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As National Strike protests fracking, Colombia signs contract with ExxonMobil for Platero project near Puerto Wilches

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 5, environmental defenders painted their opposition to fracking in front of the buildings of the Minister of Environment and Ecopetrol, the national petroleum company.

On June 4, the Colombian National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) and Texas-based ExxonMobil signed a contract that formally authorizes the Platero fracking pilot project to proceed near Puerto Wilches, Santander.

This follows ExxonMobil submitting a proposal to the ANH on March 17 and their provisional approval of that proposal on March 31.

The Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy, Diego Mesa, says: “[The pilot project] will allow us to make a decision based on science and research on the future of the hydraulic fracturing technique with horizontal drilling in Colombia.”

Mesa continues: “The experience of companies such as ExxonMobil and Ecopetrol will be deployed in projects with the highest technical standards, an open and participatory dialogue with the communities and the guarantee of environmental protection.”

And yet, communities have been clear in their opposition to fracking.

In February, an Oil Barometer poll found that 73 per cent of Colombians would not agree with fracking being carried out in their municipality and that 69 per cent of people in Puerto Wilches also disagree with fracking.

In May, more than 130 organizations announced their participation in the national strike. Among their demands was the prohibition of fracking in Colombia. The signatories of this statement include the PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (CCAJAR) and Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS).

Canadian company Sintana and VMM-37

While ExxonMobil is a US-based transnational, there is a Canadian connection to the VMM-37 plot of land where the Platero fracking project is to take place.

Toronto-based Sintana Energy says: “Sintana, via wholly owned Patriot Energy Sucursal Colombia, holds an undivided 30% non-operated participation interest in a Contract for Exploration and Production for Block VMM-37.”

“ExxonMobil holds the remaining 70% participation interest in the Block VMM-37 Contract and is the designated Operator.”

“The Company’s support for Project Platero is made even though the Government’s process excluded an important segment of the petroleum industry by not allowing smaller companies, such as companies the size of Sintana, to participate in CEPI bids.”

Their statement adds: “Regarding Project Platero, Sintana has been and continues to be in positive communications with both ExxonMobil and the ANH 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.”

PBI-Canada continues to follow this situation closely.

For more on a webinar convened by PBI and Above Ground on April 29 on fracking and extractivism in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia, please click here.

Image from Mongabay.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies lawyers at trial of ex-officers on trial for the disappearance of union leaders, students and others

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 8, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “PBI accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) on the sixth day of first-statement hearing in the #CasoDiarioMilitar [Military Journal Case].”

Ruda explains: “The Military Journal is a record of the names, photographs, and addresses of men and women who were arrested, detained, disappeared and murdered. The list includes students, university professors, trade unionists, and members of social organizations that the Army identified as allies of the guerrillas.”

Eleven retired soldiers and police officers are on trial for their alleged participation in the kidnapping, forced disappearance and extrajudicial executions of at least 183 people between 1983 and 1985.

PBI-Guatemala adds: “Today, the defense attorneys of six accused persons present their arguments before Judge Miguel Angel Gálvez.”

Prensa Libre had reported: “This Tuesday, June 8, the hearing of the first statement of the accused by the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Military Journal case continues.”

That article adds: “One of the accused in the case is Jacobo Salán Sánchez, whose lawyer pointed out that the accusation of the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office is based on analysis by ‘dubious experts’ and of ‘Marxist’ ideology and that it is ‘impossible’ for victims of the events to remember what happened because it was 37 years ago.”

Prensa Comunitaria adds: “According to information from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), [Colonel Jacobo Esdras Salán Sánchez] worked in the Army Intelligence Directorate (D-2) in the late eighties and nineties.”

Prensa Libre has also reported that the indictment against Salán links him to the forced disappearance of 12-year-old Juan Pablo Armira López who Salán and the military Intelligence group believed was connected to the Rebel Armed Forces.

Guate Vision adds that Salán is linked to the disappearance of Silvio Matricardi Salán in March 1984, as well as the detention and torture of Álvaro René Sosa Ramos.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm on all six days of the trial (that took place on June 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8).

PBI-Guatemala began to accompany BDH lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila in August 2010 due to several security incidents. In 2013, PBI-Guatemala extended the accompaniment to the other lawyers of the BDH who work on high-profile trials.

Photo: Jacobo Salán Sánchez (second from the left) in the court room.

Photo from Military Journal.

Photo by Regina Pérez.

