11/17/22 11/17/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt, this is democracy now! we are outside the plenary of the foreign minister of egypt has just gotten into his car. they have just driven off but there are hundreds of activists that have just come from a people's plenary that have gathered outside.

they are from countries all over the world as you hear them chanting, fighting for justice. >> fighting for justice. amy: hundreds of climate justice activists protest in sharm el sheikh, egypt, calling on world leaders to do more to address the climate crisis and demanding wealthy nations pay climate reparations. we will spend the hour with an indigenous land defenders from venezuela, guatemala, mexico, the united states, and canada. >> despite the fact protest is criminalized in egypt, we have been able to take over the cop to call to action, no more fossil fuels, get big polluters out. the connection to our land and territory in the fossil fuel industry and really uplift the struggle and the voices and the

power that our community's have and advocating for solutions that are best for us, people, and the planet. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from sharm el-sheikh, egypt. the republican party has won control of the house of representatives despite a stronger-than-expected showing by democrats in the midterm elections. after more than a week of vote counting and with six races still too close to call, republicans on wednesday captured their 218th house seat, just enough for a narrow majority. a spokesperson for nancy pelosi said the democratic house speaker will "address her future plans" later today. meanwhile, republican senator

mitch mcconnell has beaten back a challenge from florida's rick scott and was reelected as senate minority leader. the senate has advanced a bill to codify marriage equality into federal law. on wednesday, 12 republican senators joined all 50 members of the democratic caucus to end debate on the respect for marriage act, setting up final votes in the house and senate before the start of the new congress in january. on wednesday, wisconsin democrat tammy baldwin, the first openly gay person elected to the senate, spoke in favor of the legislation, warning justice clarence thomas is pushing the supreme court's conservative majority to revisit landmark rulings on the constitutional right of all people to marry. >> in his opinion, justice thomas explicitly said that the rationale used to overturn roe versus wade should be used to

overturn cases establishing rights to contraception, same-sex consensual relations, and same-sex marriage. he was essentially providing an open invitation to litigators across the country to bring their cases to the court. inevitably, instilling fear among millions of americans. amy: in iran, women and youth-led protests continue two months after the death of 22-year-old mahsa amini while in police custody. crackdowns on the mobilizations are also intensifying. on tuesday, police opened fire on protesters inside a metro station in tehran. in other parts of iran, as many as 15 people were killed wednesday night. some of the deaths were attributed to gunmen on

motorcycles. iran has blamed terrorists, though some local witnesses have said security forces are responsible. demonstrators this week are commemorating 2019's bloody november when hundreds were killed during popular protests spurred by rising fuel prices. in major cities across iran, crowds called for an end to clerical rule and the removal of supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei. meanwhile, iran has sentenced at least five people to death in connection with the protests. amnesty international condemned the "chilling use of the death penalty to further brutally quell the popular uprising." a human rights group says security forces have killed at least 348 people over the past two months of protests. nearly 16,000 have been arrested. russian missiles rained down on several parts of ukraine overnight, including the capital

kyiv. at least four civilians were reportedly killed in zaporizhzhia, while several more were wounded in russian strikes on kharkiv and odesa. ukrainian officials say russia is continuing to target civilian infrastructure, disrupting supplies of water, electricity, and heat for millions of people as temperatures fall below freezing. the latest russian attacks came as ukrainian, turkish, and united nations officials agreed to a 120-day extension of a deal to protect ships carrying grain exports out of ukraine's black sea ports. the turkish president said russian president vladimir putin has also approved the expansion. meanwhile, top polish officials have blamed russia for the deaths of two people near poland's border with ukraine after an air defense missile apparently fired by ukraine fell onto their village on tuesday evening. poland's ambassador to the u.n. addressed the security council on wednesday.

