The long struggle of two environmentalists who accuse Mexican authorities of arresting them on phony charges and torturing them has reached in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Mexican anti-logging activists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera were arrested on drug and weapons charges and allegedly tortured by the Mexican army in 1999 after they had participated in a movement of small farmers organized by the Campesino Environmentalist Organization of Petatlán and Coyuca de Catalán (OCESP). The farmers opposed logging subcontractors were doing for the U.S.-based Boise Cascade timber company in their home state of Guerrero. Although Montiel and Cabrera were freed on humanitarian grounds by former President Vicente Fox in 2001, their convictions were never overturned. “We are asking the court to...
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With President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s hand-picked successor enjoying a commanding lead in the polls, analysts expect Brazil’s next leader to continue the government’s strong support for development projects even when they come at a high environmental cost. Pollsters this month say Dilma Rousseff, a member of Lula’s centrist Workers’ Party who before launching her candidacy served successively as his Energy Minister and chief of staff, currently has the backing of 49% of voters. They expect her to receive enough support in the Oct. 3 election to avoid a runoff and win the presidency outright. Rousseff’s main rival, São Paulo Gov. José Serra, from the centrist Brazilian Social Democratic Party, is only polling at 28%. Serra is considered pro-development but at the...
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Two activist environmental groups have created an interactive Web site that tracks the number of dams planned or under construction in the Amazon basin, home to 60% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest. On Aug. 18, United States-based International Rivers and Proteger, an Argentine group, launched the “Dams in Amazonia” site (www.dams-info.org). The site provides economic, social, and environmental information on 140 new large dam projects that the organizations contend will damage the Amazon ecosystem and threaten the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of riverbank dwellers. It has English, Spanish and Portuguese editions, and gives the names of the companies carrying out the projects. The site also spells out the projects’ size and their impacts on indigenous groups and the environment in Brazil...
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