PBI-Mexico accompanies Indigenous mobilization defending their territory in Chihuahua against tourist complex

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 8, PBI-Mexico posted: “On Saturday, May 29, PBI accompanied a mobilisation of the indigenous communities of Mogotavo, Bacajípare and Huetosachi, of the Sierra Tarahumara for the defense of life and ancestral territory.”

PBI-Mexico further highlights: “These Indigenous communities are at risk for dispossession of their lands.”

Among the groups accompanied by PBI-Mexico that day was the Sierra Madre Alliance (ASMAC) which is based in Chihuahua.

On May 31, PBI-Mexico had also tweeted: “Team in Chihuahua observes the mobilization of indigenous communities affected by the tourist projects in Barrancas del Cobre, who defend their territory.”

That followed a tweet from ASMAC that noted: “The peaceful protest of the Mogótavo community continues in the company of 10 other Odami and Rrámuri communities in defense of their territories.”

Defensa Tarahumara had also tweeted: “Entrepreneurs intend to deprive their territory of 80 Rarámuri families. For this reason, a peaceful march is being carried out where the communities of the Sierra Tarahumara are asking for respect for their territories and their human rights.”

In their Facebook post of June 8, PBI-Mexico shared this article in Raichali that explains: “A group of 5 businessmen … denounced for dispossession of some 154 hectares to the Rarámuri community of Mogótavo … [are] looking to develop a large tourist complex.”

“Recently, the Agrarian Superior Court ruled against the community because it allegedly did not respond to a lawsuit of which it was not notified and determined that the owners of that territory are the [five] businessmen.”

That article adds: “After the ruling, the businessmen sued the community representatives for dispossession.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied ASMAC since 2018.

PBI-Honduras notes the importance of international observation of trial in the struggle for justice for Berta Cáceres

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 8, PBI-Honduras posted about “the importance of international observation to ensure due process” in the trial of one of the alleged intellectual co-authors of the murder of Indigenous Lenca land defender Berta Caceres.

That same day, COPINH tweeted: “We are facing a political trial, where misogyny, institutional racism, contempt for indigenous peoples are evident and above all where it is felt that our beloved Berta was being judged rather. She was not a criminal, she was a defender of life!”

PBI-Honduras further notes that Melissa Cardoza will testify (via a live-feed from the Honduran Embassy in Mexico City).

The Utne Reader has reported:

Many of Cáceres’ friends and colleagues hoped the Goldman Prize would help protect her. “They gave her the Goldman, and I went with her [to the ceremony],” said Melissa Cardoza, a feminist organizer and writer who was a close friend of Cáceres’. “And I thought, OK, she’s in the clear. This is going to back her up. Because for a long time she told me, ‘They are going to kill me because they won’t be able to put up with our winning this struggle.’”

“Her life’s work was insurrection,” said Melissa Cardoza, the feminist organizer and writer. “One day I was with her when she was being arrested. The police were taking down her information, and I was with her. And the cop asked her, ‘What is your profession?’ And she said, ‘I’m a professional agitator.’ The cop said, ‘I can’t put that down.’ And she asked why not? ‘Because it doesn’t exist,’ the cop said. And so she turns to me and says, ‘You tell them. I’m a professional agitator.’ And so I told the cop, ‘Well, it’s true. That’s what she does.’

For updates on the trial, please see the COPINH Twitter feed.

Photo from Miriam Miranda.

228 academics call on Canada to prohibit any future sale of weapons or light-armoured vehicles to Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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“They are killing us” Photo: Carlos Ortega/EFE.

On June 7, a letter from 228 academics from across Canada called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “take concrete action to urge the Colombian government to resolve the present crisis through dialogue.”

Among the signatories is University of Toronto Professor Luis van Isschot who is also a member of the Peace Brigades International-Canada Board of Directors.

The letter can be read in full here.

It highlights: “To this date, 1,649 arbitrary detentions of protesters by the police have been reported, as well as 1,248 assaults, 45 deaths, and 25 cases of sexual violence, all at the hands of security forces. Hundreds of videos posted on social media show the police firing live ammunition at protesters, often accompanied by plainclothes officers and armed civilians using firearms.”

“More than 1,100 social leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016. Most of the victims belonged to rural, Indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and environmental organizations.”

“As academics based in Canada concerned by this situation, we ask you, as Prime Minister, to take a strong stand against the repression of protestors in Colombia.”

Their three recommendations are as follows:

1- “Canada must immediately go beyond its May 9 statement to urge the Colombian government to respect the fundamental human rights of protesters, to allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to conduct a transparent country visit on June 8-10 with direct access to victims and their organizations, to commit to implementing the Commission’s recommendations, and to resolve the present crisis through dialogue.”

