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Will COP16 in Colombia help to protect environmental defenders or be a “colonial conservation rebrand”?

By
Brent Patterson
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Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s environment minister who is expected to be the COP16 Biodiversity Conference president, tells The Guardian: “Although the climate is affecting biodiversity, nature is an answer to the climate crisis.”

She adds: “It is not the only answer, but it is a very important pillar, and we want to position it very strongly to build towards COP30 in Brazil.”

Following the United Nations COP15 Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada in December 2022, COP16 will be held in Cali, Colombia this year over the 12-day period of Monday October 21 to Friday November 1.

The final text from Montreal – known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – that emerged from COP15 included Target 22 with the brief phrase: “ensure the full protection of environmental human rights defenders”.

There is some cautious hope that COP16 in Cali could improve on that language.

And as Muhamad notes, gains seen at COP16 Biodiversity Conference could contribute to strengthening the outcomes of the COP30 Climate Conference that will be held on November 10-21, 2025, in Belém do Pará, Brazil.

Colombia and Brazil are the two deadliest countries for defenders.

In September 2023, Global Witness documented that 60 defenders had been killed in Colombia in 2022 along with another 34 defenders killed in Brazil.

Thirty-six per cent of the 177 defenders killed in 2022 were Indigenous despite Indigenous peoples comprising about 5 per cent of the global population.

Concerns about the 30×30 initiative

Along with the hope that the final text from COP16 could better articulate the protection needs of defenders, there is also the concern that the 30×30 initiative that is part of it could see increased dangers and criminalization for Indigenous peoples and defenders.

More than 190 countries – including Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Canada who are also part of a “high ambition coalition” – have embraced the 30×30 initiative to “protect” at least 30 percent of land, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030.

Muhamad also told The Guardian: “Saving the Amazon is a practical and tangible action. The creation of multinational marine protected areas is a tangible action that has results for the climate and biodiversity.”

Target 3 of the text adopted in Montreal says these areas should be “effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures”.

“Protected areas” and conservationism as a land grab

Forty-nine organizations have cautioned: “The Framework’s focus on ‘protected areas’ will likely continue to lead to human rights abuses across the globe.”

The Swift Foundation highlights: “How it’s working right now is a militarized form of conservation. You have guards with guns, people imposing fines, building fences and kicking people out of their traditional lands. And if communities react in defense they are perceived as anti-conservation.”

Similar concerns have been expressed by Amnesty International that describes the risk of “fortress conservation” and Survival International that launched a campaign in April 2021 to stop 30×30 given the threat of it being “the biggest land grab in history”.

Conservation as a gateway to “militarized forms of violence”

José Francisco Cali Tzay, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who is Maya Kaqchikel from Guatemala, has also warned: “Throughout conservation’s checkered history, we have seen exclusionary conservation as a gateway to human rights abuses and militarized forms of violence.”

Sofia Monsalve and Georgina Catacora-Vargas have further commented: “Governments need to look beyond ‘30 x 30’ and ‘nature-based solutions’ to put human rights at the center of the Global Biodiversity Framework.”

Specifically, Dene land defender Melissa Daniels critiqued the “performative reconciliation” and “colonial conservation rebrand” of COP15 rather than respecting Indigenous sovereignty, rights and title along with the right to free, prior and informed consent.

And while, for example, a 30×30 conservation-backed maritime park on paper might protect the waters off the coast of Buenaventura, not far from Cali, in practice it could also undermine the assertion by the Afro-Colombian community of Bahia Malaga that sees these waters as part of their collectively owned territories.

Looking ahead

Will COP16 address these concerns?

Will COP16 develop language and mechanisms that could then be seen in the Binding Treaty on business and human rights (a 10th session on this is also expected to take place in Geneva in October 2024) and the COP29 (November 11-22, 2024) and COP30 (November 10-21, 2025) climate talks?

At least 1,910 land and environmental defenders on the frontlines of the biodiversity and climate crisis were killed between 2012 and 2022.

Given a defender has been killed approximately every two days over the past ten years, by the time of COP16 that number could be closer to 2,093 defenders.

Along with the physical protection we provide to defenders at risk, we are committed to advocacy strategies that address this risk at its root.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Canada co-organizing webinar seeking field volunteers for PBI-Colombia, February 26

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia is seeking new field volunteers!

