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PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS as it tests water in Yondó, calls for the right to water to be respected

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 1, PBI-Colombia posted: “We accompanied @credhos_paz [the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights] in Yondó #Antioquia during their water testing in order to assess the impact of different industries in the region, such as palm monocultures, mining and oil companies, among others. These water sources supply communities in this municipality. #RightToWater”

The Barrancabermeja-based CREDHOS also posted: “We are investigating the reality behind the water supply in Yondó, Antioquia. Together with the Municipal Human Rights Committee, we toured the Drinking Water Treatment Plants and the wetlands: Laguna del Miedo and La Represa, performing in situ measurement of physiochemical parameters of the water. #HumanRights #PotableWater”

The municipality of Yondó (in the department of Antioquia) is situated across the Magdalena River from the municipality of Barrancabermeja (in the department of Santander).

The river flows northward past Yondó and Barrancabermeja impacting multiple interconnected wetlands, including the Ciénaga San Silvestre that is monitored by Yuli Velázquez and the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Santander (FEDEPESAN).

Ecopetrol discharges and spills

In July 2019, RCN Radio reported: “Jhosep Molina, councillor of the municipality of Yondó – Antioquia, described the discharges that Ecopetrol has been making into the Magdalena River for almost 34 years as a savage practice against nature and human beings. According to [Molina], through a 36-inch pipe, water contaminated with chemicals is poured into the Magdalena River 24 hours a day and sometimes, as happened on Tuesday [July 30], oil waste is also dumped.”

Furthermore, Óscar Sampayo, a political scientist from the University of Antioquia and a member of the Yariguíes Regional Corporation-Group of Social, Extractive and Environmental Studies of Magdalena Medio (CRY-GEAM), has noted: “In 2020 alone, we found that close to 200 barrels were spilled due to failures from Ecopetrol in oil concessions in the municipalities of Puerto Wilches, Yondó, Barrancabermeja, and Carmen Chucurí.”

The Banking on Climate Chaos report documents that the Toronto-based Scotiabank is a top financier of Ecopetrol, providing USD $3.9 billion in financing since 2018.

Bronwen Tucker of Oil Change International also shared on a PBI-Canada organized webinar this slide showing that Ecopetrol has been a top recipient of financing from Export Development Canada, the Ottawa-based export credit agency wholly owned by the Government of Canada, between 2012 and 2020.

Wastewater discharges

In July 2019, Vanguardia also reported: “In the municipality of Yondó, Antioquia, located 17 kilometers from Barrancabermeja, residents of the urban area expressed concern about the polluting effects, which apparently are being generated by a discharge of domestic wastewater. A citizen told Vanguardia that the situation is occurring in the El Paraíso neighborhood, at the entrance to Yondó.”

The news article quotes a resident who says: “The public utility company installed a pipe, through which the sewage is evacuated. Dumping occurs four times a day. It’s producing a significant environmental problem. It generates bad odors, contaminates the water of the creek and exposes the community to diseases.”

In November 2021, Radio Nacional de Colombia reported: “Along the banks of the Magdalena River, only 48 of the 130 towns have a WWTP [waste water treatment plant]. This indicates that 63% of the municipalities located on the river lack wastewater treatment. This further aggravates the recovery of the Magdalena.”

River in “critical condition”

Biologist Jhon Mario Flórez has commented: “We are in critical condition, if we compare it to a patient we could say that we are in intensive care. Today we can see a river that is in serious condition, we have to make visible the real situation of the river.”

The Magdalena River provides drinking water to 38 million people. The linked San Silvestre wetland provides water for 300,000 people in Barrancabermeja.

We continue to follow this situation.

Photo: UN Special Rapporteur on the right to water Pedro Arrojo-Agudo meets with CREDHOS, FEDEPESAN, and PBI-Colombia, October 2022.

Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Choc and fishers released by court following criminalization related to Fenix mine in Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 31, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “Carlos Ernesto Choc was released from the accusations against him in a case of criminalization of #FreedomOfExpression”

Carlos posted the good news on social media: “#MayanCommunityJournalism This day under the energies of Nawal 6 Tijax, a new stage in my life begins. After 7 years of criminalization, today the criminal prosecution against me was definitively closed. Thank you all very much – b’anyox eere, for the support.”

He also tweeted: “#IAmAJournalistNotACriminal Today I demonstrated my innocence in the face of two criminal proceedings against me, for documenting, investigating and reporting environmental damage and human rights violations, in the Q’eqchi’ Mayan territory. Long live the original peoples!”

