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PBI-Colombia accompanies Justice and Peace in their work following the massacre at Puerto Leguizamo

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 11, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted: “PBI accompanies the Inter-Church Commission of Justice and Peace in their work defending the human rights of the Alto Remanso community and victims.”

At least 11 people were killed in a military operation Alto Remanso, Puerto Leguizamo on March 28, but the final death toll is still unknown.

Justice and Peace has reported:

“Days after the massacre occurred in the hamlet of El Remanso, corregimiento of Puerto Ospina, municipality of Puerto Leguizamo, testimonies continue to be known that deny the official versions of the national government about the operation that barbarically ended the lives of eleven people, including an indigenous [Quechua] governor [Pablo Panduro], [Divier Hernandez] a president of the JAC [Community Action Board] of El Remanso and his wife, a child, a peasant worker, as well as four wounded, three women.”

Now, journalists from Vorágine, El Espectador and Revista Cambio coordinated their efforts for this report (in Spanish): The inconsistencies of the military operation in Putumayo that claimed the lives of civilians.

Their report notes: “Members of the Alto Remanso community say that soldiers identified themselves as guerrillas to attack a supposed group from the Border Commandos [an illegal group made up of FARC dissidents, former members of the AUC, and former members of the criminal organization La Constru].”

It also highlights: “The versions and reports of the Ministry of Defense and the Prosecutor’s Office do not match.”

We continue to follow this situation.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Justice and Peace Commission since 1994.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Q’eqchi’ river defender Bernardo Caal Xol at court hearing

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 11, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today PBI accompanies Bernardo Caal Xol in another hearing in Cobán that seeks to criminalize him.”

Bernardo was released from prison in Cobán on March 24, reportedly for good behaviour, after more than four years of imprisonment.

Bernardo was criminalized in January 2018 and spent 1,520 days in prison for his peaceful opposition to the hydroelectric company Oxec S.A. building dams on the Ox-eek’ and Cahabón Rivers on Mayan Q’eqchi’ territory without free, prior and informed consent.

When he was released, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: “It’s great news for Bernardo, his family and Guatemala’s Indigenous Mayan Q’eqchi’ communities that he can leave prison and be reunited with his loved ones after more than four years of being a prisoner of conscience.”

Significantly, Guevara-Rosas further noted: “Bernardo remains convicted of a crime he did not commit and thus the Guatemalan authorities continue to criminalize him for his work in defense of human rights and the environment.”

Bernardo has further highlighted: “The struggle continues, the struggle continues. We do not stop because today the Q’eqchi’ people are at the epicenter of dispossession and looting. …The defense of the rivers, in this case the Cahabón River continues. Until I achieved the freedom of those rivers, just as I obtained my freedom.”

On March 26, PBI-Guatemala accompanied him and the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabon as he left Cobán and returned to Santa María Cahabón. PBI-Guatemala accompanied Bernardo a few days later at a media conference on March 31.

The video of the 45-minute press conference can be seen here.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied Bernardo and the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabon since August 2017.

To watch the 28-minute video of Bernardo comment’s outside the courthouse today, please click here.

CEHPRODEC’s decade-long struggle against the General Mining Law in Honduras

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: CEHPRODEC coordinator Pedro Landa in on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, January 2012.

Earlier this year, EFE reported: “Honduras announced on Monday [February 28] the cancellation of the approval of extractivist exploitation permits for ‘being harmful’ against the State and declared itself a country ‘free of open-pit mining’.”

The Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC) tweeted: “Honduras says NO to mining with a radical action to review, suspend and cancel environmental licenses, permits and concessions due to a mining moratorium.”

CEHPRODEC lawyer Andrea Regina Pineda has also commented: “We applaud the initiative of this new administration, considering that we are coming out of a dictatorial government that for so many years passed laws unfavorable to Indigenous and rural communities and the environment in Honduras.”

CEHPRODEC’s long struggle against the Mining Law

At this time, we recall that CEHPRODEC coordinator Pablo Landa visited Canada ten years ago to speak against the General Mining Law that allowed open-pit mining.

Landa said that members of the Congressional commission working on the proposed mining law admitted to him that the legislation had been rapidly produced because of “intense pressure from investors.”

