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PBI-Guatemala accompanies media conference denouncing attacks and evictions of Maya Q’eqchi’ communities

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 11, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies UVOC and the Campesino/Peasant Council, formed by CCDA, CUC, New Day and UVOC, at their press conference in which they denounced the complicity of the authorities of Alta Verapaz with the farmers to evict Indigenous and peasant communities.”

Factor 4 further explains: “The Peasant Council – the Verapaz Union of Peasant Organizations (UVOC), the Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC), the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) and the Nuevo Dia Ch’orti Indigenous Association (Nuevo Dia) — condemns the evictions and threats against rural communities that fight for their right to land and a dignified life. …They regret the loss of lawyer José Alberto Domingo Montejo on June 5 and Marcelo Yaxon, both activists of the Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC).”

Photo of UVOC coordinator Carlos Morales by Rony Morales.

Killings of CUC lawyer and activist

Grassroots International also provides this context: “Tragically, on June 5, armed paramilitaries assassinated José Alberto Domingo Montejo, human rights lawyer and legal counsel for our partner the Comité de Unidad Campesina/Peasant Unity Committee (CUC), and fatally wounded CUC activist Marcelo Yaxón Pablo, who died on June 10. They also severely wounded CUC activist Gustavo Yaxón.”

The Associated Press has also reported: “A Guatemalan lawyer who worked closely with organizations representing farmworkers and Indigenous groups was killed in an apparent ambush. José Domingo was with two members of the United Farmworkers Committee [CUC] when they were shot by a group of men Wednesday [June 5] south of the capital, said Daniel Pascual, a leader of that organization. …Domingo was helping to legalize a land title in the area… The Council of the Wuxhtaj Peoples also condemned the attack and said Domingo was of the Popti or Jakalteko people and a ‘defender of Mother Earth.’”

Photo: José Domingo.

Still from video clip.

Eviction of two Maya Q’eqchi’ communities

Grassroots International adds: “The brutal attack on these peasant rights defenders took place on the very same day that members of Guatemala’s National Civil Police (PNC) — which acts at the behest of local judicial authorities and their private interests — forcibly displaced 35 families of the Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ living in the community of San José el Tesoro in the Alta Verapaz department. Weeks prior, on May 22nd, the PNC also expelled dozens of Indigenous Mayas Q’eqchi’ from traditional territories in the community of Buena Vista in the Izabal department.”

Still from video:” Burning of houses in violent eviction in the community of San Jose el Tesoro, Coban, Alta Verapaz.”

Prensa Comunitaria has also reported on the two forced evictions:

“Homes turned to ashes, burned crops and displaced Q’eqchi’ families is the scenario that remains in the community of San José El Tesoro, in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, after an eviction involving more than a thousand agents of the National Civil Police (PNC). On Wednesday, June 5, some 1,500 PNC agents mobilized to Cobán to evict the families who live on the farm known as “El Tesoro,” located at the entrance to the villages of Las Pacayas and Chitocán.

This is the second eviction reported during the government of Bernardo Arévalo, since, last May in Buena Vista, in El Estor, Izabal, women who were accompanied by their daughters and sons were evicted from the Tz’inté farm. Simultaneously with the state security forces, Arriaza Migoya’s crews and private security agents from the company VIP Security SA participated, who could have destroyed the houses and crops of the families. The families who lived in the Buena Vista community sought refuge during the night in the Santa Rosita community, others spend the night on the side of the road.”

Grassroots International comments: “This violence follows conflicts in late 2023 and early 2024 during which social movements mobilized against the ruling elite as it attempted to cling to power after being ousted from the presidency through democratic elections. While the current presidency represents a break from the Corrupt Pact (Pacto de Corruptos), the right-wing regime continues to hold on to power in parts of the government, including the legislative and judicial branches, the latter of which can decide on PNC [National Civil Police] actions. According to CUC [Committee for Peasant Unity], the ‘Covenant of the Corrupt’ is doing everything in its power to force a rupture between the recently-elected Semilla Party and progressive forces nationwide.”

Accompaniment

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) of the Verapaces since July 2018 and the Union of Campesino Organizations for the Verapaces (UVOC) since 2005.

We continue to follow this situation.