>> those innocent people would not have been killed if there had been no russian war against ukraine. the only fault was the fact they live close to the green side of the border that russia keeps attacking as a military target. amy: here in egypt, the u.n. special rappoteur has met with the sister of the imprisoned egyptian trend aivist alaa abdel-fattah. his family is outside the prison today for their scheduled monthly visit. at the time of this broadcast, they were still waiting to be let in and the first time they have seen him since october. he was on hunger strike for over seven months. we will keep you updated.

back in the united states, a federal judge has given the biden administration a five-week transition period to end the trump-era title 42 policy, which has expelled over 2 million migrants at the u.s.-mexico border without due process since 2020. judge emmet sullivan had blocked the policy on tuesday, calling it arbitrary and capricious but agreed on wednesday to give the biden administration until december 21 to end the program. a senate investigation has confirmed immigrants who were held at the irwin county detention center in georgia endured excessive and unnecessary gynecological procedures, largely without their consent, and said immigration and customs enforcement ignored the abuse for years. the investigation was in response to dozens of disturbing reports from women detained at irwin who were subjected to hysterectomies by dr. mahendra amin, a local doctor known as

"the uterus collector," from 2017 to 2020. amin was subpoenaed but invoked his fifth amendment right not to testify. he has not been criminally charged and continues to practice medicine in rural georgia. on wednesday, georgia democratic senator jon ossoff grilled stewart smith, the ice official in charge of medical care, over how his agency failed to stop the abuses. >> what would you say to the women who went through this? >> it is disheartening. >> disheartening? >> it is very disturbing. in responsibility we have, we take seriously. we want to fix the system so it doesn't happen again. >> you have full responsibility. this is worse than disheartening. amy: in more immigration news, over two dozen asylum seekers arrived in philadelphia wednesday on a bus sent by texas republican governor greg abbott. a 10-year-old girl was immediately taken to the hospital with dehydration and a high fever after the arduous

journey. immigrant justice advocates in philadelphia welcomed the asylum seekers with coats, blankets, food, and other resources and will provide temporary shelter. the families came from colombia, cuba, and the dominican republic. advocates report they were often given false information to lure them onto the buses from texas and other republican-led states. in california, the long-serving democratic congressmember karen bass has become the first woman to be elected mayor of los angeles. bass beat real estate mogul rick caruso, who spent over $100 million of his own fortune on his losing campaign. among other issues, bass has promised to address the housing crisis in l.a., where tens of -- where some 70,000 people go unhoused every day. bass, who will be just the second black mayor of los angeles, will also have to contend with the racism crisis at l.a.'s city council,

unleashed by the leak of an audio recording in which three members made racist remarks about black and indigenous people. the national labor relations board is asking a federal court to immediately issue a nationwide cease and desist order blocking starbucks from continuing to fire employees who are involved in union efforts. according to starbucks workers united, the coffee chain giant has illegally fired at least 150 workers in retaliation for organizing. and the longtime water protector joye braun died sunday at her home in eagle butte, south dakota. she was just 53 years old. a citizen of the cheyenne river sioux tribal nation, braun was at the sacred stone resistance camp since the first day of the protest at standing rock. she was also a nonviolent direct action organizer and policy advocate who trained hundreds of people over the years for the indigenous environmental network. this is joye at a protest outside the white house last year. >> you need to be held

accountable. , promises to the indigenous communities across this land that you are going to uphold but you have not upheld those promises. amy: we will talk more about joye braun in our first segment. to see our interviews with her and coverage over the fight of the dakota access pipeline, visit our website at democracynow.org. coming up, we will speak with two people who knew her well. they're here continuing the struggle here at the u.n. climate summit. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt. hundreds of people, including climate activists, indigenous peoples, workers, human rights activists, and environmental defenders, gathered today for the people's plenary at cop27. just before we began this broadcast. they signed on to a people's declaration for climate justice that includes demands for the decolonization of economies and societies, the repaying of climate debt, and the defense of 1.5 degrees celsius by reducing emissions to zero by 2030. the statement ends with a call for the release of the imprisoned egyptian technologist, writer, and activist alaa abdel fattah and all other prisoners of conscience. after the plenary ended, hundreds marched outside the plenary hall. i am amy goodman. we are outside the u.n. cup plenary. we just came from the people's

plenary were hundreds gathered to call for justice that signed off on a statement, the foreign minister egypt just passed by. part of the statement is calling for freedom for the political prisoner alaa abdel-fattah and other political prisoners held in egypt. behind us there linking climate justice human rights. they are shouting, what we want? shut it down. there calling for climate justice, for defense of land, air, and sea. well, as we continue to cover the u.n. climate summit, we spend the hour with indigenous activists and land defenders across the americas. we begin with two guests. tom goldtooth, executive director of the indigenous environmental network. he is a member of the dine and dakota nations and lives in minnesota.