And Prensa Comunitaria reported: “Three fishermen and community journalist are free after seven years of criminalization. #ElEstor The fishermen Tomás Ce, Cristóbal Pop and Vicente Rax, and the community journalist, Carlos Choc, were released.”

This started with a Canadian mine

Choc has reported on the Fenix nickel mine now owned by the Russian-owned Swiss-based Solway Investment Group.

In 1960, Toronto-based INCO Ltd. began negotiations with the military dictatorship of Guatemala to establish the Fenix mine. By 1965, EXMIBAL, a joint venture between INCO and the Guatemalan state, was granted a 40-year mining licence.

Professor Shin Imai has written: “Colonel Carolos Arana Osorio was responsible for clearing the Indigenous people out of the INCO region in Zacapa-Lake Izabal. He launched what has been referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ in the region, in which the number of people killed is estimated to be between three and six thousand.”

Professor Imai adds: “Major construction began on the El Estor mine in 1974 aided by a $20 million loan from the Canadian Export Development Corporation.”

Vancouver-based Skye Resources bought the mine from INCO in 2004. Skye Resources then merged with Toronto-based Hudbay in 2008.

The mine was purchased by Solway Investment Group in 2011.

In April 2023, Newsweek reported that Montreal-based Central America Nickel (CAN) could purchase the mine with the support of the U.S. Embassy.

Charged in 2017

Choc took a photo of Maya Q’eqchi’ fisher Carlos Maaz just after he was shot dead by police on May 27, 2017, at a protest against the pollution of Lake Izabal by the mine.

Forbidden Stories has reported: “On the pretext that he had participated in the protest, Choc, along with a journalist colleague and five fishermen, was accused of six crimes and misdemeanors by Solway Group. An arrest warrant was submitted against him in August 2017, forcing him into hiding for several months.”

We met with Carlos in Guatemala in May 2023 and then did a webinar with him on August 18, 2023. This was just prior to the August 21 hearing he was to have in relation to the substitute measure he was given in January 2019 on the August 2017 charges stemming from his May 2017 reporting on the police killing of Carlos Maaz.

That hearing was postponed until January 31.

We welcome the good news about Carlos, Tomás, Cristóbal and Vicente, and affirm our support for community journalism and the defence of land and territory.

Municipal Committee blocks highway, calls on the Honduran government to not renew Los Pinares mining concession

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 31, Guapinol Exige Justicia (Guapinol Demands Justice) posted a photo of a backhoe loader with the text: “Highway connection on CA 13 between Tocoa and Cayo Campo in the department of Colón.”

The yellow banner on the backhoe says: “Alert. This January 28th the ASP mining concession of Pinares-Ecotek expires. We demand the government not to renew the mining contract.”

The ASP mining concession is a 100 hectare area – inside a national park – where the mining company Inversiones Los Pinares would mine for iron oxide.

The licence for this open pit mine was granted to Emco Mining (now Inversiones Los Pinares) on January 28, 2014.

The community learned in October 2023 that Inversiones Los Pinares intended to renew the concession contract for up to 30 more years.

The Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) says: “We strongly call on the Government of Xiomara Castro to respond to our demands [that include an “Immediate response from INHGEOMIN [Honduran Institute of Geology and Mines] on the NON-renewal of the mining contract ‘ASP’ signed between Lenir Pérez de Inversiones Los Pinares and INHGEOMIN, in 2014 and which ended on Sunday, January 28, 2024.”

Investigative reporting conducted by the Honduran digital media platform Contracorriente, the Latin American Center for Journalistic Investigation and Univisión Investiga, found that the US-based steel company Nucor was associated with Inversiones Los Pinares.

Silive.com has reported: “The business relationship between Nucor and Lenir Pérez … began back in [March] 2015. Nucor said it left the project in [October] 2019 because of protests.”

This would suggest that Nucor was involved in the mining concession on October 27, 2018, when more than 1,500 police officers and military personnel begin the forceful expulsion of a protest camp opposed to the Los Pinares mine.

Also within that timeline, Guapinol River defender Jeremías Martínez was arrested in December 2018, thirteen other defenders faced charges in February 2019, and on September 1, 2019, seven defenders were indicted in charges related to their activism.

Photo: PBI-Honduras visited the criminalized Guapinol River defender Jeremias Martinez in La Ceiba prison and in court.

