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PBI-Honduras visits community of Guapinol where river defenders continue to oppose Los Pinares iron oxide mine

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 10, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“We recently made a visit to the community of Guapinol. We remember that the liberation of the defenders of the river was an advance, but the problem continues. The community continues to raise its voice to remember that the river is a source of life for all of Honduras.”

The struggle against the Los Pinares iron oxide mine

The Guapinol River defenders oppose the Inversiones Los Pinares open-pit iron oxide mine in the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park.

When the company began building an access road to the planned mine site in March 2018, the tap water in Guapinol turned brown and thick with muddy sediment.

By August 2018, the community established a Camp in Defence of Water and Life that blocked the construction of the access road.

Then in October 2018, more than 1,500 police officers and military personnel began the forceful expulsion of the protest camp and the criminalization process against the Guapinol River defenders began.

On February 9 of this year, six of the river defenders were convicted for alleged actions against the mining operation.

The next day, the Constitutional Chamber annulled their convictions and they were then released on February 24.

Lenir Pérez and Inversiones Los Pinares (ILP)

Guapinol Resists has stated: “Lenir Pérez and his wife Ana Facussé, daughter of the late Honduran oligarch and businessman Miguel Facussé, are the owners of ILP. Lenir Pérez is a businessman previously linked to the execution of construction contracts illegally granted by the government of President Hernández (Global Witness 2017).”

EFE has also reported: “Los Pinares has installed a processing plant for iron oxide pellets in the municipality of Tocoa, department of Colón and has requested an ‘expansion of the area of the concession from 100 hectares to 1,000 hectares.”

We continue to follow this situation from Canada.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Nomadesc as hearing on Siloé massacre cancelled

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: “Victims of the National Police demonstrated today outside the Palace of Justice in Cali, Valle del Cauca. This is due to the massacre of May 3, 2021, in Siloé, Cali, during the National Strike committed by commanders of the Police and the GOES [the Special Operations Group of the Colombian National Police].”

On August 9, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Tomorrow the hearing continues to determine the responsibility of police officers in the #Siloé massacre during the #National strike where young people Kevin Agudelo, Harold Antonio Rodríguez, Jose Edison Ambuila + wounded were murdered. So that #police violence does not repeat itself, justice for victims is urgent.”

This morning, Nomadesc posted:

“The face-to-face public hearing scheduled for today at 9 am was cancelled, with the justification of Asonal Judicial it would close the Palace of Justice in Cali for the entire day, a situation that is outrageous for the families of the victims who hoped to participate in the hearing that has been postponed on different occasions and in which they have also been unjustifiably excluded.”

Later Nomadesc posted:

“Given the impossibility of holding a face-to-face hearing, relatives of the victims of May 3, 2021, social organizations and international organizations publicly listen to the hearing. In front of the Palace of Justice The Legal Classification of personal injuries must be adapted to the criminal type of attempted homicide.”

This media release has previously explained: “An event reconstruction by SITU Research and Amnesty International details how Colombian security forces assaulted peaceful protesters in the Siloé neighbourhood of the city of Cali on 3 May.”

It adds: “[The Operation Siloé] joint incursion by members of the National Police, the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) and the Special Operations Group of the Colombian National Police (GOES) targeted people taking part in a vigil at the La Glorieta roundabout in the Siloé neighbourhood.”

PBI-Colombia signs joint letter to President Petro and Vice-President Marquez on the situation of human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 10, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Colombian and international organizations present a letter to the President @petrogustavo and Vice President @FranciaMarquezM with 3 recommendations so that in the first 100 days they attend to the situation of defenders who have suffered systematic violations that continue in impunity.”

The letter can be read in full in English on the Protection International website here.

Infobae also reports:

“On Wednesday, August 10, several social organizations sent President Petro and Vice President, Francia Márquez , a letter in which, in addition to congratulating them for forming the first progressive government in the history of Colombia, they warned of the serious risk that leaders, social leaders and human rights defenders run in certain areas of the country.

In the letter, the signatory national and international organizations admit that this new government “offers a new opportunity, hard won, to confront the numerous attacks faced by human rights defenders and those who exercise social leadership.”

Likewise, they indicated that in the next four years there should be a protection mechanism for leaders in the territories since the outlook is not encouraging.