We are working with them and PBI-United Kingdom on a webinar to encourage applications. The deadline to apply is Saturday March 2.

To learn more about this, join us on Monday February 26 to hear Marie Zeller, a former field volunteer, and German Romero, an accompanied human rights lawyer! This webinar will have simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.

To register, click here.

As of this hour, 30 people have registered for this webinar.

Further reading: PBI-Colombia seeks new field volunteers, deadline to apply is March 2

PBI-Canada webinar on Gitxsan and Gitanyow Resistance to Colonial Mega Projects, March 5

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 5th at 5.30PM PT join us to get an hour-long update on Gitxsan and Gitanyow resistance to heavy industry.

Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, Tara Marsden, Kai Nagata and Maryam Adrangi will share leadership, analysis and movement-building perspective as three new pipelines are proposed, RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) funding expands, and the post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) era continues to unfold.

To register, click here.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Human Rights Law Firm at trial of Mayan Poqomchi defender Sofia Tot accused of “usurpation”

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“Yesterday, #PBI accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm at the Cobán Courts Tower, Alta Verapaz, at the beginning of the conclusions of the Sofia Case. Sofia, Mayan Poqomchi woman, is criminalized and accused of usurpation of private property in protected areas and exploiting its resources.

The Public Office and adhesive plaintiffs are calling for between 6 and 8 years in prison for the region’s renowned defender.”

Ruda has explained that Sofía Tot, defender and indigenous authority of Purulhá, Baja Verapaz, is accused of aggravated usurpation.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a former UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, has written that “usurpation” is when “Indigenous peoples become [are charged with being] trespassers or illegal occupants of their own lands.”

ActionAid adds that Tot belongs to the resistance movement for the recovery of the ancestral land of the Mayan Poqomchi people.

They further note: “The activist has always worked in defense of the Sierra de las Minas, affected by mineral extraction concessions. This is despite the fact that 52% of this territory is tropical rainforest. Today, it is heavily affected by deforestation and the pollution of its rivers. According to official information, she is accused of the crime of ‘usurpation of a protected natural area’. Specifically, they point out that by accessing an area where the emblematic quetzal bird lives.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) since 2013.

We continue to follow this.

Photo: Sofía Tot, defender and Indigenous authority of Purulhá, Baja Verapaz. Photo by Rony Morales.

PBI-Honduras observes protest by Lenca community of Tierras del Padre criminalized for “usurpation” of ancestral lands

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, PBI-Honduras posted:

“We celebrate the closing of the process against the 11 people from the Lenca community of Tierras del Padre criminalized for the crime of usurpation.

On February 16, when the final letters of freedom were granted to the defenders in the Criminal Court in Tegucigalpa, from PBI we observed the sit-in that accompanied the community in the vindication of their ancestral territorial rights.

This indigenous community holds ancestral title dating back to 1739 and approximately 100 families reside and defend their rights in this territory.”

What is usurpation?

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a former UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, has given the example of “usurpation” as when “Indigenous peoples become trespassers or illegal occupants of their own lands.”

The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras has also noted that the charges of “usurpation” is “used to criminalize and prosecute actions of social protest and demands for the rights of organizations that defend human rights. human rights, articulated in peasant organizations, indigenous peoples, blacks and social movements.”

Eviction of Lenca community by National Police in February 2022

On February 9, 2022, Once Noticias reported:

“With a strong deployment, the National Police executes this Wednesday (9/2/2022) the eviction of the Lenca indigenous community Tierras del Padre, in the southern area of the Central District, Francisco Morazán.

Photo: Police arrive at the community, February 2022. Photo by La Prensa.

Photo: Confrontation with the community, February 2022. Photo by La Prensa.

This action is carried out after this Tuesday (8/2/2022) the Criminal Courts of Tegucigalpa reactivated the eviction order after it was suspended on November 11, 2021.

According to the judge assigned to the case, the legal action establishes that they will vacate the property of Tierras del Padre, including the citizens who are established in that place.

For its part, the Lenca Tierras del Padre Indigenous Community claims to have an ancestral land title since 1739, so this new eviction attempt (the previous one in November 2021) threatens and puts more than 120 families at risk.

Likewise, a statement issued by the women of this population group detailed that eleven of its inhabitants are currently accused of the crime of usurpation.

It should be noted that, until the entrance to the community, the executing judge assigned to the case, agents of the National Police and dozens of residents appeared.”

