land

Chile: Mapuche step up struggle for land and water

Indigenous communities in Arauco province in Chile's central Biobío region have announced plans for a march on Aug. 2 to protest a proposal before the National Congress to extend Forestry Decree 701 for another 20 years. Community residents, who belong to the Mapuche group, Chile's largest ethnicity, say the forestry laws have allowed timber companies to take over traditional Mapuche lands starting in 1974 under the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The most important of these companies are Arauco (Celulosa Arauco y Constitución), largely owned by the Angelini family, and Forestal Mininco, controlled by the Matte family. According to Mapuche activists, there is little chance that the forestry proposal will be defeated, since many of the congressional candidates from Mapuche areas in the upcoming Nov. 17 elections are being financed by these two powerful families. (El Cuidadano, Chile, July 27)

Israeli forces evict 'protest village' near Bethlehem

Israeli forces evicted a protest village near the Kfar Etzion settlement compound south of Bethlehem on July 27, a local committee said. The Popular Struggle Committee Against Settlements and the Wall said its activists pitched tents on land belonging to the Abu Ayyash family. Four hours later, the Israeli army arrived with an order to evict the protesters, the committee said. The committee said the action sent a message to the Israeli government that Palestinians were entrenched in their land, and that they would dictate the next stage in peace talks, not the negotiators. An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an News Agency that Israeli forces dispersed a gathering of 20 to 30 Palestinians in Umm Salamuna. "After a while they left," he said, adding that no riot dispersal means were used. 

Mexico: municipal uprising against road project

Some 150 followers of the United Front in Defense of Tepoztlán (FUDT) seized control of the town hall and took captive the mayor at the historic village in the central Mexican state of Morelos July 23. The mayor, Francisco Navarrete Conde of the center-left PRD, is being held to demand that the federal Communications and Transport Secretariat (SCT) halt plans to widen La Pera-Tepoztlán highway. The FUDT asserts that some 1,800 comuneros (communal farmers) whose ejidos (collective landholdings) would be impacted by the road expansion have not been consulted. The comuneros, armed with clubs, sucessfully routed municipal riot police guarding the town hall. Speaking to a reporter by phone from his protester-occupied office, Navarrete Conde expressed support for the demands of his captors, charging that the company with the road contract, Tradeco, "is violating the rights of the comuneros." The company apparently has an agreement with the comuneros, but FUDT followers have challenged it as illegitimate, with a case over the matter pending before the Agrarian Tribunals. (La Jornada, July 23)

Colombian ambassador to US resigns over land-theft scandal

Colombia's ambassador in Washington has resigned after being implicated in an alleged case of land theft, President Juan Manuel Santos said July 23. The ambassador, Carlos Urrutia, was involved in an ongoing scandal in which he repeatedly faced questions regarding his involvement in the appropriation of some 100,000 acres of land throughout central Colombia. In his resignation letter, Urrutia defended the legality of his actions: "I trust the legality of the legal argument that support the acquisitions. Unfortunately the political discussion has focused more on the background and there is resistance to hearing legal reasons that conclude the acquisitions were executed under the rule of law." Prior to his role as ambassador Urrutia was a major shareholder of the law firm Brigard & Urrutia, which is accused of facilitating the illegal lands transfers.

Anti-mining protests in Mexico, Canada

The July 22 Global Day of Action Against Open-Pit Mining, most widely observed in the Andean nations, also saw coordinated actions in NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada. In the Oaxaca village of Santa María Zacatepec, a national gathering was held, bringing together some 100 indigenous and popular organizations, who pledged a campaign of protests against mining projects and "structural reforms" announced by the Enrique Peña Nieto government. The Declaration of Santa María Zacatepec said that "it is time to pass from resistance to the offensive," and for "respecting all forms of struggle." Participating organizations included the Mexican Alliance for the Self-Determination of the People (AMAP); the Indigenous Agrarian Zapatista Movement (MAIZ); the Peoples' Front in Defense of Land and Water of Puebla, Tlaxcala and Morelos; the National Civil Resistance Network; the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam; the Peoples' Land Defense Front of Atenco; and the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME).

China: authorities detain activist Xu Zhiyong

Chinese activist and lawyer Xu Zhiyong was arrested by authorities July 17 on suspicion of having "gathered crowds to disrupt public order." Xu, a law lecturer at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and founder of the Open Constitution Initiative (Gongmeng), was placed under house arrest on April 12. Xu's arrest came after President Xi Jinping pledged to increase efforts to combat government corruption. Xu was previously detained by Chinese police in 2009 on charges of tax evasion. Coinciding with Xu's arrest, earlier this week Wang Wenzhi, a reporter for the official Xinhua News Agency, accused China Resources (Holdings) chairman Song Lin of corruption. The article was later removed.

Chiapas cancels carbon deal with California

The state government of Chiapas, Mexico, has cancelled a controversial forest protection plan that critics said failed to address the root causes of deforestation and could endanger the lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples. The program is linked to California's cap-and-trade program through a complex "carbon offset" scheme that has yet to see the light of day. Carlos Morales Vázquez, the state's environment secretary, on July 8 told the Chiapas daily El Heraldo that the UN initiative that provided the model for the pact, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), "was an utter failure, and the program is cancelled."

Peru: deadline for payment on expropriated lands

Peru's Constitutional Tribunal on July 16 issued a decision ordering the government to honor debt owed for land confiscated under the agrarian reform that began in the 1960s. The ruling stated that the government must uphold a similar order issued by the nation's highest court in 2001, which has gone unenforced. The new ruling sets a timeline, saying the government must pay off the debt within 10 years, and that the Finance Ministry must issue a payment plan within six months. The issue sparked a public spat last week when President Ollanta Humala asked the court to refrain from issuing any rulings on "sensitive issues"—an obvious reference to the land compensation question—until the Congress votes on appointing six new members to the court. The court's president, Oscar Urviola, charged that Humala had overstepped his bounds by trying to order the court.

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