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Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra sentenced to five years in prison

By
Brent Patterson
-

LaHora now reports: “The former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) in Quetzaltenango, Virginia Laparra, was convicted of the crime of disclosure of confidential or reserved information to a sentence of 5 years in prison commutable at the rate of Q5 per day and a fine of Q50 thousand in addition to disqualification from holding public office for a period of 10 years.”

That article also notes: “Laparra was [also previously] sentenced in December 2022 by the Eighth Criminal Court to 4 years in prison commutable for the crime of continuous abuse of authority, after she filed a complaint against the current rapporteur against torture, Lesther Castellanos. …To date, the defense of the former prosecutor filed an appeal for cassation with which they are still seeking to reverse the decision, so a response is expected from the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ).”

EP Investiga further reports: “This is the second case in which the Quetzaltec lawyer has been convicted. In December 2022, she was sentenced to four years in prison, commutable for the crime of continuous abuse of authority. This case was due to an administrative complaint he filed against Castellanos. …Laparra’s legal team will analyze the next steps to be taken in the process [in this most recent case] and will define whether [this new] sentence will be appealed. Meanwhile, the dignified reparation hearing will be next Thursday, July 11.”

PBI-Guatemala

Prior to this sentencing, PBI-Guatemala posted this image and text:

#VirginiaLaparra’s fight for a fairer Guatemala is a light in the midst of darkness and corruption.

We demand #JusticeForVirginia #NoMoreCriminalization

“The case is a revenge to guarantee impunity”

Reactions

Prensa Comunitaria reports: “[Maya Q’eqchi’] water defender Bernardo Caal, who was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, came to the city of Quetzaltenango to express his solidarity. ‘She is an example to follow in the fight against corruption, even if this system says otherwise,’ he said.”

Ruta tweet.

After the sentencing, UDEFEGUA also posted: “We express our rejection of the sentence issued against Virginia Laparra, for constituting a profound violation of the guarantee that prosecutors must have from the Guatemalan State. Our solidarity with Virginia and her family.”

The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network also tweeted: “We continue to demand justice for Virginia Laparra and an end to the ongoing misuse of the justice system to criminalize justice operators and #HRDs [human rights defenders].”

And Erika Guevara Rosas at Amnesty International commented: “#VirginiaLaparra has been sentenced to 5 years of commutable prison for the crime of revealing information. Virginia has been a prisoner of conscience only for her fight against impunity and corruption in #Guatemala. We continue to demand an end to the criminalization against them.”

Background

On December 16, 2022, Laparra was sentenced to four years in prison for the alleged crime of ongoing abuse of authority.

Amnesty International expressed its dismay at this conviction “based on the court’s analysis that the then prosecutor committed a crime solely by initiating an administrative lawsuit accusing a judge of corruption.”

This four year sentence is under challenge before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), so it is not yet final.

Additionally, on October 19, 2022, while Laparra was in jail during the case noted above, a second arrest warrant was issued against her related to another criminal complaint filed by the same judge Laparra had previously accused of corruption.

Several news articles name this judge as Lesther Castellanos.

Journalists Jody García and Nina Lakhani have commented in The Guardian the “the country’s ruling elite [is pursuing] a strategy to purge the justice system and derail corruption investigations against their allies.”

Juan Francisco Sandoval, the former director of Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, who had to flee Guatemala in July 2021, told the Guardian: “It’s a clear message from the political and economic power brokers that never again should corruption cases be investigated – or the consequences will be prison or exile.”

Multiple organizations, including Lawyers Without Borders Canada and Impunity Watch, have condemned “the continued criminal harassment of the former prosecutor in retaliation for her anti-corruption work.”

Amnesty International has also called for “an immediate end to the misuse of the criminal justice system to harass, intimidate and punish judges, prosecutors, human rights defenders and journalists”.

At least 29 judicial officials have left the country in recent years for fear of being the target of criminal prosecutions

We continue to follow this.

Gitanyow and Gitxsan concerned about RCMP C-IRG violence, construction of PRGT pipeline to begin on August 24

By
Brent Patterson
-

APTN Video: The C-IRG on Gitxsan territory, November 2021.