Two years before the eviction, Criterio.hn noted:

“Ninety families from the Lenca Indigenous Community Tierras del Padre, 13 kilometers from the Honduran capital, have denounced in recent hours that they are being persecuted and criminalized by the landowner and politician, Mario Facussé.

Facussé who alleges that the land, 502 blocks in total, is his property because he has a supplementary title extended in 2013. Meanwhile, members of the Lenca community invoke an ancestral title, dating back to 1739, registered with the Spanish captaincy.

This is not the first time that landowner Mario Facussé has been involved in conflicts over land tenure, as in the past he has claimed to be the owner of other assets, especially in the Central District, where thousands of families have had to pay him for their usufruct.

The Lenca Indians warned that if the eviction order is executed, it will violate Article 4 of ILO Convention 169, which guarantees respect for the property of indigenous peoples.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Mexico accompanies family of Náhuatl land defender Samir Flores on the fifth anniversary of his murder

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, PBI-Mexico posted:

“It has been 5 years since the murder of Samir Flores. We remember Samir as one of the referents of the work in defense of #human rights and indigenous peoples in Mexico. From @PBI_Mexico we accompany his family today in the community of Amilcingo.”

Latinus has noted: “On February 20, 2019, Samir woke up at 5:00 a.m., as usual, to go to community radio and do his daily morning show. When he was getting dressed, he was knocked by someone at the door of his house. He went out and after talking for a few minutes he was killed.”

Today, La Jornada reports: “Five years after the murder of activist Samir Flores Soberanes, his family members and comrades of the People’s Front in Defense of Land, Water and Air of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala demanded justice from federal and state authorities for this crime perpetrated in the town of Amilcingo, municipality of Temoac.”

Photo: March in tribute to Samir Flores in Amilcingo, with the presence of his wife Liliana Velázquez. Photo by Daniela Rea.

That article adds: “Samir’s comrades in struggle, along with those close to him, participated yesterday in a mass in his memory; They laid flowers and candles outside his home – where he was shot dead in 2019 – and then went to the local community radio station, where he worked as an announcer. Later they visited the primary school that bears his name, where students and teachers paid tribute in his honor, and finally arrived at the cemetery where the remains of the environmental defender are buried.”

Pie de Pagina further notes: “The tribute was dedicated to his mother Epifanía Soberanes, his father Cirino Nabor Flores and his wife, Liliana Velásquez, as well as their 4 children.”

Photo: Samir was married to Liliana Velázquez with whom he had four children, Amira, Jenny, Mariana and Kinith.

The People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water (FPDTA-MPT) also issued a statement that denounced the lack of significant progress in the investigation into the murder of Flores.

Somoselmedio reports: “The FPDTA-MPT denounced that the investigation into Samir’s participation in the struggle against the Morelos Integral Project [that includes a gas pipeline, thermoelectric plant, and aqueduct to take water from the river to cool the turbines in the thermoelectric plant] and his work as an indigenous communicator was ignored by the Morelos Prosecutor’s Office for more than four years. It was only thanks to the pressure exerted by the people that this aspect of the case was brought to the attention of the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) in August 2023.”

“The FPDTA-MPT also highlighted the close relationship between organized crime and the imposition of megaprojects such as the Morelos Integral Project, as well as other similar projects throughout the country, including the Interoceanic Corridor and the Mayan Train [open-pit mining and the dispute over Nahua territory in Santa María Ostula].”

The statement also notes: “The FPDTA-MPT announced that in the coming days it will present a detailed report on the human rights violations caused by the Morelos Integral Project, urging dissemination, coverage and public support.”

And it concludes: “Although we no longer believe in this capitalist system of government, we demand and will continue to demand punishment of those responsible.”

The map of the line of inquiries as well as the FPDTA-MPT media statement can be read here.

Excerpt from full statement.

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples’ Front since early 2020.

Canadian court finds Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl guilty of criminal contempt for upholding Wet’suwet’en law

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Chief Dsta’hyl disables a Coastal Gaslink bulldozer. Photo by Michael Toledano.

Abolish CIRG has just posted: “Justice Tammen rules Dsta’hyl is guilty of criminal contempt. Referring to the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass vs the injunction: ‘The two legal orders cannot comfortably co-exist in the circumstances.’”

