As an Indigenous-led organization that advocates for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Survival condemns the vile murder of Eduardo Mendúa (A’i Cofán), land and environmental defender and Head of International Relations of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (
In March 2021, the National Garifuna Council launched their initiative, "Food Sovereignty for the Garifuna people of Belize." The project’s mission was to create productive, small-scale green spaces to enhance food security and build community health for the Garifuna Peoples in Dangriga and the larger Stann Creek District of Southern Belize.
On February 27 - March 2, 2023, three Indigenous leaders are meeting with European Union Parliamentarians in Brussels, Belgium, to bring attention to the impacts the extractive industries including oil, gas, and mining have on Indigenous Peoples’ rights, lands, and environments globally.
Content Note: The following includes disturbing information on violence against Indigenous Peoples. We have strived to provide information on each individual, in celebration of their lives and work, without gratuitous detail on their deaths.
To President Biden and Vice President Harris,
On the occasion of World Radio Day 2023, the Community Radio Movement in Guatemala makes it known that the right to freedom of expression of Indigenous Peoples is a human right that unfortunately the State of Guatemala violates and denies Indigenous Peoples. Since the Peace Accords, the State has promised to provide frequencies without a positive response to date.
February 21 is International Mother Language Day. Cultural Survival’s work to promote cultures and languages has been a priority since our founding and is reflected across all of our programs. Supporting cultural and language diversity and revitalization directly supports biological diversity. The language comes from the land and allows us to communicate our history, cosmovisions, spirituality, values, and knowledge systems.
Today, February 14, 2023, Valentine's Day, marks the 32nd Annual Women’s Memorial March which is held every year in Vancouver on February 14 to commemorate the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and all women and underrepresented genders whose lives have been taken due to colonial systemic violence, poverty, racism, displacement, physical, mental, emotional, and spirit
Adriana Sunun (Maya Kakchiquel) is part of the legal team of the Association of Mayan Lawyers of Guatemala (Asociación de Abogados Mayas de Guatemala). She has five years of experience supporting judicial processes in defense of the individual and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples in cases of criminalization, freedom of expression, and land defense in the context of international human rights law and constitutional law. She also provides legal counsel to families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. She is currently part of an international legal team that provides legal counsel on the 2021 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that guarantees the right of Indigenous Peoples to freedom of expression through community radio in Guatemala.
Cristian Otzin (Maya Kakchiquel) is a lawyer and legal advisor to the Guatemalan Maya Lawyers Association (Asociación de Abogados Mayas de Guatemala), where he has served as Executive Director since 2011. He has worked as a legal advisor in various human rights organizations in Guatemala. He is currently part of the international legal team that provides legal counsel on the 2021 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling that guarantees the right of Indigenous Peoples to freedom of expression through community radio in Guatemala.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
