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PBI-Honduras visits with the criminalized Guapinol water defenders in the Olanchito prison

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 11, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted: “PBI visits the 7 environmental defenders of Guapinol and San Pedro sector in the prison center of Olanchito, who are facing a criminalization process for the defence of water.”

PBI-Honduras adds: “After two years of detention, August 26, the hearing of proposition of evidence before the Trujillo Court of Sentence begins. Transparency and publicity are necessary to ensure due process.”

Their post also highlights that the families of the defenders and the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Common and Public Assets demand justice, asking “Why are they in prison if they are defending water and land?”

Last month, PBI-Honduras also noted that the Guapinol defenders “express the importance of the international presence in the judicial process that will begin in the coming months.”

PBI-Canada continues to closely follow this judicial process.

Criterio has reported: “Daniel Márquez, Kelvin Romero, José Abelino Cedillo, Porfirio Sorto, Orbin Hernández, Arnold Alemán, Ewer Cedillo Cruz and Jeremías Martínez Díaz are being held in illegal pretrial detention for the defense of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers.”

Seven share the same cell in Olanchito prison, while the eighth defender, Jeremías Martínez Díaz, is being held in La Ceiba prison.

They are being held for their peaceful participation in a protest camp intended to stop the Inversiones Los Pinares iron oxide mine polluting the water sources that originate in the Carlos Escaleras Mountain National Park.

“[They are being held in jail] despite the opinion and recommendations issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and the amparos presented by Honduran civil society organizations to remedy the ruling issued by the judiciary.”

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying various processes in relation to the defenders of the Guapinol River for the past two years.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Corporation for Judicial Freedom at meeting with Norwegian embassy and leaders of Ituango

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 10, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Today we accompany the @CorpoJuridicaLi [Corporation for Judicial Freedom] at a meeting with @NoruegaenCOL [Embassy of Norway in Colombia] and leaders of Ituango, to address the serious human rights and humanitarian crisis produced by the presence of armed groups that caused the displacement of more than 4 thousand people.”

Two weeks ago, The Guardian reported: “More than 4,000 people have fled the violence of militias operating in the resource-rich region in recent months.”

“Bringing only what they could carry with them, entire families have fled from their homes in rural hamlets to the urban hub anchoring the region. According to the UN, 1,300 of those displaced are children.”

That article notes the situation for those displaced has been even further complicated because: “Roads have been blocked by mud and debris after heavy rains, while helicopters have been unable to land. As a result, the delivery of food and medical supplies has been stymied, and communications cut off.”

Isabel Cristina Zuleta, an activist with the Rios Vivos movement, says: “This is a terrifying situation; we’re seeing that the government is completely incapable of protecting these people. The government is not tending to the growing poverty there, nor to the cultural patrimony that is lost when peasant farmers have to abandon their homes, animals and livelihoods.”

PBI-Colombia has posted: “Several of the cases that the Corporation for Judicial Freedom is working on focus on defending the environmental rights of communities, and more specifically, the right to water.”

It highlights: “One of the sadly famous cases in this area is that of the controversial Hidroituango hydroelectric project, located in the municipality of Ituango.”

Zuleta has stated: “Since its launch in 1997, this megaproject has been imposed by violence and the forced displacement of the population, victims of the armed conflict.”

The Committee for Human Rights in Latin America (CDHAL) has reported: “The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec [a credit union in the province of Quebec] and Export Development Canada [a Government of Canada agency] are financing this project.”

And Above Ground has noted: “EPM [Empresas Públicas de Medellín], a Colombian state-owned enterprise, has twice benefitted from the support of Export Development Canada in recent years. In 2016 and 2017, EDC provided EPM with financing totalling between 500 million and one billion dollars.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Corporation for Judicial Freedom, which was founded in 1993 by a group of lawyers and law students, since 2000.

PBI-Honduras concerned by arrest of Lenca defenders of the Petacón River opposed to dam

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Petacón River defender Wilmer Alonzo Herrera

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted their concern about the police violently arresting Lenca opponents of a hydroelectric dam and the restrictive measures placed on them, including not being able to return to their community.

