Global Voices » Mexico

Mexico, USA: Journalist and Author Sam Quinones Starts Blogging

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:18:42 +0000

Author and journalist Sam Quinones has started a blog about “Los Angeles, Mexico, migrants, culture, drugs, neighborhoods, border, and good storytelling.” You can also follow him on Twitter: @samquinones7.

Mexico: Josefina Vázquez Mota Wins PAN Primary

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:38:46 +0000

Bloggings by boz reports that “Josefina Vázquez Mota, a member of Congress and President Calderon's former secretary of education and secretary of social development, won the PAN [National Action Party] primary yesterday and will be their candidate for president.” He goes on to explain why he thinks her victory is “the best case scenario for the PAN.”

Mexico: Discussing Nonviolence with Javier Sicilia

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:42:33 +0000

Fred Rosen interviewed Javier Sicilia, founder of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. Rosen will report on the conversation in upcoming posts in his blog at the NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) website; in this first post he focuses on “some excerpts on the questions of nonviolence and the process of dialogue.”

Mexico: An Interactive Map of the Drug War

Silvia Viñas — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:53:27 +0000

Diego Valle-Jones has created an interactive map of the drug war in Mexico. “You can link directly to cities or whole regions within Mexico and post them to Twitter and Facebook by clicking on the “Share This Map” link at the bottom of the box. You can even compare 2007 México with 2010 México and switch between drug war-related homicides and total homicides,” he explains.

Latin America: Museum Releases Digital Archive of 20th-Century Art

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:36:22 +0000

The International Center for Arts of the Americas (ICCA) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has released a digital archive of 20th-century Latin American and Latino art, which, “is now available, free of charge, to the research and teaching community as well as to the public at large.” Culture magazine Ñ [es] briefly interviewed Mari Carmen Ramírez, the project's director.

A Guide to Crowdsourcing in Latin America

L. Finch — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:16:36 +0000

Crowdsourcing, also known as “mass collaboration,” allows anyone with an Internet connection to generate useful content for the masses. In Latin America, numerous crowdsourcing projects have arisen that respond to the various needs and emergencies that the continent is facing, such as Heroreports [en], which geotags acts of kindness in Mexico, or LluviasVe [en], which maps events caused by strong rains in Venezuela. Crowdsourcing has become a fundamental tool in Latin America to foment and utilize citizen participation in an effort to inform.

On January 14, 2012, Jacinto Lajas published “A guide to crowdsourcing in Latin America [es] on Periodismo Ciudadano, an online blog that hosts discussion and debate about citizen journalism. Below we have republished the article under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Spain license (CC BY-NC 3.0).

Americas Society (AS) is the leading forum dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas. Its mission is to foment understanding of current political, social, and economic issues that Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada are facing, as well as to augment public awareness of and appreciation for the diversity of the New World's cultural heritage and the importance of interrelationships between the diverse peoples of the Americas.

Within this mission falls the logical observation of changes effected by technological advances in the Americas, and in that same spirit comes the publication of a guide to crowdsourcing in Latin America, highlighting projects that have developed in different countries throughout the region.

The preface to the list of projects explains how crowdsourcing has become a popular method of citizen participation in compliance with the law, public health, consumer rights, and social issues in Latin America, one of the regions with the largest growth of Internet penetration in the world:

El número de usuarios de Internet creció a 112 millones en enero de 2011 –un aumento del 15 por ciento respecto al año anterior. En Brasil, Colombia, México y Venezuela, las tasas de crecimiento del uso de Internet aumentaron en un 20 por ciento o más durante el mismo período. También va en aumento es el uso del teléfono de última generación: en 2011, uno de cada cinco teléfonos celulares vendidos en América Latina fue un smartphone y, en 2010, las ventas de estos teléfonos en la región aumentaron en un 117 por ciento. Con un mayor acceso a Internet, más latinoamericanos están utilizando las redes sociales: 114.500.000 personas utilizaban sitios como Facebook y Twitter en junio de 2011.

The number of Internet users grew to 112 million in January 2011 -an increase of 15 percent over the previous year. In Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela, the growth rate of Internet use increased 20 percent or more during the same period. An increase in high-end telephone use also was observed: in 2011, one out of every five mobile phones sold in Latin America was a smartphone, and in 2010, sales of these telephones in the region grew by 117 percent. With such widespread access to the Internet, more Latin Americans are using social networks: 114.5 million people utilized websites such as Facebook and Twitter in June 2011.

