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

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

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

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

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

What is usurpation?

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

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

Eviction of Lenca community by National Police in February 2022

On February 9, 2022, Once Noticias reported:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two years before the eviction, Criterio.hn noted:

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

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

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

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

We continue to follow this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Excerpt from full statement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wing Chief Dsta’hyl arrested in October 2021

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

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

Enforcing Wet’suwet’en law

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

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

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

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

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

Sentencing

Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment.

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

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

The UN on CGL

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

We continue to follow this with concern.

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

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Mexico has posted:

“PBI also accompanies the victory.

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

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

Video clip: Miguel López Vega speaks after his acquittal.

Defending the Metlapanapa River

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

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

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

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

Acquittal

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The struggle continues”

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

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

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

Further reading

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

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

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

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

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

PBI-Mexico tweet.

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

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canada calls for an immediate ceasefire, warns against offensive in Rafah, but exports “military goods” to Israel

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: In response to the Israeli military bombing of Rafah, an emergency rally was held outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa on February 12.

On February 14, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is urgently needed”, “a military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic”, “the International Court of Justice has been clear: Israel must ensure the delivery of basic services and essential humanitarian assistance and must protect civilians” and that “a negotiated political solution is needed to achieve lasting peace and security”.

On December 12, 2023, Canada also voted in favour of a non-binding United Nations General Assembly resolution that called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.

Peace Brigades International supports the call for an immediate ceasefire.

The December 12, 2023, vote and February 14, 2024, statement by Canada represent a change in position from October 27, 2023, when it abstained on an emergency resolution at the UN General Assembly calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities” in Gaza.

This may somewhat reflect a shift in public opinion.

In November 2023, an Angus Reid poll showed that 30 per cent of Canadians believed “a full ceasefire should be called immediately”. By February 2024, 49 per cent of Canadians supported the call for an immediate, full ceasefire. Only 18 per cent of Canadians now believe “a ceasefire should not be called at this time”.

Canadian military exports to Israel

While Canada has called for a ceasefire, the concern remains that it has increased its export of military goods to Israel since October 2023.

The Maple has reported: “The Trudeau government authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel during the first two months of the state’s brutal war on Gaza, data supplied to The Maple by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) shows.”

That article by Alex Cosh adds: “The total value of the new permits authorized over a two-month period exceeds the 30-year annual record high of $26 million in Canadian military exports to Israel in 2021.”

Furthermore: “The permits appear to have been authorized quickly, with one processed within four days of the application being submitted. In its 2022 report on military exports, GAC said that its target processing time was 10 days for ‘low-risk’ destinations, and 40 days for other destinations. Israel was not listed as a ‘low-risk’ destination in GAC’s most recent military exports report.”

International obligations

Following the International Court of Justice ruling on January 26, legal scholars at the University of Toronto and York University commented: “Because the ICJ found a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, continuing to export arms to Israel would be illegal [under the Export and Import Permits Act where Canada’s ascension to the Arms Trade Treaty is reflected]. 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.”

A week prior to the ICJ ruling, Project Ploughshares highlighted: “The gravity of this situation calls for immediate action to ensure Canada is meeting its domestic and international obligations to mitigate the risk of contributing to violations of international law, for example, violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), including possible war crimes, in Gaza. Given the substantial risk that Canadian military goods could contribute to such abuses in Gaza, Canada must immediately halt all transfers of weapons to Israel.”

Assault on Rafah appears imminent

At this hour, The Jerusalem Post reports: “In the ground incursion, the last remaining large area is Rafah, where IDF sources say that a raid is an inevitable reality. ‘It will happen, and all that remains to be decided is the method and force.’”

Aljazeera also now reports: “The United States is preparing to send more bombs and other weapons to Israel even as it pushes for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and has said it opposes Tel Aviv’s plans for a ground invasion in southern Rafah where more than half the enclave’s displaced population is trapped.”

That article adds: “According to the WSJ, the US has provided roughly 21,000 precision-guided munitions to Israel since the start of the war last October.”

Canada exports about $1 billion in “military goods” to the United States each year.

Because there is not a transparent and full accounting of this transfer of goods, it’s not possible to say if Canadian components are in the bombs and weapons the United States is preparing to send to Israel with the imminent attack on Rafah.

The call to Stop CANSEC

We do know, however, that the makers of the MK-82 500-pound bombs and KMU-572 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) that turn unguided munitions into precision-guided bombs that could be sent to Israel are General Dynamics and Boeing.

General Dynamics and Boeing are members of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) and plan to market their products at the upcoming CADSI-organized CANSEC arms show this May 29-30 in Ottawa.