Recent investors in Nucor include the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec ($73 million), the Royal Bank of Canada ($61 million), the Bank Of Montreal ($40 million), and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ($36 million).

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Municipal Committee processes and the criminalized Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Maya Kaqchikel community journalist Noma Sancir at hearing on illegal detention by police

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“#PBI accompanies community journalist Maya Kaqchikel Norma Sancir in the closing hearing of findings of the oral and public debate and resolution reading.

The judge of the Chiquimula Criminal Sentence Court sentenced a commissioner and two policemen to 3 years and 9 months in prison switchable to a commissar and two policemen for the illegal detention of journalist Norma Sancir in 2014.

This resolution leaves a precedent to pay more attention to the policies for protecting journalists.”

Prensa Comunitaria also explains:

“Norma Sancir is a Mayan Kaqchikel journalist, who was illegally detained by agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) on September 18, 2014, while covering an eviction of demonstrators in the Mayan Ch’orti’ region, in the municipality of Camotán, in the department of Chiquimula, on the Jupilingo bridge, on the border with Honduras.”

Plaza Publica photo.

And EFE reports:

“A criminal judge in Guatemala on Wednesday [January 31] found three members of the National Civil Police (PNC) guilty of the illegal detention of journalist Norma Sancir in 2014.

Sentencing judge Jorge Ochoa, from the department of Chiquimula, 250 kilometers from Guatemala City, convicted the three police officers of abuse of authority and sentenced them to three years and nine months in prison, which could be commuted.

Sancir, a 43-year-old journalist with a decade-long career, was detained for four days on September 18, 2014, while documenting the eviction of an indigenous community in the border area between Guatemala and Honduras.

The police officers found guilty in connection with the arrest are former police commissioner Ceferino Salquín and officers Marcelina López and Olga Segura.”

After the ruling, Sancir stated: “[The sentence] is evidence that we all have the right to freedom of expression and that no public official can violate it. …I am satisfied with the sentence. It has been nine years of seeking justice and today those of us who do journalism have won. …Freedom of expression won, justice was done, and the work of community journalists has been recognized.”

CALDH photo: Norma Sancir says: “Telling the truth is a right that must be protected and respected.”

According to the Association of Journalists of Guatemala, there were more than 300 attacks and crimes against journalists from 2020 to 2023. Prensa Comunitaria adds that there have been 270 actions (intimidation, persecution, criminalization, restriction of coverage) against the exercise of journalism from January to November 2023.

PBI-Honduras notes arrest of Guapinol River defender Leonel George, community opposition to ASP mining concession

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Honduras has reposted a tweet that says:

“Defender Leonel George in interview with Pasos de Animal Grande after his arrest by the national police. ‘It is an alarm signal that gives rise to believing that the persecution is reactivated in moments of great tension in Tocoa, Colón.’”

To listen to that interview, click here.

George was detained by Honduran national police on Friday January 26.

Pasos de Animal Grande reports: “George has been a key advocate in the fight for the protection of the Guapinol River, [is a member of] the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods (CMDBCP).”

“He has suffered constant criminalization and has been sent to prison [in 2019] along with several of his comrades, but national and international pressure managed to get him letters of freedom, which he always carries.”

“The arbitrary detention of Leonel George comes at a key moment, when there is an attempt to ignore the decision of the population of Tocoa, to reject mining and their demand to Mayor Adán Fúnez, to respect their self-determination as a people.”

The article continues: “For the defenders of Guapinol, the National Police reactivated a campaign of harassment of human rights defenders, following the complaint against the illegal megaproject of Inversiones Los Pinares, a contract that expires on January 28, 2024.”

Earth Rights International notes:

“Since 2015 citizens of Tocoa, Honduras have organized as the Comité Municipal de Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Públicos de Tocoa (CMDBCP) to oppose the illegal granting of a concession to an iron ore mining project in the Mountain Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park. Their grassroots activism has particularly focused on concerns that the mining project will contaminate the Guapinol, San Pedro, and Ceibita rivers and watersheds, which supply water to tens of thousands of people.”

Amnesty International adds: “The people of Guapinol and other communities of Tocoa have faced continued attacks because they have been peacefully questioning the legality of a mining project in the Carlos Escaleras National Park.”

They add: “On August 1, 2018, residents set up the ‘Guapinol camp’ to peacefully protest against the [mining] license… Members of the CMDBCP have faced at least two criminal proceedings since 2018 for defending the Guapinol and San Pedro Rivers of the impacts mining project. Leonel George spent some time in prison in 2019 along with other Guapinol River defenders for these proceedings.”