They proposed three recommendations so that the government of Petro and Márquez Mina mitigate the escalation of violence not only against this population, but also against former FARC combatants in their first 100 days.

1- The first is re-establish all spaces for dialogue with civil society, especially with those who exercise social leadership, in addition to reactivating the National Guarantees Process that was in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, as well as its 20 territorial processes.

2- The second proposal —also mentioned by the president on the day of his inauguration— is implement the provisions of the Peace Agreement that are specifically related to the defense of human rights. At this point, the NGOs ask to develop a policy for the dismantling of illegal armed groups with the support of various institutional agencies, such as the Special Investigation Unit of the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Guarantees Commission.

They also ask Petro and Márquez to resume work in the National Peace Council and to fully implement the recommendations contained in the Final Report of the Truth Commission.

3- The third request has to do with the accumulated and existing national and international commitments for the defense of human rights.

In that section, they mention that there is an international framework for the protection of leaders, such as the recent reports issued by the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders and the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the decision issued by the Superior Court of Bogotá whereas a result of a guardianship, it is requested to ensure the protection of this population.”

The full article can be read at: Las recomendaciones para atender crisis de líderes sociales en 100 días del gobierno Petro y Márquez

Water protector Tara Houska warns US “climate” bill means continued extractivism and frontline resistance

By
Brent Patterson
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On Sunday August 7, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed by the United States Senate in a 51-50 vote with Vice-President Kamala Harris casting the tie breaking vote.

The CBC reports: “The bill devotes $369 billion US to measures to combat climate change, while also capping drug costs for seniors, extending health insurance benefits and lowering the deficit. The climate measures also include incentives for building clean-energy equipment such as solar panels and wind turbines, lowering pollution levels in minority communities and expanding greener factory-farm operations.”

Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has tweeted: “Great news from the United States. This is a historic moment for us all, and for generations to come.”

But Democracy Now! cautions: “[The bill] includes controversial provisions added to win support from West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema.”

“At Manchin’s request, the bill will make it easier for the pipeline industry to win approval of new projects, including the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia. The bill could also lead to more drilling on public lands and waters and expand tax credit for fossil coal and gas-burning plants.”

The 488-kilometre-long Mountain Valley Pipeline would carry fracked gas across the mountains and rivers of West Virginia and Virginia.

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman also quotes the Financial Times article that reports Sinema received “donations totalling $54,900 from executives at KKR…” Notably, the American investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and the Edmonton-based Alberta Investment Management Corp. own a 65 per cent stake in the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline now being built without consent on Wet’suwet’en territory.

Water protector Tara Houska, who opposes the Calgary-based Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline, also warns that the bill means more extractivism.

Houska says: “It’s doubling down on fossil fuels to get to renewables.”

She adds: “We have to acknowledge the fact that renewables themselves, it’s still going to be extraction. It’s still going to be the model that the fossil fuel and extractive industry wants, which is new mines in new places, which means our people, Indigenous people, which means Black and Brown people continue to disparately experience the effects of extractive industry. It means that mining companies are showing up in our backyard, taking out lithium, which is already happening in Thacker Pass.”

The open-pit Thacker Pass lithium mine is being developed by Lithium Nevada Corp., a subsidiary of the Vancouver-based corporation Lithium Americas Corp., on Indigenous lands in Nevada. Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu (the People of Red Mountain) is resisting the mine on the sacred Peehee Mu’huh site.

And just prior to the Senate vote, Houska tweeted: “The movement I’m part of is fighting w/our literal bodies on frontlines to protect what’s left of Mother Earth. Rolling back basic enviro review, judiciary intervention, opening 100s of millions of acres of lands & water to extraction isn’t a win. It isn’t even momentum.”

Houska has also tweeted: “Until the folks directly experiencing the worst impacts, the folks with intimate lived knowledge of land & water are represented up front, #climate solutions will keep reflecting the values of folks most removed from the end results & most tied to keeping lives of extraction.”

The Indigenous Environmental Network also says The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is NOT a climate bill.

It highlights: “The great majority of the dressed up climate provisions are investments into false solutions like CCS [carbon capture and storage], nuclear, hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon trading. This bill continues where the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act left off by propping up the same harmful industries BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour] and frontline communities have been fighting for decades.”