Between 1998 and 2005, Canada had emerged as the leading investor in mining in Honduras. Of the 154 energy and mining concessions granted before the moratorium on new mining concessions in 2006, nearly 100 had been owned by Canadian corporations at one point.

In its critique of the mining law, CEHPRODEC further highlighted: “It continues the tradition of handing over our wealth to Honduran and international investors, ignoring the needs of the Honduran people.”

Development and Peace also noted: “In March 2011, Pedro [had also] testified before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on why Canada should not sign a Free Trade Accord with Honduras.”

“Apart from the fact that the Honduran government’s human rights record since the 2009 coup d’état has been appalling, Pedro argued that the Honduran state has shown itself to be incapable of adequately regulating mining operations by international companies, and since mining is a centre piece of the Free Trade Accord, the latter should not go ahead.”

Their article adds: “Pedro said that international mining companies, including Canadian ones, have been responsible for environmental pollution, have failed to pay taxes, and many are suspected of having paid bribes to government officials.”

CEHPRODEC mobilized against the law, but the Honduran Congress passed the General Mining Law on January 23, 2013.

MiningWatch Canada has explained: “The General Mining Law was developed with technical assistance paid for with Canadian overseas development aid. Its passage in 2013 lifted a seven-year moratorium on any new mining projects.”

It also noted: “This law was developed and passed with strong diplomatic support from the Canadian embassy, and with contributions from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the former Canadian International Development Agency.”

Tyler Shipley in his book Ottawa and Empire also writes: “By 2012, Canada’s role in developing the new mining code was public knowledge.”

CEHPRODEC and several organizations filed a constitutional challenge against the Mining Law in 2014, but to no avail.

After almost a decade of damage the situation appears to be changing with the Honduran government now declaring its territory “free of open-pit mining”. The General Mining Law, however, remains in place.

PBI-Honduras has accompanied CEHPRODEC since May 2014.

CEHPRODEC tweet: “[We are watching] the mining situation in Honduras, with its respective distribution by department. A problem that not only generates environmental impacts, but also social conflict. #NoToMining”

PBI-Colombia accompanies COSPACC at protection and self-protection workshop in Casanare

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 10, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “@CospaccOficial holds a protection and self-protection workshop for communities and human rights organizations in the midst of a worrying context and serious risks for human rights defenders in #Boyacá #Casanare.”

COSPACC president Fabián Laverde Doncel has previously commented: “Casanare has been an extremely victimized zone mostly because of the business that engages in the extraction of natural resources, especially petroleum.”

Toronto-based Frontera Energy in Casanare

At this time, we also recall the criminalization of eight social leaders in San Luis de Palenque, Casanare by Toronto-based Frontera Energy.

Frontera’s operations in that community are said to have resulted in dust pollution from heavy trucks on the road; post-production water being sprayed on the road to contain the dust; the dumping of post-production water into the Pauto River; water-takings from the river; and the burning of gases associated with the extraction of oil.

In December 2019, UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst explained: “Social protests [took place] between 2016 and 2018 in response to the failure of Canadian public company Frontera Energy to fulfil its obligation to compensate communities affected by environmental damage and to repair damaged roads.”

Frontera then signed two protection agreements on November 16 and 19, 2018 with the Colombian Ministry of Defence totalling US$1.3 million.

Days later, on November 27, 2018, the army and police launched a massive operation and arrested eight social leaders.

The 16th Brigade and Canadian-made military helicopters

El Espectador has reported that it was “an operation of 200 men, between members of the Police and the National Army, who landed in two helicopters.”

Forst also expressed concern at “the apparent connection between Frontera Energy, the army’s 16th brigade and the Attorney General’s Support Office in this criminalization.”

Notably, the 16th Brigade is “charged with defending oil drilling operations” in Colombia, according to a 1993 report by Human Rights Watch.

We don’t know what helicopters were used by the army and police in that raid, but Waterloo, Ontario-based Project Ploughshares has previously reported in this briefing that Canada sold 40 surplus Bell CH-135 Huey II military helicopters to Colombia via the United States between September 1998 and February 2000.

That briefing also notes that Canada shipped 12 Bell 212 helicopters from Mirabel, Quebec to the Colombian police and military between 1994 and 1996.

The type of helicopter used by the Colombian police and army to detain the social leaders critical of a Canadian corporation could be a question for the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a federal Crown corporation that facilitates exports.

