WNU #1008: Indigenous People Mark Oct. 12 With Protests

Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1008, October 18, 2009

1. Latin America: Indigenous People Mark Oct. 12 With Protests
2. Mexico: Marchers Back Electrical Workers Union
3. Mexico: UN Reports on Attacks Against Rights Activists
4. Puerto Rico: General Strike Protests Layoffs
5. Links to alternative sources on: Trade, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico

ISSN#: 1084‑922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate [at] gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/

*1. Latin America: Indigenous Mark Oct. 12 With Protests
On Oct. 12 tens of thousands of indigenous people in the region marked 517 years since the arrival of European colonizer Christopher Columbus by protesting around current issues such as the seizure of traditional lands by businesses and the damage to the environment from mining and oil drilling.

In Santiago, Chile, thousands of people marched along Bernardo O'Higgins Avenue in the historic center and rallied in a nearby plaza as speakers denounced “the Spanish invasion” of the past and the repression of Mapuche activists by the current government [see Updates #979, 985]. The Mapuche are the country’s largest indigenous group, and Mapuche activists and their supporters have carried out civil disobedience to reclaim land they say was stolen from them in southern Chile. Mapuche speaker Manuel Calfío stressed that Santiago’s Mapuche residents supported the demands of their brothers and sisters in the south. [...]

Read the full Update:
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2009/10/wnu-1008-indigenous-people-mark-oct-12.html