he also happens to be the father of a hollywood start dallas goldtooth. also with us is eriel tsekwie deranger. she is a member of the athabasca chipewyan first nation and the executive director of indigenous climate action. tom and eriel, welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you both act. eriel, i was sitting at the front of the people's plenary. you are in the front. this as we come to the end of this two week climate summit, yet then at somebody for the past decade. what are your biggest concerns right now? >> the people's plenary has become a place to voice the democracy of what is happening at the negotiations. the cops become a corporate playground as opposed to a place to come to agreements to address a global crisis.

indigenous rights, human rights, the environment to advance considered corporate solutions. we have to come forward and continue to stand in the spaces and demand more. we have been advocating for an alarm bell on climate change for solutions that address the history of colonialism, violence on our lands and territories. instead of those solutions driving the discourse of the negotiation, we're seeing corporations putting forward all solutions that further entrench us into capitalism and colonialism. amy: loss and damage. these are the words that if you go to any of the grassroots organizations that are here, the first three words out of their mouths. what exactly does it mean and how seriously is this being taken by the countries that are involved with these negotiations? >> really good question.

when it comes to loss and damage, for our community's we have seen 500 years of colonialism in north america, turtle island, and seen the loss and damages to our territory, to our culture, our lifeways. this is not just turtle island. this is across the planet will stop frontline communities, land offenders indigenous people that have experienced the loss at the hands of oil and gas. countries that may promises. these big fancy promises to address loss and damages but how far back are they going? what does commitment look like? who is responsible for those loss and damages? is it states that receive them from other states? how are we to ensure there are direct resources to the communities that experience these loss and damages as opposed to just a new mechanism for states to take and further entrench our communities into more loss and damages in our homelands?

amy: tom goldtooth, where the people's plenary. you have been there for decades. some of the young activists were born after the cops began. what do you think of what has been accomplished at this point and what do you want to see happen? >> one of the very important terminologies that we organize around for this cop is the latest ipcc report that mentions colonialism as a major factor to be considered as we address the climate crisis. that is very important as we look at colonialism but also the colonialism that represents the financial institution. colonialism that has affected the inability of world leaders after the 27th year of coming back to really seriously address

keeping fossil fuels in the ground. that is the elephant in the room. that has been the issue. with a lot of other progress that we have had an been part of as indigenous people, the big issue still is making the commitment to have a global initiative to meet that parents agreement of a threshold of 1.5 celsius. the world is not on track. the united states is way off. industrialized countries are way off. that is what i see is the big issue. colonialism has to be addressed in these hallways. there's been lack of political will around that. amy: colonialism often seen on people's bumper stickers. co2nialism.

a few weeks ago the new york times a loss and damage means liability and compensation which means what i can deal with it. but there's been a lot of pushback. he has changed what he said somewhat. you are from the united states but also sovereign nations. what does that mean to you for reservations? for nations, indigenous nations in the united states? >> a couple of days ago i was fortunate to be at a meeting where john kerry sat and we kind of -- amy: he sat on your lap? >> he sat on my left. i don't think it would be appropriate for him to sit on my lap. [laughter]

we were able to exchange a couple of notes. he took concerned issues that were brought up about the continued issue around domestic issues of getting appropriations to address climate issues. it is not just adaptation, it is mitigation. how do we prevent our situation as american indian and alaska native tribes to be able to positive -- positively look to our future that concerns food sovereignty. it concerns access to our land that have been lost to treaties that have been violated i these united states. how do we get those lands back? how do we protect our ecosystem, our biodiversity? not through market mechanisms, which is a major litigation plan of the united states such as

