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PBI-Mexico accompanies the conclusion of the Caravan for Water and Life in the Nahuatl community of Cuentepec

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 23, PBI-Mexico tweeted:

“PBI accompanies the end of the Caravan for Water and Life, on April 23 and 24, in the Nahuatl community of Cuentepec, in Morelos. It is the outcome of a month of articulation of struggles in defense of land, territory and the environment in 9 states of the country.”

On Facebook, PBI-Mexico adds:

“PBI calls on the Mexican State to protect the people who defend the rights of indigenous peoples, water and the environment who suffer violations of their [human rights] as part of their fight against mega projects in Mexico.”

On January 15 and 16 of this year, PBI-Mexico accompanied the National Meeting of Struggles Against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects in the municipality of Juan C. Bonilla. The meeting took place at the Bonafont bottled water plant that had been reclaimed by Indigenous and local communities in August 2021.

The National Meeting expressed opposition to the Canadian company TC Energy’s Tuxpan-Tula gas pipeline, the Morelos gas pipeline (part of the Morelos Integral Project/PIM) and other megaprojects.

Pie de Pagina noted: “The final result of the Meeting was the announcement of the Caravan for Life that will depart on March 22.”

Earlier this week, Tamara Pearson reported in Truthout:

“For the launch, the caravan held a press conference and marched outside Bonafont, a water bottling plant that is owned by Danone. Local Nahua peoples had taken over the plant last year, but were evicted by the military in February.

The bottling plant is now guarded by security forces in full battle gear, with a wall of 20-liter water bottles and two steel fences to prevent Indigenous locals from returning. The group’s march past the plant was brief. Otomis, who had joined the caravan from Mexico City, shouted, “Water is not for sale. No more armed forces in our towns.”

Activists with the Indigenous Caravan for Water and Life argue that it is multinational corporations, often with governmental support, that are responsible for causing climate change, environmental damage and water shortages — rather than the regular dry season.”

“It’s not a drought, it’s looting” has been one of the main chants of the month-long caravan which kicked off in Puebla on March 22, and will run until April 24.

The caravan, one of the biggest demonstrations in recent years of Indigenous people’s defense of the environment, will cover nine states and visit Indigenous communities across Mexico each day for 34 days. These communities are standing up for their environmental rights and autonomy. Most are confronting megaprojects, where manufacturing, mining, extractive and commercial companies — often from the U.S. or Europe – have built massive amounts of infrastructure, such as hydroelectric plants and gas pipelines, to plunder the communities of their water and energy resources.

The violence against the land is reflected in the violence against people defending it. Last year, 25 such activists were murdered, with 238 total violent attacks recorded — making it the most violent year since 2014, when the Mexican Center for Environmental Rights (CEMDA) began keeping a tally.”

The full article by Tamara Pearson in Truthout can be read at “It’s Not a Drought, It’s Looting”: Water Rights Activists Organize in Mexico.

#caravanaporelaguaylavida

NOMADESC warns of climate change as Canadian companies invest in extractivism in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 22, Earth Day, the Association for Research and Social Action (NOMADESC) tweeted: “SOS Planet Earth. The predatory, neoliberal and capitalist development model is responsible for the environmental crisis and climate change that humanity is suffering. #HumanitarianEmergency #EnvironmentalEmergency”

Offshore oil and gas

The Cali-based NOMADESC image above features humpback whales.

A Colombian government tourism website notes: “Cali, capital of the department of Valle del Cauca, opens its doors to a number of local and international visitors during the [whale] sighting season. [It] is strategically located due to its proximity to the municipalities of Guapi (Cauca) and Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca), which are Pacific coastal populations along the path of humpback whales.”

In July 2021, Bloomberg reported: “Oil majors are gearing up to explore off the coast of Colombia.”

S&P Global adds: “The emerging and [offshore] frontier basins of this region may represent an attractive investment opportunity given Colombia’s relatively benign investment environment for upstream companies.”