Construction on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline is now scheduled to begin on Saturday August 24.

The 800-kilometre pipeline would carry fracked gas from Hudson’s Hope in northeastern British Columbia across Gitanyow and Gitxsan territory to the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal near the Nass River estuary on Nisga’a territory in northwestern BC.

From there it would be exported to countries including Japan and South Korea.

While Calgary-based TC Energy currently owns the pipeline project and was the entity that gave notice of the construction date, the pipeline project was expected to change hands by the end of June and then be owned by Houston, Texas-based Western LNG.

The environmental certificate for the pipeline says it must be “substantially started” before November 25, 2024.

The initial work on the pipeline will reportedly be on Nisga’a territory.

The Nisga’a Lisims government supports the pipeline.

The Gitanyow and Gitxsan are opposed to it.

Concerns about RCMP CRU/C-IRG violence

Matt Simmons of The Narwhal has reported: “[Tara Marsden, Wilp sustainability director for Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs] said enforcement actions related to Coastal GasLink opposition against Indigenous land defenders by the RCMP’s Critical Response Unit (formerly known as the Community-Industry Response Group, or C-IRG) have changed the way the Gitanyow community thinks about the pipeline.”

On a PBI-Canada webinar this past March, Marsden also commented: “Our learning is that consent only works when we say yes, if we say no, even if we say no with science behind us, and our knowledge and our laws behind us, then we will be met with force from the C-IRG, from militarized invasion and occupation and intimidation and harassment.”

The Narwhal further reports: “Neighbouring Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs are also concerned about the project’s implications, including potential police intervention if community members oppose the pipeline. Simogyat (Chief) Molaxan Norman Moore previously told The Narwhal he feels the government isn’t acting in good faith.”

On that same PBI-Canada organized webinar earlier this year, Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, a Gitxsan leader and Councillor of the Kispiox Band, added: “In my experience with [the C-IRG], I’ve noticed even as part of their training they receive anti-Delgamuukw, anti-Aboriginal rights and title argumentative training. I can’t tell you how many times where I’ve simply gotten into a shouting match with an officer and his whole position is adamantly well the courts never recognized your title, that it doesn’t exist.”

Project timeline

The Narwhal notes: “TC Energy’s plan to begin constructing the pipeline on Nisga’a lands would likely postpone any potential conflict with opposing parties while achieving a substantially started designation from the environmental assessment office. Such a designation would secure government approval for the pipeline indefinitely.”

Western LNG has stated: “Commercial operations [of the Ksi Lisims LNG Project] are anticipated to commence in late 2028 or 2029.”

So, while construction in 2024 may begin on Nisga’a territory, the expected in-service date means that work on the pipeline will move onto Gitanyow and Gitxsan territory within (much sooner than) a 4-5 year period.

CRCC “systemic investigation” timeline

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) launched a “systemic investigation” into the RCMP C-IRG on March 9, 2023, after receiving nearly 500 formal complaints about the unit that included allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, arbitrary detention, destruction of property, racism and Charter of Rights and Freedoms violations.

The last update from the CRCC on that investigation was posted almost eight months ago on November 23, 2023.

While the CRCC has said it strives to complete systemic investigations within 12-18 months, it is now at 16-months without any clear indication of when the investigation will be made public and completed.

It is also not clear if the investigation will be completed, and remedies implemented, before the time the construction of the PRGT pipeline begins on Gitanyow and Gitxsan territories with the risk of further C-IRG/CRU violence.

We continue to follow this.

Image by The Narwhal.

The Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa file complaint against Mayor and councillors

By
Brent Patterson
-

Image from Guapinol Resiste website.

On July 1, Criterio.hn reported: “Due to indications of crimes linked to corruption in the public administration of Tocoa [a city of 63,320 people in the department of Colón] during the convocation and development of the town hall on June 13, members of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of that municipality filed a complaint against Mayor Adán Fúnez and three councillors. The indications of crimes involve acts of discrimination, administrative prevarication, and abuse of authority.”

“In the written complaint, filed with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Transparency and the Fight against Public Corruption (FETCOOP), on Friday, June 28, the complainants asked to open ‘lines of investigation oriented by legal logic to clarify the concurrence of alleged crimes of bribery and influence peddling.’”

