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.
There are increasing threats to nature, as well as to those who are involved in the defense of natural resources and land rights. In this scenario, the workers of the media whose duty it is to investigate such facts are exposed.
The Puerto Rican people were dying long before Hurricane Maria. The hurricane simply forced us to count the dead, mourn the lives lost, and now, to fight for the lives of those who are still living. It might sound strange, but it’sthe truth. Inequality and poverty kill, and in Puerto Rico, inequality has been a violent hurricane that has spent too much time over our islands.