Arrest of water defenders

On August 5, Criterio.hn reported that five defenders of the Petacón River – Renán Zelaya, Wilmer Alonzo, Andrés Avelino Gutiérrez, Orlando Rodas, and Jairo Noé Oliva Reyes – were arrested by soldiers and police in the Indigenous Lenca municipality of Reitoca in the department of Francisco Morazán.

Honduras Solidarity has tweeted: “There are arrest warrants for 10 other people from the community.”

The five defenders were released the next day but have been ordered not to return to their community and have no place to stay.

Their initial hearing will take place on August 16.

Ownership of the dam

Criterion.hn adds that they are opponents of the hydroelectric project backed by the company Promotora de Generación de Energía Limpia S.A. (Progelsa).

This investigative report says that the Honduran bank Banhcafé currently holds 57.03% of the shares in Progelsa, while Sorgent Chile SPA holds 42.98%. Sorgent Chile SPA is a subsidiary of the Italian holding company Sorgent.e, which is also financed by the Norwegian Investment Fund in Developing Countries (Norfund).

The dam was announced in 2013.

Residents of Reitoca oppose the dam because the river is the only source of water for more than 12,000 people in 10 villages and 113 hamlets. They also highlighted that they have title to the land and that the dam lacks their free, prior and informed consent.

Construction on the dam began in April 2016.

Campamento en Defensa del Rio Grande

Criterio.hn notes what happened when construction began: “At the beginning of the work the construction company dynamited the hills that are in the riverbed and the earth fell into the waters, which caused a decrease in the flow. The color of the water darkened, the fish died, and the water level dropped substantially.”

In 2017, the Lenca Indigenous Council of Reitoca denounced the water pollution and the illegality of the project but were ignored.

In January 2018, they established Campamento en Defensa del Rio Grande, a camp in defence of the river, on community land in front of the entrance gates to the company.

They said in a public statement: “We initiated territorial control actions in the construction zone, since January 14, 2018, and we remain an average of one hundred people daily to prevent the construction of the dam from continuing.”

The camp was attacked by police on January 30, 2018, two defenders – Avelino Gutierrez and Mariam Osorio – were shot by the police.

Construction on the dam has been halted since this time.

On February 26, 2018, the Lenca community declared themselves a municipality free of extractive projects.

After that, Conexihon reported: “The peaceful takeover is now 125 days old, despite surveillance, attacks, and harassment by elements of the PMOP [the Military Public Order Police], the Preventive Police, the Army, and private security guards.”

New judicial process against defenders

Radio Progreso now reports: “Those arrested [on August 5] are accused of burning the municipality’s police post, an event recorded in March 2020.”

On August 10, Aler reported: “Jose Orlando Rodas, one of the criminalized defenders points out that this new judicial process seeks to intimidate the resistance of the citizens and crush the fight, but that the company and the municipal mayor will not achieve the objective of continuing to damage the river with the hydroelectric plant, and they will continue to defend the main source of water of this indigenous Lenca community.”

For more on this, there are these two Pasos de Animal Grande articles Desarraigados: Juez les prohíbe a defensores del Río Petacón volver a sus casas and Caso capturas en Reitoca: Juez aceptó requerimiento fiscal del MP sin fundamento, as well as the 3-minute video La lucha lenca por el Río Petacón.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies UVOC during judicial recognition process at the El Chico-La Primavera community

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 10, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Yesterday, PBI accompanied members of the Verapaz Union of Campesino Organizations (UVOC) and the El Chico-La Primavera community, in a judicial recognition process conducted by the Public Ministry.”

In 2013, UVOC lawyer Jorge Luis Morales commented: “The case of La Primavera is emblematic of the issue of agrarian disputes in Guatemala.” In short, Indigenous Poqomchi families have worked this land for centuries, but the current landowners do not recognize their land tenure rights and have tried to evict them.

PBI-Guatemala has explained that the ownership of part of the lands of this farm was achieved in July 2015. However, in early-2020, PBI-Guatemala noted that “there are still conflicts over the property and access to it.”

