Blogs

“It is not just the pandemic of Covid-19 that strikes and ends the lives of peasants, but another pandemic that is far worse. This is the forced and violent eradication [of illicit crops] by the Army.” Community member from Cύcuta, Norte de Santander, May 2020 These words come from a video that describes the fatal […]

Britain and the Dictatorships of Argentina and Chile 1973-82: Foreign Policy, Corporations and Social Movements by Grace Livingstone, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. ISBN: 978-3-030-08666-4 Reviewed for LAB by Pablo Bradbury Ask anyone active in the British left during the 1970s and 1980s and they are likely to remember stories about Chile: Hawker Hunter jets bombing the […]

Plans to build a massive EHV 230 kV power line 225 kms long from Óbidos in Pará state across the Amazon river to Parintins in Amazonas state, are being rushed through without prior consultation with the quilombola and riverine communities that will be affected. The power company applied for the provisional environmental permit to be […]

Fondo, directed by Alejandro Bercovich, Argentina, 2019 The complete film can be viewed from this link. Alejandro Bercovich’s documentary-critique Fondo starts with what looks like a slick, modern and engaging advertisement. ‘Countries of the world working together for the good of all’, it declares. This, however, is not Alejandro Bercovich’s own work, but a commercial […]

Brazil: cattle illegally grazed in the Amazon found in supply chain of leading meat-packer JBS Government data shows steep rise in illegal commercial cattle ranching in protected areas of Brazil’s Amazon Illegal commercial cattle ranching drives land seizures, violence and threats against indigenous peoples and traditional residents of reserves JBS urged to implement effective monitoring […]

Progressio, formerly CIIR, the Catholic Institute for International Relations, closed in June 2017 after 76 years of campaigning for social justice across the world, including Latin America. Jon Barnes has written the definitive history of the organisation which was, in 1977, one of the founders of LAB, and many of whose workers went on to […]

For the university professor João Cezar de Castro Rocha, Bolsonaro and his followers are defined by a revanchist and revisionist vision of Brazilian history. This narrative justifies the systematic creation and elimination of enemies, while simultaneously making it impossible to govern. Translated by Tom Gatehouse, as part of LAB’s ongoing partnership with Agência Pública. You […]

21 June 2020. It would be an understatement to say this has been a bad week for Bolsonaro. In fact it has been disastrous. The tide has turned against the President, in the courts, in the streets, in the press. The week began with the dismantling of a camp, set up in front of congress […]

Christian Aid responds to prospect of DFID losing its independence LAB adds: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced to parliament on 16 June that DFID, the Department for International Development, responsible for all UK overseas aid, will be merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK’s ministry for foreign affairs. While Latin America has […]

The 2,000 figure is an estimate by Brazil’s Federal Police, who have been carrying out operations in the reserve since March. Raposa Serra do Sol is normally home to 22,000 people. This report is part of an Agência Pública project entitled Amazônia sem Lei, which investigates violence related to landholding registration, demarcation of indigenous reserves […]