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Latin America Bureau (LAB)

@latinamericabureau.bsky.social

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Est. 1977, LAB is a non-profit independent publisher of articles and books about Latin America and a platform for research to reach wider audiences. We focus on grassroots struggles for social & environmental justice.

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Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 2d

Join us for the launch of 'The Congress of the Disappeared', the brand-new novella by Bernardo Kucinski translated by Tom Gatehouse with support from @englishpen.bsky.social
tomorrow, 7 October at Photobook Cafe near Old Street, London, with @brazilmatters.bsky.social and @amnestyuk.bsky.social

Reposted by Latin America Bureau (LAB)

Grace Livingstone @graceliv.bsky.social · 2d

Looking forward to this book launch tonight

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 2d

Join us for the launch of 'The Congress of the Disappeared', the brand-new novella by Bernardo Kucinski translated by Tom Gatehouse with support from @englishpen.bsky.social
tomorrow, 7 October at Photobook Cafe near Old Street, London, with @brazilmatters.bsky.social and @amnestyuk.bsky.social

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 2d

In #Oaxaca, communities organize to resist the large-scale extraction of sand from the Río Grande, which is wiping out local species & changing the course & current of the river which Indigenous and Afro-Mexican locals have lived beside for centuries. Juana García reports
lab.org.uk/communities-...

Communities in Oaxaca unite to stop the plunder of the Río Grande | Latin America Bureau

In Oaxaca, southern Mexico, communities are organizing to resist the large-scale private extraction of sand and gravel from the Río Grande, which is

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 2d

Join us for the launch of 'The Congress of the Disappeared', the brand-new novella by Bernardo Kucinski translated by Tom Gatehouse with support from @englishpen.bsky.social
tomorrow, 7 October at Photobook Cafe near Old Street, London, with @brazilmatters.bsky.social and @amnestyuk.bsky.social

Reposted by Latin America Bureau (LAB)

Grace Livingstone @graceliv.bsky.social · 17d

Anglo American accused of causing:

human illness
animal deaths
contamination of air and water

& drilling under glaciers

My report from Chile

@clascam.bsky.social @ldnminingnetwork.bsky.social @nujlfb.bsky.social @latinamericabureau.bsky.social @waronwant.bsky.social

www.com/global-devel...

Illness, animal deaths and water shortages: life inside Chile’s polluted ‘sacrifice zones’

Allegations of environmental breaches dog Anglo American’s mining operations. Now the company has been given the go-ahead for plans that communities say risk disaster

www.theguardian.com

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 7d

Despite the Public Prosecutor’s Office denouncing the practice, São Paulo state was still burying identified bodies in anonymous graves until at least 2016, without notifying the affected families. 🖊️ Ali Rocha @brazilmatters.bsky.social tr. Stanton Geyer. @apublica.org
lab.org.uk/sao-paulo-st...

São Paulo state buries identified bodies in anonymous graves | Latin America Bureau

Despite the Public Prosecutor’s Office denouncing the practice, the state of São Paulo was still burying identified bodies in anonymous graves in public

Reposted by Latin America Bureau (LAB)

Shafik Meghji @shafikmeghji.bsky.social · 9d

📖 Looking forward to discussing the inspiration behind #SmallEarthquakes - from the Atacama to Patagonia, Easter Island to South Georgia - with @karennedwards.bsky.social at the Book Elephant in south London.

🗓️ 10 Oct, 6.30pm

🎟️ Tickets available now👇🏽

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shafik-meg...

Shafik Meghji at The Book Elephant in Conversation with Karen Edwards.

Eventbrite - The Book Elephant presents Shafik Meghji at The Book Elephant in Conversation with Karen Edwards. - Friday, October 10, 2025 at 16 Sayer St, London, England. Find event and ticket informa...

www.eventbrite.co.uk

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 15d

Amid industrial pressure and legal rollbacks, a grassroots women's network fights for ancestral marine rights and cultural survival in Chile.
Marisa Pettit for LAB's #EnvironmentalDefenders series
lab.org.uk/chile-the-in...