By December 2021, BNAmericas noted: “Shell and Ecopetrol are among several companies planning deepwater exploration activities off Colombia’s northern coastline.”

Significantly, Banking on Climate Chaos reveals that Toronto-based Scotiabank has provided more than USD $3 billion in financing to Ecopetrol following the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015.

Canadian companies among the top producers

Earlier this month, an article in La Republica also noted that Canadian companies currently extract 1.1 million barrels of oil (per month) in Colombia.

Chart of main crude oil producers in the country, in addition to Ecopetrol.

The Canadian companies noted in the chart above are Toronto-based Frontera Energy and Calgary-based Gran Tierra and Parex Resources.

The article adds:

“Frontera Energy is located in the fourth position [when Ecopetrol is included]. This Canadian company continued with its focus on exploration and development fields, which allowed it to exceed 40,000 barrels of production per day in 2021, both in gas and crude oil.

This Canadian-based company operates national fields such as Abanico, in Espinal, Tolima, and Arauco, located in San Luis de Palenque, under the Cubiro contract. The Bastidas well, in Orocué, Casanare, also stands out.

Completing the top 5 is Gran Tierra Energy, which generates 100% of its revenues in Colombian territory with a capital expenditure of US$149.9 million. Last year, this company drilled 19 development wells in blocks such as Acordionero, in San Martín, Cesar, with the Midas contract.”

$8 billion in assets in Colombia

In 2018, Natural Resources Canada noted: “The top five countries by CEAA [Canadian Energy Assets Abroad] value are the United States ($190 billion), Colombia ($8 billion), Germany ($6 billion), Mexico ($6 billion) and France ($4 billion).”

39 new exploration blocks

In January 2022, the Colombian newspaper Portafolio reported that Colombia had concessioned 69 exploration blocks between 2019 and 2021. With 26 blocks to Parex Resources Inc., 5 blocks to [Calgary-based] Canacol Energy Ltd., 4 to Gran Tierra Energy and 4 to Frontera Energy, 39 of the 69 blocks went to Canadian companies.

Tweet from Claudio Ramirez, Canada’s trade commissioner in Colombia.

Interest in fracking

Canadian companies have also expressed their interest in the commercial potential of fracking in Colombia.

In March 2019, Colombia’s then-Mines and Energy Minister Maria Fernanda Suarez (it’s now Diego Mesa Puyo) stated that Parex Resources Inc. was among the companies “seeking to operate” a fracking block.

In April 2021, Toronto-based Sintana Energy Ltd. welcomed the news of the U.S. company ExxonMobil being granted a pilot project contract for Platero/VMM-37 (an area of land that ExxonMobil co-owns with Sintana) and stated that the fracking pilot projects should provide an effective path forward for future operations.

In June 2021, the CEO of Canacol Energy Ltd. also commented: “The objectives of these [fracking pilot projects] are to demonstrate that this important resource can be developed in an environmentally safe way, similar to how the same unconventional resources have been implemented in the United States and Canada.”

And while not reported as a contender for fracking, Frontera Energy is a minority owner in 236,000 barrel per day pipeline that runs from the Magdalena Medio region to Coveñas on the Caribbean coast that is reportedly ready to move increased crude output if fracking is approved beyond the pilot projects.

Canadian banks financing extractivism

The Banking on Climate Chaos search function shows that Scotiabank has provided $601.87 million in financing to Parex Resources between 2016 to 2021.

Scotiabank has also provided $811.13 million to Gran Tierra over that same period, while Toronto-based RBC provided another $194.46 million to the company.

And as noted above, Scotiabank has also provided $3,031.67 million ($3 billion) to Ecopetrol (the company that will be operating the two fracking pilot projects in Puerto Wilches, Santander in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia).

Meanwhile, other global banks have provided $1.153 billion to Canacol Energy and $630.00 million to Frontera Energy.

Surveillance of protests against extractivism

This past November, NOMADESC expressed its concern about surveillance by the police while they provided legal advice victims of violence during the national strike.

