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PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS on inspection visit to Ciénaga Pajaral, a lake in environmental stress

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 14, CREDHOS tweeted: “Credhos makes an inspection visit to the Ciénaga Pajaral with the Corporación Autónoma Regional del Sur de Bolivar (CSB) in defense of the Ciénaga in the Municipality of Cantagallo, within the framework of the Popular Action established by the Corporation.”

Ciénaga Pajaral is a lake (also referred to as a wetland or swamp) in the Magdalena Medio region.

Cantagallo is situated in the department of Bolívar in northern Colombia.

And the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Southern Bolívar (CSB) is an entity in charge of managing the environment and natural resources in that area.

In February, Vanguardia reported on the Ciénaga Pajaral this article: They ask for attention for the Pajaral swamp, in Bolívar.

That article reported:

“A call for national authorities to put their eyes on the Pajaral swamp made the communities of Cantagallo, south of Bolívar.

And it is that at least 500 families in the area based their livelihood on this water mirror, but today the reality is very different.

According to leaders of the area, the first step that must be taken is to carry out environmental studies for its recovery, since work carried out by third parties on the banks of the Cimitarra River considerably affected the swamp.

“The swamp previously had an area of ​​more than 8,000 square meters, but today we are affected by almost 80% of it.

More than 300 families of artisanal fishermen from Cantagallo were left without food. That is why Bolívar’s environmental authority must design a project for its recovery,” said Jhon Salas, spokesman for the fishing community.“

That article can be read in Spanish here.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

#DefensaDelAgua #WaterDefence

PBI-Canada visits Bajo Simacota, Colombia to see environmental impacts of Calgary-based Parex Resources on water

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 13, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “Heather Neun from @PBIcanada with the support of @Credhos_Paz saw in person the environmental effects, including on water sources, produced by the Canadian company Parex Resources in the El Diviso village in Bajo Simacota.”

In January 2017, CRY-GEAM posted this video on Facebook noting that Parex Resources did not have the needed environmental documents for the Aguas Blancas field.

Then in April 2017, CRY-GEAM posted this photo on Facebook of a truck with concerns about runoff into the Colorada River.

Also in April 2017, CRY-GEAM posted this video on Twitter with the text: “Parex in Simacota, Campo Aguas Blancas, without archaeological management plan, without environmental permit, above the law and communities. Who responds?”

When CREDHOS president Ivan Madero visited Ottawa in November 2019 on a PBI-Canada organized advocacy tour, he raised his concerns about Parex at a meeting with Export Development Canada (EDC).

According to this online information from Export Development Canada, its financing and support to Parex Resources has included: $25-50 million (07-05-2018), $50-100 million (22-02-2019), and $50-100 million (27-05-2019).

CREDHOS has highlighted that community members undertook a blockade of the Parex oil field in Simacota in March 2020.

By September 2020, Parex had taken two social leaders to court over this protest claiming it had harmed their good name. Adolfo Salinas Coba, one of the social leaders taken to court by Parex, says: “We defend water, because water is life, and I would not exchange a glass of water for a glass of oil.”

By October 2020, a municipal court had dismissed the company’s challenge against the two social leaders.

In March 2021, CREDHOS tweeted: “For a healthy environment, CREDHOS accompanies and supports the processes in defense of water in the territory. We highlight the struggle of the Bajo Simacota community against contamination by oil spills, caused by Parex.”

This visit in July 2021 by PBI-Canada’s Heather Neun is a signal of our commitment to continue to follow the situation in Bajo Simacota.

Beyond these concerns, Parex may also be interested in fracking in Colombia. In March 2019, Colombian energy minister Maria Fernanda Suarez named Parex as one of the companies interested in the fracking pilot projects.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.

Guatemalan human rights lawyer Édgar Fernando Pérez Archila to speak at PBI-Canada webinar this Thursday

By
Brent Patterson
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Guatemalan lawyer Édgar Fernando Pérez Archila, the director of the Law Firm for Human Rights, will be speaking on a PBI-Canada webinar this Thursday.

To register for this bilingual webinar, click here.

Plaza Pública has reported on his work representing the Indigenous Ixil population in the court hearings that found former President Ríos Montt guilty of genocide on May 10, 2013 for crimes against the Ixil peoples in 1982 and 1983.