A promising prospect. Just as the proliferation of participatory projects –some mentioned here [es]– is in Latin America. Below you will find the list of projects included in the guide. You can find more information about each project in the original publication in Americas Society [en].

Argentina
- Mapa del Narcotráfico [es]
- Mapa de la Inseguridad [es]
Brasil
Chile
Costa Rica
- LocalCrime.org [available in en, es, fr]
- Quien Paga Manda [es]
Honduras
- Honduras Health Mapping [en, available in 24 languages]
México
Panamá
- Mi Panamá Transparente [es]
Perú
- Que No Te Roben [es]
Venezuela
- Quiero Paz [es]
- Victeams [es]

Latin American Sites and Bloggers Protest PIPA and SOPA

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:43:16 +0000

Several Latin American blogs like SitioCero [es], alt1040 [es], and Sentidos Comunes [es] have joined the online protests against U.S. anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA. Some are speaking out against similar local laws, like the bloggers behind the Mexican blog network Indie Weblogs [es]. Popular series and film site Cuevana.tv is also participating [es].

Mexico: Netizens Mobilize for the Tarahumara Indigenous People

Andrea Arzaba — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:12:42 +0000

Update (18 January, 2012):

Univisión has continued to cover the alleged suicides by the Tarahumara indigenous people. In a post in their Tumblr page they report that they have “come across information that casts a cloud of doubt over these claims.” They point out, however, that, “All of the sources Univision News spoke to confirmed that there is a food emergency in Raramuri territory, with government agencies delivering emergency food rations, that can last for up to a month, but that are not expected to outlast the current drought in Northern Mexico.”

Unconfirmed reports of the suicide of 50 Tarahumara indigenous people from the northern state of Chihuahua to avoid starvation have mobilized Mexican netizens. The Tarahumara, also known as Raramuri, are facing various issues like the loss of their language, the exploitation of their land, unsustainable sources of income and severe malnutrition.

In a video published on YouTube, Ramón Gardea, a member of the Organized Front for Indigenous Farm Workers, declared that 50 Tarahumara Indians had committed suicide after failing to get food [es] for themselves and for their children.

Although there is insufficient evidence to prove the suicides, the alarming state of malnutrition and poverty among the Tarahumara indigenous is a reality.

Netizens from all over the country immediately expressed their concern. On Twitter, using the hashtag #SierraTarahumara, a national movement sprung up as users expressed their indignation and organized to collect provisions in neighborhoods, churches and universities.

Raramuri mother and child. Image by Victor Hugo García Ulloa, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license

Humberto Cantu (@dermacantu) compares the money that will be spent [es] for the Pope's visit with the lack of help for the Tarahumaras:

Van a gastar MILLONES en la visita del #papa, pero no hay para apoyar a nuestros hermanos de la #sierratarahumara …un poco de sensibilidad

They will spend millions on the Pope's visit, but there is not enough to support our brothers in the #sierratarahumara … a little sensitivity

Mexican writer León Krauze (@Leon_Krauze) makes a direct comparison with what is happening [es] in the country today:

La terrible situación en la #SierraTarahumara ilustra perfectamente la tragedia mexicana de nuestro tiempo. Qué doloroso…

The terrible situation in the #SierraTarahumara perfectly illustrates the Mexican tragedy of our times. So painful …

Marcelo Ebrard (@m_ebrard), Head of Government in Mexico City, asks for support:

ProtecciÓn civil del GDF ya haciendo acopio para la Sierra Tarahumara ,debemos apoyar todos a las comunidades de la sierra

Civil Protection of the GDF (Government of Mexico City) is gathering groceries for the Sierra Tarahumara, we must support all communities in the Sierra

The blog Animal Politico reports that the government of Chihuahua denied the 50 suicides [es] mentioned in the YouTube video:

A unas horas de que se diera a conocer un video donde se denuncian supuestos suicidios por hambre de raramuris en la Sierra Tarahumara y de que usuarios de las redes sociales organizaran colectas de alimentos, el gobierno de Chihuahua negó que haya suicidios masivos en la zona.

A few hours after the release of a video denouncing alleged suicides of Raramuris because of hunger in the Sierra Tarahumara, and after social media users organized food drives, the government of Chihuahua denied that there have been massive suicides in the area.

Furthermore, on Tumblr, Univisión published a story on the alleged suicides and added a note correcting and updating some information:

In the original version of this article we wrongly attributed the statement that 50 indigenous people had committed suicide to Jesus Quiñones, an official in the Mexican Village of Carichi, who had been quoted in Mexican newspapers as saying this. We called Quiñones, and he denied that there had been any suicides in his municipality, although he stated that indigenous people in the area are suffering from serious nutritional problems, and were delivered emergency food supplies by the state and local government last week.

