Ashanika warriors occupy oil boat May 2009

A documentary is in production tracing the struggle by indigenous Amazonians in Peru to defend their land against infrastructure and other industrial megaprojects, told through the lens of indigenous leader Alberto Pizango:

“Against the backdrop of global recession and climate crisis, When Two Worlds Collide traces the heroic journey of a young indigenous leader. Forced into exile for resisting the sale and commercial exploitation of Amazonian lands, Alberto Pizango’s efforts shed new light on the ferocious battle for the world’s most precious natural resources. Falsely accused of insurrection and sedition by the Peruvian Government, he faces 20-years in prison. After almost a year in exile, Pizango returns to Peru to face trial and discovers himself nominated for presidential candidacy. In the April 2011 elections, he will run as the first Amazonian candidate in history. This feature-length documentary follows the Amazonians in their quest against all odds to save the rainforest and campaign to elect their leader as president of Peru. This extraordinary story reveals the human side of an apocalyptic battle of conflicting visions and political wills working to shape the future of the Amazon’s ecosystem and our world.”

To learn more about the documentary, watch the trailer, or donate to help cover production costs, click here. You can also visit the web site of the film company, Yachaywasi Films.

For more background on the indigenous struggle, see below.

Previous Articles on the Peruvian Amazon:

Peru Update: Continuing Infrastructure Threat to Amazonian Indigenous Nations (July 8, 2010)

Temporary Resolution in Peru Conflict Following Government Reversal (June 19, 2009)

Week of Action in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Peru (June 12, 2009)

Upcoming Peru Solidarity Protests (June 10, 2009)

Peru Update: Take Action! (June 7, 2009)

Action Alert: Stop Peruvian Infrastructure Push! (June 5, 2009)

Peruvian Police Murder Indigenous Protesters: Take Action! (June 5, 2009)

Peru Indigenous Holding Strong in Standoff (June 3, 2009)

Peru Indigenous In Standoff With Government (May 22, 2009)

Perenco to Drill for Oil in Territory of Uncontacted Indigenous (January 7, 2009)

Peru Indigenous Issue Oil Ultimatum (October 22, 2008)

Indigenous Victory in Peru! (August 24, 2008)

Temporary Truce in Indigenous Peru Standoff (August 21, 2008)

Peru Declares Martial Law Over Indigenous Protests (August 18, 2008)

Oil Pipeline Shut Down by Ongoing Peru Protests (August 17, 2008)

Indigenous Peruvians Seize Energy Infrastructure (August 12, 2008)

“We the peoples and our territories are one entity,” the 2009 declaration read. “[We resolve] to reject all forms of land division, privatization, concession, predation and pollution from extractive industries.”

Global climate activists have joined the call, declaring that day a Global Day of Climate Justice.

As we did last year, Root Force is supporting the Minga and encouraging people throughout the Americas and across the world to take actions targeting the infrastructure of global trade. Infrastructure expansion projects such as highways, mines, power plants, pipelines and telecommunications cables form the front lines of the assault on indigenous peoples and the Earth. They are the backbone of the system that is killing our planet and enslaving its people.

For more information about the call to action and why we think infrastructure projects are appropriate targets, see below.

For help planning and publicizing actions, contact Root Force: rootforce [at] riseup [dot] net. You can find direct action, strategy and messaging resources here.

Send action reports to rootforce [at] riseup [dot] net. If you can’t pull together a direct action, consider holding events that promote anti-infrastructure organizing and action.

About the Minga

From the declaration:

WE CONVENE the Third Minga/ Global Mobilization in Defense of Mother Earth and the Peoples, against the commercialization of life (food, water, biodiversity, natural resources), pollution and depredation (by mining, fossil fuels, hydroelectricity, timber, ranching, biofuels, GMOs), consumerism and the criminalization of social movements; and for the recognition of ecological debt and the formation of an International Tribunal of Climate Justice.