“During the hearings, he was accompanied by Peace Brigades International. He says he will never allow a person with a gun next to him. After the genocide case, he and his family had to leave the country, to protect against threats of violence against him, even though it was only for the first 10 days after the sentence.”

Pérez also took part in the last two years of the trial that ended in 1999 with the conviction of three army commanders for the March 1982 massacre of 177 people in Rio Negro ahead of the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam.

Pérez founded the Human Rights Law Firm in 2010. He charges no fees when the trial ends and no percentage from a victim’s reparations, instead the firm survives through the international support of foundations and governments.

Plaza Pública notes: “War victims make up 95 percent of the firm’s clients. The rest are Mayan authorities or land defenders.”

That article from June 2017 further notes: “Currently, under Pérez’s direction, the firm is focused on the CREOMPAZ case, the Dos Erres massacre and genocide, and the Ixil genocide, which are all tied up in legal motions and appeals.”

In December 2020, La Cuerda reported: “In January 2016, 14 former military personnel were detained for alleged links to crimes of enforced disappearance and crimes against humanity committed during the internal armed conflict, after evidence was found at the facilities of the Regional Command for Peacekeeping Operations Training (CREOMPAZ).”

The remains of 565 people were found at that military base in exhumations that took place between 2012 and 2015. Hundreds of victims have been identified as Indigenous Maya Poqomchi, Q’eqchi’, Achi, Ixil and K’iche peoples. 94 of those identified were under the age of 18.

In June 2016, Judge Claudette Domínguez determined that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute eight of the fourteen accused.

La Cuerta explains that Judge Dominguez reduced the number of accused due to dismissal, lack of merit and provisional closings, accepted only 29 of 152 witnesses identified by the Public Ministry and left survivors of sexual violence out of the case.

The International Justice Monitor has reported: “While she ruled to send the CREOMPAZ case to trial in June 2016, her ruling has been contested by the plaintiffs, resulting in a series of appeals that remain unresolved, leaving the case in legal limbo.”

As of May 2020, the case has not moved to trial because of several pending appeals that have not been resolved to date.

To hear the latest from Édgar Pérez this Thursday, click here.

PBI-Guatemala began to accompany Édgar Pérez in August 2010.

 

PBI-Mexico shares Canal 44 TV report on search for the disappeared by two human rights organizations in Ciudad Juarez

By
Brent Patterson
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Image from Canal 44 news report.

On July 9, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted: “Today in Ciudad Juárez [in the state of Chihuahua] we accompany @CdhPasodelNorte [Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre] and @UnidasVerdad [Families United for Truth and Justice] in search work and the tracking of missing persons.”

“The families of missing persons face dangers that put their physical and emotional integrity at risk during their tracking efforts. Therefore, we express our concern about the absence of local authorities during today’s search.”

PBI-Mexico adds: “We call on the Mexican authorities to fulfill their duty to guarantee protection for families and their companions in the search for their loved ones.”

On July 13, PBI-Mexico also posted a Ciudad Juarez-based Canal 44 (Channel 44) television news report about that search work.

The PBI-Mexico tweet shares a quote from Alejandro Duran Calderon, a member of both the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre and Unidas Verdad, who says: “We, as families, are worn out, tired. We are the ones who want to find our relatives. However, the authorities are characterized by forgetting the families.”

To watch the news clip, click here.

The Intercept recently reported: “At the very minimum, nearly 90,000 people and counting have disappeared in the past 15 years, a tally that exceeds the Cold War totals of desaparecidos in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala combined.”

And NBC News has reported: “The majority of disappearances have been reported since 2006 and 40 percent were recorded since December 2018, since the start of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has accompanied the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre since 2013.

PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC at meeting with Tolupan peoples protecting ancestral lands from mining

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 13, PBI-Honduras posted: “PBI accompanies CEHPRODEC in Las Vegas de Tepemechín visiting the Indigenous Tolupan community.”

It adds: “They held a meeting together with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras (OACNUDH) to learn about the risk situation and threats facing tribal defenders.”

On July 9, OACNUDH posted on Facebook: “After meeting with human rights defenders of the Tolupan Tribe of Las Vegas de Tepemechin to learn about the risk situation they face, OACNUDH urges competent institutions to ensure the rights of Indigenous peoples and the protection of their defenders.”