The article highlights: “Juana Esquivel, a member of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa, told Criterio.hn that the context in which the town hall was held, in addition to being discriminatory, was one of violence and limitations on the right to participation of the communities. …Other irregularities that he pointed out is that the council was not agreed or convened as established by the Law of Municipalities, nor was there a mechanism that defined an effective participation of the communities both in favor or against the Ecotek thermoelectric project.”

The Law of Municipalities

“Open town hall meetings” are noted in several articles of the Law of Municipalities:

Article 24. The residents of a Municipality have rights and obligations. Their rights are the following: 7) To ask the Municipal Corporation for an account of municipal management, both in open town hall meetings through their representatives, and directly.

Article 25. The Municipal Corporation is the deliberative body of the Municipality, elected by the people and the highest authority within the municipal term; consequently, it is responsible for exercising the following powers: 9) To hold consultative assemblies in open town hall meetings with representatives of legally constituted local organizations, such as: Communal, social, union, trade union, ecological and others that by their nature merit it, in the opinion of the Corporation, to resolve all types of situations that affect the community.

Article 32. Municipal Corporations shall meet ordinarily at least twice a month and extraordinarily when called by the Secretary of the Municipal Corporation by order of the Mayor or at the request of at least two Councilmen. Open council sessions shall be called by the Mayor following a resolution by the majority of the members of the Municipal Corporation and no less than five open council sessions may be held per year.

Article 114. Municipal Corporations shall be obliged to respond immediately in open council to petitions regarding their management raised by those who attend it; and in the case of different particular management, they must resolve within fifteen days.

Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SERNA) decision

The Criterio.hn article also notes: “[The Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa] pointed out that since [the Ecotek and Pinares mining megaproject and its thermoelectric component] is a category 4 project that compromises life, it was not up to the socialization and approval in the open council, but to the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment (Serna) to develop the process, in compliance with the technical and legal standards for the protection of natural resources.”

What is the megaproject?

Image from Guapinol Resiste website.

Among the seven components of the megaproject:

ASP and ASP2: “Inversiones Los Pinares received the rights to concessions “ASP” and “ASP2”, 100 hectares each, to dig for iron oxide.”

Iron oxide pelletizing plant: “A mining project by the Honduran company Los Inversiones Pinares will produce 800,000 tons of iron oxide pellets in its first year of operation, generating US$190 million in foreign exchange.”

Guapinol River and Ceibita stream concessions: “[The pelletizing plant needs] one hundred gallons of water per minute, consuming 52 million five hundred and sixty thousand gallons of water in a year.”

Accompaniment

On August 1, 2018, the community established a Camp in Defence of Water and Life when the tap water in Guapinol turned chocolate brown and thick with muddy sediment after the company started widening a road for the mine.

Arrests, criminalization and judicialization followed.

On February 24, 2022, the Guapinol and San Pedro water defenders were released from prison after 914 days of illegal detention.

On January 7, 2023, Aly Magdaleno Domínguez Ramos and Jairo Bonilla Ayala were shot dead. Five months later, on June 15, 2023, Oquelí Dominguez was also shot dead. All three had been some of the most prominent members of the community working to protect the local rivers.

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied the struggle of the Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.

PBI-Mexico accompanied relatives of Edmundo Reyes and Gabriel Cruz demand progress at 12th meeting of search commission in Mexico City

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 3, the Cerezo Committee posted: “Nadin Reyes Amaya, family member of Edmundo Reyes Amaya, announces the upcoming arrival of family members, human rights organizations, lawyers, social and political organizations, OHCHR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights], Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project for the 12th meeting of the Special Search Commission to find Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya, detained and disappeared on May 25, 2007, in Oaxaca.”

The Cerezo Committee also posted this video of the comments made after the 12th meeting had concluded.

That same day, El Heraldo reported: “In the framework of the twelfth meeting of the State Search Commission (CEB) that is taking place in Mexico City, members of the National Front of Struggle for Socialism (FNLS), demanded progress in the search and location of the revolutionaries Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez who disappeared more than 15 years ago in the state of Oaxaca.”