Quiñones added that the statements about the indigenous suicides were made by Ramon Gardea, an officer for the Organized Front for Indigenous Farm Workers. A man who is referred to as Ramon Gardea indeed appears on a YouTube video making these claims, and the video is attributed to Chihuahua’s channel 28. Quiñones said he has never met Gardea and said that he did not understand where the story about the suicides came from. This is a developing story.

Mexico: Human Rights Commission Publishes Preliminary Report on Killing of Guerrero Students

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:23:22 +0000

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has published a preliminary report on the investigation around the killing of two students during a protest in Ayotzinapa, in the state of Guerrero, on December 12, 2011. Aguachile summarizes some of the Commission's findings.

Latin America: Politicians' #TwitterFail

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:23:06 +0000

Erwin, in The Latin Americanist, highlights four recent social media interactions which have hurt the image of politicians in Chile, Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico.

COP17: Young Trackers Share Final Thoughts on Climate Change Talks

Andrea Arzaba — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:24:04 +0000

Adopt a Negotiator Project trackers updated their blogs daily during the two weeks of climate change talks at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP17, held from November 28 to December 9, 2011, in South Africa. Trackers followed negotiations from their regional perspectives, writing in languages like Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, French, Polish and English.

One of the major results of the conference was the second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding international treaty to reduce green house emissions. However, the commitment was weak, as major polluters like Canada, US, Japan, Russia, Australia and New Zealand refused to sign into this second period.

Climate activists and organizations of civil society were disappointed about the outcomes of the conference, especially because countries agreed to a new legal instrument that will replace the Kyoto Protocol by 2020, when urgent action is needed.

Here are were some of the most relevant conclusions written by the trackers:

South Africa tracker Alex Lenferna reports on the final events in the post “An Interim Disappointment at COP 17″:

I should be on a bus home now; instead I’m sitting in the ICC waiting for the proverbial white smoke to emerge as ministers try to bring COP17 to a close. Last night was supposed to be the closing night for COP 17, but there has been much disagreement among the global community around some very problematic texts that are being discussed around long-term cooperative action and the Kyoto Protocol…

Farrukh Zaman, following Pakistan, writes in “Decisions at COP17: Delayed or Derailed?”:

So while the delay has happened at COP17, let’s hope the negotiations don’t get derailed by postponing them till next year. But just one thing of caution, even though time has and is running out, we don’t need haste decisions; rather we want fair, ambitious and balanced package out of Durban. If that can’t happen here, then COP bis can be our last resort.

France tracker Sébastien Duyck in “Endless conference towards an agreement on never ending negotiations” concludes:

Regarding negotiations for a comprehensive agreement that would include legally binding targets for emissions reduction, the Presidency proposes yet another extension of the discussions. This approach convinces few among the observers still in the conference venue. It appears that we keep relaying on the same solutions (creating a new ad-hoc working group…), despite the fact that they have already been tested repeatedly in the past and have not delivered any successful outcome since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Daily Trackers meeting - COP17, Durban. Photo by Andrea Arzaba

In “Do białego rana. Noc kobiet” (”Until dawn. Women's Night”), Milosz Hordun, Poland's tracker, says:

Ta noc należy do kobiet. Po pierwsze jest Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, przewodnicząca obradom. Zdecydowanie zmęczona ostatnimi dwoma tygodniami. Stara się skutecznie prowadzić strony do celu, udowadniając że afrykański COP może być skuteczny i przełomowy. Często jednak się gubi w procedurach, musi prosić o wsparcie sekretariatu. Jest Conni Hedegaard, unijna komisarz. Także na jej twarzy maluje się zmęczenie. Widać, że trudno jest jej znosić ogromną presję psychiczną, związaną z rozbratem między oczekiwaniami wielu Europejczyków oraz środowisk ekologicznych na całym świecie a możliwościami negocjacyjnymi.

This night is a women's night. First of all, there is Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who chairs the session. She is definitively tired from the last two weeks. She does her best to lead the two sides towards a common goal, proving that the African COP may be successful and become a turning point. However, she gets lost in the proceedings quite often; she has to ask the secretary for help. There is also Connie Hedegaard - European Commissioner [for Climate Action]. Though tiredness is written all over her face, too. You can see how difficult it is for her to handle this enormous pressure as there is a gap between what many Europeans and environmentalist through the globe hope for and negotiating possibilities.

Priti Rajagopalan, from India, summarized the conference's accomplishments in the post “COP17-This is what happened“:

5.18am, International Convention Center, Durban

The verdict is out. What was accomplished at Durban.

1) Something called the Durban railtrack or trackroad ..oh, wait…platform.
2) Empty second commitment period
3) Empty green climate fund
4) Sleepy people most of whom had left by the time the final verdict was given.
5) How manipulative, apparently transparent democratic , multilateral process works.
6) People are looking for CBDR and Bali. If someone finds it, please return it.
7) Unclear mitigation target.
8) Massive failure of a peaceful kind.

To read other final posts of trackers following the United States, Mexico, Australia, China, Canada and New Zealand, among many others, visit Adopt a Negotiator Project webpage.

Andrea Arzaba participated in COP17 as a Young Tracker for Mexico [es].

Thanks to Krzysztof Pawliszak for translating Milosz Hordun's quote.

Global Voices Most Read Posts in 2011

Solana Larsen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:46:50 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Global Voices in 2011.

Our top 20 list of most read posts on Global Voices for 2011 includes four from Japan, three from Egypt, and two from the Philippines. But only one story is about a giant crocodile!

It's been an incredible year for the reach and recognition of citizen media around the world, and that means Global Voices is no longer as lonely a media voice when it comes to reporting tweets and blog posts. Still, where mainstream media interest wanes, we're the ones who strive to continue documenting what local bloggers everywhere need the world to know.

Self Defence Forces arrive at the scene of the tsunami in Japan. Image by cosmobot, copyright Demotix (13/03/11).

Some of our proudest moments of 2011 will never be reflected on a top 20 list like the one below. This year we exceeded 500 active volunteer authors and translators of countless languages and countries, and we've published more than 2,600 long posts and 6,300 short ones in English alone.

Inevitably, many of the stories that don't get as wide a readership as they deserve are from countries that tend to be overlooked in international media. Unique coverage from across Africa, the Caucasus, Macedonia, the Russian language Internet, Latin America and indigenous rights are among some of the highlights. See the 2011 regional reviews by our editors and authors for a glance of what you may have missed.

Our Middle East and North Africa team deserves special mention this year. Throughout protests, blackouts, threats, they have managed to pull though and keep writing. The bloody images still proliferate, but our authors seek out constructive voices and angles for dialogue. So often, they've shared local humor and context that is difficult to appreciate from abroad without a guide.

Perhaps for the first time ever, China doesn't figure on our top 20 list of the year. These are particularly chilling times to blog about controversial subjects - something Global Voices authors in many other countries unfortunately also experience. This makes the stories that do come from anywhere free speech is frowned on even more precious.

Most read posts on Global Voices in 2011

Our most visited special coverage pages were:

In 2011 the world has learned more about the transformative power of online citizen media. We believe the best way to support these emerging voices on a global scale is to listen. Thanks for reading Global Voices! And please consider supporting our work with a donation.

This post is part of our special coverage Global Voices in 2011.

Mexico Wake Up! Artists United for Peace Go Viral

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:37:47 +0000

The violence and impunity Mexico has been facing these past years have prompted artists, creators and media to join forces and launch a campaign to change statistics into names and stories. Through a collaborative project they are asking viewers to research other casualties and give voices to the victims of violence.

Artists have recorded several videos telling some of the stories of people who were murdered in Mexico. For example, singer Ely Guerra recorded herself speaking as Marisela Escobedo, a mother who fought to see justice for her daughter's death. Although her daughter's husband confessed to killing his wife, the authorities declared that there wasn't enough evidence.

After she managed to get him to trial once again, he was declared innocent a second time. Marisela Escobedo was murdered in front of the Justice Palace, where she was protesting and rallying for justice for her daughter. Both Marisela and her daughter's murders are still unpunished.

The full story in English can be found in the video's description:

Proyecto Ambulante [es] website describes the next video [es]:

Leonardo Amador Rivas trabajaba en la discoteca News Divine y perdió la vida el 20 de Junio del 2008, junto a otros 11 jóvenes. Un operativo de la policía en el lugar, sin organización, actuando con negligencia y regidos por la criminalización de estos jóvenes, acabó con sus vidas.

Piro Pendas (Ritmo Peligroso), músico mexicano, le da voz a la historia de Leonardo, que es la historia de nuestro país.

