LAMMP and the Union of Latin American Women (ULAM) hosted the first European Speakers’ Tour. The Tour provided a forum for a number of rural and indigenous women activists from Latin America to voice their concerns and share their experiences with the European public and members of parliament.
On Friday 16th October the High Court upheld the injunction to freeze the assets of British mining company Monterrico Metals.
The claimants, including two women, allege they were detained for three days, when they were handcuffed, hooded, beaten and humiliated at the mine site. They claim that they have long-term psychological injuries. One protester, whose widow is a claimant in the case, bled to death after being shot by Peruvian police. The publication of dramatic photographs of the protestors in the Peruvian media in January propelled the case into the spotlight.
The claimants and other witnesses allege that the company was integrally involved with the police in directing, coordinating and assisting in the actions at the mine site against the protesters. Monterrico denies this. In March 2009, Peruvian prosecutors accused the police of torture but cleared the mining company and Forza of wrongdoing. Peruvian human rights groups denounced the findings as incomplete.
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In “Women Fight South American Mines” Kathryn Hopkins reports on our European Tour and the visit of “a group of South American women arrived in Britain this week to highlight the plight of indigenous people around the world fighting international mining companies.”
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Laguna Negra (“Black Lagoon”) is a video by Michael Watts that explores the core values of a subsistence farming community in Huancabamba (Peru), the way the fabric of this society has been threatened by large scale mining and the destructive outcome of imposing a capital intensive model of development on a society based on traditional values.
Read MoreWomen in areas of Guatemala where mining companies operate have condemned the sexual abuse by security forces during forced evictions in, for example, San Juan Sacatepéquez. The women state that the police was acting on behalf of the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN), local subsidiary of HudBay Minerals Inc., a Canadian mining company.
There is a 2-minute video with soundtrack in Spanish.
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5 September is the International day of the indigenous women, in which the cruel death of Bartolina Sissa is commemorated in La Paz, Bolivia.
El 5 de septiembre se celebró el Día Internacional de la Mujer Indígena, instituido el año 1983 durante el Segundo Encuentro de Organizaciones y Movimientos de América, en Tihuanacu (Bolivia).
La fecha fue escogida porque un día 5 de setiembre muere Bartolina Sisa, una valerosa mujer quechua que fué descuartizada por las fuerzas realistas durante la rebelión anticolonial de Túpaj Katari en el Alto Perú, hecho sucedáneo de la gran rebelión que protagonizara Túpac Amaru y su valerosa compañera, Micaela Bastidas, en todo el sur andino (1780-82).
La mujer indígena es portadora vital de la herencia cultural, la que enseña la lengua ancestral a los hijos e hijas, la que continúa con las tradiciones, la que resiste las diferentes formas de violencia estructural precisamente por su condición de excluida: ser indígena y ser mujer.
La sobrevivencia de nuestros pueblos se debe en gran parte a la lucha anónima y tenaz de las mujeres indígenas; ellas desempeñan un papel fundamental en la lucha contra la pobreza, el hambre y la exclusión social y étnico-cultural, y hacen posible el mantenimiento de la unidad familiar.
Source: Mujeres Por La Selva Blog
The Reuters news agency reports that the Canadian mining companies Kinross Gold and Corrientes Resources have been given permission by the government of Ecuador to restart operations at once.
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An investigation by the Peruvian government into allegations of the torture and kidnapping of protestors against the British-Chinese Monterrico mining company has blamed the police but cleared the company and its security firm of wrong-doing.
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ULAM (Unión Latinoamericana de Mujeres) has issued a statement about the recent dramatic events in Peru. See below for text in Spanish.
RED UNIÓN LATINOAMERICANA DE MUJERES POR EL DERECHO A
DEFENDER NUESTROS DERECHOS – ULAM –
EN SOLIDARIDAD CON LAS COMUNIDADES INDÍGENAS DE LA
AMAZONÍA PERUANA
Las organizaciones y grupos de mujeres asociadas a la Red Unión Latinoamericana de Mujeres Por El Derecho A Defender Nuestros Derechos – ULAM –
Condenamos Enérgicamente
Los Brutales ataques de las fuerzas de seguridad nacionales del Perú en contra de las comunidades de la Amazonía, en particular en la ciudad de Bagua, que dieron como resultado el asesinato de un número indeterminado de campesinos por su lucha y resistencia para proteger el territorio ancestral de la incursión de las compañias transnacionales petroleras, mineras, madereras que buscan explotarlo en forma irresponsable.
Las atrocidades cometidas por aquellos quienes deberían proteger a la ciudadanía manchan con sangre y con deshonor no solamente al pueblo peruano, sino a todo el continente.
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“The earth has no price. It can’t be bought or sold or exchanged.”
A Yanomami Indian shaman from the Brazilian Amazon has denounced the violence in Peru during a recent visit to London invited by Survival International. ‘We must listen to the cry of the earth which is asking for help. The earth has no price. It can’t be bought, or sold or exchanged.
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