Cuarto Poder de Chiapas adds: “Members of the FNLS carried out a blockade-flyer for several hours on [July 3], on the Altamirano-Ocosingo highway section, at the height of the town of Las Perlas. The demonstration was to demand progress in the search and location of the revolutionaries Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez.”

Front Line Defenders has explained: “The National Front for Socialism is a grassroots movement working to denounce and publicly condemn violations of human rights perpetrated by the Mexican government, specifically those related to enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions and political prisoners.”

Background

The Cerezo Committee has explained: “On May 25, 2007, in the city of Oaxaca, Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez, members of the Popular Democratic Revolutionary Party [PDPR] – Popular Revolutionary Army [EPR] were arrested and disappeared by various police and military groups.”

NACLA has noted: “Mexico’s ‘other’ armed movement [the other being the Zapatista Army of National Liberation – EZLN], the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), made its first public appearance [on] June 28 [1996], at a memorial service in the state of Guerrero commemorating the massacre of 17 campesinos by state police the year before.”

While founded in Guerrero, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2007: “[The EPR] now appears to be rooted in the adjacent state of Oaxaca, whose social inequities and heavy-handed governing style have fed several militant movements.

Proceso has reported: “On May 6, 2019, the Fourth District Court of Amparo in Criminal Matters in Mexico City issued a sentence that recognized ‘the serious violation of human rights’ against Popular Revolutionary Army members ‘by agents of the Mexican State’.”

That decision was appealed by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and the Secretariat of National Defence (Sedena).

The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared notes: “On August 10, 2022, the First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation issued the ruling in favor of the victims, Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez and Edmundo Reyes Amaya.”

Photo: PBI-Mexico at the August 10, 2022, ruling.

Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanies the Cerezo Committee who will be part of the Special Search Commission, October 26, 2022.

A Special Search Commission was then established on November 3, 2022. A first objective was to develop a comprehensive search plan.

Photo: PBI-Mexico at the formation of the International Solidarity Committee with the families and accompanying organizations, December 8, 2022.

In September 2023, La Jornada reported that the relatives went to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and demanded that the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (FGJ) comply with the decision of the Supreme Court (SCJN) and draw up a comprehensive plan that includes the review of all military installations where Edmundo and Gabriel are presumed to have been illegally detained and then deprived of their lives.

The 10th meeting of the Special Search Commission (CEB) took place in April 2024.

Photo: PBI-Mexico at the 10th session, April 4, 2024.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Guatemala demands justice for Virginia Laparra who could be sentenced to 6 years in prison on July 8

By
Brent Patterson
-

“The case is a revenge to guarantee impunity”

PBI-Guatemala has posted:

#VirginiaLaparra’s fight for a fairer Guatemala is a light in the midst of darkness and corruption.

We demand #JusticeForVirginia #NoMoreCrime

Prensa Libre reports: “Next Monday, July 8, Judge Moisés de León will issue the resolution against the former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI) in Xela, Virginia Laparra.” Republica reports: “The [Public Ministry] MP’s request is that Laparra be sentenced to 6 years in prison for the alleged commission of the crime of disclosure of confidential information.”

Background

On December 16, 2022, Laparra was sentenced to four years in prison for the alleged crime of ongoing abuse of authority.

Amnesty International expressed its dismay at this conviction “based on the court’s analysis that the then prosecutor committed a crime solely by initiating an administrative lawsuit accusing a judge of corruption.”

This four year sentence is under challenge before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), so it is not yet final.

Additionally, on October 19, 2022, while Laparra was in jail during the case noted above, a second arrest warrant was issued against her related to another criminal complaint filed by the same judge Laparra had previously accused of corruption.

Several news articles name this judge as Lesther Castellanos.

Journalists Jody García and Nina Lakhani have commented in The Guardian the “the country’s ruling elite [is pursuing] a strategy to purge the justice system and derail corruption investigations against their allies.”

Juan Francisco Sandoval, the former director of Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, who had to flee Guatemala in July 2021, told the Guardian: “It’s a clear message from the political and economic power brokers that never again should corruption cases be investigated – or the consequences will be prison or exile.”