It adds: “Dinï ze’ Dsta’hyl is the highest ranking person to be charged for violating the CGL injunction. At his hearing, he argued that it was the injunction that was a violation of Wet’suwet’en law.”

The Abolish CIRG thread of ten tweets on this can be read here.

Amanda Follett Hosgood of The Tyee has also tweeted: “BC Supreme Court has found Wet’suwet’en Chief Dsta’hyl, Adam Gagnon, guilty of criminal contempt, rejecting a novel defence that rather than bringing the law into disrepute he was upholding Wet’suwet’en law on his traditional territory when interfered with pipeline construction. Rather than ‘harmonizing colonial law and Indigenous law,’ judge ruled that defence proposed ‘recognition of an imprecisely defined law of trespass to the exclusion of the Canadian law of contempt. The two legal orders cannot comfortably coexist in the circumstances.'”

Wing Chief Dsta’hyl arrested in October 2021

The Tyee has previously reported: “Chief Dsta’hyl, a wing chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan who also goes by Adam Gagnon, was arrested Oct. 27, 2021, following an interaction with Coastal GasLink security on his clan’s traditional territory. Although he was originally taken into custody for mischief and theft over $5,000, Dsta’hyl now faces a charge of criminal contempt.”

That article adds: “BC Prosecution Service announced [in 2022] that it would proceed with criminal contempt charges against some of those charged in the pipeline conflict in October and November 2021.”

Enforcing Wet’suwet’en law

Grist has explained: “As a supporting chief from the Likhts’amisyu clan, Dsta’hyl had been tasked with enforcing Wet’suwet’en law in the area. Construction crews preparing to build a pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory, without their consent — represented a blatant violation of those laws.”

A news release in 2022 from the Likhts’amisyu, one of five clans within the Wet’suwet’en nation, stated: “On October 27, Likhts’amisyu Hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl was arrested and forcibly removed from unceded Likhts’amisyu territory, along with Kolin Sutherland-Wilson of the Gitxsan Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit wilp. In observance of Wet’suwet’en trespass laws, Dini ze’ Dsta’hyl decommissioned 10 pieces of heavy construction equipment.”

Photo: Kolin Sutherland-Wilson. Photo by Michael Toledano.

It also notes: “On October 17, Lihts’amisyu Enforcement Officers — including Chiefs Tsebesa and Dsta’hyl — warned CGL employees they were trespassing and their equipment would be subject to seizure. Subsequently, Dini ze’ Dsta’hyl decommissioned an excavator, prompting CGL to remove all remaining heavy equipment from the Parrot Lake area in Likhts’amisyu territory.”

Grist provides this narrative: “After warning the on-site construction managers that they were trespassing, he arrived the next day and approached a pair of orange-vested security subcontractors employed by TC Energy, the company building the fracked gas pipeline known as Coastal GasLink, or CGL. He notified them that he would be seizing one of their excavators and then stepped onto the hulking vehicle and disabled it by disconnecting its battery and other components.”

Sentencing

Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment.

The Criminal Code of Canada says: “A court, judge, justice or provincial court judge may deal summarily with a person who is guilty of contempt of court under this section and that person is liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ninety days or to both, and may be ordered to pay the costs that are incident to the service of any process under this Part and to his detention, if any.”

Sentencing for Chief Dsta’hyl has been set for 9 am PT on Wednesday March 6.

The UN on CGL

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has repeatedly called on Canada “to immediately halt the construction and suspend all permits and approvals for the construction of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline in the traditional and unceded lands and territories of the Wet’suwet’en people, until they grant their free, prior and informed consent, following the full and adequate discharge of the duty to consult.”

We continue to follow this with concern.

PBI-Mexico accompanies acquittal of Nahuatl water protector Miguel López Vega criminalized for defending the Metlapanapa River

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Mexico has posted:

“PBI also accompanies the victory.

We remember this long road and we feel very happy because Miguel López Vega was acquitted of all charges against him, he defeated the criminalization of his legitimate work in defense of the Metlapanapa River and the right of the Nahua peoples to self-determination. 

Miguel, his community and the Indigenous peoples of the state of Puebla are an example of resistance, struggle and dignity. This is a victory for the peoples.”

Video clip: Miguel López Vega speaks after his acquittal.

