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PBI-Colombia shares NOMADESC concerns about lack of progress in investigations into Public Force in Operation Siloé

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: On August 4, 2021, PBI-Colombia accompanied NOMADESC and victims of state repression at a meeting with the Canadian Embassy.

On March 29, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “May 3, 2021, in #MasacreEnSiloé [massacre in the neighbourhood of Siloé in the city of] Cali, three young #ParoNacional [national strike] protesters were killed. Almost 1 year later, there is insufficient progress in investigations into the responsibility of the Public Force in serious events.”

The PBI-Colombia tweet highlights this tweet from the Association for Social Research and Action (NOMADESC) that says: “Maneuvers of delay and impunity, in a Public Hearing for the Request for an Assurance Measure Operational Commanders Edgar Vega Metropolitan Police and Nestor Mancilla of the GOES [the Special Operations Group of the Colombian National Police] responsible for 6 executions that took place on May 3, 2021, in Cali.”

PBI-Colombia meets with Canadian Embassy officials

PBI-Colombia has had two meetings with representatives from the Canadian Embassy in Colombia about this situation.

On November 29, 2021, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Today there was an important meeting with victims of police violence accompanied by @dhColombia [the Associated Network of Human Rights Defenders] with the diplomatic corps [including from Canada]. Victims expressed lack of progress in the processes and constant threats against them and requested impulses in their cases to avoid impunity.”

And on December 1, 2021, 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 does not assist the Colombian police with equipment.”

Canada’s response to police violence in Colombia

On May 9, 2021, then-Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau stated: “Canada condemns the violence, including the disproportionate use of force by security forces, and urges that the violence cease.”

That comment was followed by: “We welcome the Government of Colombia’s commitment to fully investigate and hold accountable those who may be guilty of violating human rights during these events.”

The tweet from NOMADESC draws attention to that commitment.

We continue to follow this situation.

Photo: On March 17, NOMADESC rejected the US Ambassador’s tweet from the ambassador that reads: “We are pleased to congratulate the Colombian Police for their work throughout the country, for their efforts in extending citizen security throughout the territory especially for investigating abuses and raising their human rights standards.”

PBI-Colombia accompanies CAHUCOPANA at two-day humanitarian action in the village of Carrizal, Antioquia

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 28, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“On March 28 and 29 we accompany @CAHUCOPANA [the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia] in the #AcciónHumanitaria [humanitarian action] in Carrizal, Remedios, Northeast Antioquia. #Hoy [today] is made visible to international institutions and organizations serious humanitarian crisis and #ddhh [human rights] to reduce risk in #RemediosTerritoriodePaz [Remedios territory of peace].”

Carrizal is a village/hamlet in the municipality of Remedios in the department of Antioquia in the subregion of Northeastern Antioquia.

CAHUCOPANA explains: “The mining-peasant communities that inhabit the villages of #Remedios await the humanitarian caravan with the desire to make territorial problems visible and reduce the level of risk in the face of increased violence in #Carrizal.”

And it further notes: “In the face of the humanitarian crisis and the increase in violence, collective and community work mobilizes us.”

Two-day humanitarian action

On the first day of the humanitarian action, ECAP Colombia explains: “The community was introduced to the different delegations from institutions, accompaniment organizations, other villages, as well as the different services that the action will provide.”

The second day of the humanitarian action on March 29 will include a health brigade, attention to victims, advice on the formalization of small and medium mining, financing for agricultural projects, and a forum on risks and protection for social leaders.

Regional context

El Espectador has reported: “The presence of armed groups has been a constant. First came the guerrillas, such as the extinct FARC, during the eighties. Ten years later, with the emergence of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the municipality became a place of dispute over the richness of its gold-mined land.”

That article adds: “According to its inhabitants, this wealth has belonged to armed groups and multinationals that, according to trade unionists, committed crimes to keep most of the territory to exploit this mineral with titles in perpetuity.”

Canadian mining in Antioquia

PBI-Colombia has previously explained: “The abundance of natural resources in these lands and the arrival of multinational companies, such as the Canadian Gran Colombia Gold, has provided the illegal armed groups who are present in the region with an extremely lucrative funding source in mining.”

On October 8, PBI-Colombia accompanied CAHUCOPANA at a meeting with various United Nations officials to discuss this situation. At that time, CAHUCOPANA noted: “We work together under the need to strengthen the protection and self-protection mechanisms of peasant communities.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CAHUCOPANA since 2013.

Photo: “At this moment, the delegation made up of humanitarian institutions and organizations is traveling in a humanitarian caravan to the village of #Carrizal #Remedios.”