On February 28, 2020, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Yesterday we accompanied the community members of UVOC and their lawyer in the act of judicial recognition, carried out by the Justice of the Peace of San Cristóbal, Alta Verapaz, of the boundaries of the El Chico and Saq-ixim communities on the La Primavera farm.”

UVOC is an indigenous and peasant organization dedicated to the defence and promotion of access to land in the context of historical dispossession and ongoing inequality in Guatemala. UVOC represents Q’eqchi’, Poqomchi, Achi and Mestizas peoples.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied UVOC since 2005.

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS in Santa Rosa del Sur as 700 people displaced by armed conflict

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 10, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted on Instagram: “Yesterday we accompanied the Humanitarian Commission of @credhos_paz in Santa Rosa del Sur, after the massive forced displacement of communities in the municipalities of Arenal, Montecristo and Morales (Sur de Bolivar).”

The Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) has tweeted: “CREDHOS Humanitarian Commission meets with JAC [Juntas de Acción Comunal] presidents and community leaders in the municipality of Santa Rosa del Sur. In the framework of the enforceability of human rights, the documentation of the forced displacement of communities in the municipalities of Arenal, Montecristo and Morales.”

On August 3, Infobae reported: “In Santa Rosa, in southern Bolivar, more than 700 people have arrived displaced from the municipality of Montecristo in recent days, due to constant clashes between illegal armed groups, the department’s security director, Jose Ardila, confirmed in an interview with RCN Radio.”

That article adds: “The Mayor of Santa Rosa, Fabio Morales, in an interview with Blu Radio, said that there would be about 200 families who would have left their homes in fear and anxiety about losing their lives amid the fighting between the ELN [National Liberation Army] and the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] dissidents.”

On August 9, Caracol Radio reported that in coordination with the National Victims Unit in Magdalena Medio, the Bolivar Governor’s Office delivered 300 food kits and 500 hygiene kits to the displaced families who arrived in the urban area of Santa Rosa del Sur, fleeing the clashes between the ELN and armed dissidents.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

PBI-Canada observes International Prisoners’ Justice Day

By
Brent Patterson
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August 10 is Prisoners Justice Day in Canada and around the world.

It marks the anniversary of the death of Eddie Nalon at Millhaven prison in Kingston, Ontario on this day in 1974. Nalon was manipulated by prison guards into 30 days of solitary confinement, then placed in segregation where he took his life after guards withheld that his transfer back to the general population had been approved.

In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Mandela Rules that defines solitary confinement as “the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact” and that regards solitary confinement of more than 15 consecutive days as a form of torture.

Earlier this year, the CBC reported that some prisoners in Canada are kept in solitary confinement longer than 15 days which amounts to “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” according to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules).

Indigenous peoples and solitary confinement

Indigenous people, and especially Indigenous women, have been disproportionately subjected to solitary confinement in Canadian prisons.

In October 2016, CBC reported that 23-year-old Adam Capay of Lac Seul First Nation had been held in solitary confinement for four years at the Thunder Bay District Jail.

And in August 2017, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) highlighted that: “In Canada, Indigenous women are more likely to be involuntarily segregated and endure longer segregations than non-Indigenous women.”

That report found that Indigenous women represent 5 percent of the overall Canadian population but make up half of all federal segregation placements.

Incarceration of Indigenous peoples in Canada

In 2015, the federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended: “We call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to commit to eliminating the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in custody over the next decade, and to issue detailed annual reports that monitor and evaluate progress in doing so.”

Statistics Canada figures show that the incarceration of Indigenous people in Canada has increased since that recommendation.

In 2015/2016, there were 333,196 admissions to federal, provincial and territorial adult correctional services. Indigenous adults accounted for 26 per cent of those admissions, meaning about 86,631 people.

In 2018/2019, there were a total of 383,369 admissions, with Indigenous peoples accounting for about 30 per cent of the admissions or about 115,011 individuals.

Furthermore, in 2015/16, Indigenous women accounted for 31 per cent of admissions into federal prisons. By 2018/19, that already high number had increased to 41 per cent for Indigenous women.

Billions spent on prisons in Canada

The Correctional Service of Canada, which operates 53 federal prisons across the country, has an annual budget of about $2.6 billion.