Defending the Metlapanapa River

La Jornada de Oriente notes: “Miguel López Vega is a representative of the Nahuatl community of Santa María Zacatepec, a popular communicator for Radio Zacatepec, a councillor of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) and a member of the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water of Puebla, Morelos and Tlaxcala, which works together with Nahua communities in the United States [of Mexico].”

And it provides the background that: “On 24 January 2020, Miguel López Vega … was arrested by agents of the Puebla State Attorney General’s Office as he left the Government Directorate of the state of Puebla, Mexico. The environmentalist was part of a peaceful protest in Santa María Zacatepec on October 30, 2019, which was met with excessive use of force by state police and the National Guard. On January 29, 2020, López Vega was released, but the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water of Puebla, Morelos and Tlaxcala, considers him to be the ‘first political prisoner of the Fourth Public Transformation of the Country.’”

The peaceful protest was against the installation of the Wastewater Discharge Project/ a storm and sanitary sewerage system in the Ciudad Textil Industrial Park in Huejotzingo, a project that could contaminate the tributary.

Ojalá has also reported: “Women and elders who had joined a human barricade against the construction were brutally beaten [by Puebla state police and the National Guard who had arrived en masse to their territory to protect the construction site]. The wastewater pipeline was pushed through without transparency—even using false information—despite its many potential risks to the health of the community.”

Acquittal

Puebla News now reports: “Miguel López Vega, an activist from the municipality of Juan Crisóstomo Bonilla, has been acquitted of the three crimes he faced after four years of fighting against industrial discharges into the Metlapanapa River. In a hearing held at the House of Justice in San Andrés Cholula, the judicial authorities informed him that he will be released and will no longer have to sign.”

Another article in La Jornada de Oriente further explains: “Last Friday morning, Miguel López Vega ended four years of criminalization for defending the Metlapanapa River.”

“The Judicial Branch of Puebla had to recognize the innocence of the environmental communicator in the last hearing of the trial that was politically mounted since January 24, 2020, inventing the crimes of obstruction of communication routes, opposition to public works and damage to other people’s property with the use of explosive devices.”

The article adds: “Observers from Peace Brigades International, Amnesty International, Serapaz and the All Rights for All Network were also present at the event following today’s hearing, outside the Cholula House of Justice.”

El Sol de Puebla adds: “In the courtyard of the House of Justice of San Andrés Cholula, he reported that he attended his last hearing, where the judicial authorities informed him that he will stop signing and that he enjoys absolute freedom.”

López Vega says: “I was given four years and 10 days in jail for allegedly setting fire to an official unit and committing other crimes that I did not commit, but now justice is coming and I am still standing. …Until today and after more than four years, we are already totally free, I will stop signing and I will be able to go to other places.”

“The struggle continues”

López Vega adds: “I would like to comment that this is not over because the struggle continues and we have many issues to defend.”

Of particular concern is the existence of a landfill in the Cholula region and the “residual discharges carried out by companies in Ciudad Textil, an area corresponding to the neighboring jurisdiction of Huejotzingo.”

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has accompanied the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water (@fpdtampt) in early 2020.

Further reading

– PBI-Mexico accompanies Indigenous Nahua water defender Miguel López Vega, criminalized for his defence of the Metlapanapa River, at court hearing (April 27, 2023)

– PBI-Mexico accompanies Nahua water defender Miguel López Vega at hearing for defending the Metlapanapa River (March 30, 2023)

– PBI-Mexico accompanies Nahua water protector Miguel López Vega as he faces hearing for his defence of the Metlapanapa River (March 27, 2023)

– PBI-Mexico accompanies Metlapanapa River defender Miguel López Vega at court hearing (September 11, 2021)

– PBI-Mexico joins call for the release of Indigenous land and water defender Miguel López Vega (January 28, 2020)

PBI-Mexico tweet.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Maya Q’eqchi’ defender Lesbia Artola of the CCDA-Verapaces to the Public Ministry

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“On Thursday [February 15], PBI accompanied the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) of the Verapaces, to a summons issued by the MP [Public Ministry] to the Cobán District Prosecutor’s Office, in relation to a complaint against one of its members.

Concern continues over the alarming increase in criminalizations of women human rights defenders in Guatemala for their work defending the land.”

The CCDA of the Verapaces accompanies some 150 Q’eqchi communities, supporting them in the resolution of conflicts related to the possession of the land they inhabit.

The Public Ministry describes itself as an “institution with autonomous functions [that] promotes criminal prosecution, directs and investigates public action crimes, acting and ensuring compliance with the law.”