PBI-Honduras further notes: “The Tolupan community lives a constant struggle to protect ancestral lands from extractive projects. ‘As Indigenous people we are alone in front of the world.’ They express concern over the pollution of rivers and the fear of being removed from territory by mining exploration.”

The Tolupan Tribe of Las Vegas de Tepemechín is situated in the municipality of Victoria in the department of Yoro, about 140 kilometres north of Tegucigalpa.

Canada and extractivism in Honduras

The Conversation has reported: “In the early 2000s, Canadian investment [in Honduras] surpassed $100 million, much of it concentrated in mining and exploration.”

General Mining Law

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

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

Among the concerns expressed by Honduran groups including CEHPRODEC: “The law fails to ensure the protection of natural areas and water sources vital for human consumption and other uses health” and “imposes limits on citizen participation and contradicts provisions for environmental conservation by prohibiting areas free of mining from being created for any length of time.”

Canadian investment, free trade agreement

In May 2014, CEHPRODEC contributed to the report The Impact of Canadian Mining in Latin America and Canada’s Responsibility that was submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. That report noted:

“The political and economic support Canada gives Canadian companies (through mechanisms such as Export Development Canada (EDC), the Investment Board of the Canadian Pension Plan, and the Canadian International Development Agency) is provided without adequate controls to prevent the violation of human rights in the countries where the companies that receive these benefits operate.”

“Trade agreements usually contain clauses on human rights and environmental protection. However, they lack the legal bases to force the parties — and, fundamentally, Canada — to comply with the obligation to respect and guarantee the human rights that are violated in the host countries by the actions of Canadian mining companies.”

The Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement and parallel agreements on labour and environmental cooperation entered into force on October 1, 2014.

CEHPRODEC

PBI-Honduras has accompanied the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC) since May 2014.

CF-18 monument to be installed in Ottawa, one already in place where air force base displaced Dene peoples in Alberta

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: A CF-18 monument was installed at Heritage Park at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in 2004 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the base that displaced Dene Su’lene’ peoples from their ancestral lands.

In September 2020, Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese reported on monuments to be installed at the new headquarters of National Defence on Carling Avenue in Ottawa.

His article noted: “The Royal Canadian Air Force will provide a CF-18 fighter jet for display at the headquarters. ‘The installation date of the CF-18 is still being determined,’ Canadian Forces spokesman Maj. Scott Spurr noted in an email.”

In 2015, the plan was for a CF-5 fighter jet to be one of the monuments.

Pugliese adds: “The CF-5 jet was dumped in exchange for a more modern CF-18, which will be installed on a concrete pedestal.”

Dene displaced for air force base

Dene Su’lene’ land defenders have stated: “In 1952, we were forcibly evicted from our homelands [so that the base could be constructed]. In Suckerville [on the shores of Primrose Lake], our people had a 7-day sit-in, refusing to leave. Reluctantly, after heavy coercion from the government, a deal was made.”

They add: “Our people left peacefully under the understanding that this was to be a short-term lease purely for military use, and that the 4,490 square miles of land was to be returned or re-negotiated after 20 years.”

On June 3, 2001, Dene Su’lene’ Warriors established a Peace Camp blockade 300 metres from the gate to the military base that also includes the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) where live fire training exercises are conducted.

In April 2013, they began making trips into the northeastern part of the CLAWR and began preparations to build cabins, openly engaging in traditional land use activities and actively asserting their rights to their territory.

Burial grounds bombed

Also known as the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range, it includes “an instrumented aerospace testing and evaluation range, a manned air-to-ground range (including a high explosive range), and an air-to-air gunnery range.”

Land defender Brian Grandbois was one of the opponents of the military base at that time. In an interview, he told The Dominion: “My great-great-great-grandfather is buried there on a point on that lake where they bomb.”

“Denesuline are cleaning toilets for executives”

By October 2001, the Band Council of the Cold Lake First Nation signed a $25.5 million that would allow the military base and weapons range to continue. This amounted to $35 for each acre of the weapons range and $2,500 for each band member.

In November 2012, Sandra Cuffe wrote: “Aside from a land claim settlement concerning the military base, the Cold Lake First Nation band council has also signed agreements with hydrocarbon corporations and owns a number of contracting companies serving the military and oil and gas industries.”

Grandbois commented: “They’re extracting huge amounts of resources, both in gas and oil. …If you look in the Air Weapons Range today in 2012, you’ll find the Denesuline are cleaning toilets for executives.”

