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PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS rejects fracking pilot projects in Puerto Wilches

By
Brent Patterson
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CREDHOS Twitter photo: “Community, org. social, popular and Human Rights reject the impositions of the @ANLA and maintains its total rejection of the Kalé pilot in Puerto Wilches, carrying out actions in defense of Water, Life and Territory.”

On February 22, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Statement from @Credhos_Paz rejecting the fracking pilots in Puerto Wilches and the threats against leaders who reject fracking in the region. This while Colombia does not ratify the Escazú agreement and signs environmental protection agreements with the EU.”

The statement from CREDHOS can be read here.

Highlights from it include:

“The Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights – CREDHOS rejects the implementation of fracking pilots in the municipality of Puerto Wilches and the Magdalena Medio region, characterized by the richness of its biodiversity, but fragile in the face of the expansion of the mining-energy locomotive and the effects of climate change. In a region where historically extractivism has violated the human rights of communities, the implementation of fracking does not represent an advance for the dignity of life and the environmental sustainability of the territory.

The situation of vulnerability of those who defend their territory against a government that has postponed the implementation of mechanisms for environmental conservation and the protection of environmental leaders is critical, for example, the disinterest in ratifying the Escazú Agreement, or tearing apart the Peace Agreement and its points for the protection of social leaders and communities.

We support the community of Puerto Wilches and the youth, environmental, social and human rights organizations that are convening today around the Cultural Carnival for Water and Life at the Center for Citizen Integration and at Kilometer 3, in opposition to the progress of the implementation of the fracking pilots and the development of the Environmental Public Hearing convened by the National Environmental Licensing Authority – ANLA, about Ecopetrol’s Kalé pilot project.”

In November 2019, CREDHOS president Ivan Madero travelled to Ottawa and highlighted concerns about fracking with officials from Global Affairs Canada.

While Canadian energy assets in Colombia total about $8 billion, Canada has said little publicly about fracking in Colombia. Nor has the Canadian government highlighted to the Colombian government the importance of the Escazu Agreement.

Furthermore, Canadian companies such as Toronto-based Sintana Energy Ltd. have welcomed fracking in the Puerto Wilches area. Sintana owns a 30 per cent stake in the Platero block, the other fracking pilot project that has been approved along with Kalé.

We continue to closely follow this situation.

Photo below: 21-year-old Yuvelis Natalia Morales of AGUAWIL had to flee to Paris because of death threats that came as a result of her opposition to the fracking pilot projects in Puerto Wilches. CREDHOS accompanies AGUAWIL.

               

Frente de Pueblos, Salvemos los cerros support call for boycott of Danone/Bonafont products

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo from La Jornada Oriente

On February 15, the National Guard and State Police removed the Altepemelcalli – Casa de los Pueblos (house of the peoples) occupation of the Danone/Bonafont bottled water plant in the city of Juan C. Bonilla in the state of Puebla.

Almost a year ago, on March 22, 2021, twenty Indigenous Nahua communities formed the Pueblos Unidos (the United Peoples) and took over the bottled water plant in response to the depletion of water in their wells, rivers and streams.

Danone/Bonafont had been extracting 1,641,000 litres of water per day for the past 29 years before its closure by Pueblos Unidos.

PBI-Mexico has tweeted:

“The United Peoples of the Cholulteca Region and the Volcanes and members of @fpdtampt [the People’s Front in Defense of Water and Land – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala] turned Altepemelcalli into a space to exercise their rights as indigenous communities and against the dispossession of water and the scarcity that exists in the region.”

Now, hundreds of organizations and individuals have signed this statement that concludes:

“We invite the population not to support these companies and stop consuming the products of the French transnational Danone: Bonafont, Activia, Danonino, Vitalinea, dnp, Danette, Dany, Oikos and other range of junk food.”

Among the signatories are Salvemos los cerros de Chihuahua (22), Fridays for Future Mexico (33) and Greenpeace Mexico (108).

The Peoples’ Front of Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala has also posted this statement on their Facebook page that concludes:

“We call on all communities and people who defend the struggles for life and who believe that another world is possible, to mobilize and join the campaign of BOYCOTT the Bonafont company, through calls on social networks, talks, memes, stickers, manifestos, caricatures, graffiti, murals, songs, dances, plays and any possible means,  telling people NOT TO BUY AND NOT TO CONSUME Bonafont water.”