News reports: Canada to buy Lockheed Martin F-35 warplanes

By
Brent Patterson
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The Canadian Press reports: “The Liberal government is expected to announce today it will enter into final negotiations on purchasing the F-35 fighter jet. Government and industry sources have told The Canadian Press the negotiations with manufacturer Lockheed Martin will be announced at a news conference this afternoon.”

The Globe and Mail also notes: “The Canadian government has selected Lockheed Martin Corp., the American manufacturer of the F-35 fighter jet, as its preferred bidder in a $19-billion search for a new warplane.”

And Reuters adds: “Canada will announce on Monday [March 28] that Lockheed Martin Corp is the preferred bidder to supply 88 new fighter jets, a clear sign the U.S. company is set to win the multibillion-dollar contract, said an industry source close to the file.”

That article further notes: “Ottawa says it hopes to award the contract this year and take delivery of the first jets in 2025.”

Updates

The CBC now reports: “Public Services and Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi and Defence Minister Anita Anand made the announcement Monday.”

The Government of Canada media release can also be read in full here.

It notes: “During the finalization phase, the US government and Lockheed Martin must successfully demonstrate that a resulting contract would meet all of Canada’s requirements and outcomes, including value for money, flexibility, protection against risks, and performance and delivery assurances, as well as high-value economic benefits for Canada’s aerospace and defence industry.”

Tweet from Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese.

Our questions about the procurement process can be read here.

Background

The Government of Canada’s Future fighter capability project webpage notes that a contract will be awarded in 2022 for “88 advanced fighter aircraft”.

As a partner country in the development of the F-35, Canada has already invested USD $613 million (approximately CAD $773 million) in the warplane since 1997.

While an official estimate has not been released, it has been calculated that buying the F-35s will cost $76.8 billion over 30 years.

Next month, a Global Mobilization to #StopLockheedMartin will take place on April 28, the same week as the company’s annual meeting.

In a recent statement on the war in Ukraine, Peace Brigades International highlighted: “The dominant security discourse associated with the militarization of societies is a setback. Billions more spent on weapons will not make the world safer.”

 

Colombian environmental licensing agency approves fracking pilot project as environmental defenders face death threats

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 28, Blu Radio reported: “The National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has granted the first environmental permit for a fracking pilot project in Colombia. Resolution 00648 of 2022 announced the decision for Ecopetrol to start drilling the Kalé well, located in Puerto Wilches, Santander.”

This news was learned on Sunday night through a leaked document.

Oscar Sampayo of the Colombia Free Fracking Alliance says: “It is unfortunate that the ANLA, in less than five months, approves a license for the fracking pilot project without the social approval of the communities of Puerto Wilches. There are no guarantees.”

Infobae adds: “Civil society and the political establishments of the department of Santander oppose these pilots and have reported being victims of threats and attacks that put their lives and integrity at risk.”

Last month, Carolina Agón and Ramón Abril were named in pamphlets circulated by paramilitary groups. Carolina and Ramón were told to leave the area or face the consequences. Ten days later the home of Yuvelis Natalia Morales was broken into.

Carolina is a member of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS), Ramón is a Board member of CREDHOS, and Yuvelis is with the youth group Aguawil (the Committee for the Defence of Water, Life and Territory in the community of Puerto Wilches) accompanied by CREDHOS.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies CREDHOS. PBI-Canada helped coordinate a visit to Canada by CREDHOS president Ivan Madero in November 2019 in which he highlighted community concerns about fracking.

The Alliance says the ANLA authorization for the fracking pilot project was given in the context of “numerous voices of rejection, serious questions to the procedure and the increase in acts of violence in the Middle Magdalena were registered, including death threats that involved the exile of an activist from the region.”

The Alliance further notes that the ANLA decision was given “without the broad and informed participation of the communities of Puerto Wilches and Magdalena Medio, where for more than 100 years the consequences of environmental and social degradation associated with the exploitation of hydrocarbons in a conventional way have been suffered.”

And the Alliance says: “It is regrettable that a fundamental issue in energy matters has not been debated in the Congress of the Republic, where the government’s allies delayed for the third consecutive time the discussion of the bills to prohibit fracking, and is decided by the Duque Government, eagerly, without guarantees, and a few months after the inauguration of a new President.”

The presidential election in Colombia will take place on May 29 and the inauguration of the new president will take place on August 7.

This morning, presidential candidate Gustavo Petro tweeted: “Fracking is the most predatory mechanism, because it ends with the water of the territory to continue an economic system based on hydrocarbons. Puerto Wilches has a much better future in the agribusiness of small and medium-sized agricultural producers.”

