Latin American Indigenous Struggles - History and Analysis

Latin American Indigenous Movements in the Context of Globalization
By Juan Houghton and Beverly Bell | October 11, 2004

"Throughout the Americas, indigenous peoples are losing economic and social ground. Their fragile control over their lands, waters, and other natural resources is loosening. Both academic researchers and indigenous organizations show that market-driven global processes are increasing environmental deterioration and poverty in indigenous communities, blocking the viability of sustainable indigenous communities and societies."
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Self-Determination and Autonomy in Latin America: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
By Laura Carlsen

An analysis of the efforts of Latin American indigenous movements to define autonomy and self- determination as legally protected human rights.

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Building Civil Society Among Indigenous Migrants
By Jonathan Fox and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado

"The past and future of the Mexican nation can be seen in the waves of the tens of thousands of indigenous people who each year set out on their voyages to the north, as well as the many others who have already settled in countless communities within the United States... But the specific indigenous migrant experience also requires recognizing that Mexico is a multiethnic society where basic questions of indigenous rights have made it onto the national agenda but remain fundamentally unresolved. "

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A Brief Background on International Civilian Peace Involvement in the Chiapas Conflict

How international human rights observers have supported and protected the indigenous uprising in Chiapas.

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Indigenous Movements and Magonsimo
By Juan Carlos Beas and Manuel Ballesteros

"...Magonismo is an expression of what we call socialism. It has as its principal demands a call
for re-communalization, restitution of communal lands to the people and respect for the difference between the Indian people and an increasingly mestizo and western society."
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Underpinnings and Consequences
U.S. Policy and the Militarization of Mexico

Contents:
-A brief history of Mexico
-Current situation in Mexico
-U.S. military policy toward Mexico
-Human rights in Mexico
-What you can do
-Resources for advocacy work
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U.S. Military Bases in Latin America and the Caribbean
by John Lindsay-Poland

*Military bases in Latin America and the Caribbean are an interlocking web that supports U.S. objectives for securing access to markets, controlling narcotics flow, and obtaining natural resources, especially oil.
*Although the United States has closed bases in Panama and Puerto Rico, it has opened an array of smaller bases throughout the region, including several that support U.S. operations in Colombia.
*Base operations and maintenance are increasingly being contracted to private companies.

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