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PBI-Guatemala visits criminalized Poqomchi’ and Q’eqchi’ defenders in Cobán prison

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

“PBI accompanies Jorge Coc, Marcelino Xol and David Maxena criminalized land defenders. We visited the three at the Cobán Preventive Detention Center.”

David Alejandro Maxena

UVOC has posted: “Months in prison without committing any crime. Since last February 14 this year, the Mayan Poqomchi’ community leader David Alejandro Maxena Caal, defender of human rights and mother land, was detained.”

UVOC adds: “The Santa Teresa Hydroelectric and the Shintun Agriculture S.A. municipality of San Miguel Tucuru, are the main plaintiffs against the communities that were stripped of their land that was an ancestral belonging to them.”

Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul

PBI-Guatemala has explained: “Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul [are] human rights defenders and community leaders from Choctún Basilá, who have been criminalized and imprisoned since 2018.”

Both are Maya Q’eqchi defenders with the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) in the Verapaz region that fights for access to land and against continued evictions and dispossession from ancestral lands.

The German newspaper Junge Welt has also reported: “Jorge Coc Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul, local indigenous authorities from the Choctun Basilá community in Cobán County and members of the CCDA, were sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2019 on fabricated charges of murder and attempted murder.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) Verapaz since 2018 and Union of Verapaz Campesino Organizations (UVOC) since 2005.

Parents of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students protest at the Eighth Naval Region base in Acapulco

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Tlachinollan Human Rights Center.

On June 6, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center tweeted:

“Mothers and fathers of the 43 students who disappeared on September 26, 2014, march in Chilpancingo. The demand is the presentation alive of the 43 and 100 thousand more in Mexico. Thus, it was also said that the Army and the Navy should be investigated for the case.”

Then on June 7, Tlachinollan tweeted:

“Mothers and fathers of the 43 disappeared students, social organizations and students march in the coastal Miguel Alemán, Acapulco. The Army and the Navy have to provide the information they have so that the events that occurred in 2014 can be clarified. Stay tuned…”

They then tweeted:

“Mothers and fathers of the 43 disappeared students enter the Secretary of the Navy in Acapulco. They demand that they provide the files to the GIEI and the Special Prosecutor for the Case.”

Following that they tweeted:

“Elements of the Navy cut the cartridge to the mothers and fathers of the 43, when they demanded to be heard and to open the files to clarify the events of Iguala.”

EFE reports:

“Parents of the 43 Ayotzinapa students disappeared since 2014 in Guerrero, vandalized Mexican Navy facilities on Tuesday [June 7] during their second day of the days of struggle to demand that the Government advance the investigations into the case.

After starting their march in the coastal city of Acapulco, the parents of the young people, along with around 500 students from different rural schools in the country, went to the facilities of the Eighth Naval Region to demand the delivery of the files of the night of September 26 and early morning of September 27, 2014. date on which the young people disappeared in Iguala.

The lawyer for the parents of the missing students, Vidulfo Rosales, asked to speak with the commander and access the Navy files to have more information regarding the 43 missing students, but the request was denied.

Not having a favorable response, a father of a family together with a member of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam, forcibly opened the doors of the naval base, managing to access these facilities.

A group of sailors prepared their weapons to shoot to prevent the demonstrators from advancing, but minutes later the navy troops were replaced by riot police.”

Frontera Informativa adds:

“A commission met with a Semar [Secretary of the Navy] commander; After half an hour, the lawyer of the Human Rights Center of the Tlachinollan Mountain, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, reported that on June 27 they will be received to have access to the archives of that institution.

However, he reproached that the Federal Government keeps the investigations paused and that neither Semar nor the Ministry of National Defense have ratified the information they presented to clarify the case of the forced disappearance of the students.”

The “Ayotzinapa 43” were students from a politically radical, poor, mostly Indigenous teachers’ college in the town of Ayotzinapa in Guerrero. In September 2014 they were forcibly disappeared from a bus in the city of Iguala (about 200 kilometres north-west of the school) while they were en route to Mexico City to commemorate the anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre (in which the Mexican Armed Forces had killed hundreds of people who were protesting against the Olympics on October 2, 1968).

On March 29, 2022, The Guardian reported: “Mexico’s armed forces knew that 43 student teachers who disappeared in 2014 were being kidnapped by criminals, then hid evidence that could have helped locate them, according to a report released by a special investigation.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center since late 2003.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Mayan Poqomchi’ environmental defender David Alejandro Maxena at court hearing

By
Brent Patterson
-

On June 7, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies David Alejandro Maxena of UVOC at his hearing, in which he seeks to demonstrate his roots in order to obtain alternative measures. Maxena is indicted for the crime of aggravated usurpation, criminalized for his defense of the territory and land of the Chintú community to which he belongs.”

