How the World Bank broke its promise to protect the poor

How the World Bank broke its promise to protect the poor

by Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, Roberto Daza and AMERICA with Jorge Ramos
April 16, 2015

SANTA CRUZ BARILLAS, Guatemala — Cecilia Mérida still vividly recalls the day government troops swept into her small town in northern Guatemala and took her common-law husband away. It was 2012, and years of protests by indigenous villagers opposed to a World Bank Group-financed program to build a hydroelectric dam had come to a head.

Tensions mounted between protesters, many of whom said they worried the project would push them from their homes, and security forces after a local activist was found dead. Protesters, suspecting state security forces were behind the death, reacted by storming a military base. The government responded by sending in troops who stormed into homes and, according to villagers, arbitrarily arrested dozens of people, including Mérida’s husband, Rogelio.

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This week, Mérida is in Washington, D.C. to confront the group she partially blames for what she considers her husband’s wrongful arrest: the World Bank Group.

An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media partners, including Fusion, examined World Bank records and other public data. The report by more than 20 news organizations found that dams, power plants, conservation programs and other programs and projects sponsored by the World Bank Group have pushed at least 3.4 million people out of their homes and threatened their livelihoods.

According to official complaints and interviews, in some cases governments that received the group’s money have arrested, beaten and even killed people who objected to being forced from their homes.

More:
http://fusion.net/story/121563/how-the-world-bank-broke-its-promise-to-protect-the-poor/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=/section/news/feed/