Tweet: “The Peasant Unity Committee -CUC- With deep regret and sadness, we unite to mourn the vile murder of our dear brother, friend and companion José Alberto Domingo Montejo.”

Tweet: “With deep regret, sadness, and indignation, for the vile murder of our dear brother, friend and companion: Marcelo Yaxón Pablo, community leader and member of the CUC structures.”

Wet’suwet’en land defenders continue their abuse of process claim against the RCMP in Smithers court

By
Brent Patterson
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Gidimt’en Checkpoint has posted:

“We have another week coming up in the colonial courts attempting to criminalize us. This week will be part of our Abuse of Process claim. Please join us in Smithers at the court house from June 17-21 9-4 each day. On June 17th there will be a rally at noon with speakers and singing. On June 21, celebrated in so-called Canada as National Indigenous Day we will celebrate the end of one more week of survival at the Main Street stage at 5pm with food and music! Please join us whenever you can and stay tuned for updates.”

The first part of the abuse of process application was heard in a courtroom in Smithers, British Columbia on January 12-19 this year.

Their application alleges the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) used excessive force and violated the Charter Rights of Indigenous land defenders resisting the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory.

Land defenders Sleydo’ (Wet’suwet’en), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan) and Corey Jocko (Mohawk) were arrested by C-IRG officers on November 19, 2021.

Our overview of the first hearing can be read at Twelve concerning things we learned about the RCMP C-IRG during the first week of the abuse of process hearing (January 20, 2024).

Members of the Abolish C-IRG coalition will be monitoring the hearing this coming Monday June 17 to Friday June 21.

International delegation

In addition, Amnesty International has noted: “A delegation of Amnesty International representatives from France, Germany, the United States and Canada will attend the trials of Wet’suwet’en land defenders in Smithers, British Columbia, during the week of June 17, 2024. The delegates will be there to watch the criminal court proceedings and be in solidarity with the criminalized defenders, Sleydo’ Molly Wickham (Wet’suwet’en), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan) and Corey Jayohcee Jocko (Mohawk).”

Amnesty further notes: “In December 2023, Amnesty International published the report ‘Removed from our land for defending it’: Criminalization, Intimidation and Harassment of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders. …Based in part on witness testimony of four large-scale Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raids on Wet’suwet’en territory marked by the unlawful use of force, the report finds that Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their supporters were arbitrarily detained for peacefully defending their land against the construction of the pipeline and exercising their Indigenous rights and their right of peaceful assembly.”

#RCMPofftheYintah

Ottawa activist threatened with arrest for asking Members of Parliament their position on arms sales to Israel

By
Brent Patterson
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Ottawa-based activist Jonathan Machado has posted on his Instagram account: “The Canadian Parliament Hill Parliamentary Protective Service threatens to arrest me for asking Canadian politicians to stop Canadian weapons manufacturers’ from selling weapons to war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu.”

In the video, the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) officer says: “I’ve been informed that you are harassing Members of Parliament, we got a complaint, so if you do it again you will be under arrest.”

Thirteen MPs asked

On Machado’s Instagram page, there are clips of him over the past six weeks asking questions about arms sales and the situation in Gaza to Heather McPherson (NDP), Ken McDonald (Liberal), Blake Richards (Conservative), Francis Drouin (Liberal), Ben Lobb (Conservative), Darrell Samson (Liberal), Martin Shields (Conservative), an unidentified Member of Parliament (Liberal), Anthony Housefather (Liberal), Glen Motz (Conservative), Ali Ehsassi (Liberal), Bob Zimmer (Conservative), Ryan Turnbull (Liberal), Alexandre Boulerice (NDP), Andrew Scheer (Conservative), Jasraj Hallan (Conservative).

While Machado poses his questions respectfully, many of the Members of Parliament appear rude and disrespectful to him. And while there is a concern about the reported increased harassment of Members of Parliament, none of the videos suggest anything more than Machado asking MPs their position on a key public policy issue.

Arms Embargo Day of Action, June 13

Additionally, ArmsEmbargoNow.ca website notes: “On June 13th we’re taking action at MP offices across the country to demand they sign onto the call for a full and immediate arms embargo on Israel.”

Activists will be asking 30 more Members of Parliament to sign on to this statement in support of an arms embargo.

