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Latinamerica Press

Constitutional reform will affect the right to education

By José Pedro Martins Massive occupation of public schools and universities to protest the package of measures presented to Congress by Michel Temer’s government. More than 1,000 primary and secondary schools were occupied in almost all the states in Brazil…

Mexico: Economic violence against women

Latinamerica Press Almost half of all women over 15 years-old in Mexico have been victims of violence by their partner, according to the 2011 Dynamics of Domestic Relationships national survey of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). “Family…

The Caribbean: The cost of climate change

[clear] Caribbean nations are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme weather. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has calculated that the economic losses of climate change for Caribbean nations are US$7.5 billion yearly. “The…

Colombia: Agricultural strike persists

Farmers and truckers protest against government agricultural and trade policies. An Aug. 19 strike has since erupted into hundreds of thousands of largely farmers and truckers protesting the government for its trade and agricultural policies, demanding changes such as cheaper…

Cities and Good Living

ECUADOR, 2/7/2013 Government promotes project that seeks to recover and protect heritage cities. “People have the right to fully enjoy the city and its public spaces — under the principles of sustainability, social justice, respect of different urban cultures, and…

Fighting homophobia in Honduras where close to 40 LGBT citizens have been killed in the last two years

Forty years after the Stonewall riots, when a group of homosexuals stood up to police to fight a raid on a New York City bar, a milestone for the gay movement, that day Honduras saw the Americas’ first coup d’état of the 21st century. In the aftermath, a slew of human rights violations occurred, many of them violence against Honduras’ gay community.

Activists and academics seek to preserve native tongues and culture.

Academics and activists in Bolivia and Mexico in July took steps to preserve indigenous languages whose survival is threatened of dying out with more use of Spanish. The Autonomous University of Mexico has launched an audio library of the 300 indigenous languages and dialects spoken in Mexico. The library has 800 audio language samples so far.

Fighting privatization of education: Thousands of students march against for-profit education model.

Over 100,000 high school and university students and teachers have been protesting throughout Chile since mid-June demanding reforms to the country’s education system. To calm the demonstrations, President Sebastián Piñera announced on July 5 a US$4 billion-plan, financed using income from the copper mining industry that, he says, will make schools more efficient.

New transgenics law under fire as Lawmakers approve legislation to regulate entry of genetically-modified seeds.

Bolivian lawmakers on June 18 approved new legislation aimed at protecting food for the country, but critics argue it will lead to an influx of genetically-modified seeds because it would give power to the multinational genetically-modified seed and fertilizer companies to overrun indigenous communities with their products.

Demanding equality and dignity, indigenous women demand changes to ancient customs

Manners and customs are the indigenous peoples´ own forms of self-government and regulatory systems, which have been preserved since pre-colonial times, and that govern the lives of these peoples but some women from these native communities are demanding changes to these ancient practices they say infringe on their rights as people.

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