The government in Suriname this year said it planned to evict illegal settlers in the Amazon Rainforest, and possibly send many of them back to their home countries. But eviction has proven much more complicated than it first appeared, with settlers allegedly ignoring court orders and officials expressing confusion about which people are breaking what laws. Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons created a task force to investigate illegal settlements destroying the rainforest, many of them Mennonites moving from other countries. Officials delivered eviction notices to some of the settlers as recently as July, yet some deny receiving the notices and continue to develop the area. Lawmakers said they’re confused about the location of the new Mennonite communities, the legal process for removing them, and how they entered the country in the first place. “We got bits and pieces of information that more and more families were coming,” Rabindre Parmessar, leader of the National Democratic Party in the National Assembly, told Mongabay over the phone. “We don’t know whether immigration rules were taken into consideration, and the other rules and procedures we have here in Suriname.” Since at least 2022, agribusiness investors in the country have been trying to relocate Mennonite farming families from Bolivia, Belize and other parts of the Americas. The conservative Christian group has a track record of rapid farming growth, and would have helped develop hundreds of thousands of hectares of mostly primary rainforest. Geerlings-Simons during the press briefing Aug 4. Image courtesy of Key tv 8.2 In…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The Real News Network launches English-language Brazilian reporting project ahead of pivotal election
Panamerican Dispatch is a new journalism project created in September 2026 to produce and distribute news and analysis from Latin America, within the United States.
Brazilians are heading to the polls. The stakes for the region could not be higher.
U.S. President Donald Trump has renewed attention on Latin America as not seen in decades. There are major concerns for the future of democracy across Latin America and the legitimacy of upcoming elections in the region.
“Panamerican Dispatch is an essential site to learn about Latin American events from perspectives that go beyond the talking heads of mainstream media venues,” said Rafael Ioris, a Brazilian Latin American history professor at the University of Denver. “This is even more valuable in today’s changing and concerning landscape of the Western hemisphere.”
Most of the content published on Panamerican Dispatch is translated from other languages into English and is available free at www.panamericandispatch.org.
“In this era of mega-mergers and relentless corporate media consolidation, it’s refreshing and exciting to see an independent initiative like Panamerican Dispatch take shape, bringing us incisive and compelling reporting from a diverse group of fiercely independent journalists on the ground in Latin America,” said Alexander Main, the Director of International Policy at the Center for International and Policy Research.
Panamerican Dispatch is a project of The Real News Network, in partnership with Global Exchange.
Brazil-based journalist Michael Fox is leading the initiative. He has reported extensively across the region for PRX’s The World, DW, The Nation, Business Insider, The Intercept, AJ+, TRT World, The Real News Network, and numerous other outlets. He is a former editor of NACLA’s Report on the Americas. More recently, he is the producer and host of numerous podcasts, including Brazil on Fire and Under the Shadow. His most recent episode of Under the Shadow looks at U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to impact the vote in Brazil.
Michael Fox will be covering the elections from the streets of Brazil.
About The Real News Network
The Real News Network is a viewer- and listener-supported, nonprofit news organization based in Baltimore, Maryland. Free of corporate and government advertising, TRNN produces independent journalism that centers the voices of people on the front lines of struggles for justice, democracy, and dignity around the world.
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JAKARTA — Fires burning within rainforests that contain more than half of the world’s critically endangered Bornean orangutan population have prompted scientists and experts to call for urgent action in response to the escalating fires across Indonesia. The warning comes as Indonesia faces a severe fire season fueled by strong El Niño conditions, with conservationists scrambling to rescue wildlife trapped in burning landscapes. Fires are burning in rainforests that contain 13 of the 20 largest remaining populations of Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Shaded and outlined areas show current IUCN Extant (resident) orangutan range in Kalimantan. Image courtesy of the Orangutan Conservation Initiative. Red circles show individual satellite detections overlapping current IUCN Extant (resident) orangutan range. As of Sept. 22, the Ministry of Forestry reported that 100 wildlife, including 53 Bornean orangutans, had been rescued. Rescuers have found some orangutans suffering severe physical injuries after escaping the fires. In Central Kalimantan, an approximately 4-year-old orangutan named Novita was found trapped in a burning area near Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan province with serious burns on all four hands and feet, according to local news Betahita. She was later taken to a rehabilitation center for treatment. In locations where orangutans are surrounded by fire and have nowhere to go, they can “literally burn alive,” said Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) CEO Anton Nurcahyo. The risk may be particularly high for females with young, Anton told Mongabay. Their tendency to remain in established home ranges can be a disadvantage during fires, while females…This article was originally published on Mongabay
“The liberalization of euthanasia laws not only offends the West’s pre-modern moral and religious traditions but also cannot be justified on the uniquely modern idea that euthanasia is a rational means of enhancing the individual’s willful control over his body and life. The deeper problem, however, is that this development is best understood as an... Continue Reading
Looking across the devastated landscape of the Gaza Strip, where surviving generations now carry the permanent physical and psychological scars of war, the ultimate indictment of our era is damning: The world watched the horror unfold in real-time, possessed all the legal, political and institutional mechanisms to stop it, and did nothing. For months, then […]
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