PBI-Canada Board member Heather Neun meets with PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS and anti-fracking group Aguawil

On July 12, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “@PBIColombia with @Credhos_Paz and Heather Neun from @PBIcanada in meeting with organizations including Aguawil that reject fracking in Puerto Wilches. Members of these organizations are threatened by resisting fracking.”

Neun, a lawyer in British Columbia, arrived in Colombia on July 3 to participate in the international observation mission that heard testimonies from women, Indigenous peoples, young people, human rights defenders, and others about police repression and human rights violations in the context of the national strike that began on April 28. After arriving in Bogota, Neun was in Medellin for the meetings.

PBI-Colombia, CREDHOS and the Luis Carlos Pérez Collective Lawyers Corporation (CCALCP) took part in a PBI-Canada advocacy tour in Canada in November 2019 that highlighted concerns about fracking. On that tour, Neun organized several key meetings for CREDHOS and CCALCP in Vancouver.

CREDHOS and Aguawil also participated in a PBI-Canada organized webinar about fracking and extractivism that took place on April 29 of this year.

Fracking in the Magdalena Medio

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) has approved two fracking pilot projects near Puerto Wilches in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia.

Ecopetrol will reportedly invest $76.7 million in its Kalé project and ExxonMobil $53 million in its Platero fracking project. Toronto-based Sintana Energy owns a 30 per cent stake in the block held by ExxonMobil and welcomed the news about ExxonMobil receiving the contract for the fracking pilot project.

Additionally, Calgary-based Canacol Energy has expressed interest in the potential for fracking in the Plata and Piranga projects (on blocks of land it co-owns with ConocoPhilips) that would also impact Puerto Wilches. And Calgary-based Parex Resources had reportedly also expressed interest in the fracking pilot projects.

Threats

On March 30, PBI-Colombia tweeted this quote from a TV interview done by CREDHOS president Ivan Madero: “The water and environmental leaderships in the territories are in serious danger, suffer threats and attacks.”

On March 24, CREDHOS received a death threat both on their office landline and on Madero’s personal cellphone.

And on March 1, Alfredo Molano Jimeno wrote in El Espectador about the threats faced by opponents of fracking in the Magdalena Medio including Yuli Velasquez, Luis Alberto González and 20-year-old Yuvelis Natalia Morales, a member of the Committee for the Defence of Water, Life and Territory of Puerto Wilches (AguaWil).

AguaWil is accompanied by CREDHOS.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.