To date these 42 MPs have signed the statement.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Kenya stands in solidarity with the families of victims of police killings at trial of officer Ahmed Rashid

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 12, PBI-Kenya posted: “Today, we stand in solidarity with families of victims of police killings. The #TrialOfAhmedRashid, formerly of Pangani 9, continues before Justice Kavedza at Kibera Law Court. Rashid was charged with the 2017 murders of Jamal Mohammed and Mohammed Dhair Kheri in Eastleigh.”

Yesterday, the Mathare Social Justice Centre posted: “Join us tomorrow & Thursday, June 12 & 13, at the Kibera Court from 9 am, as we attend the court case of killer-cop Ahmed Rashid. We will be there to demand justice for all of our loved ones killed by his bullets. We all have a right to life! @MothersVictims”

Citizen Digital has previously reported: “The case gained notoriety after a video surfaced on social media on March 31, 2017, showing Rashid, clad in civilian clothes, shooting two young individuals on the ground in the Eastleigh area. The incident which occurred in broad daylight and in the presence of onlookers, led to Rashid being branded the ‘killer cop’.”

PBI-Kenya and the Social Justice Centre Working Group are members of the Missing Voices Coalition (MVC).

Missing Voices on Ahmed Rashid case

The Missing Voices Coalition has explained: “Ahmed Rashid, the police officer who served for many years at Pangani Police Station and was said to allegedly belong to a group of officers called the ‘Pangani Six’, was charged at Kibera Law Courts on March 14th, 2024, with the murder of two teenagers, Jamal Mohamed and Mohamed Dhahir Kheri. He allegedly shot the two fatally in 2017, and the incident was recorded in a video that went viral thereafter.”

Missing Voices also notes: “It is important to maintain pressure from the public if police impunity and brutality are to be dealt a blow in Kenya. Both human rights activists and the general public have maintained their interest in the case [of Ahmed Rashid], making it difficult for plans to delay its commencement to succeed. In particular, human rights activists, especially members of the Social Justice Centres (SJC), who are members of MVC, have used the case to educate the public on extrajudicial killings and its negative impact on the rights of individuals as guaranteed by the country’s constitution and the international instruments, which Kenya has ratified.”

The Missing Voices Coalition commentary on this case can be read on pages 21-23 here.

Missing Voices documents police killings

The Missing Voices annual report released in April 2024 noted: “The first of the important developments in 2023 was MVC’s reporting of a reduced number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances from the figures it recorded in 2022. As this report shows, the number of those killed extra-judicially reduced by 9.2%, from 130 in 2022, to 118 in 2023, while enforced disappearances reduced from 22 in 2022 to 10 in 2023, a 54.5% decrease.”

We continue to follow this case.

PBI-Mexico accompanies communities at protest in Mexico City demanding closure of Cholula garbage dump

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 11, PBI-Mexico posted: “Today we were accompanying the communities that are asking for the definitive closure of the Cholula landfill due to the environmental impacts in their concentration in front of the PROFEPA headquarters in Mexico City.”

Voices in Movement has also tweeted:

Municipios Puebla reports: “Residents of Puebla demonstrated this Tuesday outside the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) in Mexico City to demand the definitive closure of the Intermunicipal Sanitary Landfill that is located on the road to Calpan 4702, Fraccionamiento Maravillas de San Pedro Cholula and is owned by the company Pro-Faj Hidrolimpieza.”

That article adds: “Alejandro Torres, one of the people who protested and blocked Insurgentes Avenue and Félix Cuevas, in front of Profepa, in Benito Juárez, said that for 11 years the open-air dump has been operating and has contaminated land and water with leachate. They stated that although Profepa put closure seals because Pro-Faj Hidrolimpieza has failed to comply with guidelines, the workers of the landfill removed them. Those affected also demand a ‘restitution plan’ and that ‘not one more kilo of garbage be received’ and affirmed that ‘they are already carrying out reforestation campaigns to sow life where they sowed death.’”

Angulo7 also reports: “The residents of the Union of Towns and Villages against the Landfill, in Mexico City, held a protest at the Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) to demand that their demands be met due to the lack of response from state authorities.”