The bill is expected to win approval in House of Representatives in the coming days and then signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Wet’suwet’en water protector Molly Wickham: “Wedzin Kwa is about to be destroyed”

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 8, Wet’suwet’en water protector Molly Wickham posted: “I don’t know if people understand the severity of the time we are in right now.”

“The wedzinkwa is about to be destroyed. Our sacred life giver where our salmon spawn, the cleanest drinking water in the whole yintah, the place out ancestors walked and drank from, where all the animals and beings drink and use to survive.”

She adds: “It is about to be destroyed and we need you to come. Aug 20th for a week of Ceremony. Organize solidarity actions if you can’t make it. Nothing is more important than this, right now. This is our family, our future, our livelihood. It is life. Be as relentless as the systems in place meant to destroy us all.”

On July 28, Coastal GasLink posted: “As Coastal GasLink launches one of its most important construction seasons yet this summer, the project is approximately 70% complete overall and on track to full mechanical completion in 2023.”

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has repeatedly urged Canada to stop construction on this pipeline.

Their third letter – dated April 29, 2022 – called on Canada to provide a response to several concerns by July 15, 2022, including measures to: “Prevent and duly investigate the allegations of surveillance measures, practices of arbitrary detention, instances of excessive use of force against protesters, in particular those belonging to the Secwepemc and Wet’suwet’en peoples, by the RCMP, CIRG, and private security firms.”

It’s not clear if Canada met that deadline.

The Narwhal has also reported: “On July 7, the province’s legal team told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church it would prosecute Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan Lax Gibuu Wilp Spookxw), Teka’tsihasere Corey ‘Jayohcee’ Jocko and Hannah Hall. The decision brings the total to 19 individuals arrested during the raid that B.C. Prosecution Service will pursue criminal charges against in the coming months.”

For more, please see the Gidimt’en Checkpoint Twitter feed.

UPDATE: On August 12, Decolonial Solidarity – RBC at Bank St and First shared this article at their weekly Friday morning protest.

Stand.earth has noted: “RBC is among top commercial banks providing the CGL project with working capital, including CAD $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.”

For more on the ongoing mobilizing in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en at RBC branches across the country, please see Decolonial Solidarity.

 

 

PBI-Guatemala accompanies communities in resistance in Olopa on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“#PBI accompanies, today August 9, #International Indigenous Peoples Day, the communities in resistance in Olopa.”

Prensa Comunitaria reported:

“In the same department, the authorities of the Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa celebrated a Mayan ceremony, then a walk to accompany the delivery of sticks to the new authorities in the framework of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples. At the beginning of the walk, they remembered the years of resistance against mining and demanded that the State of Guatemala respect their rights as indigenous peoples.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained:

“The communities of Olopa are confronting the company American Minerals S.A., which was granted a 25-year antimony extraction license in 2012, without prior consultation.

The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque are working in two municipalities of the same name, in the department of Chiquimula. The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa is formed by 14 communities and Quezaltepeque council by 15.

The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque are fighting for recognition as indigenous communities, the recovery of their spirituality, the defense of their territory and the right to free, prior and informed consultation before the entry of mining projects into their territory.”

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque in June 2021. It has also accompanied the Nuevo Dia (‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator/CCCND) since 2009.

By resolution 49/214 of December 23, 1994, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples would be observed on an annual basis on August 9 each year.

PBI-Colombia, PBI-Guatemala, PBI-Mexico and PBI-Honduras attend Gathering of Women Human Rights Defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Mexico, PBI-Guatemala, PBI-Colombia and PBI-Honduras at the Gathering of Women Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala City.

On August 8, PBI-Colombia posted their article: What is healing?

That article highlights: “For some time now, Peace Brigades International has been reflecting on the concept of holistic protection. Contributions from women defenders and feminist organizations have brought to light the need to question militaristic protection models but also to understand protection in all its dimensions.”

It further notes: “On 10, 11 and 12 of July we gathered with approximately 40 women in Guatemala City. Some of us come from Colombia, others from Honduras, Mexico, and others from places far from Guatemala.”

The full article can be read here.

