At the end of 2016, a small Indigenous political party, Yatama (Yapta Tasbi Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka/Sons of Mother Earth), achieved a victory in the Nicaraguan general elections and effectively confronted the dictatorial Sandinista state.

Cultural Survival condemns the action of of the Ecuadorian government in the raiding of the Indigenous Shuar federation FICSH and the arbitrary detention of its president Agustin Wachapa.  

In October, I visited the the Q’eqchi’ community of Nimlajacoc to support them in their application for funds from Cultural Survival’s Community Media Grants Project, what I found was an organized community who are a model of Indigenous resilience. 

On Thursday, December 15th Bangladeshi protesters from the Phulbari region were joined by climate activists in London outside of the annual general shareholders meeting of Global Coal Management (GCM) Resources Plc, a British mining company who wants to build a massive open cast coal mine by forcibly displacing 130,000 people in Phulbari, Bangladesh.

Cultural Survival is pleased to announce the launch of our Strengthening Indigenous Women’s Leadership in Community Radio Initiative. The initiative will support a cohort of Indigenous women in Central America through a series of training and network-building workshops enabling participants to gain leadership and practical skills in investigative journalism, community radio production, and technical equipment operation.

Daniel Ortega will continue in his third consecutive term as President of Nicaragua after being reelected on November 6, 2016, this time accompanied by his wife, Rosario Murillo, as his Vice-President.

Cultural Survival and Toronto based WACC are pleased to announce the first grantee of our Indigenous Community Radio Grants Project partnership. A new radio start up, Radio Xyaab’ Tzuul Taq’a (“Voice of the Mountains” in Q’eqchi) of the Maya Q’eqchi community in El Estor, Guatemala was chosen because of the immediate need to strengthen broadcast infrastructure and systems,  and the start up’s promise for continued success.

On December 10-11, and on December 16-18, a local Cambridge-based nonprofit will host two craft festivals highlighting Indigenous art from around the world. Among them, artists from various regions of Peru will participate. Their art will showcase the rich diversity of Peruvian Indigenous cultures, with crafts ranging from hand-carved wooden scenes called retablos, to silver jewelry inspired by pre-Columbian textiles, to music featuring Andean winds and strings.

The department of the Army will not approve an easement that will allow the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe. The following statement was released by Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II.

Over 400 civil society organisations from more than 50 countries today issued a joint open letter to the seventeen banks providing a US$2.5 billion project loan to Dakota Access LLC. The letter, endorsed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, demands that the banks involved immediately halt all further disbursements of the loan and require the project sponsor to stop construction work until all outstanding issues are resolved to the full satisfaction of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The letter and the full list of signatories can be found below.