The on-again-off-again Belo Monte dam has been halted once again by a judge in Brazil after being the go-ahead by Brazil's president last year. The gigantic dam would flood some 190 square miles of rainforest and displace multiple Indigenous communities, who have been protesting the dam for years. The judge's ruling cited environmental concerns rather than the human rights issues, but if the ruling holds (previous injunctions have been overturned), it will still benefit the Indigenous Peoples of the area.

In a referendum on February 18, 99 percent of the population of the San Juan Ostuncalco municipality in Guatemala—a mostly Mam Mayan community—voted to oppose two mining concessions granted by the government on their territory. The people voting in the referendum demanded that the government cease issuing new mining concessions and revoke the existing ones.

An Ecuadoran court has order Chevron to pay almost $10 billion to Indigenous plaintiffs who, the court found, have been damaged by decades of contamination from oil operations there. The oil operations, originally conducted by Texaco, which merged with Chevon in 2001, included some egregious behavior, leaving oil sludge in open pits and rivers, conducting almost no remediation, and contaminating huge areas of rainforest. The plaintiffs--30,000 Indigenous people and farmers--claim very high rates of cancer and other diseases related to exposure to toxins.

February 7 was the opening day of a trial that will determine whether a Chinese mining company can dump waste from its Ramu nickel mine and refinery into the Bismarck Sea. Plaintiffs in the case are Indigenous residents of coastal communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on the sea. They base their case on laws that guarantee their rights as landowners and provide protections for Papua New Guinea’s marine resources.  The proposed dumping would occur within the Coral Triangle, which has the highest diversity of marine life on the planet.
 

More than 1,000 Ngöbe people – men, women, and children – took to the streets in different parts of Panama this week to protest a proposed change in the country’s mining law.  Nine Ngöbe people were reported wounded and 22 jailed, including three children.  Environmental and human rights organizations and students carried out parallel protests against the mining law reform at the National Assembly.
 

Various rural and Indigenous groups blocked at least four major highways in Guatemala on February 6, demanding that the Congress approve a cohort of bills put forth by Indigenous groups, including Bill 4087, the community radio bill.  

Chilean forces continue to target peaceful Rapa Nui individuals, including unarmed women and children occupying their ancestral land. Over the past five months, Rapa Nui clan members have been peacefully reclaiming their ancestral territories. There is now overwhelming military force on the island.  

Dear members of the Cultural Survival team,