Multiple organizations, including Lawyers Without Borders Canada and Impunity Watch, have condemned “the continued criminal harassment of the former prosecutor in retaliation for her anti-corruption work.”

Amnesty International has also called for “an immediate end to the misuse of the criminal justice system to harass, intimidate and punish judges, prosecutors, human rights defenders and journalists”.

At least 29 judicial officials have left the country in recent years for fear of being the target of criminal prosecutions

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Colombia accompanies CAHUCOPANA at #DefendamosLaVida meetings with the European Union in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Carlos Arturo Morales Mallorga of CAHUCOPANA with members of the PBI-Colombia team and others in Bogota, July 2.

On July 1, Peace Brigades International-Colombia, Race and Equality, Protection international, the International Office of Human Rights Action Colombia (OIDHACO), and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) expressed appreciation that the European Union’s External Action Service would be participating “in the collection of inputs and information for the Human Rights Dialogue between Colombia and the European Union (EU), which will take place on 2 July 2024.”

Among the issues raised in their statement: “Victims of torture and police repression in the context of protests: Ensure that acts of intimidation, violence and torture in the context of demonstrations and protests are adequately investigated, prosecuted and punished, with priority given to the attention and full reparation of victims. And the adequate implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.”

El Espectador article

El Espectador has also provided this context: “Within the framework of the Defend Life campaign, the Embassies of the European Union, Norway and Switzerland reaffirmed their alliance to improve the protection and well-being of human rights defenders in the country. These were the main conclusions and recommendations to the National Government in the face of the panorama of violence.”

That article further explains: “In the face of the continuous attacks on social leaders in the country, the European Union, its Member States, Switzerland and Norway met last Tuesday, July 2, with the aim of advancing in actions to protect life and overcome impunity for the more than 86 murders registered in the first half of 2024.”

And it notes: “In this context, ambassadors; leaders; and agents of the Colombian Government met in six round tables to discuss security measures, impunity, good practices for companies, environmental protection and other specific issues around the defense of life. At each table, the European Embassies and representatives of the National Government were able to listen to the recommendations of human rights defenders from regions.”

CAHUCOPANA on social media

On July 2, CAHUCOPANA posted: “Since 2019, the European Union in Colombia headed by its Ambassador, has been doing articulated work with various embassies and institutions of the National Government, promoting human rights in the territories where the dynamics of armed conflict are presented.”

Then on July 3, CAHUCOPANA posted: “Today in Bogota, different leadership at the national level met at the European Union in Colombia office premises. In the framework of the campaign #DefendamosLaVida [#DefendLife] worked on 6 tables and different topics with a territorial approach, with emphasis on the problems that affect at the collective and individual level, the tenure of the earth, peace and justice. These were the topics addressed in this space, remember that Cahucopana defends life.”

Another European initiative

And on July 5, as part of another initiative, CAHUCOPANA shared this post from Espacio de Cooperación para La Paz (Cooperation Space for Peace) that highlights: “International civil society organizations that are part of the European Union in Colombia meeting in #Barrancabermeja with territorial leadership and Mr. Gilles Bertrand – EU Ambassador in Colombia. Meeting to update context, agenda advance and commitments in favor of the raised alerts in the report: ‘Magdalena Medio: Humanitarian and Human Rights Alert’ 2023-2024. During the meeting, tributes were performed to female leaders who recently and unfortunately lost their lives.”

We continue to follow this.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (CAHUCOPANA) since 2013.

PBI-Honduras marks June 28, Pride Day and the 15th anniversary of the coup and the murder of trans rights defender Vicky Hernandez

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Honduras has posted:

“Today [June 28], we celebrate International LGTBI+ Pride Day and commemorate the 2009 coup d’état. We also commemorate the life of trans advocate Vicky Hernandez: she was assassinated exactly 15 years ago, on the same day of the coup.

Since the coup, LGTBI+ organizations have registered a worrying increase in the murders of LGTBI+ people in Honduras. From PBI, we will continue to accompany the tireless work of these organizations to demand justice and the fulfillment of reparation measures for Vicky Hernandez and so many other LGTBI+ people who are no longer here.”

