The photos were taken by me on my gap year trip to South America in 2004.

The Mexican flag ©Esparta Palma

Mexico has been ranked as the second deadliest place to work for journalists covering the news after Iraq, according to Newseum records. Many journalists killed were crime reporters, a dangerous profession in the midst of Mexico’s deadly and unstoppable drug wars.

The chairman of the Newseum interactive museum in Washington D.C., Alberto Ibarguen said in an Associated Press article: “These murders strike at the heart of democracy by silencing speech and by depriving a community of the information it needs to conduct its affairs.”

The documentary does not preach, but rather shows both sides, a refreshing break from the slew of Michael Moore films and spin offs which are informative but inherently flawed. Crude lets the viewer make up their own mind, though the injustice is clear. The awful effects of the refineries and oil spills speak for themselves. 30,000 indigenous plaintiffs have contaminated water to drink and some have been forced off their land. Many have contracted cancer from living atop covered up oil pits that were not cleaned properly when Chevron moved out in 1993.

The film works well because it has engrossing characters which give the case a human face. The charismatic and sweet Ecuadorian lawyer contrasts against the brash but clever American lawyer as they work together with groups like the US-based Amazon Watch to try to bring the case to court. Unfortunately, and as predicted, Chevron has been prolonging the case since it started 13-years ago, their main aim to dry up the prosecuting team’s funds. Crude is an anger-making but insightful look at the severe injustice the indigenous tribes affected by the refineries in Ecuador have suffered in the past 30 years, and how the capitalist giants who commit these heinous crimes can always buy their way out of them.

The uncontacted Indians of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world, photographed during an overflight in May 2008 ⓒGleison Miranda, FUNAI

Some of the world’s last uncontacted Indians have been fleeing from Peru to Brazil in order to escape illegal logging, says a report published earlier this week by Survival International.

The report highlights evidence found by employees of FUNAI, Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department since 2004. There have been numerous sightings of the Indians. Their arrows have been found and wooden boards were seen floating past the FUNAI post on the Envira River, coming downstream from Peru, where the Indians are known to live.

Jose Carlos Meirelles, head of the FUNAI team says in the report: “(There has been a) forced migration of autonomous groups in Peru, caused by mahogany exploration in the headwaters of the Jurua, Purus and Envira (rivers in Peru).

“The collection of arrows (belonging to the Indians) on my table is piling up. The situation will only be resolved when the Indians are left alone on the other side of the border.”

Tribal peoples are constantly under the threat of cattle ranchers, disease, missionaries and roads which cut tribal lands in half. Often tribal people are wiped out because they are thought to be standing in the way of ‘progress’. Many people believe that they are now laws in place to protect tribal peoples but they are still fighting for survival. One example is the Akuntsu tribe in Brazil.

Agents of FUNAI contacted them in 1995, and found that the cattle ranchers who had taken over the Indians’ land had massacred almost all the tribe, and bulldozed their houses to try to cover up the massacre. Only six Akuntsu survive.

It is sad to learn about previously uncontacted tribes who have survived for so long without modern technology being forced from their lands because of the greed which spurs illegal logging. Not only does it ruin the Amazon rainforest, helping to increase global warming, but it uproots tribal peoples, often leading to their death.

To see a photo click here.

Casa da Sogra cafe in Camden ©Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

If you want to try some traditional Brazilian food, check out Casa da Sogra, a small cafe in the heart of Camden. I lived in Brazil for nearly a year on my year abroad at university and this sweet café temporarily transports me back, through a variety of Brazilian delicacies. The best item on the menu by far is açaí na tigela, halfway between a sorbet and a smoothie and served in a bowl. The dish is made from açaí, a natural energising berry from the açaí palm, found in the Amazon. In Brazil acai is part of the culture, which is understandable – it’s addictive. Make sure you ask for banana, honey and granola on top – it’s the way they serve it in Brazil.

If you have an interest in the Brazilian community in the UK, or simply want to know the best live Brazilian music acts going on in London, the café supplies many free Portuguese and English language magazines and newspapers detailing local events. The cafe is adorned with sunflower tablecloths and Brazilian flags and serves imported national beers and soft drinks as well as hot food and snacks.

Casa da Sogra, 4 Ferdinand Street, NW1

In 2003 the government carried out a media crackdown called “black spring” which saw the arrest of 27 journalists, sentenced for alleged collaboration with the United States against “Cuba’s economy and national independence.”

The organisation Reporters Without Borders keeps detailed information on all the journalists being detained and calls for their release. One imprisoned journalist, Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, who had been in jail previously for publishing an unauthorised article criticising tobacco growing methods, ran the biggest independent library in Cuba. He was called a “traitor to Cuba” at his trial and has been beaten in prison and denied communication with his family.

Raúl Castro‘s presidency, which began in 2006, has done little to alter press freedom, though four journalists imprisoned during “black spring” were released in February of last year. Cuba is the world’s second biggest jailer of journalists after China.