Many of those who took to the streets would be concerned about the neoliberalism and environmental crisis that NOMADESC tweeted about this week.

In November 2019, when the national strike mobilizations first began, Webinfomil.com reported that the Colombian National Police would “deploy its entire fleet of Bell 407 Halcón surveillance helicopters in the main cities of the country, where the most important concentrations are expected to occur.”

That most likely would have included the city of Cali.

Semana further reported that the Bell 407 helicopters are equipped with high resolution cameras equipped with facial recognition technology.

In 2013-14, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (a government agency) facilitated the sale four Bell 407 helicopters to the National Police. The helicopters were manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. of Mirabel, Quebec. Those Canadian-made helicopters could have been used to surveil the protests.

Canadian armoured vehicles and the National Strike

On July 17, 2021, Alejandra Wilches tweeted: “This morning on some roads in the country, the police detained different delegations heading to the National People’s Assembly in Cali!”

The police vehicle in her photos is a Canadian made Huron tactical attack and defense vehicle manufactured by the Toronto company INKAS.

Last year, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “The Canadian embassy @CanadayColombia visits the office of @Nomadesc in Cali. To talk about the causes of the protests and learn first-hand about cases of police violence. Nomadesc requested guarantees that Canada will not assist the Colombian police with equipment.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied NOMADESC since 2011 and its president Berenice Celeita since 1999.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Nuevo Dia and two Maya Ch’orti’ defenders after their release from nine years in prison

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 22, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies the indigenous authorities Timoteo Suchite de Rosa and Agustín Díaz Ramirez in their return to their community and reunion with the colleagues of Nuevo Dia.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained:

“Agustín Díaz Ramírez and Timoteo Suchite de Rosa are two indigenous authorities from the community of Las Flores, municipality of Jocotán, department of Chiquimula.

They are also members of the New Day Chorti Campesino Central Coordinator (CCCND). They played an important role in the leadership and resistance against the Tres Niñas S.A. hydroelectric project located on the Jupilingo River, when the municipal authorities of Jocotán granted a 50-year license to the JONBO Company (later known as TRES NIÑAS S.A.) in 2007.

Through this license, more than 200 hectares of community land were given to the hydroelectric company. According to Guatemalan law and international standards, the company should have obtained the consent of the indigenous community before beginning work. The lack of recognition and respect for the collective rights of the Maya Ch’orti people over their lands and the lack of consultation are at the root of the conflict.”

On April 20, this communique from Nuevo Dia added:

“The Indigenous Authority Timoteo Súchite de Rosa and Agustín Díaz Ramírez, were unjustly arrested and imprisoned accused of a death they did not commit.

Today we can say that Timoteo and Agustín were not deprived of their liberty for being aggressors, but for defending their people and their territory from the invasion of the Las Tres Niñas Company, a company that corrupted the municipal government at the time and appropriated part of the Ch’orti’ Territory of Jocotán and Camotán.

 Our brothers, Timoteo and Agustín, during these 9 years in prison, were constantly visited by workers or messengers from said company, to tell them that they could go free if they supported the company and sold their land.

They always responded that, if defending their community meant being deprived of their liberty, they were willing to pay that price and asked us never to stop defending our territory, to never lose heart, to stand firm.”

And earlier today, Nuevo Dia posted: “Visit to Flores Jocotan with the Udefegua organization, Ancestral indigenous authorities of New Day and the Peace Brigade in continuity of the indigenous authorities Agustín and Timoteo.”

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

 

RCMP, Canadian government officials discussed Mohawk land defenders travelling to Wet’suwet’en territory

By
Brent Patterson
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Heavily armed RCMP officers arresting land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory on November 18, 2021. Photo by Dan Loan.

On April 21, the Canadian Press reported that an access-to-information request has revealed that Canadian officials were aware that Mohawk land defenders had travelled from Ontario to Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia to support them in their struggle against the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline.

The Canadian Press notes:

“Details of the rising tensions around construction of the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline are contained in briefing notes prepared for federal officials ahead of a meeting with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.