As noted above, one of the mining concessions – named ASP – was to expire on January 28, 2024. The community, however, learned this past October that Inversiones Los Pinares intended to renew the concession contract for up to 30 more years.

Photo: PBI-Honduras was present at the self-convened popular assembly that rejected the Ecotek/Los Pinares megaproject; December 9, 2023.

Then on January 19, more than 100+ organizations, including the PBI-Honduras accompanied ARCAH and COPINH, called for the “immediate and unconditional cancellation” of the ASP mining concession along with other components of the megaproject, which include the ASP2 mining concession, a thermoelectric plant, and a pelletizing plant.

But as Contra Corriente reports: “The company and the municipal authorities have not given up and called for a new town hall to be held on January 31.”

On Monday January 29, PBI-Honduras posted:

“@guapinolre warns that on 01/28 the contract for the ASP component of the mining concession expired. It also maintains that by calling a new open council for 01/31, the mayor of Tocoa would ignore the decision of the communities, which already said ‘no’ to mining. In a context of high risk for defenders of [human rights], we remember the importance of the international community supporting @guapinolre, since this solidarity has been fundamental during the most critical moments of criminalization, repression and threats.”

   

A Canadian connection?

Contra Corriente has also reported: “Inversiones Los Pinares maintains Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé as its sole partners, despite the fact that in April 2023 it was made public that the FBI was investigating the activities of Honduran businessman Lenir Pérez and his relations with the multinational Nucor, the main steel producer in the United States.”

Read: The hidden connection between a US steel company and the controversial Los Pinares mine in Honduras (Univision, November 9, 2020).

Simply Wall St has noted: “The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently [Nucor’s] largest shareholder with 12% of shares outstanding.”

Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. explains: “The Vanguard Group, Inc., is owned by its U.S.-domiciled funds and ETFs [exchange-traded funds]. Those funds, in turn, are owned by their investors. …As a result, Canadian investors benefit from Vanguard’s low costs, client focus, stability and experience.”

Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. is located in the Bay Adelaide Centre, 22 Adelaide Street West, Suite 2500, in Toronto.

As the Guapinol River defenders and communities await formal confirmation of the expiration of the ASP mining concession, we continue to monitor the situation.

PBI-Mexico signs statement opposed to arrest of nine Indigenous Zapotec land defenders against industrial park in Oaxaca

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Pagina 3.

PBI-Mexico has posted: “PBI joins the call by national and international CSOs [civil society organizations] for the release of 9 Indigenous defenders from Santa Maria Mixtequilla, detained in the context of the construction of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.”

That joint statement says:

“We, the undersigned organizations, strongly appeal for the release of the 9 Indigenous Zapotec people, defenders of the territory of Santa María Mixtequilla, who have been arbitrarily detained on January 27, 2024*, for opposing a ‘Development Pole’ [industrial park] part of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT).”

The statement further notes:

“In the early hours of January 27, nine defenders of the territory of the community of Santa María Mixtequilla were arbitrarily detained under the accusation of an alleged theft of a municipal police patrol in the framework of the protests carried out by the community against the imposition of a ‘Development Pole’… The next day, the presence of dozens of state police, elements of the Navy and the National Guard was reported in the community, which residents denounce as acts of intimidation that seek to stop community mobilization.”

PBI-Mexico took part in a Civil Observation Mission in July 2023 that found “worrying and unacceptable” attacks on land defenders opposed to the Interoceanic Corridor.

Video: Margherita Forni of PBI-Mexico (in green vest) speaks (starting at 35:26) at the observation mission media conference, July 27, 2023.

The statement then highlights: “From 2021 to January 29, 2024, organizations have registered at least 46 acts of aggression in total, committed by state institutions [including the police and National Guard], companies or individuals who have interests in the construction of the megaproject. …The victims have been, for the most part, Indigenous Mixe, Zapotec, Zoque and Popoluca peoples.”

Along with calling for the immediate release of the nine Indigenous Zapotec defenders, PBI-Mexico is demanding the withdrawal of the armed forces from the community of Santa Maria Mixtequilla and a stop to all acts of harassment by the police and armed forces.

A news report in Pagina 3 further notes: “The police operation was carried out around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 27, to comply with 10 searches and nine arrest warrants for the alleged robbery of a municipal patrol car in Santa María Mixtequilla.”