Canada and fracking in Colombia

A second application for a fracking pilot project, which is also situated near Puerto Wilches, involves a Canadian company. The block where the Platero project would be conducted is 70 per cent controlled by ExxonMobil as the operator with the remaining 30 per cent held by Toronto-based Sintana Energy.

Another Canadian company, Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd., has commented that the two pilot projects are “positive steps towards realizing the commercial potential of the unconventional shale oil field in Colombia and specifically for the resources prospects that we have through our position in the Middle Magdalena Valley basin.”

Canacol holds a 20 per cent stake in the VMM-2/Plata and VMM-3/Piranga projects with ConcoPhillips holding the remaining stake.

These projects are located in the municipality of San Martin which is situated about 145 kilometres north of Puerto Wilches.

We continue to follow this situation.

The resolution from ANLA.

Statement by the Alianza in response to Resolution 648.

PBI-Mexico accompanied ASMAC highlights dangers of economic interests and militarization for Indigenous peoples

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 28, PBI-Spanish State posted on their Facebook page:

“What is happening in the #SierraTarahumara in Chihuahua-Mexico?

Sierra Madre Alliance A.C. told it in the III Edition of #HerriBabesarea, a Basque municipal network for the protection of human rights defenders, made up of 10 municipalities in #Euskadi and which has the support of the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation.

“The race of economic and political interests to exploit the forests or natural assets of indigenous peoples has generated and continues to generate violence in the territories”

Here you can see a brief summary.”

In this five-minute video clip, Judith González of ASMAC says:

“In Mexico in 2020, 30 fatal attacks were registered against land and environmental defenders, meaning that there was an increase of 67% over 2019.

In the same sense, the document states that one-third of all attacks recorded were against Indigenous communities.

Of the challenges faced by human rights defenders from the state is a deployment of executive power for the implementation of a military strategy through which socio-economic violence and political repression are exercised against dissident and social mobilizations.

At the same time, the legislative power is used to amend laws and impose reforms that facilitate the implementation of economic interests to which the state responds and approves laws that give greater powers to the military and legalize their actions against the civilian population.

The establishment of impunity from obstruction to provide justice and punishment to those responsible for crimes and acts of corruption and violence.

The Sierra Madre Alliance demands a worthy and safe return for people who are currently in a forced displaced situation.

We also ask for justice for peoples in resistance for their forests and territories and also because of the people.

I invite [the international community] to be aware of what happens here in communities Mexico, in Chihuahua and in the Sierra Tarahumara, to show it on social media.

I think it’s very important to send the message to actors who are against the defence of land and territory that the communities and people defending human rights are not alone.“

The full comments from Judith can be heard in this video clip.

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has accompanied the Sierra Madre Alliance since 2018.

Photo: PBI-Mexico with ASMAC, April 2021.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Q’eqchi’ river defender Bernardo Caal Xol on caravan home from prison to Santa María Cahabón

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 26, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today PBI accompanied Bernardo Caal Xol and the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabon in the caravan.”

“Dozens of people left Cobán, passed through San Pedro Carchá and Lanquín until they arrived at the municipal seat of Cahabon to celebrate the release of the community leader and water defender, sentenced and unjustly imprisoned for four years.”

Prensa Comunitaria also tweeted: “Bernardo Caal heads in a caravan to his municipality of Santa María Cahabón, making stops in San Pedro Carchá and Lanquín where neighbors receive him with joy. Caal was released from jail after serving four years in prison.”

Caal Xol arrives in Chi K’ajb’om, Santa Maria Cahabón.

Caal Xol was released from prison in Cobán on Thursday March 24 at around 10 pm.

He 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.

The night he was released Caal Xol said: “I was unjustly imprisoned for four years and two months, the people must not forget the persecution that we indigenous people live in Guatemala, just because voracious, murderous, discriminatory and racist capitalism wants the looting of natural resources.”

He also stated: “Today I am obtaining my freedom, it is a clear defeat and triumph over criminalization, maybe they hoped that with this imprisonment they would be defeating the struggle for the defense of the territories, but no.”

And Caal Xol 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.”

He also spoke about the difficulty of travel between Cobán and Santa María Cahabón.

Caal Xol said: “It’s several hours to get to Cobán and it’s difficult (for the people in Santa María Cahabón). Now that I am free, I have to find them, greet them and tell them about the experience (of being in prison).”

Plaza Publica further explains: “From Cobán to Santa María Cahabón there are almost 90 kilometers, a complicated route due to the lack of transport and the cost it can mean for people in resistance, many of whom live in poverty and extreme poverty.”

