Amazonian jungle. Although they no longer make international headlines, they have destroyed more than 12 million hectares.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s willingness to open Indigenous reserves to mining, agriculture and infrastructure has triggered a rise in invasions of indigenous lands by armed gangs of land grabbers, causing constant fear in indigenous communities.
In March, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited U.S President Donald Trump to discuss deepening relations between their countries. In their joint statement, the two presidents agreed to “catalyze investment in the Amazon region”.
Environmental and land management in South America is being slowly but persistently militarized with the aim of controlling extractive industries, especially gold mining.
If the Trump administration and its allies continue to pursue their reckless course in Venezuela, the most likely result will be bloodshed, chaos, and instability.
In the middle of October, the Juicio Popular y Comunitario Contra el Estado y las Empresas Mineras (People’s Trail against the State and the Mining Companies) was carried out in Oaxaca City, Mexico. The participating organizations denounce that in the Central Valleys, the most populated region in the state, 80% of the territory is awarded to mining companies from Canada and the United States.
The battle to stop the spread of extractive industries pits indigenous and peasant communities against powerful business interests, backed up by politicians who encourage the foreign investments that convert millennial ways of life into cash for them.
Relatives, friends, neighbors and supporters paid homage to the people who died last year in the earthquake that brought down a building where more than 100 people worked, among them women seamstresses.
The current government of Argentina has waged a fierce fight against the Mapuche who defend their territory with assassinations, political imprisonment and criminalization of defenders of the land.
While discussions continue in the Salvadoran parliament, companies like Sab Miller and those that sell with water, will continue to exploit and take advantage of the resource, due to the lack of regulation.