Along with Bonafont, Danone’s water brands include Evian which is distributed and sold in Canada by PepsiCo Beverages Canada.

The Danone brands sold in Canada include the Activia, Danette and Oikos brands noted in the solidarity statement signed by Salvemos los cerros.

For more on the call for the boycott, please see Tamara Pearson’s article Indigenous activists in Mexico launch global campaign against water bottling transnationals. More context on the occupation can also be read in this article by Marina Tricks: How Nahua Indigenous communities in Mexico took on Danone in defence of water and life.

We continue to follow this situation.

21-year-old environmental defender leaves Colombia due to death threats against her over fracking pilot projects

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, the Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking tweeted: “COMPLAINT: 3 days ago, Yuvelis Natalia Morales, Youth Counselor of Puerto Wilches, member of Aguawil [the Committee for the Defence of Water, Life and Territory of Puerto Wilches] and the @ColombiaNoFrack Alliance left the country due to threats against her, due to her activism against the fracking pilots of [Colombian president] @IvanDuque and [the state oil company] @ECOPETROL_SA.”

Their Twitter thread continues:

“Yuvelis Natalia received the first threats a year ago [on January 29, 2021, when she was 20-years-old], after intervening in a hearing on fracking in the Congress of the Republic, when she was approached by two men in her home in Puerto Wilches, which led us to remove her from her territory for several months.

These threats have returned in recent days, after his leadership in a peaceful sit-in against the hearing of the @ANLA_Col [the National Environmental Licensing Agency] about the fracking pilot Kalé, and the false public accusations by @ECOPETROL_SA that stigmatized those of us who were there.

Given the seriousness of the latest events, the negligence and inability of the government of @IvanDuque to protect her life, our colleague left the country as an emergency within the framework of the “Marianne Initiative” of the President of France, @EmmanuelMacron, whom we thank.

This is added to threats through pamphlets, messages and calls to members of various organizations of the @ColombiaNoFrack Alliance, which forced three other people to leave Puerto Wilches and Barrancabermeja in the last week.

From the @ColombiaNoFrack Alliance we fear for the life and integrity of environmental defenders, even more so when this Tuesday [February 22] we will protest again against the Hearing of the @ANLA_Col and @ECOPETROL_SA, in addition to other legal and advocacy actions that we will develop.

We demand that the government of @IvanDuque take the necessary measures to guarantee our life and integrity, as well as [Minister of Mines and Energy] @DiegoMesaP, [Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development] @CarlosECorreaE, and [Director of the National Environmental Licensing Authority] @RodSuarezCa immediately suspend the fracking pilot projects that are advancing today amid fear and persecution.

We publicly hold the state company @ECOPETROL_SA responsible for any violent action against our compañeras, which may derive from their stigmatization of our work and their complicit silence in the face of what has been happening against the members of the Alliance.

We ask human rights organizations and the international community to support the work of our colleagues Yuvelis Morales, [Alliance for a Colombia Free of Fracking member] Oneida Suárez, [vice president of the Fishermen’s Federation] Carolina Agón, [CRY-GEAM activist] Oscar Sampayo, [Federation of Artisanal Fishers and Environmentalists of Santander/FEDEPESAN representative] Yuli Velasquez, [Corporation for the Defense of Water, Territory and Ecosystems/CORDATEC activist] Carlos Santiago and many other people, today at risk for defending water and the environment.”

CREDHOS accompanies AGUAWIL

PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS has retweeted the Twitter thread above and commented: “We reject the threats to environmental leaders in Magdalena Medio, such as Credhos and the Regional Coordination for the Defense of Water, Territory and Dignified Life. We demand guarantees for the work of defending the environment.”

Threatened defenders on PBI-Canada webinar

Yuvelis, Oscar and Yuli spoke on this PBI-Canada organized webinar in April 2021 along with CREDHOS president Ivan Madero, Above Ground director Karen Hamilton and PBI-Canada Board member Luis van Isschot.

At that webinar, Yuvelis stated: “We have highlighted the impacts of fracking on not only the environment, but also the health of the people. And when AguaWil became more visible, and didn’t disappear, 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. More than eight of our youth have been threatened.”

She also noted: “We have a constitutional right to a healthy environment, but the government is not interesting in hearing the communities because we are a problem for them, they aren’t interested in listening to young people. But we will keep fighting.”

Canada and fracking in Colombia

While Canadian energy assets in Colombia total about $8 billion, Canada has said little publicly about the exploitation of unconventional resources in Colombia.

