Millions Worldwide March Against Monsanto

[Judi Lynn]

46. Latin America: protests target Monsanto, Chevron

Latin America: protests target Monsanto, Chevron
Submitted by Weekly News Update... on Mon, 05/26/2014 - 23:44 Southern Cone

Latin American activists joined thousands of environmentalists and farmers around the world in an international protest May 24 against genetically modified (GM) crops and Monsanto, the Missouri-based multinational that dominates the transgenic seed industry. This was the third March Against Monsanto since May 25 last year, and organizers expected the day of action to include protests in some 351 cities in 52 countries.

In Chile, where a farmer won more than $65,000 in December 2013 by challenging the contracting methods of Monsanto's local affiliate, organizations including Chile Without Transgenics and I Don't Want Transgenics (YNQT) sponsored protests in eight cities.

Mexicans held a total of 13 different protests. In the southeastern state of Chiapas, Without Corn There Is No Country and other groups organized an informational event in front of the cathedral in San Cristóbal de las Casas to raise awareness about the consequences of GM crops, while about 60 protesters marched in Santiago de Querétaro, the capital of the central state of Querétaro. Rubén Albarrán, of the band Café Tacvba, joined the painter and environmentalist Francisco Toledo to protest in the southern state of Oaxaca, and hundreds marched in Mexico City chanting: "We want beans; we want corn; we want Monsanto out of the country!" GM planting is limited in Mexico, but researchers say that even the current level of sowing has contaminated some of the many varieties of native corn; the plant was first cultivated in Mexico.

In Puerto Rico activists marched from San Juan's Luis Muñoz Rivera Park to the Capitol. Monsanto doesn't sell GM seeds on the island, but along with other multinationals like Pioneer and Syngenta it uses large tracts of farmland for experiments, according to Jesús Vázquez Negrón, the spokesperson for the Nothing Saintly About Monsanto collective. Activists claim Monsanto uses more land than it is entitled to under Puerto Rican law. (Aporrea, Venezuela, May 24, from TeleSUR and unidentified wire services; Primera Hora, Puerto Rico, May 24; La Jornada, Mexico, May 25, May 25)

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