The OceanaGold mining company, which is building a mine in the Philippine community of Didipio, has announced plans to use $140 million from one of its New Zealand operations to restart and speed up construction of the Didipio mine, even as the Philippine Commission on Human Rights has recommended that the government revoke the company's license there. The mine is the subject of Global Response campaign and threatens the Indigenous inhabitants of Didipio and the forests of the mountain.

The following article is cross-posted from Upside Down World:

Every year, the Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people of central west México walk 500 km to the sacred land of Wirikuta, where according to legend, the sun was born. Here, they collect jíkuri (peyote), carry out rituals of purification and come into communion with their gods, who give them blessings and guidance. In this way, they conserve their culture, maintain harmony with nature, and uphold a thousand-year-old tradition. 

Two thousand Bangladeshi citizens blocked major highways and railways for six hours on March 28 and demanded a response from the prime minister by April 11. They are calling on her to honor a 2006 agreement to ban open-pit coal mining in the country. For seven years, Bangladeshi citizens, including the National Indigenous Union (Jatiya Adivasi Parishad) have fiercely protested a British company’s plan for open-pit mining in Phulbari.

The following two articles regard massive protests that took place in Bangladesh yesterday demanding a ban on open pit mining scheduled to break ground in the northwest region of Phulbari.  See Cultural Survival's Action Alert on Bangladesh here to send a letter in solidarity with the Indigenous farmers of this area against the destruction of their land. 

On Friday, March 25th, Global Response program director Paula Palmer was interviewed on Bob Kincaid's radio program "Head On" regarding the campaign in Bangladesh against the Phulbari coal mine.  A native of West Virgina, Bob is very interested in communities struggles against the coal industry.

After the protests against mining reform in the Mining Code, the government of Ricardo Martinelli will retake dialogues this Wednesday with the Coordinator for the Defense of Natural Resources and the Rights of the Ngöbe Buglé Peoples.

The president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, promised that the new Mining Code will not affect the territories of indigenous communities. 

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