But a Trade Commissioner with Global Affairs Canada uncritically noted in this Export Development Corporation article: “Colombian resources are depleting fast, so there’s a push to increase exploration through the auction of new blocks. Technologies related to oil recovery and mature fields are much sought after, as well as in the development of unconventional resources, like fracking and deep-water exploration.”

When asked directly about EDC’s position on fracking, EDC CEO Mairead Lavery has responded: “EDC’s environmental and social risk management policy framework and associated due diligence examine a wide range of environmental and social issues, including those that might be posed by projects employing hydraulic fracturing.”

Canadian companies welcome fracking

Canadian companies have been more explicit in their support for fracking. Among the Canadian companies that have welcomed it are Toronto-based Sintana Energy Ltd. and Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd.

In April 2021, Sintana welcomed the news of ExxonMobil being granted a pilot project contract for the Platero fracking pilot project near Puerto Wilches. Sintana owns a 30 per cent stake in the Platero block.

In June 2021, Charle Gamba, the CEO of Canacol, also commented: “The objectives of these [fracking pilot projects] are to demonstrate that this important resource can be developed in an environmentally safe way…” Canacol holds a 20 per cent stake in two potential fracking blocks are also near Puerto Wilches.

Gamba is aware of community opposition to fracking.

He has stated: “The regulatory environment at the moment is favorable for these fracking pilots. By no means does that ensure that, they will be able to execute them without difficulty, especially from the communities who remain heavily opposed to fracking from an environmental perspective.”

We continue to follow this situation closely.

“We defend water because it is the most important resource on which our community depends.” – Yuvelis Natalia Morales

PBI-Mexico accompanies the Peoples’ Front on the 3rd anniversary of the murder of Náhuatl defender Samir Flores

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, PBI-Mexico tweeted: “3 years ago, the peasant, popular communicator and defender of water and territory Samir Flores Soberanes was assassinated in front of his house. In Amilcingo and other points of #México , today he is remembered under the slogan: ‘Who fights for life, does not die, Samir lives!’”

Their Twitter thread also notes:

“For @fpdta [the Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala] the murder of [water defender] Francisco Vásquez in #Morelos and the eviction from Altepelmelcalli in #Puebla near the 3rd anniversary of the murder of Samir Flores are part of: ‘A growing wave of repression against the defense of truth, justice and life.’

‘The third anniversary of the murder of our comrade Samir Flores Soberanes is framed by a series of attacks, violence and murders towards members of the peoples and journalists’ point out today the @fpdtampt [in this statement].

The @fpdtampt adds that: ‘In the fight for life is justice for Samir.’ Not a minor issue in a country and a region where the rates of persecution, criminalization, harassment, physical attacks and murders against defenders of human rights are of concern.

Therefore, we join the call to guarantee truth and justice for #SamirFlores, to guarantee the life and integrity of defenders of the environment and collective and indigenous rights.”

Samir Flores

Samir Flores Soberanes was a vocal opponent of the Morelos Integral Project (PIM).

On February 20, 2019, he was shot in his home in Amilcingo, Morelos and died later that day in hospital. He was 35 years old.

Photo: Samir was married to Liliana Velázquez with whom he had four children, Amira, Jenny, Mariana and Kinith.

The Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water (FPDTA) described his murder as “a political crime for the human rights defence that Samir and the FPDTA carried out against the [PIM] and for people’s autonomy and self-determination.”

The PIM megaproject consists of a 171-kilometre gas pipeline across the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla and Morelos; a gas-fuelled thermoelectric plant in the town of Huexca, Morelos; and a 12-kilometre aqueduct to divert water from the Cuautla River to cool the turbines at the thermoelectric plant.

Toronto-based Alamos Gold

The FPDTA has stated: “[Mexican President] Lopez Obrador [supporting the PIM] betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favour transnational corporations [including] Canadian miners like Alamos Gold, among others.”

Toronto-based Alamos Gold has reportedly reactivated work on their Esperanza open-pit gold mine near the community of Tetlama (about 60 kilometres due west of Huexca). Mines can be energy-intensive and could use electricity generated by the plant.

Last month, Pie de Pagina reported: “Inhabitants of more than 16 Nahua towns and colonies of Morelos marched to protest the entry of the Canadian company Alamos Gold in the municipality of Temixco with the intention of exploiting gold and silver in an open pit.”

