ASUNCION, Paraguay – “In any moderately civilized country if you would spray your pesticides on people, you’d basically go to jail,” said Miguel Lovera, head of Paraguay’s agricultural enforcement agency. “In this country that wasn’t the case. It may still be the case in many places in the country that they may be spraying on the wrong places, on the wrong people, on the wrong animals – but we’re out there to put an end to this situation.”

Lovera is currently under fire for the agency’s destruction of 44 hectares of transgenic corn that were being grown illegally. Transgenic soy is currently the country’s main export, and vast swaths of the countryside have been bulldozed by foreign landowners to make way for the controversial crop, but so far soy is the only transgenic allowed for production.

Environmental and campesino leaders are trying to hold the line in protecting their native corn, and so far, the government is behind them. This podcast, which gives the background, was aired on Progressive Forum on KPFT, 90.1, in Houston, Texas.

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Interview with Paraguay’s Miguel Lovera

HUEHUETENANGO, Guatemala – They arrived in pickup trucks, in school buses and on foot, resplendent in the vibrant purples and reds, blues and yellows of their native highlands. They came by the thousands to witness a day that would mark history for their people: a visit from James Anaya, the world’s highest-ranking indigenous advocate, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Rights.

“There are some who believe the Mayans are gone, and all that remains are these ruins,” a man dressed in white was speaking from the stage. “We are here to tell them: we are alive, and we are hear to bring these monuments back to life.”

Listen to the podcast:
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Havana, at last

This time, the second time was the charm.

José Martí International Airport coasted into view, the city of Havana in sharp relief in the sunny background. This time I was headed for the main terminal, not the tiny old dark one reserved for arrivals from Miami. And this time, the journalist visa was firmly in my hand and I was ready.

This eight-minute podcast for Evening Edition, KOPN, 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo., shares a few highlights from my recent stay in Cuba.

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