On the anniversary of the death of Andres Fransisco Miguel, community leader of Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango, the people of Huehuetenango and neigboring areas in Guatemala came together in protest May 1st. They denounced the disrepect of their right as Indigenous Peoples to be consutled on development projects, by the State of Guatemala and foreign companies like Spanish dam company Hidralia Energia.
Listen to an interview with Global Response Program Manager Danielle DeLuca on the air Friday May 3rd at Radio CKUW of Winnepeg, Canada. On Scott Price’s international news program ‘Warning Shots’ Danielle spoke about land grabbing in Gambella, Ethiopia and its affect on local Indigenous Peoples as they are forcibly evicted from their homelands by the government and moved into state-sponsored villages.
Listen to the interview at 27:06 via CKUW.
Dayamani Barla is named recipient of the Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award by an influential panel of Indigenous rights leaders. The Award, given by Cultural Survival in honor of the memory of the late Ellen L. Lutz, a renowned human rights lawyer dedicated to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognizes outstanding human rights activism, dedicated leadership for Indigenous Peoples rights, and a deep commitment to protecting, sustaining, and revitalizing Indigenous cultures, lands, and languages.
On April 19, Judge Jassmin Barrios declared that the hearing in the trial charging Efraín Ríos Montt with genocide will be temporarily suspended while the Constitutional Court addresses the annulment of the trial by Judge Patricia Flores.
By Richard Arghiris, published at Intercontinental Cry
An indigenous Ngäbe protester, Onesimo Rodriguez, was killed Friday 22 March 2013 in the hamlet of Las Nubes, Chiriquí province, after attending a rally against the controversial Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam. It was World Water day.
Another community leader from Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango has been captured by the Police and incarcerated in Guatemala City as a result of his outspoken opposition to the Spanish company Hidro Santa Cruz’s construction of a hydroelectric dam in the Q’anjob’al Mayan community. Rubén Herrera was captured on March 15th in the city of Huehuetenango, and charged with kidnapping, terrorism, coercion, arson, among many other crimes.
El siguinte comunidado fue elaborado por el Consejo de Pueblos del Occidente, el CPO como resulto de la captura del compañero Rubén Herrera, que ha luchado por los derechos del pueblo en contra del proyecto hidroelectrco por la empresa Hidro Santa Cruz.
Para firmar su peticion, por favor envia tu nombre, (y ubicación y institution) al contrareglamento@gmail.com antes del 25 de abril.
By Rapaine Ole Koissaba Ben
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
