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هذه الصفحة غير متوفرة باللغة العربية وهي معروضة باللغة English

المحتوى متاح أيضًا باللغات التالية: English, español

المقال

27 أكتوبر 2020

الكاتب:
PBS News

In Nicaragua, supplying beef to the U.S. comes at a high human cost

When outbreaks of COVID-19 at meat processing plants in the U.S. slowed production, American wholesalers and grocery chains turned to foreign beef suppliers. Producers in the small country of Nicaragua were happy to fulfill U.S. demand -- but doing so has come at a high cost for local communities…

Nicaragua...has become the third largest supplier of frozen beef to the United States. Its imports have reached an all-time high during the pandemic, doubling in just four years, according to U.S. import records I reviewed. But how this little country the size of Mississippi exports all that beef comes with a cost.

Anuradha Mittal runs a nonprofit, the Oakland Institute, that investigates land thefts around the world.

Anuradha Mittal: The Indigenous populations are not just losing their lands. They're losing their livelihoods. They're losing their lives. In January, a group of armed cattle ranchers attacked an Indigenous community in Nicaragua, burning homes and killing four men…

The Indigenous communities own these lands under a landmark international court ruling 19 years ago. Yet a recent United Nations report reveals that, despite the law, Indigenous people are increasingly losing their lands and their lives to cattle ranchers.

Dozens of companies import be from Nicaragua, Thomas Foods is one of the largest, importing beef from some of the same slaughterhouses that Lottie Cunningham said are buying cattle from the ranchers attacking her community. Thomas Foods e-mailed me a statement a few days later, saying they will continue to import from Nicaragua because their partners have an agreement that commits to zero agricultural activity in protected areas. I asked for a copy of that agreement. But Thomas Foods declined, saying they would have no further comment.