On October 12, in every corner of the planet, those of us who want to save life will lift our voices against the capitalist aggression expressed in the plunder and commercialization of life. Because we know that other worlds are not only urgently needed, they are, above all, possible. And we are building them.

Objectives:

• The continuation of life, peace, ecodefense, natural resources, and spirituality linked to life and Mother Nature; water for future generations; and collective rights.
• To sensitize society to the necessity of coexistence with nature, in harmony and equilibrium. No to the privatization of nature with carbon trading.
• To sound the alarm over the imminent danger of the environmental catastrophe that threatens the planet and to call out those responsible: global capitalism, multinational businesses and complicity states.
• To demonstrate that it is possible to implement this change from the proposal and practices of the people, in harmony and reciprocity with Mother Nature, with Good Living, Plurinational States, and a model of integration based on equality, reciprocity and complementarity.
• To denounce neoliberal capitalism and the complicit governments that criminalize social protest to impose the plunder and depredation of Mother Nature.
• To urge amnesty for all leaders of indigenous, social, and environmental activists prosecuted for defending the rights of the people and of Mother Nature.
• To open the debate over the crisis of capitalist civilization, with the proposal of the indigenous peoples for averting climate catastrophe.
• No to the persecution of migrants: no one is a migrant on their continent of Abya Yala [America]; if some went in another direction, they went following the natural resources that had been stolen.

Activities worldwide:

• Manifest the greatest diversity of indigenous organizations and social movements, presenting alternatives to stop global climate and environmental catastrophe.
• Memorial with concrete proposals to the Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN, Interamerican Human Rights Commission and similar organizations on other continents.
• Mobilizations around the world (in urban and rural communities) for specific local and national demands and for common goals of the Global Minga.
• Demonstrations in front of local offices of the UN, transnational extractive industries (fossil fuels, mining, timber, water), biofuels and GMOs.
• Discussion forums and cultural and political seminars on the defense of Mother Earth and the people against the commercialization of life and against pollution and social criminalization.
• The implementation of Climate Justice Courts to ethically judge environmental crimes.
• Assemblies to articulate strategies for the World Climate Change Conference, COP 16 (Cancun, Mexico, November-December 2010).

Read the full declaration (in Spanish) here. Read about last year’s Minga here:

Take Action Oct 12-16: Global Mobilization in Defense of Mother Earth and the Peoples (Aug 19th, 2009)

UPDATED: Week of Action Continues (Oct 12th, 2009)

More from the Week of Action (Oct 15th, 2009)

A Few More Actions (Oct 19th, 2009)

Why Infrastructure?

There are three primary reasons to target infrastructure as a way to defend the Earth and support indigenous sovereignty.

1. Infrastructure projects devastate ecologies and communities, whether it’s the massive fish kills caused by dams and oil spills, the stripped land and poisoned air left by highways and mines, or the dislocation of poor, rural and indigenous peoples caused every time a new dam, road, mine or power plant moves in.

2. Infrastructure projects facilitate further exploitation above and beyond their immediate effects: a road brings loggers and missionaries; a power plant brings industry and sprawl.

3. Infrastructure forms the physical basis of the global economic system — a system that is killing our planet and cannot function without the continued dispossession of indigenous land and destruction of Earth-based cultures.

This civilization will not change its genocidal and ecocidal trajectory willingly, and the Earth cannot be saved by half-measures. The system must come down, and its reliance on infrastructure — especially the infrastructure of trade — is one of its greatest weaknesses.

Learn More

The Root Force Strategy (taking down the system by fighting infrastructure expansion)

Infrastructure and indigenous sovereignty

Infrastructure and the environment

Infrastructure and global warming

More infrastructure fact sheets

Take Action!

Join people around the world on October 12-16 to say NO to the commercialization of life and the criminalization of indigenous and social movements, and YES to a world based on respect for all life. Join Root Force in the struggle against the infrastructure of global trade, and help us demolish colonialism at its foundations.