“Who fights for life never dies”

PBI-Guatemala produces Popular Bulletin in Q’eqchí on the struggle for water justice

By
Brent Patterson
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“Others, without consulting us before, mining and hydroelectric. They cut down the forests to build their projects and divert the rivers of its natural path.”

Guatemala has a population of 14.9 million people, of which 6.5 million (43.75%) belong to the 22 Mayan peoples, including the Q’eqchí and Ch’ortí.

According to Indigenous peoples’ representatives, the truer proportion of Indigenous people in Guatemala is closer to 60%.

It has also been estimated that the Mayan Q’eqchí peoples are 8.3% of the overall national population. In the late 1980s the number of Q’eqchi’ speakers was estimated at 350,000 people in Guatemala.

This is one of the reasons the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Projects produces Popular Bulletins in the Q’eqchí language.

The latest publication can be read here (it can also be read in Spanish here).

“Water is life: This bulletin deals with the situation of the vital liquid in communities and the collective experiences for its care and defense.”

Water justice for Q’eqchí peoples

Water justice in Guatemala is hindered by pollution from mines, hydroelectric dams, logging, and palm oil and sugar cane plantations.

Mario Minera of the Center for Legal Action on Human Rights (CALDH) in Guatemala City says: “The whole country has been opened to concessions for mining, sugar cane, palm oil to provide exports. Rivers have been diverted, others are drying up. Access to land and water is denied. The resources are in the hands of a very few people. It is a predatory model of economic development which is penalizing the rural poor and does not benefit communities or the common good.”

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Q’eqchí defender Bernardo Caal Xol (now serving more than 7 years in prison for opposing the construction of hydroelectric dams), the Campesino Committee of the Highlands of the Verapaces (that accompanies 150 Q’eqchi communities fighting against land dispossession), the Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (a Q’eqchi’ community displaced from their land for the construction of an army base), and the Verapaz Union of Campesino Organizations (that represents 367 affiliated communities, 98% of which are Q’eqchi’, Poqomchi’ and Achi).

On June 4, 2021, PBI-Guatemala accompanied Maria Caal Xol at a march as she called for her brother Bernardo to be released from prison.

Popular bulletins in Ch’ortí

PBI-Guatemala has also produced these Popular Bulletins in the Ch’ortí language.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque (that fight against mining projects on their territory) and the ‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator (that represents 43 Ch’orti’ communities).

On January 10, 2022, PBI-Guatemala accompanied Ch’orti ancestral authority Felipe Diaz Ramos at a court hearing. He has been criminalized for his defence of territory against mining.

The situation for Indigenous peoples in Guatemala

The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) notes: “Statistics clearly demonstrate persistent racism and discrimination against Indigenous Peoples.”

The IWGIA further explains: “With respect to health, employment, income, housing, and education, there is a great disparity between Indigenous Peoples and the rest of the population. Official data indicates that poverty affects 75% of Indigenous people and 36% of non-indigenous people; chronic malnutrition affects 58% of Indigenous people and 38% of non-indigenous people; and, in terms of political participation, Indigenous individuals represent no more than 15% of parliamentarians and high-ranking public officials.”

(In Canada, 24% of Indigenous people in urban areas live in poverty, 41% of Indigenous women aged 18 and older living in a food insecure household, 3.3% of Members of Parliament are Indigenous, infant mortality rates for Indigenous babies are two to three times higher, and life expectancy for Indigenous people is 15 years shorter than other Canadians.)

The armed conflict

The armed conflict in Guatemala was fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government and various leftist groups, which were supported by Mayan peoples. During this time, approximately 200,000 people were killed or disappeared. Over 90% of this violence was perpetrated by the state and over 80% of the victims were Mayan.

PBI-Guatemala

PBI first operated a project in Guatemala from 1983-1999, which closed following the Peace Accords. Unfortunately, the human rights situation soon began again to deteriorate, and local organizations asked PBI to return.

The current project opened in 2003.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Q’eqchi’ defender Lesbia Artola (in blue) and the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA).

Bianca Jagger notes increased persecution of human rights defenders, calls for the release of political prisoners

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Amaru Ruiz, now living in exile, with Bianca Jagger and Mónica López Baltodano in London, November 2021.

On February 18, Bianca Jagger gave this testimony to a Special Session of the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council.