That article continues: “Juan Carlos Flores Solís, one of the representatives, commented that there is a resolution from a judge to an amparo trial in which the agency is ordered to verify if the corrective measures imposed have been complied with, as well as if the useful life has concluded, which will have to be carried out during this week. However, he accused that Profepa ‘does not commit itself’ by arguing that a procedure has to be followed, despite the fact that there is a court order and evidence has been given that the landfill cells are saturated and should be closed definitively, for which reason he committed himself to attend to said request.”

And Oro Noticias Puebla notes: “The company ProFaj Hidro Limpieza, in charge of the operation of the Cholula landfill, filed at least five complaints against the group of residents who have not allowed the operation of the landfill for almost three months. This was revealed by the head of the office of the Ministry of the Environment of Puebla, Norma Sandoval Gómez, who indicated that the ‘social’ conflict is the only thing that prevents 21 municipalities from depositing their waste in the Cholula landfill.”

Flores Solis comments: “On the one hand, we must be attentive to any repressive action that may be taken, we will wait for the inspection to take place this week, the five-day term for the company’s arguments and then, what we consider, the repositioning of the closure seals.”

We continue to follow this.

Stand.earth report implicates banks in destroying the Amazon rainforest where land defenders are killed

By
Brent Patterson
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Stand.earth and the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) have released a new report titled GREENWASHING THE AMAZON: How Banks Are Destroying the Amazon Rainforest While Pretending to be Green.

The report highlights: “Major banks are claiming to protect the Amazon rainforest, Indigenous rights, and our climate, while they are simultaneously investing in destruction that is irreversible for one of the most strategic ecosystems for life on the planet. …Efforts to stop the devastation have been met with violence. An alarming number of leaders and land defenders have been killed while protecting Amazonia, which is currently the most violent region on the planet for Indigenous leaders and land defenders.”

The report focuses on five transnational banks Citibank (USA), JPMorgan Chase (USA), Itaú Unibanco (Brazil), Santander (Spain) and Bank of America (USA) that “together account for more than half of the loans to companies in this sector.”

Royal Bank of Canada, USD $1.2 billion over 15 years

The Stand.earth Amazon Banks Database further notes: “[The top 8] banks have profited from oil and gas despite the fact that the threat of an Amazon collapse has increased dramatically over the same time period.”

Number 7 on their list is RBC [the Royal Bank of Canada] with USD $1,163,458,000 in direct financing over the past fifteen years.

Frontera Energy in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador

The Stand.earth searchable database also shows numerous current bank bonds to the Canadian oil and gas company Calgary-based Frontera Energy from Citibank, Credit Suisse, Itau Unibanco, Morgan Stanley, BCP Securities LLC, Citibank, HSBC, Merrill Lynch & Co, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase.

Colombia

In December 2019, then UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst wrote: “In the context of efforts to defend land and environmental rights, at least 202 defenders have been prosecuted since 2012. By way of example, during the Special Rapporteur’s visit, eight leaders from San Luis de Palenque were arrested and accused of collusion to commit an offence, violence against a public servant and obstructing a public road, and two of them with attempted homicide in connection with their participation in and leadership of the social protests between 2016 and 2018 in response to the failure of Canadian public company Frontera Energy to fulfil its obligation to compensate communities affected by environmental damage and to repair damaged roads.”

His report then highlights: “The Special Rapporteur is concerned at the apparent connection between Frontera Energy, the army’s 16th brigade and the Attorney General’s Support Office in this criminalization and the possible impact of the agreement between Ecopetrol S.A. and the Attorney General’s Office on the situation.”

Forst then explains: “In November 2018, Frontera Energy signed two agreements with the Ministry of Defence for a total of US$ 1,343,106 to secure army protection for its activities. On 4 December 2018, the army and the police accused the aforementioned leaders of being members of ‘Los Jinetes con Careta’, an illegal armed group whose existence has yet to be recognized by the competent authorities. Furthermore, since 2015, Ecopetrol, the main Colombian hydrocarbon exploitation company, has signed five cooperation agreements with the Attorney General’s Office for a total of US$ 24,698,485 to strengthen the investigative and prosecutorial capacity of the Attorney General’s Support Office to deal – inter alia – with crimes of obstruction of public roads during social protests that affect the functioning of Ecopetrol and/or its associated companies, such as Frontera Energy.”