They outline how Lucki requested the Oct. 19 meeting with department heads of Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations to discuss the ‘recent escalation’ of protests to the natural gas pipeline under construction in Wet’suwet’en territory.

The briefing notes show federal officials were watching the situation carefully last October after they noted activity was once again picking up.

Last October, a document titled ‘Royal Canadian Mounted Police Situation Report’ provided ahead of the meeting with Lucki identified the presence of someone associated with the Tyendinaga blockade travelling to northern B.C., along with four others from Ontario and some U.S. citizens.

‘One was involved in the Six Nations protest in Ontario known as 1492 Landback Lane,’ the report read. There were also ‘references to ‘war’ against police.’”

The situation now, legal observers needed

Gidimt’en Checkpoint has tweeted: “Since March [2022], RCMP have sent 6-8 officers into our village site, between 4-8 times each day, in order to harass & intimidate our elders, relatives & supporters.”

Gidimt’en land defender Sleydo’ says: “Their main goal is to try to remove us from the territory, to make it so uninhabitable and unbearable that we won’t be on the territory anymore. And that’s just not something that’s going to happen.”

She adds: “There are helicopters flying over, there are tactical teams, there are canine units — like, it is war. And the way that colonization has happened in our territories … and the use of the RCMP by the government has been war.”

Given this, Gidimt’en Checkpoint has highlighted: “We require a rotating team of upwards of a dozen legal observers. Your time and ethical commitment are the most useful assets; necessary supplies and training will be provided by experienced movement members & legal support organizers.”

The application form is here.

Drilling to start soon

Earlier this year, a Coastal GasLink spokesperson stated: “We expect that the micro-drilling [under Wedzin Kwa] will take place starting this spring.”

The Terrace Standard also noted: “[The] company is getting ready to install a starting shaft which is a deep circulation excavation acting as an entry point on the east side of the [river]. The active tunneling work is expected to take two and half to three months.”

Next court date, June 1

On April 17, Gidimt’en Checkpoint tweeted: “Coastal Gaslink’s lawyer, Kevin O’Callaghan, recommended that the charges [against the 27 land defenders arrested on November 18-19, 2021] be criminal contempt, and not civil contempt.”

In response, Gidimt’en Checkpoint is asking that supporters send this letter to British Columbia’s Attorney General David Eby rejecting the criminalization of land defenders.

We continue to closely follow this situation.

Court ruling suspends the environmental license for Kalé and Platero fracking projects in Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Yuvelis Morales, Carolina Agón.

El Espectador reports: “The first oral administrative court of the judicial circuit of Barrancabermeja ruled this April 21 on a guardianship in which it orders to protect the fundamental right to prior consultation of the Afro-Colombian Corporation of Puerto Wilches [Afrowilches].”

“[The court] orders the suspension of the environmental license of the pilot projects of fracking known as Kalé, granted at the end of last March through resolution No. 00648 of the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA), and Platero, until the process of prior consultation with the aforementioned corporation is developed in all its stages.”

The article adds: “The protection was filed by the Afrowilches Corporation, represented by the Podion Corporation, the José Alvear Restrepo Collective [CCAJAR] and the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies CCAJAR legal collective.

Further reading: PBI-Colombia accompanied CCAJAR lawyers collective files court action against Kalé and Platero fracking pilot projects (April 1, 2022)

Canadian corporations backing the pilot projects

Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. has highlighted that it “holds an undivided 30% non-operated participation interest in a Contract for Exploration and Production for Block VMM-37” where the Platero project would be conducted.

Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. has also commented that both pilots are “positive steps towards realizing the commercial potential of the unconventional shale oil field in Colombia.”

And Toronto-based Scotiabank has helped finance Ecopetrol, the state oil company that will be operating the pilot projects.

Webinar with environmental defenders, May 8

Commenting on the court’s ruling, the Alliance says: “In a context of serious threats and harassment against environmental defenders who oppose fracking, we are concerned about the life and integrity of the members of Afrowilches.”