Millions more are spent on provincial systems. For instance, the budget in Saskatchewan for “custody, supervision and rehabilitation services” is about $187 million. About 75 per cent of the inmates in that provincial system are Indigenous. About 65 per cent of the inmates in the federal prisons in Saskatchewan are Indigenous.

PBI accompaniment

Peace Brigades International accompanies the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Colombia, political prisoner Bernardo Caal Xol in Guatemala, the imprisoned Guapinol water defenders in Honduras, and has accompanied the Cerezo Committee in Mexico that was founded after the imprisonment of the brothers Alejandro, Héctor and Antonio Cerezo in maximum-security penitentiaries.

PBI-Mexico accompanied the Comité Cerezo February 16, 2009, the day Héctor and Antonio Cerezo were released from prison.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the imprisoned Maya Q’eqchi defender Bernardo Caal Xol.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Indigenous authorities at Mayan ceremony, community assembly opposed to megaprojects

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 9, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies the authorities of Olopa and Quezaltepeque in the commemoration of ancestors on the #InternationalDayofIndigenousPeople.”

Prensa Comunitaria further reported:

“Indigenous authorities of Quezaltepeque, Olopa, Camotán and Jocotán, in the department of Chiquimula, held a community assembly on the occasion of the International Day of the Indigenous Peoples, which is commemorated every August 9.

The Ch’orti Maya Indigenous Council of Olopa and Quezaltepeque joined to walk to the summit of Chiramay, sacred place for the Ch’orti’ people, in the municipality of Quezaltepeque, Chiquimula to start the day with a Mayan ceremony.

“We want to be recognized and respected as an indigenous people, we organize to continue advancing our rights. As indigenous authorities we want to unite the communities to have a better Guatemala,” said Ovidio Alonzo, of the Indigenous Council of Olopa.

María Miguel, indigenous authority of Quezaltepeque said: “We as an indigenous people want to continue making efforts to unite and defend our territory from megaprojects.”

Miguel showed her gratitude for the accompaniment of authorities from San Luis Jilotepeque, from the Poqomam people. The ceremony was attended by about a thousand people.”

The Prensa Comunitaria article is here.

PBI-Mexico attends highway blockade by Rarámuri community demanding its territorial rights

By
Brent Patterson
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El Pueblo reports: “On Sunday, August 8, and within the framework of the International Day of the Indigenous Peoples, the Rarámuri forest community of San Elías Repechique, municipality of Bocoyna, held a peaceful protest in which they intermittently closed the Creel – San Rafael highway in front of the Creel regional airport.”

“There they demanded that they be legally recognized the territory of which they have ancestral possession, territory that was sold and titled to private individuals.”

That article adds: “This protest was joined by the communities of Mogótavo, Cuiteco and Tewerichi, also calling for an end to the criminalization of Indigenous communities and was attended by Peace Brigades International (PBI).”

The Community Technical Consultancy (CONTEC), an organization that supports Indigenous communities in the Sierra Tarahumara in the state of Chihuahua, adds:

“The community has suffered countless damages, among which are the cutting down of its forests, the lawsuits against its authorities, the contamination of water sources, the cancellation of sidewalks and the use of its territory for the construction of projects for public use without being taken into account.”

Additionally, the Sierra Madre Alliance (ASMAC) has stated: “[We] recognize the work in defense of its territory and natural assets of the Rarámuri community, San Elías Repechique, located in the municipality of Bocoyna and of the Community Technical Consultancy, an organization that accompanies it.”

“The community defends its right to recognition of the territory peacefully occupied by its ancestors and present generations. They defend the right to use and enjoy their natural assets in line with their culture. Therefore, the community has embarked on a long road to demand respect for its territorial rights.”

The ASMC statement highlights: “In 2014 the community won a lawsuit against the construction of the Creel Airport. The ruling recognizes the rights derived from the ancestral possession of the community in the 11,400 hectares.”