Photo: A protest at the CADSI office on February 13 called for an end to weapons shipments to Israel and committed to organize to stop the CANSEC arms show.

We continue to follow this situation.

#Day134

PBI-Colombia accompanies CAJAR lawyer Reynaldo Villalba during the fraud and bribery trial of former president’s lawyer Diego Cadena

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia has posted: “We accompanied @ReynaldVillalba of @Ccajar [the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective] in the framework of the proceedings related to the trial being carried out against lawyer Cadena. Guarantees are urgently needed in the climate of defamation and threats.”

Diego Javier Cadena Ramírez was Álvaro Uribe’s lawyer. Uribe was the President of Colombia from 2002 to 2010 and a Senator from 2014 to 2020.

Photo: Lawyer Diego Cadena and former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe.

CAJAR has previously explained that Cadena on behalf of Uribe offered economic and legal benefits to Carlos Enrique Vélez (a paramilitary leader) and pressured and made offers to Juan Guillermo Monsalve (also a member of a paramilitary) so that they would both make false statements against Senator Iván Cepeda in favour of Uribe.

Photo: Senator Ivan Cepeda.

It is our understanding that Cepeda had made the case that Uribe was involved in the formation and support for the Metro Bloc paramilitary and that Cadena’s offers to the two paramilitary leaders was an effort to undermine Cepeda and suggest that he had approached them to make false testimony against Uribe.

Cepeda was acquitted in 2018 of this false charge of witness tampering. Later that year Uribe was implicated in witness tampering and procedural fraud. In August 2020, the Supreme Court of Justice ordered an arrest warrant against Uribe.

In October 2020, PBI-Colombia explained: “As human rights defender and Senator Iván Cepeda Castro’s lawyer, Reynaldo Villalba has accompanied this case against the ex-president since it began.”

Reporting on this past week’s trial, El Colombiano notes: “Reynaldo Villalba represents Senator Iván Cepeda in the process.”

Cadena on trial

This week, El Espectador reported: “The trial against Diego Cadena and his colleague, Juan José Salazar Cruz, accused as co-perpetrators of the crimes of procedural fraud and bribery, began on February 6.”

It adds: “Carlos Enrique Vélez, alias Víctor, claims that Cadena offered him 200 million pesos in exchange for a letter and statements” that “both he and his former boss alias Alberto Guerrero had met with Cepeda in La Picota prison in 2017” to offer false testimony against Uribe that linked him to the creation of the Metro Bloc of the Self-Defense Forces.

Infobae also reported: “Monsalve, in the midst of the face-to-face hearing that was held before the third criminal judge of the Circuit with Knowledge Function of Bogotá, reaffirmed that in February 2018, apparently, Cadena’s visits [to Monsalve in jail] began and with that the pressures.”

And El Pais noted: “Monsalve is a notorious former paramilitary who is imprisoned in La Picota. He is the Supreme Court’s biggest witness against Uribe, as he said that the former president participated in the creation of the Metro Bloc.”

Photo: Former paramilitary leaders Carlos Enrique Vélez and Juan Guillermo Monsalve.

Uribe and paramilitaries

InSight Crime explains: “The former president, his family members, and some of his closest associates have found themselves the subject of journalistic investigations and accusations that they aided and financed illegal right-wing paramilitaries in the 1990s.”

That article adds: “The groups, which ultimately came under the banner of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), served as the government’s proxies in a parallel war against the country’s leftist guerrillas and suspected collaborators. While maintaining ties to drug trafficking groups, the paramilitaries committed massacres and terrorized the civilian population, at times displacing entire villages.”

Accompaniment

PBI-Colombia has noted: “Between 2019 and 2020, lawyer Reynaldo Villalba, as the representative of Senator Iván Cepeda in the case against former president Alvaro Uribe Velez, has received threats and harassment. For which bars and lawyers around the world have joined to support the work of this group.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CAJAR since 1995.

We continue to follow this.

PBI-Colombia accompanies San José de Apartadó Peace Community and dhColombia at meeting with Canadian Embassy

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 14, PBI-Colombia posted:

“”As peasants, our greatest strength is the land,” says @cdpsanjose [the San José de Apartadó Peace Community] accompanied by @dhColombia [the Association of Human Rights Defenders Network] in a meeting with [the Embassy of] @CanadayColombia and @ONUHumanRights [United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]. Guarantees are urgently needed against the continuity of threats and attacks against the Community in its defense of #DDHH [human rights] and #MedioAmbiente [environment].”