El Universal also reports: “For the Mixtequilla Civil Resistance movement, the presence of police and marines had the purpose of preventing protest actions by the people against the violent repression that took place in the early hours of Saturday morning and to express their rejection of the installation of an industrial park on their land.”

And Avispa Midia explains: “The detainees are people who have participated in the protests of the Mixtec community against the imposition of a ‘development pole’, an industrial complex planned to occupy 502 hectares and which is part of a dozen parks planned within the framework of the megaproject of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT).”

On September 21, 2023, PBI-Canada organized a webinar featuring Carlos Beas Torres of the Union of Indigenous Communities from the North of the Isthmus (UCIZONI), Margherita Forni of PBI-Mexico and Hannah Matthews of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) that discussed concerns about the Interoceanic Corridor megaproject.

We continue to follow this.

Find us on social media!

By
Brent Patterson
-

Apart from our bi-weekly e-newsletter – that you can subscribe to for free here – we post daily on social media.

You can find us on X/Twitter here, Instagram here, and Facebook here.

Thanks!

Three law professors note International Court of Justice ruling means it would be illegal for Canada to export arms to Israel

By
Brent Patterson
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Excerpt from Ruling by UN’s top court means Canada and the U.S. could be complicit in Gaza genocide (The Conversation, January 28, 2024).

Photo: Heidi Matthews, Faisal A. Bhabha, Mohammad Fadel.

Heidi Matthews, Assistant Professor of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Faisal A. Bhabha, Associate Professor of Law, York University, and Mohammad Fadel, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto have commented:

“The International Court of Justice has issued a ground-breaking decision in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, ordering Israel to comply with six provisional measures to safeguard the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from genocidal violence.

The court’s order is binding on Israel and formalizes the international legal obligations of other countries that are parties to the UN Genocide Convention.

Properly understood, the order should dramatically alter both the foreign and domestic policy decisions of Israel’s allies, including Canada and the United States.

Israel and its allies cannot dismiss or minimize the importance of this decision. In granting interim relief, the court concluded that South Africa’s allegations of genocide are, at a minimum, legally and factually plausible.

Both Canada and the U.S. have construed the court’s decision narrowly, suggesting it merely reiterates Israel’s right of self-defence and obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.

Read: Statement by Minister Joly on the International Court of Justice’s decision on South Africa’s request for provisional measures in its case against Israel (January 26, 2024).

This is a legally indefensible reading of the court’s ruling.

The court’s provisional measures also impact Canada’s compliance with its own laws on military exports.

In 2022, Canada sent more than $21 million worth of military exports to Israel. The Export and Import Permits Act forbids arms permits to be issued if there’s a “substantial risk” that the goods could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.

Because the ICJ found a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, continuing to export arms to Israel would be illegal. It would also be flagrantly inconsistent with Canada’s obligation to prevent genocide, and could expose Canada and Canadian officials to liability for participation in genocide.”

Their full commentary can be read in Ruling by UN’s top court means Canada and the U.S. could be complicit in Gaza genocide (The Conversation, January 28, 2024).

PBI-Honduras observes trial of student activist accused of arson at US Embassy during national strike protests

By
Brent Patterson
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On January 26, PBI-Honduras posted:

“We observe the trial of Henry Bonilla [Acevedo] for the burning of [tires in front of] the US embassy in a protest on [May 31st, 2019]. The @defencofadeh [Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras/COFADEH] denounces the criminalization of the national strike. We highlight the work of the #DDHH [human rights] of COFADEH and their work to respect the right to demonstrate.”

The anti-privatization protests

On April 30, 2019, just before the protest in question, Reuters reported:

“[Protests are taking] place as a work-stoppage continued in schools and some hospitals, after unions representing teachers and doctors launched strikes late last week. President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who leads a conservative government allied with the United States, has defended the two bills as needed overhauls of the health and public education systems, including plans for new infrastructure and better training of workers. His allies deny that the bills, approved late last week but still requiring a final vote, would privatize services or would lead to mass layoffs, another fear of the protesters.”

AP/CNN photo of protest at US Embassy on May 31, 2019.

In June 2019, Deutsche Welle reported: “After footage of riots, barricaded streets, masked police officers and firebombs outside the US Embassy went around the word, Hernandez caved in. He withdrew his decrees and offered to engage in dialogue with the protesters.”

Photo: “Military police officers shoot tear gas at students during clashes in Tegucigalpa.”