Key excerpts from her full testimony include:

“Ladies and gentlemen, members of the OAS Permanent Council, I am here to inform you about the serious situation facing political prisoners in Nicaragua. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that many of them are facing a life-and-death situation; today, the lives of 177 political prisoners are in the hands of dictator Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

The death of Hugo Torres

The sudden and mysterious death of retired Brigadier General Hugo Torres on February 12 has shocked public opinion in Nicaragua and internationally.

Hugo Torres went from being a heroic Sandinista leader who rescued Daniel Ortega from prison in the 70s, to being another victim of the Ortega dictatorship.

Persecution of human rights defenders

Starting in May 2021, the regime increased the persecution of presidential candidates, journalists, human rights defenders, socio-political activists and anyone who expresses an opinion against the regime.

In eight months, the police have illegally arrested 55 people, from 112 political prisoners to 167.

After being captured, the political prisoners were virtually disappeared and held incommunicado for more than 80 days and subjected to secret hearings. Political prisoners continue to be held in different centres of the National Penitentiary System, such as El Chipote prison and La Modelo prison, known for being torture centres.

Dora María Téllez in prison

We have the example of four women human rights defenders and political activists: Dora María Téllez, Tamara Dávila, Ana Margarita Vijil and Suyén Barahona, who have been in almost absolute isolation for more than 8 months, facing restrictions on visiting their relatives.

One of the most deplorable aspects is the lack of adequate medical care for political prisoners, which is endangering their lives.

Calls to release political prisoners

I join the calls of the different organizations that demand (the Organization Victims of April, Group Kidnapped United Politicians, Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners, Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners, and Relatives of Political Prisoners in El Chipote since May 2021) for the immediate release of political prisoners in my country.”

Her full testimony can be read at Los presos políticos en Nicaragua están en peligro de muerte.

PBI-Nicaragua Project

It is estimated that since April 2018 about 100,000 Nicaraguans have been forced into exile, mainly relocating to Spain, the US and Costa Rica.

PBI explains: “A first visit to Nicaragua in November 2018 quickly revealed that there was no possibility of establishing a project within the country, due to the level of repression and the inability of organizations to operate openly.”

It adds: “In order to respond to this context and the needs expressed by local organizations, in 2020 PBI launched a new accompaniment project in Costa Rica focused on providing support to exiled Nicaraguan human rights defenders and social movements.”

For more, please see Nicaraguan voices in resistance.

PBI-Colombia highlights threats against CREDHOS and environmentalists in the context of fracking and extractivism

By
Brent Patterson
-

On February 18, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “New article: Death threats persist against environmentalists in Magdalena Medio. Worrying recent threats to @Credhos_Paz [the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights] and environmentalists, in danger due to extractivism and armed conflict.”

The PBI-Colombia article further explains:

“The region of Magdalena Medio, home to 6% of Colombia’s armed conflict victims, has historically suffered serious impacts from the extractivist economic model. Today, once again, its environmental leaders and human rights defenders are under serious threat and at risk of displacement.

For more than a century, communities have been victims of the expropriation of their lands, the expansion of agribusiness and the exploitation of hydrocarbons, severely affecting the region’s diverse fauna and flora within the countless water sources, rivers and marshes.

Oil extraction has caused irreparable environmental damage, and has seriously affected communities’ ancestral fishing economies. Moreover, the enclave economy of the Magdalena Medio region has not generated benefits for the communities that protect it, where communities suffer limited access to clean drinking water and energy services.

Members of CREDHOS and allied organizations such as the Committee for the Defense of Water, Life and Territory (AGUAWIL) and the Federation of Artisanal, Environmental and Tourist Fishermen of Santander (Fedepesán) continue to be exposed to alarmingly high levels of risk.

Environmental organizations in Magdalena Medio, including CREDHOS and other allied organizations, are receiving serious threats in relation to their complaints concerning human rights violations and their opposition to the imminent start of two pilot projects for oil extraction by means of the hydraulic fracturing technique (fracking) in Puerto Wilches (the Kale and Platero projects).”

Canadian company welcomes fracking in the Magdalena Medio

In April 2021, Toronto-based Sintana Energy Ltd. welcomed the news of Texas-based ExxonMobil being granted a pilot project contract for Platero/VMM-37, an area of land that ExxonMobil co-owns with Sintana.

Among those who have been recently threatened are CREDHOS Board member Ramón Abril and Yuvelis Morales, a 20-year-old environmental leader with the Committee for the Defense of Water, Life and Territory in Puerto Wilches (AGUAWIL).