Since the arrest of the social leaders on November 27, 2018, and Forst’s report on December 26, 2019, bonds were issued to Frontera by Citibank, Credit Suisse, Itau Unibanco, Morgan Stanley, and BCP Securities LLP.

The Amazonia region in Colombia includes the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Putumayo and Vaupés. The department of Casanare is situated north of Caquetá, Guainía and Guaviare.

Peru

Frontera Energy has also been implicated for its past business practices in Peru. In the report CANADA’S FAILURE TO UPHOLD EXTRATERRITORIAL OBLIGATIONS: CORPORATE ABUSES BY CANADIAN COMPANIES IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST, a case study focuses on Frontera Energy in Peru.

The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada has reported that the submission names: “Frontera Energy Corp. in northern Peru, which, The Globe has [previously] reported, incurred 33 environmental fines related to oil spills in the time it operated there [2015 to February 2021]. In response to questions, Frontera said it is honouring its contractual commitments and will continue to comply with its outstanding social and environmental obligations.”

Photo: “Natanael Sandi’s job as an environmental monitor is to track and report the oil contamination. On this excursion in December, 2022, he stops by Frontera’s abandoned offices [in an area known as Block 192 in Peru].” Photo by Patrick Murayari.

Ecuador

There may also be concern about Frontera’s present and future operations in Ecuador. In March 2022, Oil & Gas Journal reported: “Frontera Energy Corp. discovered oil on the southern portion of the Perico block in Ecuador. …Frontera holds about 16,700 net acres in the Perico and Espejo exploration blocks in Ecuador. The blocks lie near existing production and infrastructure in Sucumbíos Province [that is part of the Amazonian region in Ecuador].”

We continue to follow this.

Na-Cho Nyak Dun win court challenge against proposed Metallic Minerals quartz mine on their territory in the Yukon

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: “A group of demonstrators, comprised of First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun (FNNND) citizens and allies, rally outside the Yukon Territorial Court ahead of the hearing [in November 2023] for the Yukon government’s appeal of a decision earlier this year to reverse approval of mine exploration work on the First Nation’s traditional territory. (Matthew Bossons/Yukon News).”

APTN reports: “The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun (FNNND) is celebrating a recent court decision over proposed mining exploration on its land.”

That article adds: “In 2021, the territorial government approved a mineral exploration project proposed by Metallic Minerals to go on to the next stage of the approval process. …[The FNNND] took the government to court over a lack of consultation and won in January 2023. In November, the government appealed and argued that the judge erred and that the consultation was conducted properly. However, [the] decision [of the court on Tuesday April 9] states otherwise.”

As CBC News has previously explained, Vancouver-based Metallic Minerals Corp. had proposed “a quartz exploration project to happen over 10 years on 52 claims located north of Mayo [within the traditional territory of the Na-Cho Nyak Dun].”

APTN has also previously noted: “Proposed by Metallic Minerals, the project would entail exploration activities every summer for ten years in the heart of the [Beaver River Watershed], also known as Tsé Tagé.”

And Yukon News reported in March 2021: “Metallic Minerals’ application involves its 52 quartz claims approximately 64 kilometre north of Keno. The claims were staked in 2018 and 2019. The application seeks permission to construct roads and clearings in its claims to support mapping, soil sampling and excavation. It acknowledges that the work ‘might have significant environmental or socio-economic effects’ on the nation’s traditional territory.”

APTN now reports: “Yukon government said it’s reviewing the decision [of April 9 that sides with the Na-Cho Nyak Dun].”

We will continue to follow this.

CREDHOS: “We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine”

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Iván Madero Vergel is the president of CREDHOS.

On June 8, the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) posted: “We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. In the midst of a rally in Munich, Germany, we express our solidarity with the People of Palestine who resist with dignity. And today, in unison, we say: Stop the genocide!”

A student encampment in solidarity with Palestine was set up in mid-May at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

Last year, Deutsche Welle reported: “As elsewhere around the world, Saturday [October 21, 2023] saw thousands in Germany take to the streets in support of Palestinians trapped in Gaza. …Police say pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place in Cologne, Frankfurt, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Münster and Stuttgart. The largest, however, appears to have taken place in the western German city of Düsseldorf, where an estimated 7,000 people marched under the motto, ‘For peace, justice, and human dignity in Palestine.’”

