May 2008 e-News

The AES Corporation is still using lights to work on the dam around the clock and police are blocking all non-Ngöbe-residents from entering the zone. In March, we filed a petition on the Ngöbes' behalf with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) asking the Commission to go directly to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for an order demanding that Panama halt work on the dam until the Ngöbe are properly consulted and their rights are respected.  

Our Winter 2007 issue of the Cultural Survival Quarterly (CSQ) magazine on the Ngöbe finally reached them. According to Lucia Lasso, a Panamanian lawyer working with the affected communities, "As the bulldozers destroy their lifelong work, somehow the Ngöbe still have hope. They were jubilant when they received a copy of the petition to the Inter American Human Rights Commission. This weekend they held a local congress and the copy went from hand to hand several times. Finally, they had proof that some of the visitors that talked to them are actually fulfilling their promise of help."