And in July 2019, Amnesty International explained:

“The current generalized discontent of the population was provoked by the approval, on 25 April, of laws that transformed the national health education systems, which in the opinion of teachers’ leaders and the Medical College of Honduras, will lead to the privatization of these sectors and the massive dismissal of employees. Although these laws were repealed, protesters have continued to demand the president’s resignation.”

They further noted:

“In a desperate attempt to silence the voices demanding his resignation, President Hernández has used the armed forces to control the protests. According to information gathered by Amnesty International, during this period the security forces have indiscriminately used less-than-lethal weapons, such as tear gas or rubber bullets, causing injury to dozens of people. In total, six people have been killed in this context since April, four of them by firearms, of which at least three were at the hands of the security forces.”

While Hernández was supported by the United States at the time of these protests, the month after his eight-year presidency concluded in January 2022, he was arrested on drug trafficking and weapons charges. In April 2022, Hernández was extradited to the U.S. to face trial. That trial is now expected to begin on February 12.

Photo of Hernandez being extradited to the U.S. in April 2022.

Acevedo arrested and jailed in 2021

Following the anti-privatization protest at the US Embassy in May 2019, Bonilla Acevedo was arrested in August 2021 and spent four months and 10 days in the “Marco Aurelio Soto” National Penitentiary in Tamara, about 50 kilometres northwest of Tegucigalpa.

PBI-Honduras visited with Bonilla Acevedo in prison on December 7, 2021. At that time, it posted: “PBI accompanies @Cofadeh to visit Henry Bonilla, student accused of participating in the burning of tires in front of the US embassy in protests for #health and #education. Henry is deprived of his liberty in the Támara penitentiary.”

PBI-Honduras also posted on December 14, 2019, that Acevedo had “obtain[ed] his letter of freedom with alternative measures after four months in preventive detention.”

The Marco Aurelio Soto prison was designed to hold 8,000 prisoners, but was reportedly holding 17,000 prisoners in 2017.

The trial

DefensoresEnLinea.com now reports: “The defense of the young man, made up of the legal representatives of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH), Karol Cárdenas and Cynthia Turcios, rejected the charges, stating that it would be in the present trial that the non-participation of their client in the event will be proven, as well as that the elements of the criminal type are not configured.”

The article further notes: “The trial will continue on Friday [January] 26, where the evacuation of the evidence will continue and the conclusions of the parties will end.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading.

CBC News obtains RCMP C-IRG video of the arrests of Indigenous land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory in November 2021

By
Brent Patterson
-

CBC News reports that it has obtained Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) video footage that shows the arrests at a blockade of work on the Coastal Gaslink fracked gas pipeline on November 19, 2021.

That police video can be seen at Police footage shows arrests at Wet’suwet’en blockade (Jackie McKay, reporter, CBC Indigenous).

Up until this point, the video available of the arrests was shot by documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano from inside the cabin raided by the C-IRG. Toledano was also arrested that day along with photojournalist Amber Bracken.

Video by Michael Toledano.

The three land defenders – Sleydo’ (Wet’suwet’en), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan) and Corey Jocko (Mohawk) – were found guilty of criminal contempt of court by British Columbia (BC) Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen on January 12 of this year.

An abuse of process hearing then took place on January 12-19 that alleges the C-IRG used excessive force and violated the Charter Rights of  the land defenders resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

While C-IRG Silver Commander Superintendent James Elliott testified C-IRG officers would have had special training on Indigenous cultural sensitivity, an unidentified C-IRG officer could be heard in an audio recording made on the day of the arrests saying: “They all had the fuckin’ paint like, are you an orc?” This refers to the red handprints that honour missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Bronze Commander Inspector Glen Fishbook also testified that it would have been common practice to shoot gas canisters into the cabin to force the land defenders out. He then said: “Ultimately, with Superintendent Elliott, I decided not to because of the optics.” Once the door to the cabin was broken down with an axe and chainsaw the C-IRG found at the site, Corporal Sebastien Pilote pointed a 40mm projectile launcher at the land defenders.

More at Twelve concerning things we learned about the RCMP C-IRG during the first week of the abuse of process hearing.

Also on Instagram.

The abuse of process hearing is scheduled to resume on June 17-21.

Just prior to that, March 9 will mark the 12-month mark of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) systemic investigation of the C-IRG. The CRCC has previously stated in tries to complete their investigations within 12-18 months. The 18-month mark would fall on June 9, just a week before the hearing resumes.

We continue to follow this.

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