That article adds: “A march scheduled to take place in central Berlin on Sunday [October 22, 2023], however, has been canceled by police, who cited the ‘imminent danger’ of incitement, antisemitic slogans and violence or the glorification thereof at the event. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that although everyone in Germany has the right to demonstrate and freely express their option, ‘there is a clear red line: no tolerance for antisemitic or anti-Israel agitation and no tolerance for violence.’”

This week, Amnesty International in Germany noted: “In 2024, there was no blanket ban in Berlin. However, the protests reportedly led to numerous cases of police violence.” They further asserted: “Criticism of Israeli and German government policy must not be criminalized across the board” and “the suppression of Palestinian solidarity voices in public discourse are incompatible with human rights.”

Arms sales

Aljazeera has reported: “In 2023, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($354 million), a tenfold increase compared to the previous year, providing 30 percent of the Israeli military’s weapons, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.”

In early-April, the BBC also reported: “A group of [German] civil servants wrote to the German leader [Chancellor Olaf Scholz] calling on the government to ‘cease arms deliveries to the Israeli government with immediate effect’. ‘Israel is committing crimes in Gaza that are in clear contradiction to international law,’ the statement said, citing January’s ICJ [International Court of Justice] ruling.”

In this statement from February, Peace Brigades International called on the international community “to show its strong support for such important institutions for global justice as the International Court of Justice” and “to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.”

Additionally, Peace Brigades International-Canada has signed this statement that says: “As the catastrophe wrought by Israel’s continued assault on Gaza grows, Canadian civil society organizations across multiple sectors are calling on the Canadian government to immediately suspend all trade in arms and military technology with Israel.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.

Also:

COPINH (accompanied by PBI-Honduras): “Since #8YearAnniversary of the Sowing #BertaCáceres, we stand in solidarity with the people of #palestine, who face a painful humanitarian and environmental crisis on the part of the State of Israel.”

Bernardo Caal Xol (accompanied by PBI-Guatemala): “Palestine: cry until you drown @elsaltodiario”

Comite Cerezo (accompanied by PBI-Mexico): “A talk with those who fight for the #Human Rights of working people: Palestine 100 days of Genocide Guest: His Excellency Mohamed Saadat – Ambassador of the Palestinian State in Mexico Join us!”

Further reading: More than 800 human rights defenders killed in Palestine over the past six months (April 26, 2024).

Yuli Velasquez of FEDEPESAN receives Amnesty International Human Rights Award in Berlin, Germany

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: The award ceremony took place on June 4 in Berlin.

Amnesty International Deutschland has posted: “The Colombian fishermen’s organization FEDEPESAN [the Association for Traditional Fishing, Environmental Protection and Tourism in the Department of Santander] receives the Human Rights Award 2024 from Amnesty International in Germany. The award is given for selfless commitment to human rights that is associated with personal danger.”

Photo: Velasquez receives award.

CREDHOS photo.

Amnesty International continues: “Since 2019, the association has been committed to protecting the rivers and wetlands as well as the way of life of the region’s fishermen. FEDEPESAN documents environmental pollution, organizes demonstrations, carries out clean-up campaigns and lobbies the relevant authorities. FEDEPESAN is also taking legal action against the state-owned oil company Ecopetrol, which he holds jointly responsible for the pollution of the wetlands in the region. The activists of FEDEPESAN are exposed to great dangers. They are threatened and physically attacked, tools and boats are stolen. They are defamed as members of armed groups because of their activities. Nevertheless, the fishermen of FEDEPESAN continue their commitment.”

Clan del Golfo threat on March 1

Noting this award from Amnesty International, der Freitag reports on an incident just three months ago: “Yuli Velásquez can’t believe her eyes when she glances at the screen in the living room on the morning of March 1, which shows images from three surveillance cameras. ‘Get out – Clan del Golfo’ is written in huge letters on the side wall of her house in the San Silvestre district of Barrancabermeja. She immediately sends the footage to a few friends, including Iván Madero Vergel, along with a call for help. ‘The request to leave the district came from the Clan del Golfo, one of the most brutal paramilitary associations in Colombia,’ explains the expert from the human rights organization Credhos.”

