The Honduras National Electric Energy Company (ENEE) has suspended payments to small farmers in the department of Olancho for lands acquired from them by the Honduran government to allow for construction of the Patuca III hydroelectric project along the Patuca River.

by Tracy Barnett of The Esperanza Project

MEXICO CITY – It sounded too good to be true – and, indeed, it was.

The president of Guatemala declared a state of martial law in the town of Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango, suspending civil liberties as a result of unrest in the community instigated by proposed hydroelectric project "Cambalam."  The town has been invaded by 600 military and police, arrested 17 people and invaded more than 20 homes, under the pretense of combating drug-trafficking.

Attacks on the Saudi-owned rice plantation in southwestern Ethiopia left five people dead on April 28, 2012,  including one Pakistani worker and four Ethiopians, with at least another eight people injured.

The attack took place about three miles from the headquarters of Saudi Star, an agriculture company owned by Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire Mohammed Al-Amoudi.

Inupiat tribal leader, Caroline Cannon, is one of this year's recipeints of the Goldman Environmental Prize for her exemplary work towards stopping oil exploration and drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.

The Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded annually since 1990 to six grassroots environmental activists, one from Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a  monetary award of US$150,000 per recipient.
 

On April 3, President Martinelli signed into law a bill that reestablishes the validity of Mineral Resource Mining Code, established in 1963 but which had been abolished by the Martinelli government in 2011. The code defines who may hold and profit from mining concessions in Panama, and establishes sanctions for those who continue mining projects without authorization.

The Sixth Summit of the Americas taking place in Cartagena, Colombia on April 14-15, 2012. Indigenous groups are asking for a specific chapter in the Summit's declaration that addresses matters which concerns them.