Throughout 2021 Peace Brigades International accompanied 58 organizations, comprising 1,784 individuals – 883 of whom are women. In 2020, 173 volunteers from 18 countries contributed to PBI’s work across the world, 77% of whom were women.

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project is currently seeking field volunteers to accompany human rights defenders. The deadline to apply is September 4. More information on the application process can be found here.

Photo: Women human rights defenders Jani Silva, Ana del Carmen Martínez, Alejandra Garzón and Morelis Arteaga with PBI-Colombia.

How will the Canadian government and business interests respond to the Petro government’s agenda in Colombia?

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Maninder Sidhu (third from the right) meets with Canadian business representatives in Bogota the day after Gustavo Petro’s inauguration.

On August 8, Maninder Sidhu, the Parliamentary Secretary to Mélanie Joly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, tweeted: “It was a pleasure to attend the inauguration of President @petrogustavo in Bogotá. Canada looks forward to working with you and your administration. Felicidades Presidente!”

That afternoon, Sidhu tweeted: “Last year Canada and Colombia had over $2.3 billion in bilateral trade. Important discussion today with Canadian industry representatives on how we can continue to grow our economic relationship.”

And that evening, Sidhu also tweeted: “Appreciated the warm welcome from Minister of Foreign Affairs and Peace @AlvaroLeyva. Canada and Colombia are close partners, and share many commitments including peace and reconciliation, growing our bilateral trade, and fighting climate change.”

Potential upcoming issues in Canada-Colombia relations

1- “Peace and reconciliation”

Venezuela

Time magazine reports: “Petro wants to restore diplomatic relations with Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela—breaking away from the Washington-backed Juan Guaidó, who declared himself president in 2019.”

Canada also recognizes Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.

In January 2019, the Canadian Press reported: “Emboldening Venezuela’s opposition has been a labour of months. …Canadian diplomats in Caracas, with their Latin American counterparts, worked to get the country’s opposition parties to coalesce behind the one person who emerged strong enough to stand against Maduro: 35-year-old Guaido.”

Arms sales

Petro’s “peace and reconciliation” agenda also includes negotiations with guerilla and paramilitary groups, as well as a disavowal of the “war on drugs”.

Time reports: “Petro wants to end the U.S.-backed war on drugs in Colombia that has seen billions of dollars in security spending.” Petro has promised: “I am not going to waste resources on weapons and bombs.”

On May 19, the previous Colombian government, through the Ministry of Defense, approved the purchase of 50 London, Ontario-based General Dynamics Land Systems-manufactured Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs). It’s unclear the current status of that sale and the impact Petro’s peace agenda will have on it.

2- “Bilateral trade”

Free trade and port expansion

As Sidhu notes above, Canada and Colombia had more than $2.3 billion in bilateral trade in 2021. Furthermore, the port in Buenaventura, Colombia accounts for about 60 per cent of all Colombian imports and exports by sea.

Time reports: “The economic relationship between the two countries is also set to change—Petro has pledged to reframe the U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement to better protect domestic agriculture.”

It’s possible that Petro may also seek to renegotiate the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement that came into force on August 15, 2011.

One of the key issues from Canadian civil society could be the inclusion of the agreement’s foreign investment chapter in the annual human rights review. At present, the review only looks at the impacts of tariff reductions.

Photo: On July 4, PBI-Canada along with PBI-Colombia accompanied NOMADESC and a Canadian labour delegation met with the Black Communities Process (PCN) at their office in Buenaventura and heard about displacement, forced disappearances, “free trade” and a forest-related carbon offset scheme.

3- “Fighting climate change”

Oil and gas exploration contracts

Semana reports: “Undoubtedly, the new Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, will face multiple challenges around the Colombian territory. On different occasions, she has stated that her main objectives are to curb deforestation, protect the lives of environmental leaders, and push the country into the energy transition.”

And Reuters reports: “Some in the industry believe Petro will not be able to slow [oil and gas] operations anytime soon, since the government of current President Ivan Duque has signed 69 exploration and production contracts during bidding rounds.”

Significantly, of those 69 oil and gas exploration contracts that were awarded between 2019 and 2021 by the Duque government, 39 went to Canadian companies (and 26 of those 39 blocks went to Calgary-based Parex Resources Inc.).

Tweet from Claudio Ramirez, the Canadian trade commissioner in Colombia.