3530 conservation biodiversity offsets, carbon market offsets that do not cut emissions at source, by the way, just a mechanism to allow the polluters off the hook so that they can go carbon-neutral but not cut their emissions. this is a major issue with us that i addressed to john as one of the climate reparation issues we need to address as an native first nations peoples in the u.s. and he said he would get back to me and we would have meetings on it. he did say they're looking at mechanisms to prevent those things i mentioned, but we are first on that, too. around how safeguards are not really an adequate mechanism to address keeping fossil fuels in the ground. amy: you have been critical of the inflation reduction act.

many felt at least i got some money toward renewable technologies. what is your concern? >> well, definitely in america, we need jobs, we need to look at different methods of diversity and economic development and indigenous peoples and tribes, we are willing to meet and work out things. we have an indigenous just transition initiative that looks at that. but the problem with this act is it put millions of dollars to falls solutions, for example, into department of agriculture legislation that has already been couched that allows -- puts the soil into the carbon market system, carbon sequestration. this is part of the system that does not cut emissions at the source and also beefs up research and mechanisms to bring

geo-engineering now as a solution for mitigating climate. a lot of those technologies have been a violation of the spiritual teachings that we have as indigenous people. on carbon market, bringing air into a market system where it is a property right issue, where they have to define whose property right is carbon before they can trade it as a commodity, that is a violation of the sacred. so how do we reconcile as indigenous people living in a system, loan our own self participating in the false system like that to where the repercussions are very serious for one thing that does not address the climate issue? amy: eriel deranger, what is happening in canada around pipeline politics, run overall

energy when it comes to the first nations? >> from my perspective, it appears the canadian government has a lot of flowery language and promises that feel empty and devoid of actual critical mechanisms for implementation. i am holding them accountable to their promises. instead what we're seeing from the actual government when it comes to action on climate is continuing to try to push dirty pipelines like the trans mountain pipeline which is the tar sands pipeline that delivers tar sands from my territory entreaty 8 to the coast. see the continued expansion of the alberta tar sands plant cannot even begin to slow down until after 2030. this is in a just transition. this is not a strategy that addresses climate or addresses indigenous rights. canada is hedging all its vents on things like false solutions, carbon markets.

it does nothing to cut emissions at the source. instead it allows these corporations to continue business as usual. for me, that means my territory continues to be ravaged by the alberta tar sands. our waterways, or animals, our species or continue to decline in quality and health. our people are not even able to hunt our bison anymore. business is more important. the question i've heard pop up here in the hallways is who are we even try to save the planet for anymore? it does not seem like it is for our people, species, and relatives but for corporation so they can continue to have a bottom line of billions of dollars to appease their shareholders. amy: i want to turn to someone who so deeply cared about all of these issues like both of you, someone you both know very well come the longtime water protecr joye braun who dd

sunday at her home in eagle butte, south dakota, at the age of 53. a citizen of the cheyenne river sioux tral nation, this is joye braun on democracy now! lasyear. >> we need to unite together to let this administration know that we are serious and we are tired. we go to all the hearings. we do the petitions. we make the phone calls and it is not working. they're still allowing pipelines to go through illegally. dakota access pipeline is still an illegal pipeline. and, of course, they did not do a full eis o line 3, and they're ignoring treaty rights on line 5 and mountain valley pipeline. amy: that was joye last year. tom goldtooth she worked with you.

we were interviewing her when she was in washington. what were you doing there? >> we have a campaign on the issues around fossil fuels. we have a campaign lifting up that we have solutions like our indigenous principles just transition. this was an issue we needed to lift up most of the u.s. continuing business as usual with fossil fuels. she was there as our pipeline organizer. part of her role bring together all of the different front dealing with pipelines and she definitely -- she was our warrior woman. she had such love and compassion for the people and for mother earth. we are still devastated in this loss. we were here when we heard about it. i got woken up in the middle of the night our time. it was her daughter morgan who

found her. she is working with us in the media area, too. it was a setback, definitely. but in many ways, she was one of those types of women that you have to go on, have to fight the fight. be strong. this is hard work. especially as indigenous peoples fighting for a long history of colonialism, fighting for our land and our rights and our food system. she was always that person. and close to her family. a lot of people don't know her beloved puppy dog passed away just a matter of days after when she passed away. but she feels -- we are to be gathering here a a lot of people globally came to honor her memory. we had prayer and song from all cultures.

