“To be a young person is not a crime.” Guatemala Photo: Anna Vogt
Four Ways Mexico’s Indigenous Farmers Are Practicing the Agriculture of the Future
The use of erosion control barriers, intercropping, and seed saving are part of the knowledge León Santos inherited from his Zapotec ancestors. And it’s working. León Santos says he has seen yields increase fourfold after incorporating these ancient and modern sustainable growing techniques. The newly established vegetation sequesters atmospheric carbon and attracts biodiversity.
Searching for the Disappeared in Coahuila
Families United say the GATEs have been involved in at least sixty cases of forced disappearance in the region. The group has also been accused of carrying out threats, arbitrary detentions, intimidations, robberies, and beatings, and even ofplanting explosive devices at a police station and a city hall in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. According to Ariana García Bosque, a lawyer who works with Families United, GATEs routinely detain and torture people for two or three days before handing them over to authorities. They justify their actions by allegedly claiming the detained were involved in organized crime. Meanwhile, the governor of Coahuila has dismissed out of hand claims that the GATEs are involved in criminal activity.
Kidnappings in Guatemala Fall Dramatically: Report
An alternative explanation for why kidnapping is going down in Guatemala is that criminals no longer see the crime as an easy source of income. It is possible that instead, criminals have turned to extortion. This is an attractive alternative to kidnappingas it is less labor intensive, harder to trace, and can be carried out en masse, even from behind bars. In Guatemala alone, extortion is a $61-million-a-year criminal industry.
El Salvador Now Using Anti-Terrorism Law to Tackle Gangs
El Salvador has invoked its anti-terrorism laws to prosecute alleged gang members — raising the debate over definitions of crime and terrorism, where the two intersect, and the government’s motives in framing the gangs as terrorist organizations.
Food insecurity in Nicaragua: farming on the edge of a volcano
Within the model farms, vegetable gardens are being managed using agro-ecology methods. Where possible, natural processes, are being used – instead of chemical fertilisers, nitrogen-fixing plants are being planted among rows of crops, acting as a form of natural fertiliser. These methods help prevent the buildup of financial debt and are more beneficial to the environment. Significant effort goes into promoting soil health, which increases water retention and promotes crop growth. The aim is to grow more food using the limited land and water resources that are available. Alongside the farms, beehives provide an additional source of income and encourage conservation of the surrounding forest.
Blood, sweat and sugar: Trade deal fails Haitian workers on DR plantations
Workers are paid by the weight of what they cut, which means older and sicker people earn less or work longer hours. Often both. Pierre says he makes the equivalent of $3.34 per ton and usually cuts a ton a day. That’s far below the three tons a day cut by more able-bodied workers. It still works out to 8 cents more than the minimum daily wage for cane cutters, but that minimum wage is for an eight-hour day. Pierre says he works 12-hour days. The legal limit for cane cutting is 10 hours, and for anything over eight, the law requires overtime pay, which Pierre says he doesn’t get. The DOL has been demanding that cutters’ hours be monitored, and at least one company, CAEI, the country’s second-largest sugar producer, recently started complying, but most don’t. So payment varies tremendously from plantation to plantation, and overtime pay is rare.
A sweet deal: The royal family of cane benefits from political giving
In 2013, after a two-year investigation, the department issued a report expressing concern that the Dominican government might be failing to protect sugar workers. The report was followed by three reviews, one every six months, that found working conditions still lacking. But as the DOL pushed for reform in Dominican sugar, members of Congress and other politicians maintained lucrative relationships with the royal family of cane: the Fanjuls.
Colombian army unit commander sentenced to 58 years for murdering civilians
Lieutenant colonel Beismarck Salamanca was the commander of the Urban Counter Terrorist Special Forces (AFEUR) unit, an elite unit created to carry our counter-terrorism and hostage rescue operations. However, instead of going after alleged terrorists, Salamanca’s unit executed innocent civilians in separate operations in 2004 and 2005, dressed their victims’ bodies in guerrilla outfits and presented the homicides as combat kills.
Toward a Sustainable Peace In Colombia
This latest de-escalation of the conflict between the FARC and the Colombian government offers not only hope, as Humberto de la Calle, Colombia’s head negotiator, described it, of “a great chance to end this conflict,” but also of reducing the environmental destruction associated with it. Whether it can lead to a lasting peace, however, remains to be seen. If the FARCs ceasefire remains in place, in four months Santos has said he will revisit the agreement and consider the progress made in the peace talks, with an eye toward consideration of a bilateral ceasefire. Unfortunately, peace alone won’t solve Colombia’s environmental problems. As the FARC pointed out in response to criticism after the Tumaco spill, they aren’t the only one’s responsible for environmental degradation. The economic and environmental policies of the government, or lack thereof, also play a significant role, particularly in important areas of the Colombian economy, such as fossil fuel extraction, palm oil production, and mining.
Bolivia’s president Morales says he wants to improve ties with US
Bolivia is set to try to rebuild ties with the United States and exchange ambassadors again, President Evo Morales said Tuesday, citing Washington’s warmer Iran and Cuba stances. “We are here today to get back on course to good relations with the United States,” Morales told a briefing at the presidential palace, ahead of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s historic visit to Havana on Friday.
A Bolivian Subway in the Sky (photo essay)
The city of La Paz, Bolivia, has long struggled with transportation issues. Steep terrain, high density, and narrow streets have resulted in years of traffic nightmares for fleets of minibuses and private taxis. In the past two years, the government has worked to alleviate this by building the largest urban cable-car system in the world. Currently La Paz has three urban ropeway lines in operation, stretching over 10 kilometers, with plans to triple the size of the network. The city recently announced six new lines, which will extend the aerial system to 30 kilometers and carry up to 27,000 passengers an hour.