Pride Day takes place on June 28 to commemorate the Stonewall uprising that began in Greenwich Village, New York City on that day in 1969 following an early morning raid of the Stonewall Inn by the police. It is considered to mark the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States.

June 28 also marks the day of the US-backed coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. Twenty-six year old trans rights defender Vicky Hernandez was killed on the first night of the coup. She was shot in the head while a curfew was in effect when only soldiers and the police would have been on the streets.

Almost twelve years later, on June 26, 2021, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the state of Honduras had violated Hernandez’s right to life and personal integrity and that it was both ultimately responsible for her state-sanctioned murder and for the failure to adequately investigate her death.

London-based LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell says on average two LGBT people were murdered each year in Honduras from 1994 to 2008. After the 2009 coup, that rate rocketed to an average 31 murders per year. More specifically, 118 trans persons were murdered in Honduras between 2008 and November 2023.

Corporate connections

In Canada, concerns continue to be raised about the corporate sponsorship of Pride Day, notably in the context of the genocide against the Palestinian people.

The Breach has reported: “In Toronto, the No Pride in Policing Coalition has zoned in on the festival’s key sponsor, TD Bank, and its $16-million investment in General Dynamics, an aerospace and weapons company that makes arms for Israel. …Mainstream Pride events across Canada are frequently sponsored by TD and other financial institutions like Scotiabank—which has a $500 million stake in Israel’s biggest military and arms company, Elbit Systems Ltd., making it the company’s largest non-Israeli shareholder.”

Mining

Notably, MiningWatch Canada has highlighted: “By May 2009, a new draft mining bill was complete. It would have imposed tax increases in the mining sector, prohibited open-pit mining and the use of toxic substances such as cyanide and mercury, and required prior community approval before mining concessions could be granted. Debate within congress was scheduled to begin August 16, 2009. On June 28, 2009, President Zelaya was ousted in a military-backed coup. The debate never happened.”

The Washington, D.C.-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs has noted the presence of Canadian companies “has grown even stronger after Honduras’ controversial 2009 coup. Three consecutive post-coup administrations have increasingly favored the mining industry in the country by pushing legislation that has done little to regulate mining activities and assure the protection of the environment and the indigenous communities affected by the extraction of minerals in their lands.”

Further research would be needed to draw any links between the Canadian mining companies that have benefited from post-coup mining legislation in Honduras and Pride sponsors in Canada such as TD Bank and Scotiabank that finance mining companies.

Accompaniment

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Arcoíris, the LGTB Association of Honduras, since July 2015, and the Centre for LGTBI Development and Cooperation (Somos-CDC) since January 2022.

PBI co-founders Murray Thomson and Hans Sinn on NATO, nuclear weapons and disarmament

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: Murray Thomson, who co-founded Peace Brigades International in 1981, took part in the ‘Say No to NATO’ protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa on March 30, 2019. Thomson passed away on May 2, 2019.

The 32 member-countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will collectively spend “USD 430 billion in defence” this year.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has noted that, for example, the United States spent $916 billion on its military in 2023, followed by the United Kingdom at $74.9 billion, Germany at $66.8 billion, France at $61.3 billion, Italy at $35.5 billion, Canada at $27.2 billion, Spain at $23.7 billion, the Netherlands at $16.6 billion, Belgium at $7.6 billion, and Norway at $8.7 billion.

NATO encourages its member-countries to spend at least 2 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on “defence” as “an important indicator of [their] political resolve”. NATO has noted: “In 2024, 23 Allies are expected to meet or exceed the target of investing at least 2% of GDP in defence, compared to only three Allies in 2014.”

Peace Brigades International has expressed the concern that “billions more spent on weapons will not make the world safer.”

PBI co-founders on NATO, nuclear weapons and disarmament

In the late-1980s, German peace activist Petra Kelly wrote: “We spend billions on weapons research [instead] we need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict.”

Kelly was a friend of Hamburg-born PBI co-founder Hans Sinn.

In 1987, Sinn wrote in Peace Magazine: “How is it possible to make Canada’s withdrawal from NATO a realistic objective? What can we do to make disarmament proposals and anti-NATO convention resolutions more than wishful thinking and turn them into sound political programs?”