For help planning and publicizing actions, contact Root Force: rootforce [at] riseup [dot] net. You can find direct action, strategy and messaging resources here.

Send action reports to rootforce [at] riseup [dot] net. If you can’t pull together a direct action, consider holding events that promote anti-infrastructure organizing and action.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is tear-gassed by police, Sep. 30 2010

Police and some members of the military attempted to stage a coup in Ecuador on Thursday, September 30. Resistance by social movements and the majority of the military appears to have foiled the attempt for now, but the situation remains tense and the threat of a right-wing power grab remains.

For a good overview of a volatile couple of days, we recommend this article from Upside Down World.

We have often criticized Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa for his authoritarian tendencies, his support of extractive industry and his contempt for indigenous sovereignty.  Nevertheless, a right-wing power grab could undo many if not all of the gains that indigenous and anti-infrastructure movements have made in recent years. For this reason, indigenous groups in the country immediately condemned the coup attempt and are mobilizing against it. Their communiques are below (first unofficial English translations, then the original Spanish).

Call the US State Department at (202) 647-4000 or email them and insist that the US refuse to recognize any coup government in Ecuador. US waffling during the Honduras coup is a major reason for the ongoing state violence there.

From ECUARUNARI (Confederation of Peoples of Kichwa Nationality):

No more dictatorships in Latin America

Quito, September 30, 2010

In Latin America we have gone from bloody military dictatorship to the dictatorship of transnational capital to neoliberalism. The sectors that benefit from this have always been the same (bankers, commercial entrepreneurs, landowners). And we the impoverished, Indigenous, workers, men and women, have always been the victims, but we have always been fighters who stand for democracy of the oppressed. With this strength and legitimacy we reject any dictatorship from where ever it comes.

The political crisis in Ecuador at this moment caused by the insubordination of the police has been turned by police officers and some military sectors into a coup attempt, behind which is undoubtedly Ecuador’s right wing and the forces of imperialism.

We have no doubt that this political crisis is a right-wing reaction against the 2008 Constitution, adopted by the affirmative vote of 64% of Ecuadorians, and is therefore a clear threat to democracy, Plurinationalism, and the Sumak Kawsay (living well).

In the geopolitical dimension it is also a threat to the Venezuelan and Bolivian processes. It is not coincidental that reactionary sectors of the country celebrated the attempts of destabilization in the Venezuelan elections. They had this same attitude toward attempts to overthrow the Bolivian government. Now the conservative sectors of the country have been adding to these dictatorial attempts.

What is the position of the organized social sectors? The vast majority of popular organizations that resist against dictatorship and neo-liberalism of the pro-imperialist oligarchy in Ecuador, and despite our deep disagreements with the national government that has tried some of our leaders as terrorists, this is no reason to stand with our historic enemies. Behind the protest of the police and their wage claims is the claim of ignorance of the Constitution where we recognize many of our proposals and historical struggles.

Rafael Correa’s Citizen Revolution formed broad alliances with right-wing groups in mining, oil, agribusiness, etc., and attacked and persecuted popular left-wing organizations (especially the Indigenous movement) which leaves those reactionary sectors free to act in this way.

Leaving no room for confusion, our position is:

1. Reject the coup attempt and defend the Plurinational State.

2. We declare ourselves in permanent assemblies and alert to mobilize in defense of plurinationalism.

3. As part of a plurinational democracy, the only revolutionary alternative is to fight against supporters of the dictatorship, and to deepen urgent changes in the process of agrarian revolution.

4. We gather ourselves in a large plurinational dialogue of all Ecuadorians, in an atmosphere of peace and democracy to build a large plurinational consensus as the best way to resolve the crisis peacefully.

We have already suffered too much with dictatorships, Honduras still hurts. No more dictatorship in Latin America.

For the Governing Council

Delfín Tenesaca
President of ECUARUNARI

From A Coalition of Groups:

A process of change, as weak as it may be, runs the risk of being overturned or overtaken by the right, old or new, if it does not establish alliances with organized social and popular sectors, and deepen progressively.

