After ten years of denounces the inhabitants of the neighborhood of Ituzaingo, in Córdoba, surrounded by soy fields, justice prohibited fumigation with agrotoxins close to urban zones. Out of 5000 inhabitants, 200 have cancer. (newspaper reports in Spanish below).

March in Nueva Germania 11-12-08Landless and small farmers, united in the ‘Coordinadora Distrital Sin Tierra de Nueva Germania’ struggle to obtain a stretch of land in the community of Oñondivepá, and prevent it to be deforested and turned into a soy desert. Eight years of struggle now seem to become successful. See the video (part one and two) on this event below.

Tractorazo 15-12-2008

On the fifteenth of December, soy producers in Paraguay organised a ´tractorazo´, a tractor-display to show their fear for political change
and land reform. Long rows of farming machinery could be seen along some of the highways. The manifestation was not as massive as the organisers hoped for. On several places announced, the ‘tractorazo’ did not materialize – such as in Caaguazu in the center of Paraguay, and the amount of attendants was far lower than expected. A video can be watched below..

written by Jorge Zarate - December 11th 2008

“To take up this problem is an ethical compromise”, said Paraguayans health minister, Esperanza Martínez, announcing that a special Commission of which the Health Ministry and other state institutions forms part of, will control the impacts of fumigations with agrochemicals on the more than 2.6 million hectares that are being sown in the country. The minister said that it is necessary to have norms to regulate this issue. “At first it can be a decree that later sanctions a law; we have to take this up and stop worrying”, she explained.

por Radio Mundo Real y IPS and SomosParaguay.

Paradox has become a symbol of our time. There are plenty of examples in Latin America. In Paraguay, for instance, while the rural landowners start a day of protests to ask the government for “security and work”, it became public that four indigenous children were poisoned with agrotoxics, and that the youngest died due to lack of health care.

Lack of resources. That was the answer given by the health authorities involved to the Paraguayan health attorney who is investigating the case. The local papers report that the indigenous affected live in Canindeyu department. They were poisoned with agrotoxics used by the Brazilian soy producers and their long tour around the different health care centers began last Wednesday.

Land reforms! NO Steakholder Conferences! Banner Action at GM Soy Conference.

On December 9th A SEED Europe held a picket-line at the “Creating common sense on GM soy!”-conference in Amsterdam, where representatives from Solidaridad, WWF, Wageningen University and the soy industry were discussing sustainability risks and benefits of GM soy and formulating management options for companies.

The Round Table on Responsible Soy has been strongly criticised by many social and campesino movements from soy producing countries. Nevertheless, Dutch NGOs Solidaridad and WWF now go a step further by organising the 'GM soy debate - Common sense on GM soy' in order to make GM soy certifyable as 'responsible'. This shows how perverted the RTRS process really is.
With video of protest action in Amsterdam on dec 9, 2008

Below a translation of three newspaper articles on the deforestation that affects indigenous Wichí communities that live along route 86, in the North of Argentina. Source: Nuevo Diario de Salta

by Lorena Rodriguez
written for Upside Down World
represión 05/11/2008 en Asunción
Despite brutal police violence, last week campesinos celebrated the victorious ending of a three day long mass mobilization. Some five thousands campesinos from all over Paraguay gathered in the capital city of Asunción to celebrate what constitutes a first victory for the campesino and landless movement in Paraguay.

From 17 to 21 of November, the Brazilian government organised the International Biofuels Conference , aimed to promote global trade in agrofuels. 'Sustainability' criteria and 'marginal lands' were major themes at the conference, as well as trade barriers and innovation. At the same time, a coalition of Brazilian and international organisations and movements held a counter seminar "Agrofuels as an obstacle to food and energy sovereignty". The final declaration of this forum was read out during a press event inside the official conference. <

La Soja Mata was at the counter seminar, and went inside the official conference. Below you will find some impressions.

UNICA was one of the winners of the 2008 EU Worst Lobbying Awards. See the video about the Sao Paolo events made for this occasion: http://www.worstlobby.eu/2008/news/tag/video_agrofuels_lobby

Corporate Europe Observatory simultaneously published an article, highlighting the role of the Brazilian government and agribusiness in boosting agrofuel production and trade, both in Latin America and in African countries. See press release elsewhere on this site. Link to the article: http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/Cornering_the_market_in_agrofuels.pdf