But regrettably, as Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese has reported: “The Ottawa-based CCC [Canadian Commercial Corporation], which helps Canadian exporters get contracts with foreign governments … acknowledges  it conducts no follow-up to ensure exported Canadian-built equipment isn’t being used to abuse human rights.”

PBI-Canada support

On May 7, 2020, PBI-Canada organized a conference call for COSPACC and the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) to raise concerns about the criminalized social leaders in San Luis de Palenque with officials from Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa and the Embassy of Canada in Colombia.

On June 2, 2020, PBI-Canada organized a virtual roundtable for COSPACC and the CSPP to share these concerns with Above Ground, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Amnesty International Canada, WWF-Canada, le Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC), and el Comité por los Derechos Humanos en América Latina (CDHAL).

On July 2, 2020, PBI-Canada also hosted a Zoom call with COSPACC and CSPP with Canadian Member of Parliament Paul Manly to discuss this situation.

Justice delayed for social leaders

It wasn’t until August 10, 2020, that a court revoked the custodial measures imposed on two of these social leaders. Then on September 16, 2020, after more than 500 days having elapsed without a trial, a judge ordered the release of the six other leaders.

At that time, El Nuevo Oriente reported: “The release decision was appealed by the Prosecutor’s Office and by Frontera Energy’s lawyers.”

We continue to follow this case.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Social Corporation for Community Counseling and Training (COSPACC) since 2009.

Canada’s military assistance training programs for soldiers and police in Latin America

By
Brent Patterson
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“This land is ours”: Global Affairs Canada provides funding for training through the CREOMPAZ base in Guatemala on the ancestral lands of the Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito who still seek to return to their territory.

What is the relationship between Canada’s military and state security forces in Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia and Mexico?

Military training in Honduras

On July 30, 2009, The Globe and Mail reported: “Canada is still providing training to members of the Honduran army, despite the military coup that sent the Central American country into turmoil late last month.”

That article by Jennifer Ditchburn adds: “National Defence confirmed the government has maintained its military training assistance program [MTAP] with Honduras, which provides language and peacekeeping training to soldiers.”

It also notes: “This year, three Honduran soldiers are receiving English-language training at bases in Kingston, Ont., and St. Jean, Que., and two others are attending Canada-funded peacekeeping courses in Chile and Argentina.”

Ditchburn interviewed Peter Kent, then Canada’s minister of state for foreign affairs, who said, despite the military coup that had just happened: “We’re reviewing all of the security assistance that we provide, but at this point it’s not a major issue.”

Yves Engler further notes: “The ousted government complained that Ottawa failed to suspend aid to Honduras [nor] did Ottawa exclude the Honduran military from its Military Training Assistance Program.”

And just a few years after the coup, Emma Feltes reported: “In November 2011, Honduran police took part in a training workshop on Military-Police Cooperation run by Canada’s Pearson Peacekeeping Centre [in Nova Scotia].”

Erika Simpson explains: “The Lester B. Pearson International Peacekeeping Training Centre (known as the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, or PPC) was established in [a converted Canadian Forces Base] Cornwallis [in Nova Scotia] in 1994.”

She adds: “There, the government planned to sponsor training for military and civilian personnel from countries participating in NATO’s Partnership for Peace, as well as from developing countries under Canada’s Military Training Assistance Program.”

After almost 20 years, the Pearson Centre, which had an annual operating budget of about $6 million, closed in November 2013.

DND Military Training Cooperation Program

The Canadian Global Affairs Institute has further explained that the Military Training Assistance Program (MTAP), renamed the Military Training Cooperation Program (MTCP), which had been funded from the External Affairs budget since 1970 is now funded directly from the Department of National Defence (DND) budget.

In 2017-2018, the Directorate of Military Training and Cooperation (DMTC) highlighted that Military Training Cooperation Program (MTCP) activities included training activities that were conducted in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

In 2017-18, the MTCP had a budget of $14.6 million.

RCAF International Training Programs

There are also Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) International Training Programs (ITP) that provides training to “military air forces and aviation elements from around the world as well as Canadian corporations, government departments and government agencies.”

In his book Canada in the World, Tyler Shipley notes (on page 469): “In the Antioquia and Caldas regions, where Canadian firms were seeking to expand, local communities were refusing to leave. The problem was solved by aerial bombing by the Colombian military, which had, on occasion, been trained in Canada.”