The insubordination of the police, beyond their immediate demands, lays bare at least four substantial things:

1. While the government has dedicated itself exclusively to attacking and delegitimizing organized sectors like the Indigenous movement, workers’ unions, etc., it hasn’t weakened in the least the structures of power of the right, or those within the state apparatus, which has become evident through the rapidity of the response from the public forces.

2. The social crisis that was let loose today was also provoked by the authoritarian character and the non-opening to dialogue in the lawmaking process. We have seen how laws that were consensed around were vetoed by the President of the Republic, closing any possibility of agreement.

3. Faced with the criticism and mobilization of communities against transnational mining, oil, and agro-industrial companies, the government, instead of creating a dialogue, responds with violence and repression, as occurred in Zamora Chinchipe.

4. This scenario nurtures the conservative sectors. Already various sectors and people from the old right are asking for the overthrow of the government and the installation of a civil or military dictatorship; but the new right, from inside and outside the government, will use this context to justify their total alliance with the most reactionary sectors and with emerging business interests.

The Ecuadorian Indigenous movement, CONAIE, with its regional Confederations and its grassroots organizations states before Ecuadorian society and the international community their rejection to the economic and social policies of the government, and with the same energy we reject the actions of the right that in an undercover way form part of the attempted coup d’etat, and to the contrary we will continue to struggle for the construction of a Plurinational State with a true democracy.

Consistent with the mandate of the communities, peoples and nationalities and faithful to our history of struggle and resistance against colonialism, discrimination and exploitation of those who are below, of the poor, we will defend democracy and the rights of the people: no concessions for the right.

In these critical moments, our position is:

1. We convene our bases to maintain themselves alert and ready to mobilize in defense of true Plurinational democracy and against the actions of the right.

2. We deepen our mobilization against the extractive model and the imposition of large scale mining, the privatization and concentration of water, and the expansion of the oil frontier.

3. We convene and join together with diverse organized sectors to defend the rights of workers, affected by the arbitrariness which has driven the legislative process, recognizing that they are making legitimate demands.

4. We demand that the national government firmly depose every possible concession to the right. We demand that the government abandons its authoritarian attitude against the popular sectors, that they not criminalize social protest and the persecution of leaders: the only thing this type of politics provokes is to open spaces to the Right and create spaces of destabilization.

The best way to defend democracy is to begin a true revolution that resolves the most urgent and structural questions to the benefit of the majority. On this path is the effective construction of the Plurinational state and the immediate initiation of an agrarian revolution and a de-privatization of water.

This is our position in this context and in this historical period.

Marlon Santi PRESIDENT, CONAIE

Delfín Tenesaca PRESIDENT, ECUARUNARI

Tito Puanchir PRESIDENT, CONFENIAE

Olindo Nastacuaz PRESIDENT, CONAICE

Original Communiques

No más Dictaduras en América Latina

Quito, 30 de septiembre de 2010

En Latinoamérica hemos ido de las dictaduras militares sangrientas a la dictadura del capital transnacional con el neoliberalismo. Los sectores beneficiados siempre has sido los mismos (banqueros, empresarios comerciales, terratenientes). Y hemos sido nosotros, los pueblos empobrecidos, los indígenas, trabajadores, hombres y mujeres, los que hemos puesto siempre las víctimas; pero también hemos sido los luchadores permanentes por la democracia de los oprimidos. Con esa fuerza y legitimidad rechazamos toda dictadura venga de donde venga.

La crisis política que vive el Ecuador en estos momentos ocasionado por la insubordinación de la policía ha sido convertida por la oficialidad policial y algunos sectores militares en un intento de golpe de Estado, detrás del cual indudablemente está la derecha ecuatoriana y las fuerzas del imperialismo.

Nosotros no tenemos duda que esta crisis política sea una reacción de la derecha contra la Constitución del 2008, aprobada por el voto favorable del 64% de los ecuatorianos y ecuatorianas; por lo tanto, una franca amenaza a la democracia, a la Plurinacionalidad y al Sumak Kawsay.