In their January 2024 Monthly Information Package, PBI-Guatemala explains: “Regarding our accompaniment of the Community Council of the Highlands (CCDA)-Las Verapaces Region, this month we maintained telephone contact and met with its coordinators Lesbia Artola and Imelda Teyul, to update us on their work, as well as to follow up on the increased threat of evictions in the region and the criminalization processes against several members of the organization. We also visited the Cobán Penitentiary Center to visit the seven CCDA members deprived of their liberty.”

Photo: Mayan Q’eqchi’ defenders Lesbia Artola and Imelda Teyul.

Two of the CCDA members in prison are Indigenous authorities Jorge Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul who were sentenced on October 30, 2019 to 35 years in prison.

A PBI-Canada delegation visiting Guatemala met with the CCDA-The Verapaces when we were in Cobán in May 2023.

PBI-Guatemala has previously noted: “Due to a series of killings (5 in 2018), repression and criminalization against the members of the CCDA-The Verapaces, they decided to send PBI a request for accompaniment, which we analysed and accepted.”

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying CCDA-The Verapaces in July 2018.

PBI-Mexico celebrates Federal Court ruling that recognizes Indigenous Rarámuri community’s ancestral rights, annuls forestry permits

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanied the Indigenous forest community supported by CONTEC when they blocked the Creel-San Rafael  highway for five hours on November 19, 2022, in a protest demanding legal recognition of their territory.

PBI-Mexico has posted: “PBI-Mexico celebrates the recognition of the ancestral lands of the Indigenous Rarámuri forest community of San Elías Repechike, in the Sierra Tarahumara, by a federal ruling that managed to obtain @CONTECAC #RightsIndigenousPeoples.”

El Heraldo de Chihuahua reports: “After six years of fighting for the ancestral recognition of the territory, San Elías Repechike wins the litigation and the federal judge orders the annulment of the forest harvesting permits granted to businessmen and individuals.”

The article adds: “The federal court recognizes that the Indigenous community is subject to the rights contained in the Federal Constitution and the agreements that the Mexican State has signed; the special relationship that they have with the land, and that indigenous property is based on the traditional use and possession of lands and resources, understood not only as physical occupation, but also activities of a permanent or seasonal nature and uses related to their culture.”

It further notes: “CONTEC, an organization that accompanies them in the legal process, pointed out that the resolution issued by the court does justice to this community that for more than 40 years has been demanding the recognition of its ancestral territory, facing all kinds of aggressions and looting of resources.”

Raichali adds: “The court [also] recognized the community’s right to a polygon of just over 11,415 hectares in the municipality of Bocoyna, Chihuahua, which it claims as an indigenous people through ancestral property, not as an ejido or agrarian community. …Currently, Mexican law provides for only two forms of collective ownership of land, the ejido and the agrarian community. This amparo holds the Mexican state responsible for omitting legislation that guarantees the indigenous community a different form of land ownership.”

And Expok News has previously reported: “The indigenous peoples are settled in an area of 11,300 hectares, and [because Mexican authorities have not recognized their rights] at least 65% of that area has already been handed over for forestry: the private owners requested the extraction permits and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources granted them, again without consulting the indigenous peoples who are settled there.”

The Indigenous Rarámuri forest community of Bosques de San Elías Repechike is accompanied by the Community Technical Consultancy, A.C. (CONTEC). The full statement (dated February 13) by CONTEC on the implications of the court ruling (on February 2) can be read here.

PBI-Mexico has been providing punctual accompaniment to CONTEC since 2015. In February 2022, this accompaniment was formalized due to the increase in the level of risk faced by the organization.

On April 24, 2022, PBI-Canada hosted a webinar with CONTEC talking about the situation in Chihuahua. The video of that webinar is here.

Photo: On October 24-27, 2023, we also hosted Mariana Azucena Villarreal Frías of the Network in Defence of Indigenous Territories of Sierra Tarahumara (REDETI), in Ottawa along with PBI-Mexico advocacy coordinator Manuel Jabonero Prieto. CONTEC is a member of REDETI and Mariana highlighted the importance of recognition of ancestral territory at meetings with government officials, Members of Parliament and allies.

We extend our congratulations to the community and recognize their struggle for ancestral rights, based not only on physical occupation but traditional use. Photo from Netnoticias.mx.

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