Photo: Just prior to his death on June 29, 2023, Sinn held up a copy of this book titled: “At the last hour: Call for peace”.

In 2008, Murray Thomson recommended: “Canada, after consulting with like-minded states, should call for the disbandment of NATO within the next three years, while at the same time increasing funding to help revitalize and strengthen the UN and its Agencies.”

In 2017, Thomson continued to speak against NATO’s adherence to nuclear weapons as “the supreme guarantee of our security”. The NATO member countries with nuclear weapons are the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

Thomson commented: “If we could finally cast-off the nuclear nightmare in which we live today, we could then embrace and build the United Nations with the resources now wasted on deadly weapons of mass destruction.”

In March 2022, PBI affirmed “we are committed to a concept of security linked to protecting human rights and respecting life, ecosystems and common goods. [We] need to strengthen civil and development cooperation instruments aimed at conflict management and the promotion of an effective and lasting peace.”

Canada to attend NATO summit, July 8-11

Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will travel to Washington, D.C., United States of America, from July 8 to 11, 2024, to participate in this year’s NATO Summit.

That announcement adds that the Prime Minister will be joined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, and the Minister of National Defence, Bill Blair.

It further highlights that this year the Government of Canada announced $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years in new military spending.

CBC reporter Murray Brewster has commented: “The additional investments will not bring Canada all the way to meeting NATO’s military spending target for member nations — two per cent of national gross domestic product. The Liberal government estimates that the new policy will see military spending rise to 1.76 per cent of GDP by 2029-30.”

Canada’s spending commitments include $2.49 billion for a fleet of 11 MQ-9B Reaper drones, $2.7 billion for long-range missiles, and $19 billion to purchase F-35 fighter jets (that in the long-term will cost $73.9 billion).

Protests planned

Now, the No to NATO, Yes to Peace website notes: “We are planning a summit on Saturday July 6 and a rally on Sunday July 7, as well as various other actions in the days before and after that weekend — including working with Veterans For Peace planning a peace walk from Maine to join us in Washington, D.C. with events all along the way. We say yes to peace and no to NATO! We favor the abolition of NATO.”

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the CCR as it meets with ASOGRIPEZDICH fishers to defend together the right to water

By
Brent Patterson
-

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “Yesterday [June 30], #PBIaccompanies the Board of Directors of the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) to the meeting with the Association of Farmers and Fishermen Integral of Champerico (Asogripezdich), a new association that since a few months ago joined the Council to defend together the right to water.”

The right to water in Guatemala has been impacted by multiple threats, including shrimp farming and sugar plantations.

Shrimp farming

Back in March 2021, we noted that six fishers had been criminalized since 2015 by the shrimp company, Pesca Nova S.A.

The Bufete para Pueblos Indígenas explained: “This is due to their exercise in defence of a healthy environment and for having denounced the contamination that this shrimp company was doing in the estuaries from which the families were supplied.”

UDEFEGUA further explains: “[The fishers] demanded intervention from MAGA [the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food] and MARN [Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources] due to contamination and ecocide in the Champerico estuary by the [Pesca Nova S.A.] company.”

The World Rainforest Movement has also noted: “Fisherfolk have seen their traditional fishing grounds threatened by the intrusive moves of the company which has also polluted the estuaries, logged mangroves to build industrial shrimp ponds, provoked the death of hundreds of fish, and repressed and intimidated fisherfolk.”

Historically, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has noted: “According to their value, the Guatemalan shrimp exports in 2003 were distributed as follows: United States, 54 percent; Europe (Spain and France), 44 percent; other, 2 percent.”

Additional research is required to know the current markets for Guatemalan shrimp exports.

Sugar plantations

Simon Granovsky-Larsen, an Assistant Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina has written about resistance to sugarcane plantations in Renewable energy and the fight over Guatemalan rivers (Down To Earth, September 2018).

Granovsky-Larsen notes: “Due to a shortage of water, plantations have begun ‘stealing’ water, in the words of people from surrounding communities: diverting river routes, mechanically extracting river water and drilling deep wells.”