En la dimensión geopolítica también es una amenaza a los procesos venezolano y boliviano; no es gratuito que los sectores reaccionarios de este país celebraban los intentos de desestabilización en las elecciones venezolanas. Esta misma actitud tuvieron frente intento de derrocamiento del gobierno boliviano. Ahora los distintos sectores conservadores del país se han ido sumando a esta tentativa dictatorial.

¿Cuál es la posición de los sectores sociales organizados? La gran mayoría de las organizaciones populares, que resistimos contra las dictaduras y el neoliberalismo de las oligarquías pro-imperialistas ecuatorianas, a pesar de tener profundos desacuerdos con el gobierno nacional, de tener a varios de nuestros dirigentes enjuiciados como terroristas, esto no es razón para ponernos del lado de nuestros enemigos históricos. Detrás de la protesta de los policías y de sus reivindicaciones salariales está la pretensión de desconocer la Constitución donde hemos logrado que sean reconocidas muchas de nuestras propuestas y luchas históricas.

La Revolución Ciudadana de Rafael Correa al formar alianzas amplias con grupos de derecha en la minería, en el petróleo, agronegocios, etc. y atacar y perseguir a las organizaciones populares y de izquierda (en especial al movimiento indígena) deja las manos libres a esos sectores reaccionarios.

*Sin espacio para la confusión, nuestra posición es*:

1. Rechazar la intentona golpista y defender el Estado Pluricional.

2. Nos declaramos en Asambleas permanentes y alerta de movilización en defensa de la plurinacionalidad.

3. En el marco de una democracia plurinacional la única alternativa revolucionaria es combatir a los partidarios de la dictadura, profundizar los cambios con la urgente iniciación de un proceso de revolución agraria.

4. Auto-convocamos para un gran dialogo plurinacional de todos los ecuatorianos; un ambiente de paz y democracia plurinacional construir grandes consensos como la mejor vía pacifica de solucionar la crisis

Ya hemos sufrido demasiado con las dictaduras, Honduras todavía nos duele. Ninguna dictadura más en América Latina.

Por el Consejo de Gobierno

Delfín Tenesaca
Presidente de ECUARUNARI

Un proceso de cambio, por más débil que sea, corre el riesgo de ser derrotado o juntarse a la derecha, nueva o vieja, sino establece alianzas con los sectores sociales populares organizados y se profundiza progresivamente.

La insubordinación de la Policía, más allá de sus demandas inmediatas, desnuda por lo menos cuatro cosas sustanciales:

1. Mientras el gobierno se ha dedicado exclusivamente a atacar y deslegitimar a los sectores organizados como el movimiento indígena, los sindicatos de trabajadores, etc., no ha debilitado en lo más mínimo las estructuras de poder de la derecha, ni siquiera dentro de los aparatos del Estado, lo que se ha hecho evidente por la rapidez con que reaccionó la fuerza pública.

2. La crisis social desatada hoy día también es provocada por el carácter autoritario y la no apertura al dialogo en la elaboración de las leyes. Hemos visto como las leyes consensuadas fueron vetadas por el Presidente de la República, cerrando cualquier posibilidad de acuerdos.

3. Frente a la crítica y movilización de las comunidades en contra de las transnacionales mineras, petroleras y agro-comerciales, el gobierno, en lugar de propiciar el dialogo responde con violenta represión, como lo ocurrido en Zamora Chinchipe.
4. Este escenario alimenta a los sectores conservadores. Ya varios sectores y personajes de la vieja derecha pedirán el derrocamiento del gobierno y la instauración de una dictadura civil o militar; pero la nueva derecha, dentro y fuera del gobierno, utilizará esta coyuntura para justificar su total alianza con los sectores más reaccionarios y a los empresariales emergentes.