it is part of the movement eldon we are expressing here at this cop. amy: eriel, i give you the final word on joye braun. >> she came to our territory where we were bringing together land offenders and pipeline defenders coming to our territories and she really brought so much spirit and she lived up to her name as joy and brought us together to really galvanize as from her expenses and standing rock and she brings her spirit here now that she can't he with us. amy: eriel tsekwie deranger, and tom goldtooth, executive director of the indigenous environmental network. he lives usually in minnesota but they are both here at the u.n. climate summit in sharm el-sheikh, egypt.

earlier this week on wednesday, the brazilian president-elect spoke. he pledged to recommit brazil to tackling the climate crisis as he replaces far-right president jair bolsonaro. >> the planet warns all of us of the time we need each other to survive. alone we are vulnerable to climate tragedies. however, we ignore these alerts. we spin chileans of dollars on wars that bring destruction and death. no one is safe. climate emergency affects everyone. inequality between the rich and poor manifests itself even in the efforts to reduce the effects of climate change. dear companions, there is climate security for the world without a protected amazon.

we will spare no efforts to have zero deforestation in the degradation of our biomes by 2030. we're going to rigorously punish those responsible for any illegal activity whether it is mining, gold digging, wood extraction, or agricultural occupation. we will create the ministry of indigenous people so that indigenous people presents the policies that guarantee them their survival, security, peace, and sustainability. the second initiative is to put forward brazil as a host for cop 30 in 2025. we will be increasingly assertive and the challenges of clate change. we will be aligned to compromises made in paris, driven by the quest or decarbonization of the global economy. amy: that's brazilian president-elect luiz inácio lula da silva speaking wednesday here at the u.n. climate summit.

the former president is due to take office in january when he will replace jacob also naro j --airjair also naro nearly 60% of the amazon rain forest falls within brazil's borders and its future depends in part on the direction as democracy now! broadcasts from cop27 on tuesday, we spoke about this and more with gregorio mirabal, coordinator of the indigenous organizations of the amazon basin, or coica. he is an indigenous leader from the venezuelan amazon, and the one of the highest profile people from the amazon at the summit. his colleague, atossa soltani, interpreted for him. she is the director of global strategy for the amazon sacred headwaters initiative and founder and board president of amazon watch. i asked mirabal what he is

calling for at cop27. >> i want to thank you for giving us this opportunity to share with you our dreams, our visions, and our aspirations.

cooks a lot of promises were made to support indigenous people. technically, financially, and politically. towards implementation of this action, we are back here working to make sure there's implementation of those promises . so far there has not been progress. once again, we're here to say the amazon is reaching a point of no return. we are here again saying the amazon needs urgent action and we indigenous peoples are bringing forward solutions. scientists agree that indigenous peoples are doing the best job as protectors of the forest and that indigenous solutions need to be supported. so once again we're here to demand technical, political, and financial support that we need to continue to protect our forests and avoid the tipping point.

amy: the significance of the river which now sits at the tri-border of brazil, colombia, and venezuela? >> i come from is the union of four important rivers. this conjunction come this confluence of these rivers are one of the largest confluence is within the amazon basin and they flow these rivers eventually to the amazon. it was nasa who discovered the desert in the sahara of africa bring much-needed nutrients and are connected to the amazon basin and feed the amazon basin. vital for the planet. we are here to say these four

rivers are vital for the future of life on the planet. amy: one of these major amazon countries, brazil, has a new leader. lula. he will be president again and is also at this time like you are. i am wondering if you can talk about his significance and what happened to the amazon under the brazilian president also naro -- bolsonaro? >> the imports of having lula here is we are saying a political shift. lula and his election has committed to support us, support indigenous people, support biodiversity, support the future of the rain forest and that this is -- with lula's support, we

