Social activists at risk - Real World Radio

Features / Social activists at risk

In this section Real World Radio aims to expose the murders of social activists and the cases of death threats against leaders. We will report on the wave of criminalization of the social protest. This new section of Real World Radio is also a memorial page for all those who were murdered in their struggle for a socially just world.

This special section is funded in part by the European Commission.

27 May 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Interview with Guatemalan leader Yolanda Oquelí, after violent eviction attempt in La Puya

Tear gas bombs and bullets targeting adults, children and older people, by the public security forces. This is a scene that can be seen more and more often in Latin American countries. The shameful use of this type of violence shares a common end: remove communities from territories seen as a business opportunity and source of profit by big transnational companies. Read more
14 May 2014 | Interviews | Colombia: National Agrarian Summit | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Colombia: “a strike for them to listen to us, another strike to sign agreements and another one to have them enforced”

Two weeks after the Agrarian Peasant Summit went on strike in Colombia and as the protest measure gets stronger, the 11 organizations that make up said Summit reached their first victory since they started a new stage in the struggle for the Colombian countryside in 2013 with the first National Agrarian and Peoples´ Strike. Read more
6 May 2014 | Interviews | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Small community in Liberia stands strong against land grabbing

Liberia, a country located in the West coast of Africa has been hit by two civil wars (one in 1989 and the most recent one in 1999). Conflicts have left the country generally weakened and particularly in terms of food sovereignty. Far from armed conflicts, Liberians are now facing a land grabbing process that is further threatening their ability to produce their own food. As a response to this advance, a community in Grand Bassa county managed to successfully resist the encroachment of a British palm oil company, ensuring their right to the territory and their way of living. Read more
6 May 2014 | Interviews | No to the coup d’état in Paraguay | Social activists at risk

Five more peasant leaders imprisoned in Paraguay

Last April 25, leaders Mariano Ayala, Roque Insfrán Martínez, Antonio Duarte Legal and Daniel Pérez Gómez were imprisoned after being accused of home invasion, in Presidente Hayes department, Paraguay. Through a press release, the National Coordination of Peasant Organizations (MCNOC) denounced these imprisonments and demanded their release, in addition to the release of Milciades Atiensa, who was arrested last weekend in Alta Vera disctrict, Itapua department. Read more
6 May 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Colombia: New national agrarian strike will take place earlier in response to lack of commitments by the government

Different Colombian peasant, indigenous, afro-descendant, environmentalist and urban organizations started on Monday a new national agrarian strike. The measure is being implemented in response to the lack of concrete commitments by the government led by Juan Manuel Santos to address the crisis of the agricultural sector in the country, in addition to other issues of special concern for social organizations and movements, such as the official model of free trade and the mining/energy national policy. Read more
29 April 2014 | Videos | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Goldcorp denounced at international level; communities demand justice

The Meso American Movement against the Extractive Model, M4, is denouncing and demanding Canadian company Goldcorp to be held accountable for the health and environmental impacts of their mines in several parts of Latin America. Watch video
28 April 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Another death caused by the Santa Rita Hydroelectric Project

On April 7, hitmen hired by landowner Sandino Ponce, of Alta Verapaz department, Guatemala, shot against q´eqchies community members of Nueve de Febrero, injuring 5 of them. Last Sunday, April 20, one of them died due to the injuries. Read more
22 April 2014 | Videos | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Mexico: Temacapulin inhabitants, threatened by El Zapotillo dam, demand Jalisco governor to keep his word

In the context of the urgent actions to avoid the forced eviction of the Temacapulin inhabitants, in addition to Acasico and Palmarejo communities, against the threat to be flooded by the building of El Zapotillo dam, a video gathered the messages addressed to Jalisco governor, Aristoteles Sandoval, to keep his word and respect the will of the community. Watch video
14 April 2014 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

House arrest granted to the five Curuguaty prisoners on hunger strike

At 10pm on Saturday, Lawyer Vicente Morales, one of the attorneys of the five Curuguaty prisoners who have been on hunger strike for the past 58 days received a message from Judge Ramon Trinidad Zelaya who was notifying him of the decision to grant house arrest to the prisoners. Read more
14 April 2014 | Special reports | Victims of climate change | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Jalisco authorities now support expansion works in El Zapotillo Dam; in Temacapulin the resistance continues

In an action typical of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Jalisco State´s governor authorized the expansión works in El Zapotillo Dam, which would flood the populations of Temacapulin, Acasico and Palmarejo, contradicting his own committments and promises to the community. Read more