2- “Canada must also review any current or projected cooperation with the Colombian police or military and prohibit any future sale of weapons or light-armoured vehicles by Canadian companies until Colombia has reformed its National Police, among others to abolish the ESMAD and to foreclose the application of military justice to police officers.”

3- “Canada must seize this opportunity to reassess its foreign policy in Colombia, including the nexus between trade, foreign investment and human rights. Specifically, Canada must afford local communities an effective remedy in Canada against Canadian individuals and corporations whose actions compromise human rights and thus interfere with democratic dialogue.”

To read their complete letter, click here.

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arrives in Colombia for June 7-11 working visit

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by AFP.

On June 7, Reuters reported: “Representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR-CIDH) met with Colombian officials on Monday ahead of a three-day visit to gather information about possible rights abuses during nearly six weeks of anti-government [national strike] protests.”

Meetings with civil society organizations

Reuters adds: “The CIDH will also meet with protest leaders, lawmakers and high court judges and collect testimony from victims of protest violence and their families.”

CNN further reports: “The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Antonia Urrejola [says that] during the working visit to Colombia, the IACHR will meet with various sectors, including official authorities of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches; representatives of civil society organizations, collectives, groups, trade unions and other representatives of sectors affected by the protests.”

Blu Radio also notes: “The IACHR will not only be present in Bogota and Cali to verify the facts of human rights violations, but will also visit Popayan and Tulua.”

Importance of the visit

France 24 comments: “The presence of the IACHR in the country becomes essential for the demonstrators, who have been denouncing abuses for weeks during the exercise of their right to protest. …[The IACHR-CIDH] visit gives a halo of hope to the protesters and, above all, to the families of the victims.”

DeJusticia says: “For the demonstrators, the fact that an international, independent and autonomous organization is coming that is going to issue a series of recommendations to the state is a step in the right direction and will help to mitigate the crisis.”

The hashtag being used on Twitter by human rights groups is #CIDHProtejaLaProtesta, which translates as a call for the CIDH to protect the protests.

Outcomes of the visit

The working visit will not produce a final report, but rather general observations and a media release with a series of recommendations addressed to the State.

Antonia Urrejola, the president of the IACHR-CIDH, has noted: “After the working visit, all the information received will be analyzed, and a public statement will be issued that will contain observations and recommendations that seek to collaborate in the strengthening of human rights institutions.”

Tweet by the PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR).

Tweet by the PBI-Colombia accompanied Corporation Judicial Freedom (CJL).

Annual Report on Canada-Colombia free trade agreement and human rights to be tabled within days

By
Brent Patterson
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Video of Yessika Hoyos speaking about the free trade agreement, May 2009.

The Implementation Act for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement requires the Minister of International Trade to present an analysis of the impact of the agreement on human rights for the previous year by May 15 of the following year.

That Act carries the caveat: “If that House is not then sitting, on any of the 30 days next thereafter that it is sitting.” The House adjourned for a one-week break on May 14 and will rise for its summer break sometime between June 9 and 23.

As of June 8, the 2021 report covering the period January 1 to December 31, 2020, has yet to be posted to this webpage.

The previous annual reports are posted here.

Findings of previous reports

The first full report for the 2011-12 period found: “It is not possible to establish a direct link between the CCOFTA and the human rights situation in Colombia. There is no evidence of a causal link between reductions in tariffs by Canada in accordance with the CCOFTA, and changes in human rights in Colombia.”

Similarly, the most recent report for the 2019 period found: “No human rights impacts which could be directly associated with Canada’s 2019 tariff reductions.”

Criticisms of the reports

The veracity of the report has long been criticized.

In May 2014, then NDP trade critic Don Davies commented: “It’s a sham. Investment is a very big part of our trade with Colombia and to arbitrarily exclude that is another indicator that the government has no intention of producing a real report.”

By 2017, Amnesty International Canada withdrew from the evaluation process.

Human rights concerns

Yessika Hoyos Morales of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) opposes the free trade agreement.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied CCAJAR since 1995.

During a visit to Ottawa in May 2009, Hoyos stated: “If Canada ratifies the free trade agreement it will give a message to Colombians and to the whole international community that Canada supports a government that violates human rights.”

To watch a 12-minute interview with Hoyos, click here and here.

The agreement came into force on August 15, 2011.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Maya Kaqchikel journalist Norma Sancir to hearing, next court date set for July 5

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 7, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today PBI accompanied Norma Sancir to an audience in Chiquimula that was once again suspended. On this occasion for a medical excuse from one of the defending lawyers of 4 PNC [National Civil Police] officers.”

PBI-Guatemala adds: “Three women and a man are accused of unlawful detention of the communicator and abuse of authority during an eviction in Camotan 7 years ago.”

The hearing was to determine if PNC agents Olga Leticia Segura, Marcelina López Pérez, Mirna Marleny Ortiz and former commissioner Ceferino Salquin go to trial for abuse of authority and illegal detention of Sancir.

Sancir’s lawyer Jovita Tzul comments: “We are concerned about this malicious form of delay that the defense is implementing. This is the seventh time the hearing has been adjourned; these are malicious strategies to delay the search for justice in the journalist’s case.”

The next hearing is now scheduled for July 5.

Sancir was detained by police on September 18, 2014, while covering a mobilization of the Ch’orti ‘people in Camotán, Chiquimula. She was not released until September 22, 2014.

Sancir is a journalist with Prensa Comunitaria and a social communicator with the ‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator (CCCND).

The CCCND supports the struggles of Ch’orti’ communities in the region of Chiquimula who face threats and violations to their land, environmental, and cultural rights.

When Sancir visited Quebec in May 2018, she told Radio Canada Internacional: “Freedom of information will exist when they let us tell the truth. We believe that freedom of expression should not be exclusive for the benefit of journalists working in the major media or for an editorial line.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the ‘New Day’ Ch’orti’ Campesino Central Coordinator (CCCND) since 2009.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies human rights lawyers on 5th day of trial of ex-army and police officers

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 7, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanied the Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos [Human Rights Law Firm] during the fifth session of the first statement hearing in the #CasoDiarioMilitar [military journal case].”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Human Rights Law Firm on all five days of the trial (June 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7).

Ruda explains: “The Diario Militar keeps a record of the names, photographs, addresses and addresses of men and women who have been arrested, detained, disappeared and murdered. The list includes students, university professors, trade unionists, and members of social organizations that the Army identified as allies of the guerrillas.”

The eleven retired soldiers and police officers are on trial for their alleged participation in the kidnapping, forced disappearance and extrajudicial executions of at least 183 people between 1983 and 1985.

The eleven include retired General Marco Antonio Gonzalez Taracena and the former head of the Special Operations Brigade of the National Police. They are accused of crimes against humanity, murder, attempted murder and enforced disappearance.

PBI-Guatemala began to accompany BDH lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila in August 2010 due to several security incidents. In 2013, PBI-Guatemala extended the accompaniment to the other lawyers of the BDH who work on high-profile trials.

Famdegua tweet about tomorrow’s hearing.

PBI-Honduras shares World Environment Day message from CEHPRODEC on the struggle against extractivism

By
Brent Patterson
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Tweet by CEHPRODEC.

On June 7, PBI-Honduras posted: “We express concern for defenders criminalized for doing work to promote and protect human rights and territorial rights.”

They also shared the image above from CEHPRODEC that says:

“The struggle for the defence of the territory, the struggle against extractivism, the struggle against agrochemicals, the organizational strengthening of the people and the implementation of agroecology, are fundamental in rescuing the environment.”

PBI-Honduras also shared this article by the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CESPAD).

It notes: “From 2009 to date, 31 hydroelectric projects and 13 forest management plans for the use of wood have been granted by the State and Government of Honduras in an area that, at the same time, has left a scenario of threats, persecution, prosecution and even the murder of environmental defenders.”

Furthermore, “Since 2009, when the coup d’état against the government of Manuel Zelaya occurred, the department of Santa Bárbara has been the point of concentration of extractivist projects.”

That includes 29 mining concessions in 2018, as well as 31 hydroelectric projects and 13 “forest management plans” in 2019.

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.”

“In response to popular discontent with the scale of these operations and their adverse environmental and public health effects, the centre-left President Manuel Zelaya proposed a series of modest checks on the industry following his election in 2005.”

That article adds: “When Zelaya was forced into exile during a 2009 military coup, the Canadian state threw its diplomatic weight behind his opponent, Porfirio (Pepe) Lobo, who was widely expected to implement laws favourable to the mining sector.”

In April 2014, MiningWatch Canada’s then Latin America program coordinator Jennifer Moore expressed concern to a Canadian parliamentary committee about the Canadian-backed mining law that was passed in Honduras in January 2013.

Moore stated, “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.”

And Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams warned in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper not long before the mining law was passed:

“In creating this new law, the Honduran government has bent over backwards to meet the needs of Canadian and other mining companies, but has carried out almost no consultations with Honduran civil society and community organizations.”

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

Tweet by PBI-Honduras.

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