New fighter jets, upgraded base

The Canadian government now plans to spend up to $19 billion on the purchase of new fighter jets. This study suggests the life-cycle costs of those fighter jets could be $76.8 billion.

In August 2020, the Canadian Armed Forces announced a $9.2 million contract for the design of a new fighter jet facility at 4 Wing Cold Lake to house these new fighter jets.

Ottawa West-Nepean Member of Parliament Anita Vandenbeld, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, has indicated that the selection of the successful bidder is anticipated in early 2022 and that the contract for the new fighter jet is expected to be awarded in late 2022.

We continue to follow this.

International Observation Mission to Colombia makes 54 recommendations, including on free trade and military sales

By
Brent Patterson
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Image from July 12 media conference on the Mission’s findings.

The International Observation Mission for the Guarantees of Social Protest and Against Impunity in Colombia was comprised of 41 commissioners, including Peace Brigades International-Canada Board member Heather Neun and two members of the Quebec-based Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC).

It responded to an urgent appeal from numerous groups, including the PBI-Colombia accompanied Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace, and Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL).

The Mission was established as a mechanism for the verification and visibility of serious violations of human rights and guarantees of social protest in Colombia.

The commissioners arrived in Colombia on July 3 and released this 32-page preliminary report on July 12. The media conference on this report can be seen here.

The Mission received information on the human rights situation from more than 70 local and regional organizations (strike committees, student groups, women’s collectives, human rights organizations, trade unions, among others) and documented approximately 180 direct complaints of physical attacks, persecution, harassment and violation of human rights within the framework of the National Strike that began on April 28 of this year.

Their preliminary report concludes: “We consider that Colombia is going through a situation of humanitarian emergency and serious human rights crisis.”

Among its 54 recommendations, the Mission called on:

1- the Government of Colombia to stop the repression of the protest and of the entire population that participates and / or supports the demonstrations.

2- the international community and multilateral institutions to pay special attention to prevention, vigilance and demand respect for human rights before, during and after the mobilizations.

3- the Colombian State to demilitarize and structurally reform the National Police in order to carry out the dissolution of the ESMAD riot police.

4- the international community to suspend the sale of military weapons and riot control material, refrain from financing sectors and companies that threaten fundamental human rights in Colombia and activate the suspensive clauses in case of violation of rights of the different free trade and investment agreements signed by Colombia.

5- companies to refrain from financing or supporting state forces or paramilitary or parapolice relating to serious human rights violations including the dispossession of land.

The report concludes: “The Mission is committed to monitoring progress in the recommendations that we have done. The follow-up of urgent actions will be delivered in August 2021 in conjunction with our full report.”

PBI-Canada Board member Heather Neun meets with PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS and anti-fracking group Aguawil

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 12, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “@PBIColombia with @Credhos_Paz and Heather Neun from @PBIcanada in meeting with organizations including Aguawil that reject fracking in Puerto Wilches. Members of these organizations are threatened by resisting fracking.”

Neun, a lawyer in British Columbia, arrived in Colombia on July 3 to participate in the international observation mission that heard testimonies from women, Indigenous peoples, young people, human rights defenders, and others about police repression and human rights violations in the context of the national strike that began on April 28. After arriving in Bogota, Neun was in Medellin for the meetings.

PBI-Colombia, CREDHOS and the Luis Carlos Pérez Collective Lawyers Corporation (CCALCP) took part in a PBI-Canada advocacy tour in Canada in November 2019 that highlighted concerns about fracking. On that tour, Neun organized several key meetings for CREDHOS and CCALCP in Vancouver.

CREDHOS and Aguawil also participated in a PBI-Canada organized webinar about fracking and extractivism that took place on April 29 of this year.

Fracking in the Magdalena Medio

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) has approved two fracking pilot projects near Puerto Wilches in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia.

Ecopetrol will reportedly invest $76.7 million in its Kalé project and ExxonMobil $53 million in its Platero fracking project. Toronto-based Sintana Energy owns a 30 per cent stake in the block held by ExxonMobil and welcomed the news about ExxonMobil receiving the contract for the fracking pilot project.

Additionally, Calgary-based Canacol Energy has expressed interest in the potential for fracking in the Plata and Piranga projects (on blocks of land it co-owns with ConocoPhilips) that would also impact Puerto Wilches. And Calgary-based Parex Resources had reportedly also expressed interest in the fracking pilot projects.