can fight against deforestation, protecting and confronting the threats they face, including assassinations on human rights violations. bolsonaro was bent on the destruction of the amazon. under his leadership, was on increasing human rights violations for allf the indigenous peoples. also naro put at risk the entire --bolsonaro put at risk entire amazon basin as well as all of humanity. with lula coming into office, we are hopeful he wl follow through with his promises to protect the amazon and to avoid a tipping point in to help indigenous peoples protect our territory. amy: you are from the area that is known as venezuela. what is your assessment of majuro, the president of

venezuela and his treatment of indigenous people in the amazon region? >> the last four years i've been focus on all of the amazon basin but what i can tell you is the big threats to the amazon are deforestation and illegal mining. and for years, this has been increasing, the rate of deforestation has been increasing. recently, the president of colombia has managed to convince president maduro to step into his commitments to protect the forest, to join the efforts of lula, and others. public, that is not just a promise in what ends up happening because we are urgently needing for this to happen. amy: can you talk about the most powerful corporations, what

they're doing to the amazon and this whole issue of loss and damage. u.n. speak for reparations by the wealthiest most polluting countries -- the u.s. is durably the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, china the largest current greenhouse gas emitter. what is the responsibility to the amazon and what can they do to repair it? >> saving the amazon is going to cost billions of dollars, a lot of money. however, when you consider the amount of money spent in the ukraine-russia war is equivalent to about three days of what we are spending in that war to save the amazon. however, there are irreversible damages, irreversible loss happening to the amazon. this is caused by a lot of petroleum drilling, monoculture, cattle ranching, and gold.

these reversible harms, irreparable harms are responsibility a big countries like china, russia, the united states. and they need to take responsibility for restoring and repairing the harm they are creating an amazon. amy: can you talk about what it means to be an indigenous land defender? latin america is the deadliest place for environmentalists like you. how do you both defend the land and yourselves? >> i did this moment, we're calling for the ratification of the agreement that would help to prevent the assassinations and persecution of indigenous land defenders. right now to be a defender of

the forest and could or come approve, colombia, brazil, it is really literally accepting death sentence. what we are saying in many cases have indigenous peoples have been charged with lawsuits, basically sued and are facing criminal charges, for example, the leader of the indigenous peoples of ecuador has 16 charges against him. for leaders in the amazon, we have to protect their lives and their ability to be defenders. each day two leaders are assassinated and the amazon basin. this has to change. amy: gregorio mira baba, coordinator of the indigenous organization of the amazon basin. coming up, we are from more indigenous land defenders from

central america, guatemala, and mexico. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: he was praying today at the people's plenary just an hour before we went to broadcast. to see our interview with him at the cop in lima, peru, several years ago, go to democracynow.org. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt. we in today with two indigenous land defenders from central america. andrea ixchíu is a maya k'iche' leader, journalist, and human rights and environmental defender from guatemala. also with us is rosa marina flores cruz, an indigenous activist and organizer from the

isthmus of tehuantepec in the state of oaxaca, mexico they both traveled to cop27 with the collective futuros indígenas, indigenous futures. welcome to democracy now! andrea, let's begin with you. the significance of what is taking place today? we just heard from the representative of the amazon talking about venezuela, brazil, the lungs of the planet. we don't often hear from indigenous defenders in central america. talk about why you're here. >> we are here because we also want to talk about what it means , the energy transition to our territory in the name of our green transition and the creation of renewable energies, guatemala and the territories of central america are suffering.

green capitalism is affecting our communities, to slicing people, creating violence, corruption. in is perpetrating genocide and ecocide. amy: what has your experience been like here? >> we don't know the expectations about the rich and the powerful, giving solutions to the climate crisis -- we're are here to create connections between the grassroots movements. the real climate solutions -- not from the people on the top. we're here to make clear to the decision-makers we are not going to allow all the green pollution is coming to our territory. we are saying we will not allow it. we are here looking at a lot of hypocrisy. a lot of the negotiators at the big oil companies coming here

and participating in the negotiations while young activists are being booted out for demanding fair trade and just transition from the fossil fuel industry. i think there's a lot of hypocrisy in this space. we are very disappointed in the way they are trying to create pollution a multicultural space for dialogue but it is not true. we cannot do mobilizations. there's a lot of repression in the society. we are coming here and looking at these conferences and we already knew the solution for the climate crisis are not coming from here. amy: andrea, i am wondering if you can link the u.s. relationship with guatemala to the issue of climate devastation in your country. 1953, the u.s. forged a coup against iran.

