Fernanda Castro Purran, the Mapuche Pewenche champion of free rivers
Paula Huenchumil (CHILE) For the indigenous and environmental organizations of the Bíobío river basin, dams do not constitute clean energy. A fourth hydroelectric plant is being built there, and Fernanda is one of the main leaders opposing it. At 29, she is the director of the Ríos
The seedbed that resists afforestation
AZUL CORDO (URUGUAY) We thought we were never going to eat black watermelon again, but Claudia Cuebas, from the north of Uruguay, revived it. As an agroecological producer, she recovered a seed that seemed lost, multiplied it, and exchanged it at fairs and meetings with other rural pr
Andalgalá: the voice of the Algarrobo – Chronicle of a fight without legs but that walks
JUANA MALDONADO (ARGENTINA) Standing outside the police station, Rosita yelled a phrase at the top of her lungs that would be indelibly etched in the history of the struggle: “Why do those scoundrels who sit behind their desks drinking coffee, deciding what we need for Andalgalá, p
Lisa Tree Rings
minerva vitti (venezuela) In the midst of defending ancestral territories and caring for the family, many indigenous women leaders are the last in line for their own rights. Their bodies, the first territory inhabited by them, are the first to get sick. Through the story of Lisa Henri
The Women who Name the Silence of Cauca
JUAN MANUEL FLÓREZ ARIAS (COLOMBIA) In 2018, the largest hydroelectric project in Colombia, Hidroituango, was on the verge of collapsing because the mountain caved in, and the Cauca River threatened to create an apocalyptic flood. This crisis is paralleled by another story: that of t
Isabel, the woman who defends the river for which her husband was imprisoned
JODY GARCÍA (GUATEMALA) After the capture and conviction of community leader Bernardo Caal, his family, comprised of women, inherited the social movement that is fighting against a hydroelectric plant that diverted the river that supplies water to their community in Guatemala. It was
A daughter of the Earth, Edel Moraes is the voice of extractive peoples
Jessica brasil skroch (brasil) The defender from Marajó fights for the right to the territory as a place for the reproduction of life. In Marajó, the people and the land are one. “One day I just want to highlight the beauties of my Marajó. And say how many good people there are w
Germinda Casupá, an indigenous Chiquitana woman fighting fire
ESTHER MAMANI (BOLIVIA) The fires that caused havoc in the Bolivian Chiquitania—the largest dry forest in the world—left dead animals and damaged trees and plants in their wake and affected indigenous families. In response to this catastrophe, indigenous women assumed the defense
Alicia Cahuiya: “Let us live as Waorani!”
GABRIELA RUÍZ (ECUADOR) This Waorani leader has spent 30 years fighting the oil capitals, which invade and pollute Yasuní park, one of the most biodiverse places in the world as well as having the largest oil reserves in Ecuador. Given the announcement by President Guillermo Lasso t
Estela Casanto: the traditional healer who died defending her territory
anthony quispe (perú) An indigenous Peruvian Asháninka died in March of this year. Although her body, beaten and hidden in a cave was found a long way from her home, the autopsy determined that she died from choking on coca leaves. Decades ago, this woman saved several indigenous pe
