IN PARAGUAY:

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

IN GUATEMALA

Cultural Survival: An Interview with Mark Camp

Mark Camp, Operations Director and now Interim Director of Cultural Survival, talks about the effort to support native peoples in their struggles around the world for their lands and their rights. Read about Mark’s efforts to support the Mayan people through community radio here.

IN BELIZE:

Interview with Albert Bates

Author, permaculture teacher and visionary Albert Bates talks about The Great Change, Latin America and his upcoming book, The Biochar Solution, in this three-part series.

IN MEXICO:

At home in Teopantli Kalpulli

Levi Rios, one of the leaders of Teopantli Kalpulli, shares the vision and the challenges faced by his ecological community in rural Jalisco, Mexico. See the full story here.

Building an Ecobarrio

Lomas de Platero, the largest housing complex in Mexico City with more than 30,000 residents, is the site of a new Ecobarrios program, which is changing the way people think about garbage. See the full story here.

Lessons from the Rainbow Peace Caravan

Alberto Ruz Buenfil, author, actor, visionary, and founder of the Rainbow Peace Caravan, reflects on the lessons learned in his 13-year journey through Latin America, and looks ahead. Read the story here.

PODCASTS

Introduction to the Esperanza Project, Progressive Forum, KPFT, Houston, Texas, Jan. 14, 2010

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Introduction to the Esperanza Project, Evening Edition, KOPN, Columbia, Mo., January 2010

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On the road in Huichol Country, Evening Edition, KOPN, Columbia, Mo., February 2010

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On the road in Havana, Cuba, Evening Edition, KOPN, Columbia, Mo., March 2010

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