El movimiento indígena ecuatoriano, la CONAIE, con sus Confederaciones regionales y sus organizaciones de base manifiesta ante la sociedad ecuatoriana y la comunidad internacional su rechazo a la política económica y social del gobierno, y con la misma energía rechazamos también las acciones de la derecha que encubierta forma parte de un intento de golpe de estado, y por el contrario seguiremos luchando por la construcción del Estado Plurinacional con una verdadera democracia.

Consecuentes con el Mandato de las comunas, pueblos y nacionalidades y fiel a nuestra historia de lucha y resistencia contra el colonialismo, la discriminación y la explotación de los de abajo, de los empobrecidos, defenderemos la democracia y los derechos de los pueblos: ninguna concesión a la derecha.

En estos momentos críticos nuestra posición es:

1. Convocamos a nuestras bases a mantenerse en alerta de movilización en defensa de la verdadera democracia Plurinacional frente a las acciones de la derecha.

2. Profundizamos nuestra movilización contra el modelo extractivista y la implantación de la minería a gran escala; la privatización y concentración del agua, la expiación de la frontera petrolera.

3. Convocamos y nos sumamos a los diversos sectores organizados a defender de los derechos de los trabajadores, afectados por la arbitrariedad con que se ha conducido el proceso legislativo, conociendo que son reclamos legítimos.

4. Demandamos del gobierno nacional a deponer toda actitud de concesiones a la derecha. Exigimos que abandone su actitud autoritaria contra los sectores populares, a no criminalizar la protesta social y la persecución a los dirigentes; ese tipo de políticas lo único que provoca es abrir espacios a la Derecha y crea escenarios de desestabilización.

La mejor forma de defender la democracia es impulsar una verdadera revolución que resuelva las cuestiones más urgentes y estructurales en beneficio de las mayorías. En este camino la construcción efectiva de la Plurinacionalidad y el inmediato inicio de un proceso de revolución agraria y desprivatización del agua.

Esta es nuestra posición en esta coyuntura y en este periodo histórico.

Marlon Santi
PRESIDENTE CONAIE

Delfín Tenesaca
PRESIDENTE ECUARUNARI

Tito Puanchir
PRESIDENTE CONFENIAE

Olindo Nastacuaz
PRESIDENTE CONAICE

Banner at Jul 28 2008 protest in D.C.

The two Indiana residents (Hugh Farrell and Gina “Tiga” Wertz) charged with misdemeanors for intimidation and improper use of property in the campaign against the I-69 “NAFTA Superhighway” accepted a plea deal on July 14. The defendants each pleaded guilty to two counts of trespassing and were sentenced to two years non-reporting probation and a $10 fine, plus court costs. If the defendants do not violate their probation in the first 15 months, they can have it terminated at that point.

The defendants had previously faced felony racketeering charges, but those were dismissed by the judge earlier this year.

The details of the plea agreements will eventually be posted on Hugh and Tiga’s support site, mostlyeverything.net.

The defendants have made it clear that they worked closely with their lawyers to make sure the plea deals do not implicate anyone else in any illegal activity.

Disclaimer: Opinions, statements or any information contained in this or any other communication from Root Force should not be taken as reflecting the beliefs of the defendants in any criminal or civil legal action, nor upon their guilt or innocence. Root Force posts, emails, and web site content reflect the perspective of Root Force only, unless explicitly noted.

Temecapulin, Mexico

On April 3, three self-identified federal employees entered the town of Temacapulin, in central Mexico, and issued death threats against residents and outsiders who have been organizing in opposition to the planned El Zapotillo dam. For two years, residents of Temacapulin and neighboring towns have been fighting construction of the dam, which would flood their villages and wreak devastation on the local environment. This October, Temacapulin will host the Third International Meeting of Dam-Affected People and Their Allies.

Please contact the President of Mexico and other government officials to demand the cancellation of the dam, an end to violations of human rights and an investigation of the death threats and other harassment of dam opponents.

