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.

28 September 2011 | Interviews | Mesoamerican Meeting against Dams | Social activists at risk

Dam Epidemic

Panama: Interview with Feliciano Santos, coordinator of the Movement in Defense of Territory of Bocas del Toro Archipelago

The Panamanian government is imposing what indigenous movements call a “dam epidemic” after Law 8 to amend the Code of Mineral Resources was repealed. The law aimed to attract foreign investment in the sector. The mining threat gave way to the threat caused by big hydroelectric projects. Read more
27 September 2011 | Interviews | Mesoamerican Meeting against Dams | Free Honduras | Social activists at risk

Displacement and Repression in Honduras

Interview with Salvador Zuñiga, member of COPINH

Real World Radio interviewed Salvador Zuñiga, leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). He said that several Honduran communities are suffering increasing displacement and harsh repression since the coup d'état in June 2009. Read more
5 September 2011 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

Lives under threat

Costa Rica: Indigenous community endangered for defending their lands

Families of the bribri indigenous of the keköldi community in Costa Rica are fighting to recover lands they claim as their own. They have recently suffered numerous assaults, including some by the local police. Now their lives are under threat by private security guards of an Italian businessman. Read more
29 August 2011 | News | Social activists at risk

Repeatedly

Another peasant leader murdered in Para State, Brazil

Valdemar Oliveira Barbosa was known as Piauí and was a member of the Rural Workers’s Union of Marabá, a city located in Para State, Brazil. Read more
2 August 2011 | News | Social activists at risk

Same old story

North of Argentina once again hit by violence and death

Four people dead was the result of the violent repression by security forces in Jujuy while they were trying to evict hundreds of families from an impromptu settlement installed after taking the lands. Read more
27 July 2011 | News | Social activists at risk

Against Impunity

National and international trade union organizations demand justice in Guatemala

Last Thursday July 21, the second International Conference Against Impunity and for the respect of trade union, labour and human rights was held in Guatemala. Workers from different countries met to check the progress made in terms of safety and justice in Guatemala. Read more
27 July 2011 | News | Social activists at risk

On the alert

Environmental activists concerned over escalation of crimes against social leaders in Latin America

The network of environmental organizations Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) expressed once again its solidarity with the family of Ecuadorian young leader Marlon Lozano Yulan, of Tierra y Vida organization, who was murdered on July 20th in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Read more
27 July 2011 | News | Social activists at risk

A distorted cause

Brazilian organizations call for President’s intervention in case of murdered activists

The most important social organizations of Brazil claim government accountability and demand the intervention of President Dilma Roussef, to finally find the responsible for the death of José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and María do Espírito Santo, who were killed in May, in Para state, to the north of the country. Read more
21 July 2011 | Testimonies | Social activists at risk

Modus Operandi

Hired killers murder farmer’s rights advocate in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Another activist linked to the struggle for land in Ecuador was murdered, showing how defenseless social advocates are in that country. Read more
21 July 2011 | News | Social activists at risk

Vulnerable

Lack of action by the government puts the lives of workers in the Brazilian Amazon at risk

Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo were known in Para State, Brazil, for their activism in the struggle for land. They were shot and murdered in May. Read more