We share that concern.

On May 8, we will have a webinar with Afro-Colombian environmental defender Yuvelis Morales, along with Carolina Agón (who has experienced a series of recent threats) and Oil Change International researcher Bronwen Tucker.

On a PBI-Canada organized webinar in April 2021, Morales stated: “When we became a problem for the oil companies, those interested in promoting fracking and its economic benefits, they started to threaten, stigmatize, and silence us.”

To register for this webinar, please click here.

PBI-Honduras accompanies COFADEH at hearing for political activist Germán Ayala

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 21, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“PBI accompanies @defencofadeh in the trial of Germán Enrique Ayala Figueroa, criminalized for his work as an activist. The legal defense of the organization requested the application of the amnesty, tomorrow they will receive the resolution.”

With respect to the charges against Ayala, El Espectador has reported: “The event for which German Ayala is accused occurred on June 19, 2019, when a group of people demonstrated by the Monumento a la Madre [Monument to the Mother], and burned tires, making it impossible to the passage of several vehicles, explaining that a HONDUTEL [telecommunications company] car later appeared, was intercepted by the demonstrators and later set on fire.”

Defensores en linea has explained that the social and political leader Ayala is being represented by Committee of Relatives Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) lawyers Karol Cárdenas and Dora Oliva.

They are seeking that Ayala be granted amnesty under the decree for the release of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

There has been a judicial process against Ayala since October 22, 2019, when the Public Ministry filed a tax request assuming his responsible for the crime of aggravated arson to the detriment of the Honduran Telecommunications Company (HONDUTEL).

Ayala is an active member of the National Popular Resistance Front.

The full article is at Tribunal de SPS dilata resolución de Amnistía para German Ayala.

PBI-Colombia and CREDHOS warn of serious threats and attacks against environmental defender Carolina Agón Garcia

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Lia Valero/Vice.

On April 21, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Serious threats and recent attack against the renowned environmentalist Carolina Agón, promoter #humanrights of accompanied organization @Credhos_Paz. There is an alarming increase in attacks against those who defend water and territory #MagdalenaMedio without urgent protection measures being taken.”

PBI-Colombia is amplifying this tweet from CREDHOS:

“#UrgentAction The Corporation – #CREDHOS, #denounces the victimizing acts committed against our colleague LYSETH CAROLINA AGÓN GARCÍA, president of the Committee in Puerto Wilches #35YearsDefendingLife”

This Urgent Action from CREDHOS notes that Carolina received a threatening telephone call on February 3, her name was mentioned in a paramilitary pamphlet on February 6, armed men arrived at her house on February 11, there was a robbery at her home on March 27, and that shots were fired at her while travelling on a motorcycle on April 18.

CREDHOS says: “To the international community, we request your accompaniment for the enforceability of the right to defend human rights. May the defense of water, territory and human rights not cost us our lives!”

Opposition to fracking

Carolina has been an outspoken opponent of the proposed Kalé and Platero fracking pilot projects in Puerto Wilches, Santander.

Toronto-based Sintana Energy Inc. has highlighted that it “holds an undivided 30% non-operated participation interest in a Contract for Exploration and Production for Block VMM-37” where the Platero project would be conducted.

Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. has commented that both pilots are “positive steps towards realizing the commercial potential of the unconventional shale oil field in Colombia.”

And Toronto-based Scotiabank has helped finance Ecopetrol, the state oil company that will be operating the pilot projects.

Webinar, May 8

We invite you to hear Carolina speak on our upcoming webinar on Sunday May 8 at 2:30 pm EDT. She will be joined by Yuvelis Morales (now living in exile because of death threats against her) and Canadian researcher Bronwen Tucker.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

#StopLockheedMartin actions at corporate headquarters and Prime Minister’s Office

By
Brent Patterson
-

Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest weapons company. It had $67.0 billion in sales in 2021 (up $1.6 billion from 2020).

Its net earnings in the first quarter of 2022 were $1.7 billion.