CREDHOS accompaniment

Iván Madero Vergel is the president of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS). His organization accompanies FEDEPESAN. In turn, CREDHOS is accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project.

The Der Freitag article continues: “Standing up for the preservation of biodiversity is risky in Barrancabermeja. At least four armed militias operate there. Two of them – the paramilitary associations Águilas Negras (Black Eagles) and the Clan del Golfo (Gulf Clan) – have declared Velásquez and other FEDEPESAN activists to be legitimate military targets. There have been three attacks on Yuli Velásquez and her family since then.”

The third attack against Velasquez occurred just days after she, Madero and other members of FEDEPESAN and CREDHOS showed members of PBI-Colombia and PBI-Canada the San Silvestre wetlands in July 2022.

On July 5, 2022, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Today serious attack against environmental leader Yuli Velásquez, president Fedepesan, leaving an escort injured. It occurs days after verifying environmental impacts in Ciénagas Barrancabermeja with @Credhos_Paz PBI-Colombia and @PBIcanada.”

When Velasquez participated in a PBI-Canada webinar on April 29, 2021, she said: “We are working hard to stop fracking. Pollution will impact future generations. As fisherpeople we are impacted by water pollution. We can’t allow corporations and contractors to come in and affect the well-being of our communities. We have faced various threats and assassination attempts, but we will continue working and contributing to the protection of the environment.”

Velasquez also spoke on the PBI-Canada webinar on December 7, 2022, on defending the San Silvestre wetlands as well as another webinar we organized on December 7, 2023, on the UN COP28 climate summit and environmental defenders.

We continue to follow this closely.

Photo: Brent Patterson (PBI-Canada), Yuli Velasquez (FEDEPESAN) and Javier Garate (then with PBI-Colombia, now with PBI-Canada), June 30, 2022.

PBI-Mexico amplifies RSDH call for the release of Indigenous Ocumicho environmental defender María de la Cruz

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Mexico has posted: “From PBI we express our concern about the arbitrary detention of the environmental defender María de la Cruz, Councillor of the Ocumicho Communal Council and delegate of the CNI [National Indigenous Congress]. We call on the competent authorities to guarantee their comprehensive protection.”

This follows the Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria de Derechos Humanos/RSDH) posting: “María de la Cruz was arbitrarily detained while she was fulfilling her duties as Councillor for Ecology and Environment of the autonomous community of Ocumicho. The State has the responsibility of guaranteeing their rights as a traditional authority and defender of human rights.”

On June 6, the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán explained on Facebook: “We denounce the harassment that the state systematically does against those who are activists particularly against our colleague Maria Cruz Paz Zamora, who is currently part of the Municipal Government Council of the Autonomous Community of Ocumicho, as an ecology and environment advisor and is a delegate of the Indigenous National Congress and the Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacán.”

Their post adds: “Our companion arbitrarily detained today, June 5, at 8:00 am on the federal road Morelia – Zamora, at the height of the community of Carapan by subjects of the Michoacan ministerial police and transferred to the Uruapan prison center, according to the report. No explanation was preceded by this act on the reasons for his deprivation of liberty.”

In a solidarity statement, the Autonomous Council of the Chiapas Coast, the Center for Human Rights Digna Ochoa and the Network of Women of the Costa in Rebellion have also posted: “In view of the events that took place [on June 5], including the arrest of the compañera and acts of systematic harassment of communities and indigenous peoples who defend the forest and their territories against illegal logging, we strongly oppose these acts of violence and criminalization, which are threatening the lives of indigenous peoples.”

And the National Indigenous Council/Indigenous Governing Council (CNI-CIG) has posted: “In recent years, comrade María Cruz Paz Zamora, as Ocumicho’s councillor for ecology and the environment, has promoted massive reforestation in her community, has created brigades to fight forest fires, has defended forests from loggers and organized crime, and has fought against avocado monocultures. Her constant struggle has been for life.”

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project accompanies the Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria de Derechos Humanos).

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Detienen a María Cruz Paz Zamora defensora ambiental de Ocumicho (en15dias).

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