Photo: On June 29, PBI-Canada travelled with PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS to Bajo Simacota and  saw the environmental impacts of the Parex Resources Aguas Blancas gas/oil field on the community and its water.

Fracking

Furthermore, Time notes that Petro has “vowed to end new fracking projects.”

Notably, Toronto-based Scotiabank has provided more than $3 billion in financing to the state-owned oil company Ecopetrol, the company that would operate the planned Platero and Kale fracking pilot projects in Puerto Wilches.

Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. owns a 30% stake in the block where the Platero project would be conducted.

And Valora Analitik has reported: “[The CEO of Calgary-based Canacol Energy Charle] Gamba also referred to the [fracking] pilot [projects] already approved in the country because ‘at the beginning of April 2021, the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) announced the approval of the ExxonMobil staged pilot project in Platero. This is in addition to the ANH’s approval of Ecopetrol’s Kalé pilot project in December 2020. The corporation considers these approvals to be positive steps toward realizing the commercial potential of Colombia’s unconventional shale oil field and specifically for the prospective resources we have through our position in the Middle Magdalena Valley basin.’”

Photo: On June 28, PBI-Canada met with PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS and social leaders in Puerto Wilches and heard their determination to stop fracking and to defend life, water and territory.

Deforestation

Reuters reports: “Colombia must base its conservation targets on international agreements that push for annual deforestation of 100,000 hectares or less by 2025, incoming Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said on [August 3].”

It’s possible that Muhamad will be in Montreal for the COP15 biodiversity summit this coming December 5-17.

Agence France-Presse has reported: “A central pillar of the planned nature pact [that could be finalized at the Montreal summit] is to conserve at least 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030.”

In August 2021, 49 organizations warned: “While protecting at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030 is on its face a worthy goal of responding to biodiversity loss, the Framework’s focus on ‘protected areas’ will likely continue to lead to human rights abuses across the globe.”

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

Canada is a supporter of the 30×30 initiative.

Photo: On July 3, PBI-Canada along with PBI-Colombia accompanied NOMADESC and a Canadian labour delegation heard from the Afro-Colombian community of Bahia Malaga about the threat of “conservation” to ancestral and collective rights.

Protection of human rights defenders

Companies with ties to paramilitary groups

On May 9, Al Jazeera reported: “Local environmental defenders [in the Magdalena Medio region] and a representative of the JEP [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] told Al Jazeera that they suspected a connection between the paramilitary groups intimidating them and the state-owned Ecopetrol, which is behind the fracking project.”

That article adds: “The company has been accused of having ties with the Gulf Clan [AGC] specifically.”

Photo: On June 30, PBI-Canada along with PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS visited the San Silvestre wetland in the Magdalena Medio region with Federation of Santander Fishers for Tourism and Environment (FEDEPESAN) president Yuli Velásquez. Days later, on July 5, there was an armed attack against her.

When Yuli 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.”

She added: “We have faced various threats and assassination attempts, but we will continue working and contributing to the protection of the environment.”

On July 25, the Canadian Embassy met with Yuli during a visit to Barrancabermeja. Following that meeting, the Embassy tweeted: “We must protect the leaders and guarantee free and safe movement in the territories.”

Criminalization of social leaders

PBI-Canada also met with the community of San Luis de Palenque on July 1. Eight social leaders have been criminalized for their protests against the social and environmental impacts of Calgary-based Frontera Energy’s Cubiro Block oil operations. The social leaders will be back in court in October.

PBI-Canada continues to follow their case which is supported by two PBI-Colombia accompanied organizations, the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) and the Social Corporation for Community Advice and Training (COSPACC).

“I’m sorry to be so blunt”

With $8 billion invested in oil and gas, Colombia is the second largest location for Canadian Energy Assets Abroad (CEAA). Twenty-eight Canadian mining companies also hold assets in Colombia totalling $1.406 billion.

On a PBI-Canada organized webinar this past May, CREDHOS accompanied Afro-Colombian environmental defender Yuvelis Natalia Morales (now living in France because of her security situation) made this comment about Canada: “When your companies and banks are investing in mining and energy megaprojects in other countries where human rights are being violated every day, you are not an environmentalist country, you are not a green country. I’m sorry to be so blunt. This is a reality that people don’t often want to say because when you open your mouth that could mean you are shot in the forehead.”