1954, john foster dulles, secretary of state, he was a corporate attorney for united fruit, is involved in the overthrow of the democratically elected leader of guatemala. how does that relate to what we're seeing today? >> the united states has financed a very long history genocide and ecocide in guatemala and also the protection of destructive industry. there's a lot of corporate business related to the u.s. and guatemala -- in guatemala. there's a long and nasty relationship from these private corporations, from the u.s. government with the correct --

judge, journalist -- they keep financing. amy: what are you demanding? >> we are demanding that money is not going to solve the problems of green colonialism in our territory. we are demanding united states government to stop financing the extermination of people in guatemala. amy: rosa marina flores is with us from oaxaca, mexico. talk about your concerns at the climate as you come here to cop27. >> at the start of the delegation of defenders of the air, we try to bring the demands of different indigenous nations and their country. -- nations in our country.

this green energy is discussed here like a solution and are territories are confronting -- the government who are deciding this is the solution and we need to take it in our territories and give them our space for them to make more money. also there are people in our delegation who are facing deforestation of their land -- like selling the idea that vegetables are the solution of the climate crisis -- we are

facing projects that are putting at risk our lives. that is what we're here to stay as indigenous people, we need to be respect our decisions and our agency. we are able to decide what we want in our land and territory and the decisions must come only from the upside. we need to be here and we need to be respected. amy: your father is from an afro community in mexico. your mother from -- if you can talk about how your heritage and your climate activism? >> i grew up in an indigenous community. my mom and my grandma before

her, with people outside call activists. they always have been fighting for the respect -- the rights of the community, the indigenous community. that is where my heritage comes. i always have known i must've had my land and it must feel proud about who i am. amy: let's talk about how dangerous that activism is. a report from the global witness revealed mexico saw 54 environmental and land defenders killed in 2021, making it one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a climate activist. i never headlines, -- in our headlines, every other week it seems we are reporting a mexican

journalist who was also killed. talk about what the stakes are in mexico. >> last week another defender was murdered. defend the land is one of the most difficult and dangerous activities we can do. my own family, giddily the region for six month several years ago because of the fight against the window project. in our network, we have those that are being persecuted for their work in defense of the land against pipelines. amy: what are these megaprojects? >> this big tourist project. there putting indigenous people

as objects for tourism in their building this big train that is going across all of the peninsula. it's like another -- they want to build in the ground for us as we are already living the impact of the megaprojects. dealing with the pipeline that is trying to be built in a volcano. it is really dangerous for them to have these kinds of projects, and the government is just giving martin more people these kinds of -- amy: finally, as you talk about

guatemala, if you can talk about -- and name names, something pointed out in the beginning, here at cop people should understand that you cannot name names and protests of countries, of individuals, corporations. if anyone thought the protest is free. and it is not just because it is in egypt. it happens every are. you can have the protest, but not talk about the country you're talking about. specifically talk about what you're facing in guatemala when it comes to megaprojects. >> we're talking about did business. for example, a company that is exterminating the population. just yesterday a group of people were arrested because this companies forcing them -- displacing them from their land just to keep building this big mining company that is going to be the extraction of minerals.

also the big megaprojects financed by perez who owns one of the biggest electrical dams. persecution of several members of the maia community. in my territory, also growing. their singer land as profits, money. -- they are seeing our land as profits come as money. the climate solutions are here. we are demeaning to be respected. we are demanding to be

respected. amy: i want to thank you for being with us andrea ixchíu is a , maya k'iche' leader, and rosa marina flores cruz is from oaxaca, mexico. both with futuros indígenas, the indigenous futures network. and now for an update about the case of alaa abdel-fattah, his family visited with him today. his sister tweeted, "the news from the visit is not good. alaa suffered a lot we saw him and he needed to see them very much. the family says they will share more details later this afternoon. we will tweak them out and have more on his case on fridays program. that does it for our show.

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