UVOC has previously posted: “Months in prison without committing any crime. Since last February 14 this year, the Mayan Poqomchi’ community leader David Alejandro Maxena Caal, defender of human rights and mother land, was detained.”

UVOC adds: “The Santa Teresa Hydroelectric and the Shintun Agriculture S.A. municipality of San Miguel Tucuru, are the main plaintiffs against the communities that were stripped of their land that was an ancestral belonging to them.”

In January 2017, Avispa Midia explained: “In the case of the Santa Teresa hydroelectric plant, it belongs to the company Agro Comercializadora del Polochic, SA (AGROPOLOCHIC), a member of the CM [Corporacion Multi Inversiones] consortium.”

That article adds: “EGI Guatemala was involved in the construction of the Santa Teresa hydroelectric plant, located in the Polochic region, in the municipality of Tucurú, which is owned by the Agropolochic company, a member of the CM group.”

It further notes that EGI Guatemala is the main subsidiary of ENEL in Guatemala, which owns the El Canada hydroelectric dam. That dam has been described as a “controversial carbon finance project”.

The Santa Teresa dam is situated on the Polochic River, which discharges 70 per cent of the total freshwater input to Lake Izabal.

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Union of Verapaz Campesino Organizations (UVOC) since 2005.

PBI-Colombia expresses “deep concern and solidarity” following break-in and theft at the Nydia Érika Bautista Foundation

By
Brent Patterson
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Still from video of the break-in.

Infobae reports:

“[The Nydia Érika Bautista Foundation] denounced that in the early hours of last Sunday [June 5] a man entered the headquarters of the foundation in Bogotá where he stole information linked to a meeting [on June 1] with the president of the Truth Commission, the Jesuit priest Francisco de Roux, and photographs of the victims represented, members of the work team and the families that are accompanied by the foundation.”

This follows the tweet from the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation stating:

“The @nydia_erika foundation denounced that in the early hours of June 5 a man forced his way into its facilities and stole information on acts of forced disappearance that had been delivered to the @ComisionVerdadC [Truth Commission].”

The Foundation also says:

“These acts of intimidation of our defense of victims of forced disappearance, sexual violence and victims during the National Strike, now occur in the context of the recent delivery of Recommendations to the Truth Commission, legal actions and memory.”

And it denounced that:

“The repeated theft of information and resources from the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation and its directives in the last 9 months are not isolated events, they affect more than 400 victims in territories and could derive from intelligence and intimidation actions.”

In response, PBI-Colombia has tweeted:

“Deep concern and solidarity with @nydia_erika for direct attack, theft of sensitive information and #illegal intelligence that exposes them to high risk as well as victims #Forced Disappearance to those who defend! Effective investigations are urgently needed to avoid #Impunity.”

It also tweeted:

“Comprehensive system in rejection of attacks against @nydia_erika that exposes the organization, accompanied by PBI, and the victims to high risk #Forced Disappearance @JEP_Colombia [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] @ComisionVerdadC [Truth Commission] @UBPDcolombia [Missing Persons Search Unit] urge authorities to carry out effective investigations.”

The joint statement from the JEP, the Commission and the UBPD can be read in full here. That letter concludes: “The Integral System urges the competent authorities to carry out an effective investigation to recover the stolen information and take actions that can prevent future attacks against the organization.”

PBI-Canada joins with the concern expressed by PBI-Colombia and other entities calling for an investigation and recovery of the stolen information.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Indigenous Authorities from Nuevo Dia at Public Ministry

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

“PBI accompanies indigenous authorities from Nuevo Dia to the Public Ministry of Jocotán, Chiquimula.”

Nuevo Dia also posted:

“Mayan Ch’orti Indigenous Authorities Ancestors of the great Ch’orti Nation receive escort by #PBI today 07 June 2022.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied Nuevo Dia (‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator/CCCND) since 2009.

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained:

“CCCND work in the four Ch’orti’ municipalities in the east of the country – Camotán, Jocotán, Olopa and La Unión – in the department of Chiquimula.

The CCCND accompanies 43 Ch’orti’ communities in the region, representing 7,000-8,000 families and, since October 2018, they have formed part of the Iximulew Peasant Front.

Their work revolves around the defense of the territory, and their main concerns and actions focus on the impacts of extractive projects on the environment and local economies.

During the second half of 2019 and in 2020, a very notable rise in conflict and a systematic increase in attacks against members of the organization was observed. Their security situation is very worrying.”

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH in defence of the Choluteca River against pollution by poultry company

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 7, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“Last week we accompanied @Arcah_hn to the poultry company ‘El Cortijo’ whose toxic waste, warns the organization, is contaminating the Choluteca River and generating bad odors that affect the health and well-being of the people who live in the area.”

