Film Screening - Guarda Bosques (Forest Keepers)

UMD Latin American Studies Center presents:

Guarda Bosques
[Forest Keepers]

Monday, March 25
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Ulrich Recital Hall (1121 Tawes)

On April 15, 2011, the indigenous Purepecha community of Cherán, Michoacán, México, armed with sticks, rocks, and bottle rockets, rose up against the logging industry, government agencies, and organized crime, which were planning to cut down their sacred forests. Since then, they have removed all state authority such as political parties, local police, etc. and have re-established a traditional form of self-governance that includes its own council of elders, community police, known as a ronda, and forest defense team, or forest keepers, known as the Guarda Bosques.

Simón Sedillo is a community rights defense organizer, documentary filmmaker, and political economist. He has contributed to a growing archive of community-based investigative research, including documentary films and articles. These diverse projects focus primarily on the effects of neoliberalism and militarism on indigenous communities, immigrant communities, and Latino communities in the U.S. and México and the different ways in which these communities organize and resist against this imposition.

For more information about this event please contact the Latin American Studies Center at lasc@umd.edu or at 301-405-6459.