Threats

On March 30, PBI-Colombia tweeted this quote from a TV interview done by CREDHOS president Ivan Madero: “The water and environmental leaderships in the territories are in serious danger, suffer threats and attacks.”

On March 24, CREDHOS received a death threat both on their office landline and on Madero’s personal cellphone.

And on March 1, Alfredo Molano Jimeno wrote in El Espectador about the threats faced by opponents of fracking in the Magdalena Medio including Yuli Velasquez, Luis Alberto González and 20-year-old Yuvelis Natalia Morales, a member of the Committee for the Defence of Water, Life and Territory of Puerto Wilches (AguaWil).

AguaWil is accompanied by CREDHOS.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.

PBI-Guatemala co-founder Alain Richard who helped develop the PBI model accompaniment passes away at 96 years of age

By
Brent Patterson
-

Peace Brigades International-France has announced the passing of Alain Richard, who died on June 24 in Avignon, France at 96 years of age.

In the book Unarmed Bodyguards, Liam Mahony and Luis Enrique Eguren tell the story of Richard’s involvement in the first PBI team in Guatemala in 1983.

US-based PBI activist Dan Clark called then 58-year-old Alain Richard, a French Franciscan worker-priest in Panama, and soon Richard was part of the three-person PBI team that set up in the home of an exiled Guatemalan professor.

By the end of their first month in Guatemala, the team had worked out a plan that included “serving continually as an international presence”, “direct action with regard to disappearances” and “creative nonviolent action in a crisis period.”

Mahony and Eguren write: “During their first year, PBI team members traveled throughout the highlands, visiting rural farmers, clandestine contacts, and government and military officials, introducing themselves and feeling things out.”

“When necessary, they helped people flee the country.

“In one case, PBI learned of a man who was about to be sentenced to death by Rios Montt’s Special Tribunals. PBI and other groups outside the country put together an overnight campaign, using confidential diplomatic channels of pressure, and they got a stay of sentencing and execution. PBI later helped hustle the man out of the country.”

“By the end of the first year, the team had made many contacts and tested several program ideas, but none of them had developed into a clear mission.”

By 1984, the Mutual Support Group (GAM) of families of disappeared persons had formed and was meeting at the PBI house in Guatemala City.

Mahony and Eguren write: “On Saturday, March 30, 1985, Hector Gomez left a GAM meeting at the PBI house. He was found dead the next day with his hands tied behind his back, no tongue, and signs of beating and burns.”

And Clark has written: “On April 3, PBI’s Alain Richard warned founder and secretary of GAM Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas not to leave her home for any reason because she was also in danger of being killed. The next day she was found dead in her car in a ravine with her brother and her two-year-old son, who had been ill. The cause of their deaths was strangulation, and the child’s fingernails had been pulled out.”

Richard notes: “The night before I had to leave [the country to renew my visa], a close diplomatic contact visited me, along with Jean-Marie Simon of Americas Watch, and they told me, ‘Listen, you’ve started to be with these women. That has to continue. How can you make sure you have enough people to do that?’”

Mahony and Eguren highlight: “This was the beginning of PBI ‘escorting’: providing the surviving GAM leadership with around the clock unarmed bodyguards.”

PBI-Canada joins with PBI-France in mourning the passing of Alain Richard.

For more, please see the PBI-France article: Hommage à Alain Richard.

 

Join us on Thursday!

By
Brent Patterson
-

This Thursday at 3 pm ET we are holding a webinar focused on an Indigenous community in Guatemala who are seeking their land back after being displaced by a military base.

Echoing recent news in Canada, the remains of 90 Indigenous children who were disappeared in the 1980s were found on that base.

Every July since 2008, the community has mobilized on the anniversary of their displacement to demand their land back.

Last month, while they were preparing for a mobilization with this demand, 21 members of the community were arrested and put in jail.

With a court date for some of those arrested happening on Friday, and the anniversary of the community’s displacement later this month, this webinar will provide us with an opportunity to hear directly about this struggle.

And given the Government of Canada’s ongoing support for the military base, the webinar will hopefully generate ideas on what those of us in this country can do to support the community’s reclamation of their land and healing process.

Join us by registering at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6qCBQCNYR6yMb4fGTq2hKA

Hope you can join us.

Brent, PBI-Canada

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