Tomorrow at noon hour, activists will be outside their Canadian headquarters (at Suite 870, 45 O’Connor Street) in Ottawa to call on them to stop selling war machines.

The gathering will also walk the 300 metres from Lockheed Martin to the Prime Minister’s Office (at 80 Wellington Street) to call on him to defund warplanes.

Today, Ottawa Citizen journalist David Pugliese reported:

“The gathering is part of what is being called the Global Mobilization to Stop Lockheed Martin, a series of at least nine protests in various cities around the world to highlight the company’s role as the largest weapons producer in the world.”

He adds: “The F-35 is expected to be featured prominently at the various protests, including in Toronto, as the public relations war over the jet enters a new phase.”

The costs of warplanes

The cost of purchase just one F-35 fighter jet has also been recently estimated to be $105 million (USD $84 million).

Pugliese further notes:

“The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom argues the money can be better spent elsewhere to help Canadians. For instance, it noted, the $19 billion could finance 15 state-of-the-art health-care complexes; or 760 Indigenous wellness centres; or 240 new high schools; or 130 kilometres of light rail transit; or 87,842 green affordable housing units.”

The Ottawa-based Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has also talked about the costs of new warplanes in its Alternative Federal Budget 2022:

“This Alternative Federal Budget cancels the new fighter jet procurement and missile defence purchase, for an estimated saving of $3.1 billion a year for 30 years (in accrual terms). This includes the initial purchase cost, the lifespan costs of the jets, and estimated upkeep of the missile defence system.”

And the No Fighter Jet Coalition has also produced a report that pegs the lifespan costs of a new fleet of fighter jets at $76.8 billion.

The PR battle to sell the F-35 warplane

Pugliese also highlights:

“The next step in the F-35 PR battle will focus on selling the plane to the public by using the threat from Russia and China. Some analysts have already highlighted the need for the F-35 to fight off a supposed coming Russian invasion of Canada’s Arctic.”

That narrative was somewhat challenged last month by Canada’s chief of the defence staff General Wayne Eyre who commented on the likelihood of a Russian invasion of the Arctic: “Let me start off by saying the threat of that right now is very low.”

It also cannot be ignored that the Arctic is colonized Indigenous territory and that the geostrategic interests in this region focus on the emerging accessibility – due to climate change and melting ice – of 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil and rare minerals.

Other front lines in the “PR battle”

Economic benefits

Last week, La Presse reported: “By opting for the American manufacturer’s F-35 to replace its old CF-18s, the Trudeau government has embarked on a process that offers no guarantee that maintenance and training for these fighter jets will take place in Quebec.”

“Many [in the aerospace industry] deplore the lack of clear prior commitments before starting the dialogue.”

It adds: “Who will be the privileged partners of the multinational? What kind of spin-offs will it be? Where will the work be done? These questions are unanswered.”

Just transition campaigns

This week, Joshua K. McEvoy has further noted the environmental implications of the F-35 in his Canadian Dimension magazine article titled You can’t have it both ways—just transition requires demilitarization.

McEvoy writes:

“A US Air National Guard environmental impact statement estimated that basing just eighteen F-35 jets at Truax Airfield in Madison, Wisconsin, would emit 12,478 tons of CO2 annually. …However, the City of Madison believes the Air National Guard’s estimate to be artificially low, and it should also be noted that the estimate above does not include emissions from the manufacturing of F-35s nor construction related to retrofitting airfields for their use.”

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has also warned: “The three largest public emitters — National Defence, the RCMP and the Coast Guard — are exempt from key commitments in the Greening Government Strategy.”

Last month, Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi commented that negotiations with Lockheed Martin would take seven months.

As that date draws near, we may also be hearing from the Minister of Just Transition (a project of 350.org’s team in Canada) about this warplane purchase.

