Spanish tycoon accused of clearing Paraguay’s forests and tribal lands

Company boss named in forgery probe linked to Spanish construction giant

October 2012. According to the charity Survival International, The boss of a company controlled by one of Spain's biggest corporations has been linked to a scandal involving forged signatures in Paraguay. Diego Eduardo León is the vice-President and acting Chairman of South American ranching company Carlos Casado, which is majority-owned by Spanish construction giant Grupo San José.

Carlos Casado ‘owns' a large area of land inside the territory of Paraguay's Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians. The company is already under investigation by local authorities for clearing land without the necessary permits.

Forged signatures
In June Survival International revealed how the Indians' leaders had complained to the government that their signatures had been forged on a supposed ‘agreement' between them and ranchers. The ‘agreement' allowed ranchers to bulldoze an access road through the Indians' forest, which lies between them and the nearest road. In fact, the Indians had refused to sign the deal.

Now Survival claims to have seen government documents naming Diego Eduardo León as a beneficiary of the access road. It appears that, besides his involvement with Carlos Casado, Mr Eduardo León is also connected to two other ranching companies that ‘own' land inside the Ayoreo's territory - Sinha Pora SA and Panambi Pora SA - and these companies' land would have been opened up by the access road.

According to Survival, Carlos Casado and Grupo San José have written identical letters to Survival, denying any illegal activity on Ayoreo land and asserting that their business ‘has created important sources of work for the [local] population'. They have also demanded that Survival remove from its website any mention of Grupo San José, Carlos Casado, or Spanish tycoon Jacinto Rey González (the President of both companies), or face legal action.

Survival's Director Stephen Corry said ‘It's a shame that Carlos Casado and Grupo San José are spending their time threatening Survival, rather than addressing the fact that their land should have been transferred back into Ayoreo hands years ago.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/paraguay-forests.html

Outrage as World Bank funds power lines linked to controversial dam

The Gibe III dam threatens the livelihoods of 200,000
August 2012. Human rights organizations, including Survival International and Human Rights Watch, have fiercely criticized a decision by the World Bank to fund power lines in Ethiopia linked to the controversial Gibe III dam.

The newly-approved project will help transport power generated by a notorious hydroelectric dam in southern Ethiopia, to Kenya's power grid. Ethiopia's controversial Gibe III dam is expected to be complete by 2014, but the devastating social and environmental consequences of its construction are generating widespread opposition. The decision to help back such a controversial project violates World Bank guidelines on safeguarding indigenous peoples' rights and involuntary resettlement.

Lower Omo Valley people livelihoods endangered
More than 200,000 indigenous people in the Lower Omo Valley stand to have their livelihoods and food security destroyed by the dam. Water levels are already unprecedently low and are devastating the self-sufficiency of pastoralist tribes such as the Bodi and Mursi and the hunter-gatherer Kwegu.

Violent land grabs
Added to this, violent land grabs, forcible resettlement and human rights abuses are rife in the Lower Omo, as the government clears land to make way for lucrative sugarcane and cotton plantations irrigated by the newly-dammed river.

Ethiopia has failed to consult any indigenous communities over the construction of Gibe III or its aggressive plantation plans, which are devastating the Lower Omo Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The dam will also affect many tribal communities across the border near Kenya's Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake.

Survival International's Director Stephen Corry said, ‘The electrical needs of Kenya and Ethiopia should not be used to justify such flagrant human rights abuses. This is yet another ill-fated project supported by the World Bank, which will destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. These are some of the most self-sufficient communities in the Horn of Africa, and yet their human rights are being openly trampled on by an organization that ought to have learnt from history, rather than repeat the mistakes of the past.'

Survival International, Human Rights Watch and International Rivers all condemn the World Bank's decision to fund these transmission lines.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/omo-dam.html

Leaked map reveals Ethiopia’s plans to industrialise Omo valley and for mass evictions

Omo valley wilderness destructrion
March 2012. Ethiopian authorities have inadvertently revealed the existence of highly ambitious plans to resettle Lower Omo Valley tribes who stand in the way of a massive plantations scheme. The map was included in an internal report by the country's Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA), into the environmental impact of planned sugarcane plantations in the Omo.

Leaked to Survival International, the map shows where Ethiopia intends to resettle tribes whose land and communities stand in the way of their ‘development' plans. It reveals the huge ambition of the project, which is already destroying the land of tribes such as the Mursi, Bodi and Kwegu. Reliable sources have confirmed to Survival that construction has already begun on at least three resettlement camps on Bodi land in the north of the Lower Omo Valley.

Violent human rights abuses against all indigenous communities in the Omo Valley are becoming commonplace, as the rush to ‘develop' gathers pace. One Mursi man told Survival, ‘I am waiting to die because the government has taken my land...The government is collecting all the people in the Omo Valley to put in one place.'

Many tribespeople have been told that the government will take away their cattle (a vital part of their livelihood). They will then have little choice but to become workers on the plantations which will occupy their lands. 

One Bodi told Survival, ‘The government is lying to us. It says to us, you have to move down the Omo Valley. We will give you everything to eat and drink.'

Survival's Director Stephen Corry said, ‘This leaked map reveals what the Ethiopian government has wanted to conceal - its intention to resettle indigenous tribes in the Lower Omo Valley. Taken together with the widespread reports of violent evictions and intimidation, it clearly shows Ethiopia's end goal - and its refusal to respect the rights of anybody who stands in its way.'

Map here:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/omo-valley-map.html