PBI-Guatemala has noted: “The CCR began to organize in 2015 as a result of adverse effects caused by the expansion of the monoculture of sugar and the use of large-scale agrochemicals and pesticides used by the mills in the region.” Four members of the CCR have been criminalized since November 2019 due to their advocacy. It was not until May 30, 2023, that they were fully acquitted.

Canada

Between 2015 and 2022, Canada imported 1.46 million metric tons of sugar from Guatemala. The sugarcane crop system in Guatemala requires about 100 cubic meters of water per ton. That would suggest that the sugar exported to Canada since 2015 has required 146 million cubic meters of water.

In 2023, Canada continued to be one of the largest importers of unrefined sugar from Guatemala. That sugar is transported to the Lantic/Rogers refinery in Vancouver and the Redpath refinery in Toronto.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, April 1, 2024.

If Canada imports shrimp from Guatemala, the amounts may be small.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has noted: “Top suppliers of fish and seafood to Canada [in 2021] were the United States ($1.67B), China ($520M) and Vietnam ($314M), accounting for 54 percent of Canada’s total fish and seafood import value.” More specifically, Agribank has explained: “India, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Ecuador are respectively the largest shrimp suppliers to Canada.”

And while it does not appear that Canadian companies are involved in shrimp farming in Guatemala, The Chronicle Herald reported in 2019: “[Saint John-based] Cooke Inc. says it has acquired Seajoy Seafood Corp., which farms shrimp in Honduras and Nicaragua.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Pacific Coast Communities Confront Shrimp Farm Threat (NACLA, September 25, 2007) and Guatemala’s sugar cartel (El Faro, April 2017).

PBI-Kenya meets with survivors of National Police Service violence at protest against proposed nuclear power plant in Uyombo

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project has posted: “We met survivors of police brutality from the anti-nuclear plant protest in Uyombo. They shared heartbreaking stories of how @NPSOfficial_KE [National Police Service-Kenya] metre’s violence against them as they sought to be heard. We urge the govt to heed their calls and @IPOA_KE [Independent Policing Oversight Authority] to investigate the incident.”

That same day, PBI-Kenya also posted: “We held a meeting with @CJGEA_Kenya [Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action-Kenya] discussing the risks of a proposed nuclear power plant in Uyombo, Kilifi County. We covered environmental threats, public health concerns, lack of remediation policies, and potential security issues. Community input and safety must come first.”

The Guardian has reported: “The proposals [for nuclear power plants in Kenya] have sparked fierce opposition in Kilifi. In a building by Mida Creek, a swampy bayou known for its birdlife and mangrove forests, more than a dozen conservation and rights groups meet regularly to discuss the proposed plant.”

The Guardian also notes: “Tensions between anti-nuclear activists and the government are growing. The UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, expressed concern [in this tweet] over police violence against people in Uyombo, a potential plant site, during a protest [on May 21]. Activists said their peaceful protest was met with excessive violence, beatings, arrests and intimidation.”

Right Livelihood further explains: “Police in Uyombo, Kenya, fired 137 live rounds and 70 tear gas canisters near a group of peaceful protestors and arrested two environmental defenders on Tuesday, May 21… Omido, who is at the forefront of efforts to stop the dangerous project and is currently abroad, fears arrest upon her return to Kenya.”

Their article adds: “Protests broke out on Tuesday after work began on the construction of the nuclear reactor. The day before, NuPEA officials installed a seismic station at a secondary school in the village without informing the community. When a woman questioned officials over the move, she was brutalised by police.”

To listen to Alan Kasujja interview environmental activist Phyllis Omido, who is leading the campaign against the project, click on the BBC Africa Daily podcast.

Omido highlights that Kenya will need to import uranium for nuclear power plants. 

The Guardian has also noted: “The use of nuclear power would make Kenya dependent on imported uranium, used to generate nuclear fuel.”

The World Nuclear Association also says: “In 2022 Kazakhstan produced the largest share of uranium from mines (43% of world supply), followed by Canada (15%) and Namibia (11%).” Most of Canada’s reserves are located in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. Russia produces about 5-8% of the world’s supply. It’s not clear from published sources where Kenya’s nuclear power plants would receive uranium.

Construction on the power station is expected to start in 2027 with it due to be operational in 2034.

We continue to follow this situation.

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