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QUITO, ECUADOR - Las Comadres—which loosely translates as The Godmothers, or “a very close friend”—is a feminist group fighting back against the nation’s restrictive abortion laws. Members accompany women through their abortion procedures and provide them with medical and legal information. Last weekend, they ran their first national workshop walking women through the process. The …
Continue reading "Abortion Escorts in Ecuador are Breaking the Silence (Ms. Magazine Blog)"
TAMIA YURA, ECUADOR – Benjamin Mamallacta Alvarado and his wife Dalia Tapuy were both recently sick, but instead of going to a pharmacy to pick up medication, they went into their backyard, which just happens to be in the Amazon rainforest. Born and raised in the Amazon, Alvarado has been using medicinal plants all …
Continue reading "What would you do if you had “nature’s pharmacy” in your backyard? (Mongabay)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - Liliany Obiando is finally free – after nine years. For almost a decade, Colombian sociologist, human rights worker and former political prisoner Liliany Obando has been engaged in a long and complex battle with the Colombian state and judicial system. She was charged with ‘rebellion’ in 2008, but this March the state officially …
Continue reading "Amnesty: A Win for Colombia’s Peace Process? (The New Internationalist)"
CALI, COLOMBIA - Colombia’s Pacific coast state of Valle del Cauca, home to at least 80 percent of the country’s booming sugar cane industry, continues to rebound after excessive and damaging rains in 2011-2012. In fact, recent USDA Foreign Agricultural Services report found that the country’s cane industry continues to reach “historical averages.” The rebound isn’t …
Continue reading "Colombia’s Cane Industry Efficient but Potentially Damaging (Mongabay)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - Indigenous leaders and activists gathered in Quito, Ecuador, last Thursday, March 9, to denounce the Ecuadorian government for its complicity in allowing international mining companies to take over indigenous territory. The biggest topic on everyone’s minds was the current conflict in Ecuador’s southern Amazon region. In recent months the indigenous Shuar community there …
QUITO, ECUADOR - The Brazilian economy isn’t looking great these days. The country is facing one of its most severe economic crises since the Great Depression, with unemployment at almost 12 per cent and inflation hovering around 8 per cent. The scene has caused a lot of anger, resentment and suffering across the country. But Brazilians …
Continue reading "A Closer Look at Brazil’s Economy (The New Internationalist)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - The Colombian peace process was dealt another huge blow last week, after the launch of the long anticipated peace talks with the ELN guerrillas was cancelled Thursday. This move left many people feeling even more concerned about the future of the country and its prospects for peace. Last week, the Colombian government and …
Continue reading "Another Blow to Colombia’s Peace Process (The New Internationalist)"
EL DIAMANTE, COLOMBIA - On 2 October, Colombia has a chance to put an end to a 52-year conflict, as it will hold a referendum on its historic agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). FARC are the largest guerrilla movement involved in the Colombian conflict, having started as a Marxist-Leninist peasant force in …
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - In an abandoned building in the centre of Brazil's financial centre of Sao Paulo, Marli Aguiar and a group of black women have come together to talk about one thing: what to do about Brazil's new interim government. After only weeks in power, it has become clear that this new administration …
Continue reading "Is Brazil’s Government Rolling Back Women’s Rights? (Al Jazeera)"
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - ‘Temer Out!’ ‘Against the Coup!’ and ‘Culture and Work!’ These are some of the signs plastered all over the walls of the Ministry of Culture building in San Paulo. Visual artists, filmmakers, designers, dancers, actors and many others have been occupying the building for more than a month, protesting the current impeachment …
Continue reading "Why Brazil’s Art Scene is Fighting the Impeachment (The New Internationalist)"