GAC Peace and Stabilization Operations Program

And notably, there is also the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs), which “is the Government of Canada’s principal platform for conflict prevention, stabilization and peacebuilding in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS).”

It is this Global Affairs program that funds the Peace Operations Training Institute that partners with CREOMPAZ in Guatemala “to provide e-learning on peacekeeping courses at no cost.”

The Regional Training Command for Peacekeeping Operations (CREOMPAZ) was established in 2004 on the site of the Military Zone 21 base.

That base was built in 1969 when the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito was violently displaced from their ancestral lands.

It became a place for torture, rape and extrajudicial killings from 1978 to 1990. Since 2012, 84 mass graves containing 565 bodies have been found there. Those victims have been identified as Indigenous Maya Poqomchi, Q’eqchi’, Achi, Ixil and K’iche peoples.

Dawn Paley writes: “Regardless of the mass graves at the base, military and police training continues there, supported by countries like the US and Canada.”

Canada-Colombia bilateral police initiative

On October 30, 2017, the Canadian Press reported on a “bilateral police initiative” between Canada and Colombia.

At that time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: “We’ve agreed to work together to establish a bi-lateral police initiative. This effort will support post-conflict policing efforts in Colombia, and will see Canadian police providing training, capacity-building, and strategic advice to our Colombian friends.”

It’s unclear if this program was funded by Global Affairs Canada, the Department of National Defence or the Department of Public Safety.

Next steps

While the research by Emma Feltes, Tyler Shipley, Todd Gordon, Yves Engler and Dawn Paley provides us with critical information to understand the role of Canada’s military assistance training programs, additional scholarship is needed to further uncover and analyze how these programs work and the interests they serve.

Further reading – Canada building global network of military bases in aggressive shift: Documents reveal Canadian plan influenced by strategy of U.S.-led counterinsurgency throughout Global South by Martin Lukacs, The Breach.

Government memo warns about links between Mohawk and Wet’suwet’en land defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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Mohawk land defender Skyler William’s social media post was partially quoted in the government memo: “This is what real Nation to Nation looks like, Haudenosaunee and Wet’suwet’en family standing together against the colonial violence and corporate greed that threatens the safety and well-being of future generations.”

On April 8, APTN reported: “Federal officials feared links between Mohawk activists and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs could spark a repeat of 2020’s countrywide solidarity blockades, an unclassified internal memo shows.”

“The briefing document, obtained through access to information laws, was prepared for Daniel Quan-Watson, deputy minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, prior to a meeting with the Privy Council Office (PCO) last fall.”

The partially redacted memo, dated October 19, 2021, can be read here.

It says: “The RCMP are monitoring the situation closely, but have been blocked from accessing the protest site by the land defenders.”

The article further explains: “The officials were slated to discuss the ‘escalation of protests in Wet’suwet’en territory’ in northwestern British Columbia and opposition to old-growth logging at Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island.”

The Privy Council Office is an arm of the Prime Minister’s Office. Its clerk is Canada’s top public servant. It also has an intelligence wing.

Deputy Minister Daniel Quan-Watson, Privy Council Clerk Janice Charette

The memo references this social media thread by Mohawk land defender Skyler Williams:

“This is what real Nation to Nation looks like, Haudenosaunee and Wet’suwet’en family standing together against the colonial violence and corporate greed that threatens the safety and well-being of future generations.

The Wet’suwet’en have called on their Allies across Turtle Island to stand with them. They need boots on the ground, people in the streets, folks amplifying on social media, wherever you are, whatever you can do can make a difference.

Forcing Indigenous People from their lands is an act of genocide. When we stand together, we can fight back against the violence Canada brings to our homelands at the end of a barrel.

We keep each other safe, we know how to care for these lands and waters, and nothing will stop us from protecting the sacred inheritance of our children!”

That is distilled to just “Haudenosaunee and Wet’suwet’en family standing together” in the memo.

Williams tells APTN: “When people are being criminalized and brutalized in the way that Indigenous folks across the country are, we need to be able to make those stands together. …We have every right to be making stands for these lands.”

The RCMP’s community-industry response group (C-IRG) was deployed on November 18, 2021, and arrested more than 30 land defenders over a two-day period.

