Radio Mundo Real

The Free Trade Agreements and the megaprojects destroy ecosystems. They also cause poverty, hunger, migration and delinquency. They exploit cheap labor and violate the rights of the Mesoamerican peoples, especially the native peoples.

These are the conclusions reached by the more than 600 participants of the 6th Week of Biological and Cultural Diversity, which ended on Friday in the Guatemalan community of Yalabmojoch, close to the Mexican border.

There were expressions of solidarity with the people of Honduras (because of the coup d’état) and Mexico (because of the invasion of GMOs). There were calls to strengthen the voice of the victims of climate change and a rejection to the advance of the Mesoamerican project, formerly known as Plan Puebla Panama.

The 6th Week demanded the Central American governments to ratify and enforce ILO’s 169 Convention on indigenous peoples rights, and called to strengthen the alternative communication as a tool to counter the flow of mainstream news.

The final declaration of the meeting is very clear when proposing alternatives: “It is urgent that the governments prioritize the sustainable life of the peoples and adopt a Good way of Living as a lifestyle”.

For this purpose a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is necessary, as well as banning big dams, consulting the communities about mega projects, leaving hydrocarbons underground, paying the ecologic debt and stopping the development of monocultures such as palm oil and sugar cane. The 6th Week also exposed the criminalization of the social movements and the dramatic situation that the women and young people are suffering in Mesoamerica.

“We had a very rich experience of brotherhood. We might say the social movements of Mesoamerica are becoming stronger” said Natalia Atz, member of Ceiba-Friends of the Earth Guatemala, one of the organizing groups.