After half a year of constant protests that were supported by Global Response campaigns, the Ngöbe people have proposed two bills to Panama’s National Assembly. One bill would revoke an executive decree that violates their right to freely choose their own political leadership. The other bill prohibits mining and dam construction that would negatively affect Ngöbe communities. 

Muchas gracias to everyone who sent letters to the Mexican Senate in response to our appeal at the end of March! Our campaign was a success! After receiving 2,748 international letters in a single week, the Senate approved a “point of agreement,” that:

In a new initiative of the Guatemala Radio Project, Cultural Survival’s Guatemala based team is building capacity in a select group of community radio stations that have emerged as leaders within the broader movement of local radio stations in Guatemala.  These ‘pilot’ radio stations will become hubs for information and training for emerging community radio stations in their geographic and linguistic areas.

A Mayan spiritual ceremony was held last Saturday, April 2nd, to celebrate the initiation of a new network of pilot radios stations broadcasting in rural communities of Guatemala.  The day marked the 12^th B’atz, a day which holds high levels of energy and represents strength in new beginnings. Nineteen Mayan priests and priestesses from the community radio station La X Musical in Cajola, Quetzaltenango participated in the ceremony.  A Mayan ceremony begins and ends with prayers facing the

The OceanaGold mining company, which is building a mine in the Philippine community of Didipio, has announced plans to use $140 million from one of its New Zealand operations to restart and speed up construction of the Didipio mine, even as the Philippine Commission on Human Rights has recommended that the government revoke the company's license there. The mine is the subject of Global Response campaign and threatens the Indigenous inhabitants of Didipio and the forests of the mountain.

The following article is cross-posted from Upside Down World:

Every year, the Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people of central west México walk 500 km to the sacred land of Wirikuta, where according to legend, the sun was born. Here, they collect jíkuri (peyote), carry out rituals of purification and come into communion with their gods, who give them blessings and guidance. In this way, they conserve their culture, maintain harmony with nature, and uphold a thousand-year-old tradition. 

Two thousand Bangladeshi citizens blocked major highways and railways for six hours on March 28 and demanded a response from the prime minister by April 11. They are calling on her to honor a 2006 agreement to ban open-pit coal mining in the country. For seven years, Bangladeshi citizens, including the National Indigenous Union (Jatiya Adivasi Parishad) have fiercely protested a British company’s plan for open-pit mining in Phulbari.

The following two articles regard massive protests that took place in Bangladesh yesterday demanding a ban on open pit mining scheduled to break ground in the northwest region of Phulbari.  See Cultural Survival's Action Alert on Bangladesh here to send a letter in solidarity with the Indigenous farmers of this area against the destruction of their land. 

On Friday, March 25th, Global Response program director Paula Palmer was interviewed on Bob Kincaid's radio program "Head On" regarding the campaign in Bangladesh against the Phulbari coal mine.  A native of West Virgina, Bob is very interested in communities struggles against the coal industry.