Last month, an article in Peru's penal code was modified to allow police and the military to use lethal force against protestors. Activist Elmer Campos Álvarez lives to tell the story.
Uruguay has earned a reputation as a democratic country, and the recent passage of laws implementing gay marriage and the legalization of cannabis confirmed its progressive stance. But becoming a top global exporter of iron ore could be a difficult test for this thriving democracy.
In a mining conflict country, police brutality under the pay of mining corporations is the ugliest side of community relations. With financial and logistical support from the corporations, the police find incentives to use force. What would Servando Huanca, Vallejo's anti-miner in El tungsteno (1931), have done about it?
Faith and large-scale mining have something in common: they both move mountains. On many occasions, the Church has been an obstacle to industry’s efforts to expand into Latin American countries. A growing movement connects anti-mining resistance, spirituality, and environmental struggles.
Pedro César García Moreno, a member of Conciencia Campesina and president of the Community Action of El Cajón-La Leona district, was shot dead close to his home on November 2. He had been actively involved in opposing the development of an open-pit gold mining project, had regularly attended environmental meetings, and had helped persuade many farmers in the area not to sell their lands to foreign miners.
