Of Columbus, Coups, and War Criminals
Sixty-five thousand Indigenous people demonstrated against Columbus Day in southwest Colombia. The mobilization, part of the Minga process that shook Colombia last year, marked “517 years of struggle against genocide, laws of displacement, the imposition of foreign economic policies, the handing over of resources to multinational corporations and human rights violations,” according to Colombian organizers.
In Guatemala, one man was killed by gunfire on Columbus Day, when tens of thousands of people blocked roadways to protest open-pit mining and hydro electric projects. “We don’t commemorate [Columbus Day], but instead the Indigenous Peoples Day of Dignity and Resistance, and we’re demonstrating to demand the end of operations of mega-projects,” Indigenous leader Juana Mulul told AFP.
In Venezuela, activists toppled a statue of Columbus in Caracas.
In Denver, Colorado, dozens of people protested the official Columbus Day parade. “We let them [the parade organizers] know that every time they have this parade, it won’t go unanswered until they celebrate indigenous cultures instead of their colonization,” Terry Burnsed, a professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver told The Denver Post.
In Honduras, President Manuel Zelaya remained trapped in the Brazilian embassy. The coup regime, led by Roberto Micheletti, “suspended civil liberties and shut down independent sources of news, including the TV station Cholusat Sur and Radio Globo,” according to historian Greg Grandin. A new tally showed at least 14 people have been killed since the coup took place. Landowners in Honduras hired Colombian paramilitaries belonging to the United Autodefense of Colombia (AUC) group to protect their properties.
Migrant workers and their allies gathered in Edmonton to protest the conditions of people subject to the Temporary Foreign Worker program. The protests in Edmonton came as the federal government introduced new regulations limiting the amount of years that temporary foreign workers can stay in Canada.