Gidimt’en Checkpoint has highlighted: “In the three large-scale police actions that have happened on Wet’suwet’en territory since January 2019, a total of 74 people have been arrested and detained, including legal observers and journalists.”

The full article by Brett Forester can be read at Ottawa tracked Mohawk-Wet’suwet’en links, feared repeat of 2020 blockades: memo.

Militarized RCMP raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, November 18, 2021.

Death threats by paramilitaries against environmental defenders opposed to fracking in Santander, Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
-

CREDHOS has denounced the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) threatening several environmental leaders from Puerto Wilches who are legally represented by CREDHOS including Yuvelis Morales and Carolina Agon. Photo by Don Jumento.

On April 8, Caracol Radio reported: “The Investigation and Accusation Unit [UIA] of the JEP [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] warned of the increase in death threats against environmental leaders in [the department/province of] Santander.”

The article adds: “Most of the threats against environmental leaders are attributed to paramilitary successor groups, such as the Clan del Golfo [also known as the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia/AGC] and the Black Eagles.”

The JEP says that since the singing of the Peace Agreement in 2016: “Santander was constituted in the department of the country where the largest number of death threats have been made against people who exercise an environmental leadership role.”

Giovanni Álvarez Santoyo, director of the UIA, further comments: “This phenomenon of intimidation constitutes a breach of the guarantees of non-repetition, since different social organizations in the department of Santander have submitted reports to the JEP where they document facts of victimization of trade unionists, environmental leaders and citizens who publicly opposed the environmental impact of the extractive industry in Santander.”

The Caracol Radio article further notes: “These threats have been registered mainly in the municipalities of Barrancabermeja, Puerto Wilches and Puerto Parra.”

“In Barrancabermeja, the Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights. CREDHOS has drawn attention to the intimidation against Óscar Sampayo, an environmental leader who has constantly denounced the negative consequences of the extractive projects currently being carried out in Magdalena Medio.”

The article also highlights that Afro-Colombian anti-fracking activist Yuvelis Natalia Morales had to leave Colombia because she has received constant threats.

It further notes: “According to the JEP, in the last 18 months there has been a substantial increase in death threats against human rights defenders in Santander. In Barrancabermeja, for example, 22 cases were reported [and] 9 in Puerto Wilches.”

PBI webinar, May 8

Among the environmental defenders in the Santander region who have been threatened are Carolina Agón (vice president of the Federation of Fishermen of Puerto Wilches, and member of CREDHOS) and Yuvelis Morales (of Aguawil, accompanied by CREDHOS). Both women have spoken against the fracking pilot projects near Puerto Wilches.

Carolina and Yuvelis will both be speaking at the webinar. They will speak alongside Bronwen Tucker, the Edmonton-based Global Public Finance Campaign Co-Manager with Oil Change International. Her organization was part of this recent ‘Banking on Climate Chaos’ study that notes Scotiabank has provided financing to Ecopetrol, the Colombian oil company that would operate the fracking pilot projects.

To register for this webinar, please click here.

PBI-Colombia convenes gathering of women human rights defenders

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project held a Gathering of Women Defenders from February 24-27 in La Vega, a town about 60 kilometres north of Bogota.

PBI-Colombia tells the story of that gathering in their article Care is Protecting Life: A Gathering of Women Defenders.

These are some of the quotes from that article.

“Oil is the blood of the land and unfortunately they exploit the natural resources surrounding the peasantry. That is why I was displaced and this is what identifies me. I was displaced five times and I continue to be in resistance.” – Ninfa Cruz, the Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services (COSPACC)

“Sometimes we don’t even have time to look at ourselves in the mirror, between meetings, making arepas, taking care of the kids… but sometimes it is necessary to stop a moment and look and see oneself.” – Carolina Agón, the Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS)

“They killed our loved ones and we must continue. Resistance is this homeland that pains us so much. And what unites us is love and the desire to continue forward amid all these situations.” – María Elena Vallejo, the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE)

“I know that I can go far with a push. I am taking from this space the desire to continue fighting for truth and justice, for our disappeared loved ones.” – Jennyfer Caicedo, the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (FNEB)

“Normally we do the work of accompanying other women, the psycho-social work, and we carry a heavy burden. That is why this is so valuable. I am thankful to have care spaces for us.” – Lucy Martínez, the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (CAHUCOPANA)

