By Bryan Bixcul (Maya-Tz’utujil) and Nalori Chakma (Chakma)
Reposted from SIRGE Coalition

August 9 is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9). Every day, we honor the sovereignty, richness, and beauty of Indigenous Peoples, languages, and lifeways.

Guatemala City, August 5, 2026. Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán (both of Maya K'iche' origin), former president and former treasurer of the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, regained their freedom this Wednesday after being held since April 25, 2025 in the Mariscal Zavala prison. A judge granted them alternative measures to pretrial detention, allowing them to face the rest of the criminal proceedings outside of prison.

By Dev Kumar Sunuwar (Koĩts-Sunuwar, CS Staff)

UPDATE:   A closed-door hearing for the women was held on August 5 in Moscow City Court. Supporters and representatives of diplomatic missions were allowed into the courtroom only to hear the decision read. The women will remain detained until at least September 15, when the next court date is scheduled.

For Immediate Release
August 1, 2026

By Kerstin Sabene

On July 2, 2026, I boarded a lancha, a small public boat from Panajachel to the Maya Tz'utujil village of Santiago on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, which has been the site of heightened tensions since the beginning of the year. 

By Angel Ferreira (Payayá, CS Intern)

At Volta Grande do Xingu, Brazil, two Indigenous communities, the Arara da Volta Grande and the Yudjá, continue to defend their ancestral territories against mounting external pressures. For the Yudjá, their name carries profound significance: it affirms their sovereignty and enduring relationship with the Xingu River, a bond that shapes their identity, culture, and way of life.

By Phoebe Farris (Powhatan-Pamunkey) 

Faisu Mukunana (Tsou) is an acclaimed Indigenous woman writer from Taiwan. Born in the community of Lalauya in 1942, Mukunana has lived through two regimes: the Japanese occupation and the Republic of China. She speaks three languages, including her native Tsou, and is the recipient of several literary awards. 

By Angel Ferreira (Payayá, CS Intern)

On July 10-12, 2026, the Payayá Territory, located in the municipality of Utinga, the gateway to Chapada Diamantina in Brazil, became the epicenter of ancestral communication and resistance for Indigenous Peoples. The 1st Meeting of Indigenous Youth Communicators of Bahia brought together leaders, Elders, youth from various ethnic groups, and partner organizations with a clear objective: to strengthen the defense of their territories through communication.

Today, July 15, 2026, at an official side event at the 19th session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), Xavante Warã Association, communities within Areões Indigenous Land, Mobilization of Cerrado Indigenous Peoples (MOPIC), Rede Cerrado, and Cultural Survival released the advocacy brief "Let the A'uwẽ-Xavante Keep Dreaming," combining litigation, international advocacy, and a global solidarity campaign amplifying the A’uwẽ Xavante's calls for the prot

By Dev Kumar Sunuwar (Koĩts-Sunuwar, CS Staff)

For Immediate Release 

A'uwẽ-Xavante leaders travel 9,000 kilometers from the Brazilian Cerrado to the United Nations in Geneva to ask the question behind the "green" energy boom: who pays for the world's clean transition?

GENEVA, Switzerland (July 9, 2026) — Among the A'uwẽ-Xavante people of Brazil, dreams are not metaphors. They are how knowledge travels: Elders receive songs, ceremonies, and guidance for their communities while they sleep. To dream, the Xavante say, they need their territory whole.