Leonardo Amador Rivas worked in the News Divine disco where he lost his live on June 20th 2008 along with 11 other young men. A police operation in the place, without any organization, acting negligently and ruled by the criminalizing of these young men, ended their lives.

Piro Pendas (Ritmo Peligroso), Mexican musician, gives voice to Leonardo's story, which is the story of our country.

Fifteen year old Victoria Castro from El Salvador was one of 72 migrants massacred in Mexico while trying to get to the United States. She tells her story through Diana García, a Mexican actress.

A call for citizen videos has been made through social network Facebook, hoping that viewers will take the time to research the story of one of the victims of violence and tell their story. All videos end with a commentary on how these crimes are only possible through the lawlessness and corruption of the Mexican State and urge their country to wake up. There is no deadline for the videos, since it is an ongoing project.

Los invitamos a participar en un video colectivo que pretende darle voz y vida a los que la perdieron en manos de la guerra contra el narco, de la impunidad y corrupción, en manos de la violencia que se vive actualmente en nuestro país. Los nombres se cambian por números y esto nos hace ajenos a la tragedia. Cada víctima tiene nombre y detrás de él existe una vida, una historia, una familia. La tragedia es nuestra, no de alguien más.

We invite you to participate in a collective video that means to give life and voice to those who lost them in hands of the war against drug trafficking, impunity and corruption, in the hands of the violence we live through currently in our country. The names are changed into numbers and this distances us from the tragedy. Each victim has a name, and behind the name is a life, a story, a family. The tragedy is ours, not someone else's.

Carlo Avilés gives voice to Juan Carlos Medrano, who when celebrating the triumph of his basketball team was murdered when an armed group arrived at the house were they were celebrating and started shooting. His best friend carried him to the hospital, but he didn't recover and died 48 hours after. Fourteen other youth were killed and about 20 others injured. All of them were between 15 and 20 years old.

Mexican online magazine Marvin [es] described the project:

Utilizando herramientas como YouTube y las redes sociales para crear fenómenos virales, “Nuestras vidas, nuestros nombres” pretende generar una consciencia colectiva acerca de las tragedias que vivimos a diario en nuestro país. La violencia no es solamente la que vemos en los medios, la violencia inicia en los hogares, y desde ahí es desde donde se tiene que generar una cultura anti-violencia.

Using tools such as YouTube and social networks to create viral phenomena, “Our Lives, Our Names” hopes to generate a collective consciousness regarding the tragedies lived daily in our country. Violence is not only something we see in the media, violence starts in the homes and from there is where we must start the process of generating an anti-violence culture.

Thumbnail and featured image shows bullet, by Flickr user elbragon (CC BY 2.0).

Mexico's ‘Political-Civic Disconnect' in the Search for Peace

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:13:03 +0000

Fred Rosen, from the NACLA blog Mexico, Bewildered and Contested, explains that when it comes to movements that seek an end to violence in Mexico, “there is a major disconnect between, on the one hand, the movements that have arisen from (and remain in) civil society and, on the other hand, movements that seek state power through the organization of political parties.”

Latin America, 2011: A Year Marked by Social Movements

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:07:04 +0000

As the Arab Spring unfolded throughout 2011, and as Spain’s indignados and the now worldwide ‘Occupy’ movement gained momentum, important social movements also rose up across Central and South America.

In 2011, Latin Americans took to the streets in big cities and small towns to defend their right to education, protect their lands from road and mining projects, and demand peace. Now, we remember the Global Voices Latin American team's coverage of these important mobilizations as we look back on 2011.

Student movements

Images of Chilean student protests made news around the world for months. While most international media focused on the recurring clashes between protesters and the police, on social networks citizens shared analysis, reports, images and videos from the ground.

For over six months, Chilean high school and university students staged various protests to demand an overhaul of the educational system. Students blogged and live-streamed their tomas (school occupations) documenting their experience inside the schools. They also uploaded citizen videos of cacerolazos (pot banging demonstrations) and the various incidents - negative and positive - that took place during protests, including a video which shows students stopping a group of violent protesters.

The student movement remained a hot topic on social networks as protests continued; in October, the Chilean Ministry of Interior presented an ‘Anti-Occupation' bill to congress and later invoked a State Security Law, heating up the debate among netizens.

Meanwhile, in Colombia, students and professors held meetings and protested against a proposal to reform the higher education ‘Law 30′ that would, among other things, allow private investment in public universities.