Chile: the Indigenous women defending the Sea | Latin America Bureau

Amid industrial pressure and legal rollbacks, a grassroots women's network fights for ancestral marine rights and cultural survival in Chile. ‘If they

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 21d

Bulldozers tear into the Peruvian Amazon, threatening isolated tribe, the Mashco Piro. Their survival, and the credibility of a global sustainability watchdog, hang in the balance.
✍🏽Maozya Murray for LAB
lab.org.uk/uncontacted-... @forestpeoplesp.bsky.social @survivalinternational.org

Uncontacted tribe risk extinction as global forest certification system fails to act | Latin America Bureau

In the Peruvian Amazon, the roar of bulldozers is intruding on the ancestral lands of one of the world’s last isolated tribes. The Mashco Piro, long

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 22d

Watch Bolivia Burning, a @thegeckoproject.org doc following
Bolivian human rights lawyer Alvaro Bozo García & British journalist David Hill as they hear from people impacted by the fires which ripped through over 12.5 million hectares of the country in 2024.
lab.org.uk/bolivia-burn...

Bolivia Burning: ‘We are on the edge of a precipice’ | Latin America Bureau

In a record year for forest loss across the tropics, more than a fifth of all the primary forest destroyed in 2024 was in Bolivia, placing the Latin

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 22d

Jasmine Haniff visited Monica Perez in her London studio to learn about wool, traces of empire, and Indigenous erasure in the Uruguayan artist's work.
lab.org.uk/colonial-eng...

Unravelling the thread from colonial England to Uruguay in Monica Perez’s art | Latin America Bureau

In her latest project COST, Monica Perez unravels the thread between England and Uruguay, exploring the raw wool trade and the displacement and erasure of Indigenous communities.

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · 29d

Amazonians come together in London to demand ‘No More History Without Us’.
lab.org.uk/voices-from-...

Voices from the Amazon: our Voices, our solutions | Latin America Bureau

In the lead-up to the COP30 Climate Summit, which will take place in Belém, Brazil, 10-21 November 2025, LAB joined forces with the NGO Kayeb to host a

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Sep 1

Aug 30 was International Day of the Disappeared, to remember & honour those who go missing in contexts of war, violence, migration & disaster. Next month LAB publishes The Congress of the Disappeared by B. Kucinski tr. Tom Gatehouse, supported by ‪@englishpen.bsky.social‬
lab.org.uk/the-congress...

The Congress of the Disappeared | Latin America Bureau

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 29

How to Save The Amazon: This testimony book by the assassinated journalist lays bare the tragedy of Amazônia – of which he himself came to be one of the most painful examples – but also its uniquely marvellous nature.
lab.org.uk/amazon-oh-be...

‘Amazon, oh beautiful Amazon’ – Dom Phillips | Latin America Bureau

How to Save The Amazon: This testimony book by the assassinated journalist lays bare the tragedy of Amazônia – of which he himself came to be one of the most painful examples – but also its uniquely m...

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 28

In the Bolivian highlands, the Indigenous community of Cala Cala is waging a battle to defend the headwaters of its river from mining. At stake is not only the community’s water and livelihood, but also the fragile Andean ecosystem that depends on it.
lab.org.uk/bolivia-high...

Bolivia: Highland community gathers to protect river from cooperative mining | Latin America Bureau

In the Bolivian highlands, the Indigenous community of Cala Cala is waging a battle to defend the headwaters of its river from mining. What began as a

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 25

Chile’s Atacama Desert has become a dumping ground for fast fashion waste. Mountains of unsold clothes pile up, creating toxic conditions. A local youth collective, Desierto Vestido, is fighting to expose the crisis, demand accountability, and develop circular solutions. ✏️ @mattcarr.substack.com

Desierto Vestido: a territorial solution to the environmental effects of fast fashion | Latin America Bureau

In northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, Alto Hospicio has become a dumping ground for the world’s fast fashion waste. Mountains of unsold clothes from Europe, Asia, and North America pile up, creating tox...

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 22

Award-winning Brazilian photographer Marilene Ribeiro is an artist, ecologist & activist. Her most recent work is a handcrafted book of images and artefacts entitled Photo-Rituals for Disappearance. She spoke to LAB's Linda Etchart about the project:
lab.org.uk/photo-ritual...

Photo-Rituals for Disappearance: elegies to the disappeared | Latin America Bureau

In this interview with LAB’s Linda Etchart, artist Marilene Ribeiro explains the inspiration behind her recent projects rooted in humans’ relationship

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 22

Trump introduces 50% tariffs on Brazil, states open support for Bolsonaro, inveighs against judges, all in attempt to prevent Lula from retaining support. The latest from Jan Rocha in São Paulo
lab.org.uk/brazil-trump...

Brazil: Trump aiming for regime-change | Latin America Bureau

President Trump has unleashed a barrage of actions against Brazil in an attempt to prevent Lula from retaining support. He has stated his open support for previous president Jair Bolsonaro, now under ...

