<\/p>\n
MEXICO: MEXICO HAS ORDERED THE RELEASE OF TWO INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS
\nThe Supreme Court of Mexico, on Nov. 28, ordered the release of Jose Ramon Aniceto Gomez, 65, and Pascual Agustin Cruz, 49, considered by human rights organizations to be the only two prisoners of (environmental) conscience in the country. The two indigenous men\u2014activists for the universalization of drinking water\u2014had served two years and 10 months in a minimum security prison where they had been given a seven-year sentence for an alleged robbery that occurred during a confrontation between the indigenous authorities and the local political boss committed to the selling of water. The Supreme Court has now recognized the irregularities that surrounded this trial, including \u201ca lack of proof\u201d and the absence of lawyers and translators that spoke Nahuatl, the defendants\u2019 native language. Amnesty International has celebrated this news and has underscored that the defense for accessible water of these two men \u201chas been for decades a motive for disputes\u201d and precipitated the \u201cunjust detention and legal process\u201d involved in their trial.<\/p>\n
ECUADOR: ECUADORIAN INDIGENOUS FIGHT AGAINST CHEVRON GOES BEYOND THE COUNTRY
\nThe Ecuadorian indigenous peoples are seeking a freezing of assets in Colombia against the multinational oil company, Chevron. This would complete a list of four countries that are embargoing up to $18.2 billion in restitution the Ecuadorian court ordered Chevron to pay in 2011 for environmental damages to the Amazon occurring between 1964 and 1990, which seriously affected public health. The legal actions were initiated last May before the Brazilian Supreme Court of Justice and before the Canadian court in July and in Argentina in November. Argentina enacted an embargo against Chevron\u2019s assets, and the decision was almost immediately appealed. The embargo in Colombia is in judicial stoppage, but the lawsuit will soon be presented in court, according to one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs. The lawyer estimates that the judicial lawsuits brought against Chevron could very well extend to 30 countries. \u201cThe compensation (from Chevron) will be used to re-adapt or make usable again the 500,000 hectares of land and water, and to reconstruct the environmental and social life of the 30,000 victims,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MEXICO: MEXICO HAS ORDERED THE RELEASE OF TWO INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS The Supreme Court of Mexico, on Nov. 28, ordered the release of Jose Ramon Aniceto Gomez, 65, and Pascual Agustin Cruz, 49, considered by human rights organizations to be the only two prisoners of (environmental) conscience in the country. The two indigenous men\u2014activists for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1124,285,1964,331,284,811,1514,440],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-18040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin_america","tag-amnesty-international","tag-chevron","tag-chevron-oil-spill","tag-cuba","tag-ecuador","tag-indigenous","tag-latin-american-briefs","tag-mexico","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n