Six months later, workers and students joined in a nationwide demonstration, and university students began a university strike demanding the government withdraw the bill to reform Law 30 from congress. On the eve of a nationwide protest scheduled for November 10, President Juan Manuel Santos announced he would withdraw the bill if students lifted the strike.

Despite the announcement, demonstrations were held on November 10 and in Bogotá students ‘occupied' Bolivar Square. The next day, the Presidency's Twitter account reported the President had asked congress to remove the bill, and in the following days students began to gradually return to class.

"We've said: enough" Students protest on November 10, 2011 in Bogotá. Image by Flickr user Juan Camaron (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

But student protests had not ended for the year. Inspired by the student movements in Colombia and Chile, on November 24, students throughout Latin America marched to demand free, high-quality education.

Controversial projects

In 2011, several Latin American countries faced a recurring dilemma: mines, roads, and other projects that promised economic growth and development also raised environmental concerns and threatened to infringe upon indigenous rights.

In June, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced a controversial project to build a road that would go through the Indigenous Territory National Park Isiboro Sécure (TIPNIS); in August, indigenous groups and their supporters began a 500 kilometer march towards La Paz to oppose the project.

In September, reports of police repression against the indigenous marchers spread on social networks. As a result, citizens began to mobilize both online and on the streets to show their support for the cause to defend TIPNIS. Netizens like Luis Chuquimia (@chuquijosel) [es] described the arrival of the marchers to La Paz on October 19:

las calles pacenhas….quedaron flores, mixtura, banderas de papel…lagrimas, abrazos…sonrisas..pasos que calan historias #TIPNIS ES VIDA

the streets of La Paz….filled with flowers, confetti, paper flags… tears, hugs…smiles, steps that make history #TIPNIS is LIFE

Finally, on October 21, President Morales announced the road will not go through TIPNIS.

TIPNIS march. Image by Flickr user Pablo Rivero (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In November, in neighboring Peru, bloggers reflected on several mining protests, including demonstrations against the Minas Conga gold mining project in Cajamarca. A strike caused the company to suspend the project, which, as Global Voices author Isabel Guerra explained:

[is] considered to be the largest mining investment in the history of Peru, [and] according to its opponents threatens to destroy some 20 lagoons, which serve as a foundation for local ecosystems and a source of water for farming communities.

Protests continued well into December despite the suspension, as opponents called for the total cancellation of the project; as a result, the government declared a state of emergency. The conflict is not yet resolved, but local bloggers have continued reporting from Cajamarca, and social networks users from all over Peru will keep sharing their reactions as events unfold.

Another mining controversy that has caused mixed opinions involves open-pit iron ore mine ‘Aratiri' in Centro Chato, a small village in central Uruguay. In 2011, the controversial project divided Uruguayan netizens: some see it as an opportunity for employment and economic growth, while others are concerned about the environmental consequences and question whether the country will actually benefit from the mine’s profits. Developments will surely be followed closely by bloggers in 2012.

Marching for peace

Mexico's Drug War, a major military operation against drug cartels launched by President Felipe Calderón in December 2006, has left tens of thousands of victims. In 2011, Mexican citizens took to the streets and the Internet to say ‘enough'.

In May, Mexicans participated in a massive 4-day, nationwide march for peace, and demonstrations were also held in countries around the globe on May 8.

The march, which began in Cuernavaca on May 5 and ended in Mexico City on the 8, was organized by Mexican poet and activist Javier Sicilia, who became the leader of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity [es] after his son was killed.

With the Mexican blogosphere buzzing with commentary on the issue of violence, GV en Español organized a blog carnival on “Citizenry, Violence and Blogs”. The following posts summarize the results of the carnival:

Shortly after the Blog Carnival, reports of online activists becoming targets and victims of brutal killings stirred social networks. In a guest post for Global Voices Advocacy, ARTICLE19 explained:

Against a backdrop of endemic violence against journalists, social networks and other online communication platforms such as “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo” are increasingly being used by citizens - especially in Tamaulipas [to] break the silence around criminal activities that are not being reported in the press because of the pervading climate of fear and self-censorship.

As Mexico prepares to elect a new president in 2012, the War on Drugs and how to reach peace will surely keep the conversation on social networks going.

The Latin American team will work hard to amplify more of these important citizen voices from across the region in 2012. If you'd like to help us, we have several author vacancies for you to consider and there are multiple ways you can get involved in the Global Voices community. We hope you will join us as you continue reading, commenting, and sharing our stories; you can also follow us on Twitter @gvamericalatina.

Happy New Year!