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 21

Once known as Colonia Dignidad, it was home to a secretive religious sect founded by a manipulative and abusive leader who collaborated with the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet... Story from @graceliv.bsky.social

Grace Livingstone @graceliv.bsky.social · Aug 17

Chilean govt to expropriate part of Colonia Dignidad - German sect colony where opponents of Pinochet ‘disappeared’

My story:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Once home to a cult, the Chilean tourist village haunted by torture and child abuse

Chile wants to turn the site where a cult leader tortured prisoners and abused his followers into a memorial.

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 13

Drawing inspiration from LAB’s Environmental Defenders series, LAB contributor Leon Elliott has created an interactive tool that traces important developments in the fight for water and life in Guapinol, Honduras. Learn more about it and check out the tool here:
lab.org.uk/honduras-int...

Honduras: interactive tool traces developments in Guapinol anti-mining struggles | Latin America Bureau

Drawing inspiration from LAB’s Environmental Defenders series, LAB contributor Leon Elliott has created an interactive tool that traces important

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 12

Latest for the #EnvironmentalDefenders series: Activists – especially women – stand firm in the face of an increasingly hostile regime in El Salvador, as opposition mounts against the new mining law which revokes a seven-year metal mining ban. lab.org.uk/water-life-t...

In defence of water, life and territory: women resisting mining in El Salvador | Latin America Bureau

Activists – especially women – stand firm in the face of an increasingly hostile regime in El Salvador, as opposition mounts against the new mining law

Reposted by Latin America Bureau (LAB)

Shafik Meghji @shafikmeghji.bsky.social · Aug 8

A pleasure to chat to Sam Baldwin at the Travel Memoir Review about South America, travel writing, and the inspiration behind Crossed Off the Map and Small Earthquakes.

📚 @hurstpublishers.bsky.social &
@latinamericabureau.bsky.social

travelmemoir.review/2025/08/07/t...

Travels with Shafik: in search of South America

Travel author Sahfik Meghji on his new book Small Earthquakes, the gringo trial, and why his favourite country in South American depends on who’s asking…

travelmemoir.review

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Aug 7

COP30, held this year in Belém -‘capital city' of the Brazilian Amazon- provides an opportunity to depart from climate colonialism and end fossil fuel expansion, but it risks becoming a spectacle of exclusion, greenwashing and government ‘performance’ @mcolon.bsky.social
lab.org.uk/cop30-climat...

COP30: Climate summit or Amazon carnival? | Latin America Bureau

The COP30 climate summit, to be held this year in Belém, the ‘capital’ city of the Brazilian Amazon, comes at a critical moment, providing an opportunity to depart from the path of climate colonialism...

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Jul 29

Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by armed police in London in 2005, mistaken for a suicide bomber. The prejudice which led to that error persist, affecting Latin Americans and contributing to exclusion, unjustified arrests, & deportations ✍️ ‪
@thibogossian.bsky.social
lab.org.uk/brazilians-i...

Brazilians in the UK: 20 years after Menezes' killing | Latin America Bureau

Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by armed police at Stockwell tube station in London in July 2005. They mistakenly believed he was a suicide bomber. But

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Jul 29

On 6 July, Haiti’s iconic Hotel Oloffson was completely destroyed in a fire probably set by one of the gangs that control Port-au-Prince. Like many foreign correspondents, LAB’s Nick Caistor used to stay there. He explains its significance.
lab.org.uk/haiti-the-en...

Haiti: the end of Hotel Oloffson | Latin America Bureau

On 6 July, Haiti's iconic Hotel Oloffson was completely destroyed in a fire probably set by one of the gangs that control Port-au-Prince. Like many foreign correspondents, LAB'S Nick Caistor used to s...

Latin America Bureau (LAB) @latinamericabureau.bsky.social · Jul 29

Álvaro Uribe, one of the most influential leaders in Colombian history, was found guilty of bribery in criminal proceedings, becoming the country’s first former president to be convicted in a criminal trial.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Jul 28

Colombia’s former president Álvaro Uribe found guilty of witness tampering

Colombia’s former president Álvaro Uribe found guilty of witness tampering

Ex-leader convicted over efforts to sway testimony in case tied to country’s armed conflict A Colombian court has found the country’s former president Álvaro Uribe guilty of witness tampering. The 73-year-old, who served as president from 2002 to 2010, was convicted on Monday of trying to persuade witnesses to lie for him in a separate investigation. He faces a 12-year prison sentence in a case that has become highly politicised. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com