On Facebook, PBI-Honduras adds:

“From the Central District mayor’s office, they committed to the creation of a work table with all the parties and to pay attention to the health of the people who live in the affected area. From PBI we remember that all people have the right to a dignified life, health and well-being being fundamental pillars for the fulfillment of this right.”

On May 24, ARCAH tweeted: “ARCAH denounces manipulation intentions of the El Cortijo Poultry Company.”

ARCAH has also previously posted: “This is for the fight in defense of the Choluteca River against all the pollution caused by the ENTREPRISE AVICOLA EL CORTIJO.”

Defensores en Linea has also reported: “Villagers and advocates consent that the right to health, which is an inalienable right, have denounced for four years the pollution caused by the poultry company ‘El Cortijo’, its waste is seriously damaging at least four surrounding communities and the Choluteca River, where much of the company’s toxic waste falls.”

For more:

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH at presentation of application before Special Prosecutor for the Environment (February 1, 2022)

PBI-Honduras observes court hearing for ARCAH environmentalists defending the Choluteca River (April 16, 2021)

 

PBI-Colombia urges protection for environmental defenders after armed attack against FEDEPESAN

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia has posted on Instagram:

“On May 31, 2022, leaders of the Federation of Artisanal, Environmental and Tourist Fishermen of the Department of Santander (FEDEPESAN) were victims of an attack with firearms while monitoring environmental damage, in the river sector where the pipes are interconnected Rosario, Palotal and San Silvestre, in #Barrancabermeja.

On the boat were members and members of the Board of Directors of Fedepesán and Yuly Velásquez, president of the organization, who already suffered a serious attack in #Barrancabermeja in January 2021 and has protection measures from the UNP.

The leaders of #FEDEPESAN affirm that, despite the attacks, threats and harassment by the Armed Groups, they will continue fighting for their permanence in the territory and defending their swamps, streams and rivers since they are an essential part of their lives as artisanal fishermen.

#PBI accompanies @credhos_paz who issued #Urgent Action for worrying attack against #Fedepesan.

SOS Urge protection guarantees for environmental defenders #magdalenamedio.”

The Urgent Action from CREDHOS can be read here.

 

PBI-Guatemala accompanies six defenders criminalized for protecting ancestral territory from Los Manantiales mine

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 6, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“#PBI accompanies 6 criminalized defenders of Olopa in the intermediate phase hearing. The six are part of a legal process against 38 defenders of the territory and members of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque accused by workers of a company of having illegally detained them. The judge ruled that these workers cannot become plaintiffs in the case. In addition, he agreed that the defendants can be represented by their lawyers at the next hearing so as not to miss work. The hearing to offer evidence follows on Friday.”

Prensa Comunitaria also tweeted:

“On the outskirts of the Chiquimula Judicial Organism, the Olopa Indigenous Council is present awaiting the start of the intermediate stage hearing against it. The members of the Council are criminalized by the mining company Cantera de los Manatiales.”

In 2015, the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines granted a 30-year mining licence to Cantera Los Manantiales to mine in the area about 200 kilometres east of Guatemala City without consulting the Ch’orti‘ communities of Olopa.

Prensa Comunitaria has reported: “The mining project is rejected by the population and various organizations that claim that the communities were never consulted about its installation and has caused serious damage to the environment.”

This past February, Prensa Comunitaria tweeted a short video with the caption: “Jesús Méndez from the San Nicolás indigenous community of #Quezaltepeque, affirms that they accompany the 6 indigenous authorities of #Olopa accused by the Los Manantiales mining company because they are defending the land of their ancestors.”

PBI-Guatemala has also noted: “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.

PBI-Mexico says cancellation of Gunaa Sicarú “a milestone in the defence of the right to land”

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanies a ProDESC media conference on a court ruling suspending Gunaa Sicarú in February 2020.

On June 6, PBI-Mexico tweeted:

“The defense process promoted by @ProDESC [the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Project] and the community of Unión Hidalgo make the cancellation of Gunaa Sicarú a milestone in the defense of the right to land, territory and natural assets of indigenous communities and for corporate accountability in Mexico.”

ProDESC further explains: “Gunaa Sicarú was a wind power plant that sought to illegally settle on communal land to build 115 wind turbines with a total capacity of 300 MW, one of the largest in Latin America.”

It adds: “Since [2017], ProDESC and the indigenous community of Unión Hidalgo began a process of defense of land and territory for serious violations of the rights of the community and failures in the identification of risks and implementation of protection measures in the development of their megaproject.”

And it notes: “During this process, it was detected that [the Paris-based] EDF [Electricité de France] signed contracts and agreements, developed parallel information and communication processes, and contributed to the rupture of the social fabric in Unión Hidalgo, affecting the prior, free and informed nature of the consultation developed by Mexican authorities regarding such a project.”