“For this reason, in 2017 a Trust was formed by the community and the State Government to carry out productive projects of collective benefit. As part of this ruling, the community decided to develop a project for a sewing workshop that began to be built in April 2020. Just a month later, members of the community who were building the workshop were harassed by agents of the prosecutor’s office in the western area. Thus, the criminal complaint against Rarámuri Teresa Gonzalez, as the person in charge of the workshop, became known.”

“After two visits by the police intimidating the women of the workshop, in August 2020 a strong operation was implemented and 50 people were arrested, including girls, boys and the elderly, in addition to the detention, they established security measures for the workshop, preventing its construction. It was through the promotion of an injunction presented by the community and granted by the district court in December that the measure was withdrawn until April by the Public Ministry.”

The full ASMAC statement can be read here.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Justice and Peace Commission in Murindó, Antioquia as anti-personnel mines threaten Indigenous communities

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo from Organización Indígena de Antioquia (OIA).

On August 9, PBI-Colombia posted: “During the weekend we accompanied the Justice and Peace Commission in Murindó in the Bajo Atrato in the framework of meetings on the worrying issue of anti-personnel mines in the area due to the sharpening of the conflict.”

On July 18, El Tiempo reported: Indigenous people in Murindó besieged by antipersonnel mines.

That article notes: “When Remilda Benítez Domicó was traveling through the territory to carry out her activities as a pan-harvesting agent, she activated one of the many antipersonnel mines that are found on an ancestral road in the municipality of Murindó, in Antioquia’s Urabá. She was carrying her youngest daughter – 2 years old – in her arms when the device exploded. Her child suffered minor injuries, but she survived. However, Remilda died at the scene on Sunday, June 20. She was 22 years old and belonged to the Eyábida Embera people, from the Bachidubi community, in the Río Murindó reservation. Remilda left five children, a husband and a frightened population in her territory.”

El Espectador adds: “According to the Indigenous Organization of Antioquia (OIA), these devices are a constant threat to the indigenous people of this region of the country, since at the moment there are 10 communities in the Atrato Medio with the presence of these artifacts.”

“The organization again called on the armed groups not to involve indigenous communities in the war. They also rejected the implantation of antipersonnel mines that since 2020 has left nine indigenous people dead in Antioquia, including four minors.”

The armed groups are reportedly the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerillas and the Clan del Golfo paramilitary.

The article also notes: “As of December 31, 2020, Descontamina Colombia, of the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, recorded a total of 165 victims of antipersonnel mines throughout the country.”

And Telesur reports: “Due to threats from illegal armed groups and the reseeding of antipersonnel mines, eleven indigenous communities [including Murindó] are at risk in Antioquia.”

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

PBI-Honduras marks the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 9, PBI-Honduras posted: “In #Honduras, the areas most affected by extractivism and exploitation of natural goods are mostly indigenous and Afro-descendant territories. Therefore, they face serious challenges in the area of human rights.”

PBI-Honduras adds: “On the #DiaInternacionalDeLosPueblosIndigenas [#InternationalDayOfIndigenousPeoples], we remember your valuable contribution to cultural diversity, societies and environmental protection.”

In their post they included the photo above that states: “The condition of the Indigenous can improve in two ways; either the heart of the oppressors is saddened to the extreme of recognizing the right of the oppressed, or the spirit of the oppressed acquires sufficient virility to chastise (teach a lesson to) the oppressors.”

The quote is from Manuel Gonzales Prada (1844-1918), a Peruvian thinker and literary critic.

The Peace Brigades International website notes: “International declarations and mechanisms on indigenous rights enshrine the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples and recognise the importance of land rights for the original inhabitants of many countries now governed by the descendants of colonisers.”

“These rights are often the focus of conflict as powerful interests wish to exploit the natural resources found within and beneath traditional territories. Defenders of land rights, culture and natural resources can find themselves facing powerful interests and brutal opposition.”

PBI highlights: “Some have approached PBI for protection after they have been attacked or their colleagues assassinated.”

Peace Brigades International accompanies Indigenous struggles in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Colombia. PBI-Canada seeks to link those struggles in Latin America with the struggles of Indigenous land defenders on the territories within Canada.

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is recognized by the United Nations.

#DiaInternacionalDeLosPueblosIndigenas

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