Yuvelis spoke on this PBI-Canada organized webinar in April 2021 along with CREDHOS president Ivan Madero, Oscar Sampayo (CRY-GEAM) and Yuli Velasquez (FEDEPESAN) all of whom have spoken against fracking and been threatened.

This concerns were also raised in this May 2021 meeting with Global Affairs Canada and Embassy of Canada in Colombia officials.

Madero also took part in this PBI organized advocacy tour in Canada in November 2020 that included meetings with Global Affairs Canada officials where he highlighted community concerns about fracking in Colombia.

It may be a hopeful sign that on December 6, 2021, Marianick Tremblay, the new Canadian Ambassador to Colombia, tweeted: “Canadian foreign investment must not only be a source of quality capital and work for host countries, but must also contribute to achieving sustainable development goals.”

The sustainable development goals include SDG 16, Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and SDG 13, Climate Action. The UN links SDG 16 with safety for human rights defenders, while Canadian UN Special Rapporteur David R. Boyd has urged the prohibition of fracking to meet international climate obligations.

We continue to follow this situation closely.

David Castillo to be sentenced on April 4 for the murder of COPINH leader Berta Cáceres

By
Brent Patterson
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Outside the courthouse in Tegucigalpa during the trial of David Castillo, April 29, 2021.

On February 16, the Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) tweeted: “Reading of the Judgment of the case against David Castillo for next April 4, 2022. The Sentencing Court with National Territorial Jurisdiction in Criminal Matters summons to read the sentence after a delay of more than 7 months.”

On July 5, The Guardian reported: “[Castillo] a US-trained former Honduran army intelligence officer who was the president of an internationally-financed hydroelectric company [Desarrollos Energéticos Sociedad Anónima/DESA] has been found guilty over the assassination of the indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres.”

That article adds: “Cáceres, winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead two days before her 45th birthday by hired hitmen on 2 March 2016 after years of threats linked to her opposition of the $50m Agua Zarca dam.”

Yesterday, Berta’s daughter Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres tweeted: “We will continue to demand the investigation and conviction of the intellectual authors.”

Cáceres family lawyer Víctor Fernández has stated Berta’s family faces “a power structure, the economic structure that murdered Berta Cáceres, who is not only David Castillo, but the company DESA, the national and international financial system that financed and even continues to benefit the entrepreneurs” who benefited from the concession of the hydroelectric dam” on the Gualcarque River sacred to the Lenca people.

Open Democracy has also reported: “[COPINH continues to seek] the revocation of permission for the [Agua Zarca] hydroelectric project. It wants the state to be held accountable for failing to protect Cáceres and to investigate the investment in initiatives premised on such massive human rights violations.”

And Vice reports: “DESA owns the concession for 50 years, [COPINH general coordinator Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres] says, meaning the company has the exclusive right to work the land [without free, prior and informed consent] until 2059.”

Zúñiga Cáceres has highlighted: “They have not given up and apparently have no intention of abandoning the project altogether.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied COPINH since May 2016.

On March 22, World Beyond War, Mutual Aid Media and PBI-Canada are sponsoring a screening of Berta didn’t die, she multiplied! More on this here.

PBI-Mexico accompanies organizations at 2nd Regional Forum for a General Law to protect human rights defenders and journalists

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 18, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project tweeted: “This week we accompanied the organizations that met with authorities in Oaxaca in the framework of the 2nd Regional Forum for the discussion around the initiative of the Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.”

Their Twitter thread adds:

“Human rights defenders and journalists denounced the serious situation in the state. As indicated by @EspacioOsc [the 18 organizations form the Civil Society Organizations Space], Oaxaca is the 2nd state with the highest number of human rights defenders and journalists with protection measures.”

“The participants also pointed out that ‘a General Law cannot be the only response to the context of crisis and high risk that exists in Oaxaca and Mexico’.”

“From @PBI_Mexico we call for the Mexican State to integrate the contributions and requests made by the human rights defenders and journalists. And to continue building based on the agreements reached at the end of this 2nd forum.”

The PBI-Mexico Twitter thread also links to this statement: Organizations and journalists get SEGOB to commit to opening forums in regions of Oaxaca.