Further reading: Fighter Jet Purchase Harms Canada’s Climate Goals, Opponents Warn and Does Canada Need 88 F-35 Fighter Jets? (The Maple)

Q’eqchi’ defenders of Chicoyogüito criminalized for demanding return of territory in court, April 21

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 20, Caso Creompaz tweeted:

“#Announcement. Tomorrow there will be a Hearing to Offer Evidence of the 21 companions of the community of Chicoyogüito criminalized for demanding the return of their territory in a peaceful demonstration. Thursday April 21 8:00 a.m. Follow our networks.”

Background

The Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito was violently displaced on July 28, 1968, from their ancestral lands so that an army base – then known as Military Zone 21 – could be established in the department of Alta Verapaz.

After the displacement of the community, the military base became a clandestine centre for illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearance, and rape committed from 1978 to 1990.

At least 565 Indigenous people were disappeared at that base. The bodies identified are of Mayan Achí, Q’eqchi’, Pomochí, Ixil, and Kiché peoples.

The military base is considered the largest clandestine cemetery in Latin America.

The military base that displaced his community was rebranded in 2004 as Creompaz, a training base for UN peacekeepers funded by Canada and other countries.

Dawn Paley has written: “Regardless of the mass graves at the base, military and police training continues there, supported by countries like the US and Canada.” The support from Canada has included a CAD$250,000 grant in 2009 and the purchase of specialized equipment in 2014 for a training program at Creompaz.

On July 15, 2021, Olivia and Domingo,  members of AVECHAV, highlighted on a PBI-Canada webinar: “We know Canada has provided a lot of support for [the Creompaz peacekeeping base on our land]. But where is the peace that they say they are creating?”

On September 15, 2021, Domingo also presented to Seb Bonet’s 4th year students at the University of Victoria about the situation for this community.

We continue to follow this situation from Canada.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (AVECHAV) since 2015.

“This land is ours”

Camp Morningstar on Lake Winnipeg defends water and territory from sand mining

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 16, Camp Morningstar tweeted: “For 3 years Camp Morningstar has occupied a trapline on Treaty 5 territory in opposition to a silica sand mine.”

Earlier this month, Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) posted on Instagram:

“Two weeks ago, ICA joined Camp Morningstar in solidarity to say NO to the proposed Canadian Premium Sand Mine that would extract 1.3 million tonnes of silica sand a year for the next 30 years while exposing Indigenous peoples to toxic air quality and contaminating the groundwater. Read more about Camp Morningstar in our latest blog post.”

Their blog further notes:

“Canadian Premium Sand has violated Treaty 5 constitutionally protected rights.

They have destroyed a community-designated trapline, failed to achieve free, prior, informed consent (FPIC) from the Indigenous inhabitants, and have failed to comply with the conditions of the environmental license to date.

The nearby water supply, one of the community’s most significant resources, is at risk of being polluted by the leaching of heavy toxic metals into the groundwater and possibly Lake Winnipeg.

The exploitation of Indigenous peoples, land theft, pollution of water, extraction of natural resources, and the violation of treaty rights and obligations put in place by this so-called government to oppress Indigenous people are at the forefront of this proposed mine.”

Indigenous Climate Action also points to this 16-minute National Film Board (NFB) documentary about Camp Morningstar.

The NFB says:

“This film shares the story of Camp Morningstar, a sacred camp established on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that was erected in response to the proposal of a silica sand mine. The film explores Camp Morningstar’s historical and spiritual connections to territory, the role of ceremony and spirituality, and the power of collective action.”

Notably, the Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition, which held an online film screening last month about this struggle, asked: “Are you aware frac sand mining in MB is poised to help with fracking & filling more pipelines?”

They further highlighted:

“The frac and mining industry is a threat in MB [Manitoba]. Corporations want to tear open the heart of our continent and province to extract silica sand out of our land, polluting & destroying a major drinking water aquifer. This film screening [of “Camp Morningstar” and “The Price of Sand”] will educate us on the issues and how it affects our communities. We will also provide ways you can take action on this pressing issue!”

To find out more about Camp Morningstar, this is their Facebook page and Twitter page.

Photo: Still from NFB documentary about Camp Morningstar.

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