PBI-Guatemala shares letter condemning murder of environmental defender Diana Isabel Hernández

On September 12, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on Facebook a letter (see below) and noted, “Organizations of the Americas condemn the murder of Diana Isabel Hernández, teacher and environmental defender in Guatemala.”

The Mother Earth Women Association (the Asociación de Mujeres Madre Tierra) has explained, “Professor Diana Isabel Hernández Juárez was the coordinator of the environmental committee of the parish of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in the southern part of the Department of Suchitepéquez, on the south coast of Guatemala.”

“The Professor was a community activist devoted to the protection of the environment and its natural resources. She devoted a large part of her life to creating environmental awareness and recovering rare native species as part of a reforestation programme. She worked particularly closely with communities in her parish to help them address environmental issues.”

“The Parish and the Asociación are working together with young people and men and women to make them aware of the need to develop a way of life in harmony with Mother Earth.”

Aleteia reports, “According to the information received by Fides [News Agency], the teacher, on Saturday, September 7, participated in a meeting for Bible Day in the community of Monte Gloria, when she was attacked by two people who shot her and then fled.”

IM-Defensoras and the Network of Human Rights Defenders of Guatemala says, “We demand from the State of Guatemala an expedited and exhaustive investigation of it so that justice is done and does not remain in impunity; Likewise, we remind you of your obligation to guarantee the protection … of all human rights defenders in the country.”

And Erika Guevara-Rosas has tweeted, “The heinous murder of human rights defender Diana Isabel Hernández Juárez in Guatemala must be investigated impartially and expeditiously. The authorities must have as a main line of investigation their work in defense of rights and the environment.”