On the twentieth anniversary of its founding in peaceful resistance to armed conflict in 2017, the Peace Community counted 326 of its members murdered and more than 4,000 human rights violations committed against them.

In January 2021, Yes! magazine reported: “The Peace Community, in addition to suffering [a] new wave of violence [after the peace agreement in 2016], is also under the threat of losing their communal land from a state project of agrarian reform, according to Germán Romero, a lawyer with dhColombia, a nonprofit organization in charge of representing the community in court to seek justice for the violence they have experienced.”

Voices at Risk

While the Global Affairs Canada Voices at Risk voluntary guidelines on supporting human rights defenders (launched in 2016 and updated in 2019) does not specifically mention peasants, campesinos, campesinas or farmers, it does refer to best practices related to “land rights and environmental human rights” defenders (page 30-31).

The guidelines for embassies acknowledge: “Defenders may face heightened risk of violence or repression because of their work, particularly if they are members of vulnerable or disadvantaged groups such as women, Indigenous peoples, LGBTI persons, persons with disabilities and economically marginalized people.”

UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2018.

The resolution in support of the Declaration was approved by 119 votes in favour, 7 votes against and 49 abstentions. Canada was one of those abstentions.

CIVICUS has commented: “The declaration was a long time coming and many campesino communities – who have fought costly battles corporations to protect their lands and lives from harmful mining and infrastructural projects for years – celebrated the commitment to their struggles.”

Accompanied organizations

PBI-Colombia has previously noted: “The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in the Urabá Antioqueño region was founded in 1997 in the midst of armed violence, forced displacement, and the murder of its leaders.”

It has also explained: “dhColombia’s work focuses on litigation and legal representation in cases of attacks on union leaders, peasant leaders, political opponents, and indigenous communities. dhColombia’s area of work extends to many regions of the country, which have been hit hard by the armed conflict and human rights violations.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Peace Community since 1999 (two years after it was founded) and dhColombia since 2016 (the year it was founded).

We continue to follow this situation and take note that April 17 is the International Day of Peasant Struggles.

Photo: PBI-Colombia accompanies the Peace Community on Good Friday, April 7, 2023.

PBI-Honduras laments a police officer has not been sentenced in the femicide of Keyla Martinez in February 2021

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Honduras accompanied the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) at the trial of police officer Jarol Perdomo; October 1, 2022.

On February 14, PBI-Honduras posted:

“Three years after the death of Keyla Martinez inside a police station, a sentence is still awaiting. According to her mother, Norma Rodriguez, the Siguatepeque Sentencing Court denied her information about her decision.

From PBI we show concern about the rates of impunity for femicide in Honduras (94%) and remind us of the importance of transparency in legal processes.

If you want to know more about this topic, read the following article.”

On February 8, the PBI-Honduras accompanied Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) also posted: “Yesterday, February 7, #COPINH together with various social organizations we joined the call to continue demanding justice for the murder of Keyla Martínez, who was murdered in police custody in La Esperanza, Intibucá.”

Photo: COPINH coordinator Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres calls for justice for Keyla.

Keyla Martinez, a 26-year-old nursing student, was murdered on February 7, 2021, while in police custody. She had been detained by police around 11:45 pm because of a curfew when returning home after eating with friends on a Saturday evening. There were more than 13 police officers on duty at the police station when she was killed.

On October 1, 2022, PBI-Honduras also posted:

“PBI accompanies Cofadeh [Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras] in the trial against policeman Jarol Perdomo, accused of the death of Keyla Martínez. The process had entered a recess since September 29, 2022, due to the pending amparo appeal, filed by the private prosecution, to modify the simple homicide figure to aggravated femicide. Yesterday the parties announced the conclusions of the case.

The lawyer Karol Cárdenas, who is part of the private prosecution in the case, together with the lawyer Dora Oliva, requested that ‘the Public Ministry be urged to open an investigation process against all the police officers who helped Jarol Perdomo, to modify or hide the scene of the crime and they failed in the duty of the officials, because what was appropriate at that time was to put them at the order of the Public Ministry and take care of the scene of the crime.’”

On October 17, 2022, Criterio.hn reported: “[Police officer Jarol Perdomo] was accused by the Public Ministry (MP) of aggravated femicide, but the court of La Esperanza, Intibucá, was responsible for typifying the crime as simple homicide.”

Perdomo was convicted on September 13, 2023, of reckless homicide.

We continue to follow this.

Photo: PBI-Honduras accompanied the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders (La Red Nacional de Defensoras de DDHH de Honduras) at a memorial to Keyla on the first anniversary of her murder, February 2022.

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