Marcelo Rivera Mural

The Salvadoran anti-mines activist who we reported missing in late June is confirmed to have been tortured and murdered.

Community leader and activist Marcelo Rivera vanished from his community of San Isidro on June 18. On July 1, his body was found inside a dry well, with his belongings in an abandoned house nearby. DNA tests confirmed the body as his, and medical reports confirmed that he had been kept alive and tortured for several days before his murder. The pattern in this case is highly suggestive of the death squad killings that have plagued El Salvador and neighboring countries for decades.

The attorney general’s office quickly and conveniently concluded that there was no political motive to the killing and arrested four gang members as suspects. Officials claim that Rivera was drinking with the men and got into a fight with them and have closed the investigation. Fellow organizers, community members and family have rejected this narrative, insisting that Rivera was assassinated for his political work.

“To say that my brother died at the hands of gang members is not a credible story and it becomes an insult to our family,” said his brother, Miguel Rivera. “My brother was tortured; he was alive for 9 days after his disappearance. His trachea was broken with a nylon cord when they strangled him, forcing his arm toward his face. This is not the work of gang members; it is a crime of torture.”

The following account of Rivera’s life as an activist and the community response to his death comes from Claudia Rodríguez, Policy Director for the SHARE Foundation:

“Marcelo was an activist since his youth. In high school, he and his brother Miguel founded a community library in San Isidro; later they founded what it became the ‘Friends of San Isidro Association’ (ASIC), a hometown group with members in San Isidro and the United States. ASIC became the vehicle for community organizing in San Isidro. Through ASIC, residents work to improve their lives and defend their natural resources. They became unpopular with their municipal authorities when they opposed two of the main projects that the Mayor wanted to promote: a garbage dump and the development of the gold mining industry. Pacific Rim Mining Company’s main mining project in Latin American is El Dorado gold mine which happens to be in San Isidro, Cabañas. The mining company claims to have invested $77 million exploring the area; its managers hired workers and gained favors from the San Isidro mayor. ASIC, as part of the National Working Group against Metallic Mining in El Salvador (La Mesa), began a fearless opposition to the mining company. Marcelo was seen as the leader behind the community struggle.

“Moreover, Marcelo was politically active. In the January 2009 municipal elections, Marcelo, as an electoral volunteer supervising the voting centers, led a campaign to denounce and prevent the fraud that was about to take place in San Isidro when ARENA party members tried to bring illegal voters from the neighboring countries. As a result of the denunciation, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) suspended the elections in the town for one week. The incumbent mayor won the elections in the midst of the fraud scandal. After these events Marcelo was the target of verbal attacks, harassment and defamation campaigns. An ARENA member even tried to run him over with a car.

“None of these threats were ever investigated by the police and are not being considered in the current investigation. … In the meantime Marcelo’s family, his community and the anti-mining organizations throughout the country are mourning Marcelo. Hundreds of people attended his funeral last Saturday, July 12, in San Isidro. The streets of the small town were filled with people in all directions. The youth painted a mural in Marcelo’s memory at the community library that he and his brother founded. He was a beloved leader, an incredible and inspiring person. Marcelo will live in the hearts and minds of the people who struggle for peace and justice; his memory will be present in those who work to protect their environment and to make the world a better place.

“As a sign carried by a group of youth read: ‘Marcelo, nobody will quiet your voice, nor end your struggle. We demand Justice! You can kill people but not their ideals.’”

I-69 Treesit Platform

From www.mostlyeverything.net (links added):

“Indiana State Police [ISP] today [July 9] widened its case against I-69 resistance to target yet another individual. Apparently not content pinning years’ worth of diffuse intentions and attempts from myriad actors onto just Tiga and Hugh, the state served Philip Shelton a search warrant authorizing his forceful detainment for the purpose of obtaining photos, fingerprints, and DNA samples. Four officers (2 ISP detectives, a uniformed ISP officer and another from the Department of Natural Resources) surprised Philip at his near-westside Bloomington home early this morning and escorted him to the State Police post. There, they executed the search warrant while repeatedly offering to buy him soda, then invited him out to lunch. Despite their buoyant charm, Philip declined and was driven back home.