ProDESC lawyer Guillermo Torres has commented: “By influencing the consultation and offering incentives to individual supporters of the project, EDF and its Mexican subsidiary caused violence to escalate in Unión Hidalgo. Consequently, threats against and attacks on human rights and land rights defenders are increasing. We urge EDF to take measures to prevent further attacks on Unión Hidalgo human rights defenders.”

The Guardian has previously reported: “The situation for defenders [in Mexico has been] exacerbated by energy reforms in 2013, since when scores of renewable energy mega-projects have been imposed on rural and indigenous communities without adequate consultation or compensation. …The violence has been particularly marked in the biodiverse isthmus of Tehuantepec – a narrow land mass between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean where 28 mega wind farms now generate electricity.”

And the PBI-Mexico briefing paper Wind Farms and Concerns about Human Rights Violations in Oaxaca has highlighted that: “Throughout 2013, Peace Brigades International observed with concern an increase in the level of violence in the context of wind farms, particularly against [human rights defenders] and community leaders whose work involves the defence of those affected by these developments.”

ProDESC is a member of the Focal Group of Civil Society on Business and Human Rights (Focal Group) that PBI-Mexico has accompanied since 2015.

Residents of Puerto Wilches block land and river access points to fracking pilot project sites

By
Brent Patterson
-

This morning, LA FM Bucaramanga tweeted: “In Puerto Wilches, the communities carry out protests and blockades in different parts of the municipality, in rejection of the decision that gave free rein to the fracking pilot projects.”

BLU Santanderes has also tweeted: “Residents block roads and oil areas in Puerto Wilches, Santander, in protest against fracking projects. Environmentalists took over the dock and prohibit the entry of boats through the Magdalena River.”

And early this morning, the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking tweeted:

“At this time we accompany the communities of Puerto Wilches in the peaceful protest actions that are taking place against the fracking pilots of [Colombian President] @IvanDuque and [the oil company] @ECOPETROL_SA at the land and river access points to their municipality and to oil operations.”

Fracking appears imminent

On May 5, BluRadio quoted Diego Mesa, the Minister of Mines and Energy, saying: “We continue with the intention of having the first drilling on August 7…”

In November 2021, Natural Gas Intelligence reported: “[Ecopetrol] executives expect the pilot projects to come online by 2023.”

And a month later, Diario del Huila reported: “The president of [Ecopetrol], Felipe Bayón, said that although it is estimated that the extractions will begin in 2023, they could be advanced to 2022 if everything goes well.”

Canada finances fracking in Colombia

The Banking on Climate Chaos website reveals Scotiabank’s recent investments in Ecopetrol. The bank provided USD $665 million to Ecopetrol in 2018, another $666.67 million in 2020, and $1.7 billion in 2021 for a total of $3.032 billion.

Bronwen Tucker of Oil Change International also noted on a recent PBI-Canada webinar that the Canadian government’s financing agency Export Development Canada (EDC) provided $300 million to Ecopetrol between 2012 and 2020.

Ecopetrol and paramilitaries

On May 9, Al Jazeera reported: “Local environmental defenders and a representative of the JEP [the Special Jurisdiction for Peace extrajudicial court] 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. The company has been accused of having ties with the Gulf Clan specifically.”

On June 4, El Espectador reported that Dairo Antonio Úsuga David (alias Otoniel), Ecopetrol gave a monthly contribution of 75 million pesos to the Clan del Golfo (AGC) paramilitary in exchange for providing security for two of the company’s wells.

On a PBI-Canada webinar last month, Colombian environmental defenders expressed concerns about the links between Ecopetrol and paramilitaries.

Twenty-one year old Afro-Colombian environmental defender Yuvelis Morales also 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.”

More at Colombian environmental defenders express concerns about suspected links between Ecopetrol and paramilitary groups.

We are watching this situation closely.

UPDATES

Alliance tweet: “ALERT: At this time @JairoToquica @MAguilarHurtado @Diego_Molano @DanielPalam @PoliciaDEMAM are preparing to repress the peaceful protest against the fracking pilots in Puerto Wilches. We will denounce any abuse of the public force against the communities.”

CREDHOS tweet: “Credhos accompanying the peasant communities in resistance in Puerto Wilches, the Colombian People tell him #No To Fracking.”

CCAJAR tweet: “It may interest you. Puerto Wilches against Fracking “We Wilchenses mobilize to tell the government and the oil companies that we do not grant them the social license and we will not be laboratory rats to experiment with their fracking pilots.””

PBI-Colombia tweet: “#Today #PuertoWilches says #NoFracking : “We raise our voices for our brothers and sisters from #Afrowilches who were denied their right to prior consultation, for the compañeras who had to be displaced from this municipality to protect their life and integrity before #threats.”

 

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