“I want all of us to continue as a beacon of light in each region, seeds despite the fear. With the constant conviction that we are on the right side of history. Because we are strong women who stand up to a criminal project.” – Alejandra Garzón, dhColombia

“I am a woman of fire, strong, and sharing with water women helps me advance. I understand self-protection as a demonstration of care, love, paying attention, of generating trust. Despite everything, what we seek is life.” – Annye Paez, the Peasant Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC)

The full article can also be read in Spanish at Cuidar es Proteger la Vida: Encuentro de Mujeres Defensoras.

PBI-Honduras accompanies LGBT Rainbow Association at Miss Tierra 2022 pageant

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 8, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “PBI accompanies @arcoirisghn [LGBT Rainbow Association of Honduras] during Miss Earth 2022, a contest to empower LGTBI+ people where trans women can proudly express their identity, in addition to their talent. At PBI we value the importance of diversity and the fight for equity.”

In December 2019, PBI-Honduras also attended the Miss Arcoiris event. At that time, they commented: “They showed that, despite the violence they are going through, the LGBT group in Honduras faces the defence of the human rights in a positive way.”

For more on that: PBI-Honduras attends LGBT Rainbow Association Miss Arcoiris event.

And on the International Transgender Day of Visibility last month, PBI-Honduras also tweeted: “PBI accompanies @somoscdc_hn [the Centre for LGTBI Development and Cooperation] and other organizations of sexual diversity in a call to the State to approve the Gender Identity Law and the reform of the @RnpHonduras [National Register of Persons] Law. It is essential to ensure recognition and participation.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied Arcoiris since July 2015 and Somos-CDC since January 2022.

Front Line Defenders: 202 defenders killed in Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in 2021

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Indigenous Chatino water protector Fidel Heras Cruz was murdered while defending territory against two hydroelectric dams.

On April 7, Mongabay reported: “At least 358 human rights defenders were killed in 2021, according to an analysis by Front Line Defenders (FLD) and the international consortium Human Rights Defenders Memorial.”

Key excerpts from the Mongabay article include:

“Of the total, nearly 60% were land, environment or Indigenous rights defenders, and more than a quarter were themselves Indigenous.

Researchers who worked to compile the data said the high proportion of activists killed while fighting against threats to community land and natural resources represented a continuation of a years-long trend.

As was the case in 2020, the deadliest country for human rights defenders was Colombia, with 138 verified killings — more than a third of the global total. Mexico recorded 42 deaths, the second-highest number.

(The Front Line Defenders report also found that 22 human rights defenders were killed in Guatemala and Honduras.)

Colombia

Colombia has topped the list of deadliest countries for human rights defenders for years, partly due to violent conflicts over control of remote smuggling routes and land that was previously controlled by the guerrilla group FARC, which disbanded following a peace deal with the government in 2016.

Since then, paramilitary groups vying to fill the vacuum left by the FARC have targeted Indigenous groups resisting encroachment by warring factions onto their traditional territories.

Mexico

In Mexico, five Indigenous land and water defenders from Paso de la Reyna in Oaxaca state were killed in the first three months of 2021 alone, including Fidel Heras Cruz, who had worked to expose threats to the Verde River from a hydroelectric dam and illicit rock quarrying.

FLD said in recent years the Mexican government has given the military a greater role in the implementation of development projects, in part to intimidate Indigenous and other communities who object to those projects.

Many of those who were killed spent years facing threats and harassment as a result of their work, suggesting that if their governments had acted more forcefully on their behalf, their deaths could have been avoided.

In the Mexican state of Sonora, for example, José de Jesús Robledo Cruz and María de Jesús Gómez were killed in April 2021 after organizing a campaign against Mexico’s largest gold-mining company. It wasn’t the first time the married couple had been targeted: In 2017, they were kidnapped and tortured by unknown assailants dressed in army fatigues. When their bodies were discovered last year, a note with the names of 13 other activists was attached to one of them.

Nearly three-quarters of the human rights defenders killed in Mexico were protecting land, the environment or Indigenous rights.”

The full article can be read at More than half of activists killed in 2021 were land, environment defenders.

For more, please see the Global Analysis and HRD Memorial reports.

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