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

Bernardo Caal Xol, his wife Maria Isabel Matzir Miculax and their daughters Ni’kte ‘Ixch’umil Saqijix Caal Matzir and Chahim Yaretzi Ketzalí Caal Matzir.

PBI-Honduras observes National Agrarian Institute media conference, hears groups call for agrarian and land reform

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 25, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“PBI observed a press conference at the INA [National Agrarian Institute]. There was presence of peasant groups such as the @CntcTegucigalpa [National Union of Rural Workers] @CampesinaViaHN [La Via Campesina] @CodimcaH [the Council for the Integral Development of Rural Women] among others. The need for an agrarian reform where the peasantry has land and has the means to work it was highlighted.”

On Facebook, PBI-Honduras adds:

“The conference highlighted, above all, the situation of peasant women who in Honduras represent 70% of the producers, however, more than 85% of them do not have land ownership titles.”

According to their website, “the National Agrarian Institute (INA) is a Semi-Autonomous entity of the State, whose purpose is to carry out the process of agrarian reform in compliance with the national agricultural policy promoted by the Government, with the purpose of achieving the transformation of the agrarian structure of the country and incorporating the rural population into the integral development of the Nation.”

On March 25, La Tribuna reported: “The Honduran peasant movement and different agricultural representatives, yesterday called on the authorities to raise the National Agrarian Institute (INA), to ministry, because it is necessary to carry out the guidelines of support to the item that in recent years stopped planting 15 thousand [heads/stalks] of corn.”

Confidencial adds that the director of the National Agrarian Institute (INA) Francisco Fúnez also said on Thursday that at least 15 billion lempiras [about $768 million] is needed for the reactivation of the agricultural sector. That article also notes: “The official said that one thousand 400 million lempiras are urgent, which the new government will inject through the technological bond.”

Earlier this week, Criterio reported that the Honduran Armed Forces had received 64 million lempiras to manage agricultural production under Executive Decree PCM 52-2019 approved by former President Juan Orlando Hernández.

That article notes: “Wendy Cruz of La Via Campesina urged the government of Xiomara Castro to repeal the PCM that gives the power to the military, recommending strengthening the institutionality of the agricultural sector and promoting the creation of an Agricultural Development Law with a gender focus that guarantees a national plan and that ensures sustainable production, but, above all, guaranteeing the human rights of indigenous peoples, peasants and Afro-descendants.”

We continue to follow this situation.

Maya Q’eqchi environmental defender Bernardo Caal Xol released after four years in prison!

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still: Caal Xol released from prison on March 24.

On March 25, Telesur reported: “Environmental defender Bernardo Caal Xol regained his freedom on Thursday night, after spending four years in Cobán prison for his fight against hydroelectric projects in the Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz.”

That article adds: “At the time of his release, the Q’eqchi Mayan defender was accompanied by his lawyers and a delegation from his community with whom they maintain the fight against the Oxec S.A. hydroelectric plants, on the Cahabón River in Alta Verapaz.”

Prensa Comunitaria has also tweeted this short video clip noting: “Bernardo Caal Xol is free after a judge ordered his early release on March 23.”

And Erika Guevara-Rosas from Amnesty International comments: “It’s regrettable that in Guatemala unfounded criminal prosecutions aimed at harassing and obstructing the work of human rights defenders – particularly environmentalists and Indigenous people, and those who fight against impunity and corruption – are such a common tactic.”

Accompaniment timeline in photos

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied Bernardo and the Peaceful Resistance Cahabón since 2017.

September 17, 2021: PBI-Guatemala accompanied the press conference that announced the negative response of the Supreme Court of Justice of Guatemala to the appeal for cassation [annulment] raised by the legal defence for Bernardo.

August 24, 2021: PBI-Guatemala accompanied Bernardo at a hearing in Coban.

June 4, 2021: PBI-Guatemala accompanied the March for the Freedom of Bernardo Caal Xol, Jorge Coc and Marcelino Xol Cucul.

May 11, 2021: PBI-Guatemala accompanies Bernardo at court hearing.

April 5, 2021: PBI-Guatemala accompanied members of the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón at the public hearing before the CSJ [Supreme Court of Justice] for Bernardo.

March 25, 2021: PBI-Guatemala posts this video of their interview with Bernardo in prison in Cobán, Alta Verapaz.

March 8, 2021: PBI-Guatemala posts about visiting Bernardo in prison. Bernardo has commented: “Knowing PBI is looking out for me in prison dissuades those who want to cause me harm.”

July 28, 2020: PBI-Guatemala accompanies Bernardo and the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) at Bernardo’s appeal hearings which were suspended again.