Key excerpts from that statement include:

“On February 16 and 17, the second Regional Forum to Promote an Initiative for a General Law on prevention and protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists was held in Oaxaca City… The objective was to analyze the proposal of General Law promoted by SEGOB [Ministry of the Interior], to make contributions and suggestions in the particular context of Oaxaca [where 11 journalists have been killed sine 2013].”

“During the event, the defenders and journalists denounced the serious situation in the state, recalling that Oaxaca is mourning the murder of journalist Heber López on February 10 in Salina Cruz, and also recalled that in Mexico at least five journalists and two defenders have been killed in 2022.”

“The representatives of civil society who participated during the two days reiterated that the two indispensable aspects for the prevention and protection of defenders and journalists are to guarantee sufficient human and financial resources for the implementation of a new law, as well as to move towards the eradication of impunity [of the 133 journalists killed in Mexico since 2000, nearly 90 percent have gone unpunished], guaranteeing effective and binding mechanisms for punishing the authorities responsible for aggression, whether by action or omission.”

The Civil Society Organizations (OSC) Space (Espacio) for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio_OSC) is a coordination platform of 18 civil society organizations from throughout Mexico.

Espacio_OSC is accompanied by PBI-Mexico.

“Organizations and journalists get SEGOB [Secretaría de Gobernación/Ministry of the Interior] to commit to opening forums in regions in Oaxaca.”

Ecopetrol and ExxonMobil submit fracking assessment to Colombian licensing agency on block co-owned with Canadian company

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by CREDHOS.

On February 17, Bnamericas reported: “Ecopetrol and ExxonMobil have submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) [to the National Environmental Licensing Agency/ANLA] for their Platero fracking pilot in northern Colombia as they step up unconventional drilling plans.”

That article adds: “The EIA is considered a key step in the companies’ plans to secure an environmental permit for the project, located in the Puerto Wilches area of Santander department. …Ecopetrol has said it expects permits for both projects to be approved this year, paving the way for the start of drilling activity.”

Toronto company and the Platero fracking project

In April 2021, Toronto-based Sintana Energy Ltd. welcomed the news of Texas-based ExxonMobil being granted a pilot project contract for Platero/VMM-37, an area of land that ExxonMobil co-owns with Sintana.

Argus Media has previously reported: “The block is operated by ExxonMobil with a 70 percent stake. The remaining 30 percent belongs to Patriot Energy, a subsidiary of Canada’s Sintana Energy.”

Sintana Energy has also stated: “Regarding Project Platero, Sintana has been and continues to be in positive communications with both ExxonMobil and the ANH [National Hydrocarbon Agency] to ensure that the integrity of both the Company’s commercial arrangements with ExxonMobil and the Contract for VMM-37 with the ANH are honored.”

And an article in Petroguia has noted: “In the VMM-37 block granted to the North American company ExxonMobil, in Puerto Wilches (Santander), it would contemplate the cutting of 109 hectares of forest, the capture of an average of more than six daily pools of water in the Magdalena and Sogamoso rivers, and a polygon area comparable to 21,655 soccer fields, which will impact five townships.”

Commercial development beyond pilot projects

Sintana’s media release suggest they look forward to the commercial production that could follow the pilot projects.

The Bnamericas article adds: “Their commercial development, however, hinges on a decision by Colombia’s highest administrative tribunal. The council of state, as the tribunal is known, ordered a moratorium on unconventional drilling in 2018, citing socio-environmental concerns of local communities and lobbyists. While the pilots were exempt from the ruling, the court has yet to decide whether to allow the practice on a commercial scale.”

Threats against social leaders opposed to fracking

Last week, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “We accompanied @Credhos_Paz at a press conference on the serious increase in the presence of armed groups in Magdalena Medio with serious consequences in terms of human rights. Urgent measures are required to provide security guarantees in the region.”

CREDHOS president Iván Madero says: “Armed actors have taken a stand on the issue of fracking. In recent days the AGC [Clan del Golfo /Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces] summoned meetings to the communities in San Pablo and Puerto Wilches, after the absence of the community the self-defence groups publish a pamphlet where they threaten the leaders and associations that oppose the fracking pilots.”

In November 2019, PBI coordinated this advocacy tour in Canada with representatives from the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) and the Luis Carlos Pérez Collective Lawyers Corporation (CCALCP) who highlighted their concerns about fracking at numerous meetings across the country.

Among other follow-up activities, we co-organized this webinar with CREDHOS and Above Ground in April 2021 on the issue of fracking in Colombia.

We continue to follow this situation with concern.

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