PBI-Spanish State co-organizes advocacy tour with environmental defenders from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala

Published by Brent Patterson on

José Bo (Guatemala), Diana Barrios (Colombia) and Reynaldo Domínguez (Honduras). Photo by Selena Pizarro.

Translation of El Salto article:

“And even if they kill us, we will continue with the dignity of people who defend life”

We spoke with Diana Luz Barrios, Reynaldo Domínguez and José Bo, members of different platforms for the defense of territory and natural resources against the exploitation of multinationals in Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala

A delegation of human rights and environmental defenders from Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia visited Madrid in November 2022.

Diana Luz Barrios, Reynaldo Domínguez and José Bo have been part of this advocacy and awareness tour around Europe , organized by International Development Cooperation Initiatives (ICID) and Peace Brigades International (PBI).

Diana Barrios is a member of the Collective of Women to Law, in Colombia, defenders of human rights, gender equality and the environment against the industrial and mining agroeconomic model. This year they have achieved a historic ruling with the women of the Asmuproca collective in terms of collective restitution of communal lands for peasant women.

“The son of Luz Estela Romero was kidnapped, tortured and violently abused by the police and only thanks to quick action by the community did we manage to stop this attempted forced disappearance from happening”

Reynaldo Domínguez is a member of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (Honduras). Defender of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers in the face of the threat posed by open-pit mining in the area, developed by two wealthy families financed by US lobbies and protected by the Honduran government.

“For us, the one who messes with the water, he messes with our mother. We cannot allow a businessman who, for the sake of doing business and brilliant capital, to destroy an area such as the national park”

José Bo, a member of the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón (Guatemala). Defender of the Cahabón river and its tributaries Oxec, Canlich and Chiacté on which seven hydroelectric complexes built by companies in the hands of Florentino Pérez have been implemented.

According to a Global Witness report, in 2021, 200 environmental defenders were assassinated, 68% of them from Latin American countries.

The original El Salto article can be read at “Y aunque nos asesinen, seguiremos con la dignidad de personas que defendemos la vida”

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