August 28, 2019: PBI-Guatemala accompanies representatives of the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón during their complaint of the company Oxec for trying to build a third dam in its territory and for contributing to the criminalization of Bernardo.

July 24, 2019: PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón, visiting the members of the communities of Sacta, Sesaltul, Tuila, San Martín Chichaj, Secatalcab, Salac I and Tres Cruces.

August 2017: PBI-Guatemala provides security support to the good-faith consultation in which the 195 communities of the Cahabón River overwhelmingly rejected the Oxec hydroelectric projects.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Nunca Pares as Public Ministry visits sites of sexual assault on university campus

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 25, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “PBI accompanies Nunca Pares during the MP [Public Ministry] visit to the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC). The prosecutor conducted an visual inspection at the sites of sexual assault suffered by several students in January 2020.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained: “The Association of Victims and Relatives of Violence against Women in Universities, Nunca Pares, accompanies university students who are survivors of sexual violence.”

“They demand the application of protocols for providing attention to victims of sexual violence in state institutions and the creation of similar structures for protection within Guatemalan universities.”

“Their principal objective is the non-repetition of these crimes.”

PBI-Guatemala adds: “Nunca Pares demands justice for the rapes suffered by several students in January 2020.”

“According to the collective, these rapes were committed by members of the ‘Honorable Committee for the Friday of the Sorrows Strike’, a kind of fraternity of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC), during an initiation rite and within the grounds of the University itself.”

This article adds: “In Guatemala City, on Saturday, January 25, 2020, around 4 p.m., two young female university students were admitted to the San Juan de Dios General Hospital in an unconscious state, after attending the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC).”

“The girls were physically and emotionally assaulted, as well as forced to ingest an anesthetic.”

That article further notes: “In the hospital and in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, they were treated with delay and stigmatized by medical and justice personnel.”

And Ruda has reported: “The movement demands justice, both from the Public Ministry -MP- and the rector of the University of San Carlos -USAC- Murphy Paiz, for the young women who were victims of different types of violence.”

It has also been reported that: “According to a survey conducted in 2019 with more than 700 students, 89% of women at the University of San Carlos have experienced harassment on campus. 30% of bullies are professors.”

Nunca Pares says: “We fight so that no young student, no woman suffers psychological, physical, sexual violence, harassment and any type of violence in the USAC. Because the lives of all young women matter, we demand truth and justice!”

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying Nunca Pares in April 2021.

PBI-Mexico signs accompaniment agreement with CONTEC who support Indigenous struggles in the Sierra Tarahumara

By
Brent Patterson
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On March 24, PBI-Mexico tweeted: “In recognition of the danger it faces, but especially for the valuable work in defense of indigenous rights and with the communities of the Sierra Tarahumara that @CONTECAC carries out, we have signed an accompaniment agreement.”

On Facebook, PBI-Mexico also further noted: “In the report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the situation in Mexico, it was recognized that the situation of violence in the Sierra Tarahumara implies a serious risk for the indigenous communities and the defenders who accompany them in the region.”

PBI-Mexico also points to this article that explains: “The Community Technical Consultancy, A.C. (CONTEC) has been working for more than 20 years with indigenous communities in the Sierra Tarahumara, which have been denouncing abuses related to the exploitation of their lands and natural assets.”

That article also notes: “PBI has been providing punctual accompaniment to CONTEC since 2015; in February 2022 PBI expands and formalizes the accompaniment due to the increase in the level of risk faced by the organization.”

Last year, PBI-Mexico posted: “On Sunday, August 8, Peace Brigades International (PBI) accompanied the organization Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria AC (CONTEC) in the peaceful mobilization convened by the Raramuri forest community of San Elias Repechique, to which members of the communities of Mogotavo, Cuiteco and Tewerichi also came.”

We gave more context to that August 2021 accompaniment in this article: PBI-Mexico accompanies CONTEC at blockade as Indigenous community seeks recognition of ancestral territory.

We have also highlighted that CONTEC accompanied the San Elías Repechique Forests community in 2014-15 when it opposed Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. (now TC Energy) building the Encino-Topolobampo gas pipeline on the ancestral territories of the Rarámuri in the Sierra Tarahumara without free, prior and informed consent.

In a report about a consultation that eventually happened, CONTEC commented: “The logic of the state is to impose the project at the lowest social cost possible. That’s how the consultation is used as rhetoric, as discourse, without its real meaning.”

More on this at TC Energy and the Encino-Topolobampo pipeline on Rarámuri ancestral territory in Mexico.

We look forward to organizing a webinar with PBI-Mexico and CONTEC, hopefully as soon as next month. More details to come!

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