“Shortly thereafter, the probable cause affidavit requesting the search warrant was obtained from the Pike County Circuit Court, and the nature of the state’s interest in Philip further revealed. This document states that there are three reasons to believe that Philip ‘participated in the planning and/or execution of the July 9, 2007 office invasions’ (during which supplies in various I-69 planning offices throughout the state were moved outside, in protest of evictions along the proposed I-69 route). These are, rather explicitly, that Philip is alleged to live with Hugh Farrell, that he was last spring stopped by police while providing information about I-69 to residents living around its proposed corridor, and that someone in a car registered to Philip allegedly visited an I-69 planning office to inquire about the project.

“In posting this affidavit, we do mean to highlight the absurdity of the state’s legitimating a forceful seizure of a DNA sample with a list of quite clearly legal acts. But the accusations levied against Philip are consistent with those of the larger case against I-69 resistance (and the years of surveillance upon which it is based), trends which ought give greater pause than a run of the mill ‘breach of civil liberties.’ What is being actively pursued is the criminalization of those social relationships, relationships already existing between friends and those being sought after, which, in their struggle to constitute other existences, are threatening to the projects of the state. As its collection of surveillance records unfolds (while, we’re reminded today, being built up further), one can see this increasingly well. In the language of the court’s ‘discovery’ and the mutterings of the detectives, with their talk of conspiracy, their fixation on rooting out individuals as members of some group (‘roadblock earthfirst’ – rarely defined but through internet citings), and their targeting of attempts to communicate, their intentions are clear and not to be taken lightly.”

Disclaimer: Opinions, statements or any information contained in this or any other communication from Root Force should not be taken as reflecting the beliefs of the defendants in any criminal or civil legal action, nor upon their guilt or innocence. Root Force posts, emails, and web site content reflect the perspective of Root Force only, unless explicitly noted.

banner at Jul 28 '08 DC I-69 protest

Hugh Farrell, who has been indicted on misdemeanor and felony charges of intimidation, improper use of property, and corrupt business influence for publicly organizing against the I-69 “NAFTA Superhighway”, has released an open letter to his supporters. In the letter he writes, among other things, about the significance of the fight against I-69:

“What the State really fears are collective dinners where many people can sit down together to begin, however awkwardly or painfully, making sense of a highway project that no layperson was ever meant to grasp. The State fears those moments when marginalized young people like me, from the cities or suburbs and seemingly disillusioned with everything, begin to break out of our imposed and self-imposed isolation. They fear it when we begin talking with people very different from ourselves, with farmers and others, about the different and similar ways I-69 will impact our lives.”

Hugh and his co-defendant Tiga face a maximum of 12 years in prison. Support is still needed, including funds, since less than a third of their total estimated legal costs of $30,000 has been raised so far. Please visit their support site at www.mostlyeverything.net.

Disclaimer: Opinions, statements or any information contained in this or any other communication from Root Force should not be taken as reflecting the beliefs of the defendants in any criminal or civil legal action, nor upon their guilt or innocence. Root Force posts, emails, and web site content reflect the perspective of Root Force only, unless explicitly noted.

Community members have begun staging protests demanding that the government act

Political murders and disappearances have been on the rise in El Salvador, an enduring legacy of violence from the country’s civil war.

If you have any information, please contact ASIC immediately at asic.org@gmail.com.

UPDATE (June 28 2009): Pacific Rim has been exploring for gold in the El Dorado mine located in Cabañas and is currently suing El Salvador under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) because the government has refused to grant the company permits to begin gold mining extraction.

Open Pit Mine in Panama

Also, please check out this web site about the Good Time Bill, a bill in Congress that would make it easier for federal prisoners to get reduced sentences for good behavior. Daniel McGowan has been working on supporting this bill, which would benefit all federal prisoners.