AWASQA

    Venezuela: Dispute in Indigenous Yukpa Territory Due to Coal Extraction

    Human rights organizations sent out an alert last week in defense of academic and indigenous leader Lusbi Portillo, when the Venezuelan government accused him of being a “CIA agent” due to his work to defend the Yukpa territory against coal mining. More than 180 academics signed a letter in defense of Portillo’s life and in…

  • Manoomin, arroz salvaje

    New Lawsuit Filed to Defend the Rights of Nature and Wild Rice

    A few days before the bleak UN climate report was released, warning us how time is shrinking for humans to curb the climate crisis, Chippewa indigenous leaders presented a lawsuit on behalf of Manoomin, or wild rice. The lawsuit is making a last attempt to stop the construction of Line 3 oil pipeline by Enbridge…

    Peru: 50 organizations call for an ecological transition towards economic recovery

    FROM THE EDITORS: As Peru’s new President Pedro Castillo takes office and announces his government plan for the next five years—which includes promises to vaccinate 70% of the population by the end of the year, a new constitutional assembly, free college education, as well as expanding mining exploration and an active participation of the armed…

  • #FuturosIndígenas: New Initiative Seeks to Transform Narratives for Climate Justice

    A new communications collective that seeks to challenge and transform narratives for climate justice began its work the first week in June with a great enthusiasm and a warm welcome from local groups. Based in what is known today as Mexico and Guatemala, they are a solutions-based collective that uplifts the work and lives of…

  • Guatemala: Freedom for Bernardo Caal and for all water defenders

    FROM THE EDITORS: Bernardo Caal Xol has become a symbol of resistance in Guatemala, as well as of the criminalization of people defending Mother Earth. Caal is Maya Q’eqchi and together with his community organized a campaign against Oxec S.A., a transnational in charge of the construction of two hydroelectric dams on the Cahabón River,…

  • Peru: Rights of Nature Legislation Debated in Congress, Indigenous Women Call for Action

    SOURCE: Originally published by SERVINDI, translated to English by Awasqa. The National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP) held a sit-in to demand the approval of the bill that seeks to recognize the rights of Mother Nature. Following a call for action by the ONAMIAP, people gathered Monday morning [May 31]…

  • Treaty People Gathering

    Urgent Call for “Treaty People Gathering” to Stop Tar Sands

    We are facing a critical moment of extinction, staring at us straight on, with burning eyes that spell climate disaster. While global agencies like the International Energy Agency, a body created in 1974 specifically to ensure oil security, are calling for a phasing out of fossil fuels to transition to alternative energies; corporate oil can’t…

  • “Re-encuentro con la Pachamama” in Bolivia: An Environmental Response to the Climate Crisis?

    Bolivia’s government marked the Day of Mother Earth—adopted internationally in 2009 through a UN resolution, thanks to Evo Morales’ stewardship—by launching an event called “Re-encuentro con la Pachamama.” The event was called forth by Bolivia’s Vice President David Choquehuanca, former foreign minister (2006-2017) and Aymara union and campesino organizer in the 1980s, whose leadership was…