PBI-Canada will continue to monitor Canada-Colombia relations and the safety of human rights defenders in the emerging context of the Petro presidency.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón as struggle against OXEC dams built without consent continues

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 7, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies and meets with members of the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón who defends their territory against the OXEC hydroelectric power that entered their lands without prior consultation, free and informed.”

The Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón, a collective of 38 Maya Q’eqchi communities, began as a collective process around 2015 to oppose the construction of the Oxec and Renace dams on the Cahabón River and its tributaries.

On August 27, 2017, PBI provided security support to a community organized consultation in which 26,537 people in 195 communities of the Cahabón River participated. 26,526 rejected the presence of the hydroelectric dam company.

The Guatemalan Human Rights Commission (GHRC) highlights: “A few months later [in December 2017], Bernardo Caal Xol [of the Peaceful Resistance] was arrested [in] a clear act of retribution for the defense of his community’s water rights.”

In November 2018, Bernardo was sentenced to seven years and four months in jail. On March 24, 2022, Bernardo was finally released from jail.

The two most recently completed dams on Cahabón River are Oxec II which began operation in September 2018 and Renace IV which became operational in January 2019. These dams were built without free, prior and informed consent.

In December 2021, Digis Mak reported: “[The] Oxec private hydroelectric project has two dams and one more in the construction stage.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance since July 2017.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Multisectoral Chinautla at meeting in follow-up to CONRED valuation of damage

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 8, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the Multisectoral Chinautla in its visit to the City to continue the follow-up Table with the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), the deputy Aldo Davila and ancestral authorities of the Poqoman people, in representation of Chinautla Multisectoral. In this meeting, the technical results obtained in the day of structural valuation of the houses surrounding the sand dunes, held last Friday (August 5) by CONRED are shared.”

On August 5, PBI-Guatemala had also posted:

“PBI accompanies the multisectoral Chinautla, in the inspection by CONRED to verify damage to house structures caused by sand extraction in the region.”

CONRED (The National Coordination for Disaster Reduction/ Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres) is a Guatemalan government organization created to prevent disasters or reduce their impact on society, and coordinate disaster relief efforts.

On July 19, Con Criterio reported:

“The struggle of the Poqomam people of Santa Cruz, Chinautla, has been going on for decades. They have never received a response to their demands: to stop the extraction of sand that, according to them, destroys homes, hills and causes the migration of families to other municipalities to escape environmental degradation.

Chinautla is a municipality in Guatemala, located seven kilometers from the capital, it is estimated that 114,752 people live there. There, according to the records of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEN), six mining companies operate with authorization to extract sand and other materials. The neighbors, however, assure that there are more companies that extract behind their backs or with the consent of the municipal authorities.

The mining companies in Chinautla and registered with the MEN are these 6: La Presa, Arenera del Pino, San Fernando, El Manguito, La Primavera and San Luis, which have operated in that locality since 1996 and 2005. All have licenses for the manufacture stone, select, mud extraction, white sand and river.

Peace Brigades International (PBI), an entity that accompanies the civilian population for the resolution of conflicts, revealed through this report on its electronic portal that the sand extraction projects in that municipality have caused alterations in the course of the rivers and riverbanks, as well as respiratory diseases. The community most affected by extractive activities, according to the brigades, is Santa Cruz, Chinautla, because of 150 families that lived 500 meters from the sand pits, only 20 remain, the rest migrated to other places.

According to PBI, during the administration of former mayor Arnoldo Medrano between (between 1988 and 2015) the industrial extraction process was authorized with machinery and trucks from the capital, without consulting the affected communities.”

The full article can be read in Spanish at “La arenera se llevó todo, ya no podemos vivir en Chinautla”.

In May 2018, the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre also reported that the extraction of sand from the channel of the Chinautla River and the confluence of the Tzaljá and Las Vacas tributaries, in an area where there are already geological faults, accelerates the cracking of walls and the sinking of some homes in the community.

Residents of Santa Cruz Chinautla have also denounced the degradation of the Chinautla River basin as eco-ethnocide against the Poqomam peoples.

The PBI-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform since December 2018.

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