The ongoing colonial violence of resource extraction in Latin America

From the defeat of the coup government in Bolivia, the election of Xiomara Castro in Honduras, and the rise of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, to the historic election of Gustavo Petro in Colombia and the return of Lula in Brazil, left-leaning governments are changing the political landscape of Latin America. However, even more progressive parties and ruling coalitions have failed to rein in the violence of the resource extraction economy and the domineering power of international capital flowing through mining, drilling, and deforestation operations across the hemisphere. Indigenous and environmental activists from Ecuador to Bolivia say that today’s extractivist economy perpetuates the violence of colonial domination, and warn that things are only going to get worse over the course of the 21st century.  In the latest installment of The Marc Steiner Show’s special collaborative series with the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), we speak with a panel of Indigenous leaders, environmental activists, and scholars about how extractivism has come to dominate the politics and economics of Latin America, and what forms the anti-extractivist resistance is taking at the local and international level. Patricia Gualinga is an Indigenous Kichwa leader and lifelong defender of the Amazon rainforest in her community of Sarayaku, Ecuador.  Pablo Poveda is a radical economist who works at the Center for Studies of Labor and Agrarian Development (CEDLA), a non-profit think tank in La Paz, Bolivia. Teresa A. Velásquez is an associate professor of anthropology at California State University, San Bernardino, and the author of Pachamama Politics: Campesino Water Defenders and the Anti-Mining Movement in Andean Ecuador. Studio Production: Kayla Rivara Post-Production: Tom Lattanand, Bret Gustafson, Marc Steiner Audio Post-Production: Tom Lattanand Translation by: Bret Gustasfson, Adriana Garriga-López, Maria Haro Sly Voiceover Readers: Adriana Garriga-López, Rael Mora Read NACLA: Get updates from NACLA: Follow NACLA on Twitter: Donate to NACLA: For more in-depth coverage of Peru from NACLA, please visit . The Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us expand our in-depth analysis and coverage from Baltimore to Bangladesh by subscribing and becoming a member today! Donate: Sign up for our newsletter: Like us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: