An indigenous rights issue has put Costa Rica’s much-vaunted human rights record to the test as the country struggles to protect members of the Bribrí and Teribe indigenous communities from non-indigenous people who have forcibly, and at times violently, removed them from indigenous ancestral lands.
GUATEMALA CITY – An indigenous leader opposed to the production of palm oil was killed Friday outside a Guatemalan court that a day earlier ordered the closure of a factory against which he had led protests.
The Mashco-Piro of Peru have turned up repeatedly along river banks in the Madre de Dios region, begging for food from boat travelers. Their brazen appearances with bows and arrows have sown panic in some remote settlements, and they have ransacked others — making off with pans, clothing, machetes, even the occasional rifle, which they do not know how to use.
The Agua Zarca dam, which Goldman prize winner Berta Cáceres has been fighting since 2013, would displace hundreds of indigenous Lenca people and affect other communities downstream.
A shirtless man stands at the top of a gravel dirt road clutching a conch shell in both of his hands. He pushes the spiral shell to his mouth and it emits a deep, trumpeting call. The sound, which marks the beginning of the last day of the traditional Juego de los Diablitos, reverberates through the village
“Chunche” is one of the cutest words in the Costa Rican lexicon: It basically means “thingamajig” or “whatchamacallit.” Multimedia artist Benvenuto Chavajay uses the term playfully, but his installations do not share that casual cuteness.
GUATEMALA CITY – Eight indigenous people have died in a village west of the capital after a clash that saw residents turn guns on their neighbors over plans to build a road and a cement plant.
A community of 230 Orthodox Jews from several countries Thursday began leaving the Guatemalan indigenous village where they lived for six years after claims and counterclaims of discrimination and threats.
After more than 10 years of debate, lawmakers approved a bill in a first round vote Wednesday to reform Costa Rica’s Constitution to redefine the Central American country as a “multiethnic and plurinational” republic. The bill would add language to Article 1 of the constitution, which defines Costa Rica as a “democratic, free and independent” republic.
