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PBI partner ELSAM produces ‘Papuan Lives Matter’ documentary on resource extraction, racism and repression

On November 15, Nalar TV and the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) launched the documentary ‘Papuan Lives Matter’.

The 24-minute film provides background context and then documents the repression of the Papua-wide protests in August-September 2019 against resource extraction and the racial discrimination of Indigenous Papuans.

Reuters has reported: “Accusations of discrimination have endured for decades in the resource rich and remote provinces of Papua and West Papua.”

And The Guardian has noted: “At the far east of Indonesia, West Papua remains physically and ideologically separate from the rest of the country. Indigenous Papuans make up about half of the population. Locals claim racism is rife among the police and the military, and there have been allegations of human rights abuses and exploitation against the local population. In August 2019, protests erupted in the region over alleged police abuse against ethnic Papuan students. It was the biggest protest since 1998.”

The ‘Papuan Lives Matter’ documentary includes interviews with Wahyu Wagiman, the director of ELSAM, as well as Assa Asso, a Papuan filmmaker who was beaten and imprisoned for documenting the protests last year.

PBI-Switzerland has noted that Assa Asso has participated in the Basic Course for Human Rights Defenders, part of PBI’s collaboration with ELSAM to conduct extended trainings for human rights defenders.

The current PBI collaboration with ELSAM in Indonesia, primarily focused on education and capacity building, began in 2014. From 1999 to 2011, PBI provided protective accompaniment to human rights defenders in Papua, Aceh, Flores, West Timor and Jakarta.

The full documentary – with English subtitles – is available on YouTube.

Photo: Assa Asso in a still from ‘Papuan Lives Matter’.

Defenders from Kenya, Colombia and Mi’kma’ki discuss frontline struggles on #WHRDday, November 29

Photo: Maryanne Kasina, Sophia Sidarous, Tatiana Triana and Meera Karunananthan. To hear them speak, register for this #WHRDday webinar here.

This coming Sunday November 29 is International Women Human Rights Defenders Day. It is a day that recognizes women are on the frontlines of struggles against oppression and engaged in resistance to uphold fundamental human rights.

Peace Brigades International-Canada is celebrating this day and amplifying those struggles with a webinar featuring three inspiring women defenders from Kenya, Colombia and Mi’kma’ki (the traditional territories of the Mi’kmaq peoples in Canada).

Our panel will feature Kenyan community activist Maryanne Kasina, Colombian lawyer Tatiana Triana and Mi’kmaq land defender Sophia Sidarous. It will be moderated by Ottawa-based PBI-Canada Board member Meera Karunananthan.

You can register for this webinar by clicking here.

Each of the women defenders featured in this webinar have stood up for justice, supported frontline struggles, and hold a vision for a better world.

During the discussion, they will reflect on: what led them to become a defender, what inspires them to continue to do this work; the personal repercussions they face; what international women human rights defender day means to them; a key struggle for justice they are engaged in now; and how we can help in these struggles.

The format of the 1-hour webinar will include: a welcome and introductions; a 10-minute presentation from each of the speakers; 10-minutes for each speaker to further comment or add on to points raised by the other speakers; 10-minutes for questions from audience members; and wrap-up and staying in touch.

To register for the webinar, please click here.

#WHRDday

PBI-Mexico and PBI-Colombia accompany marches on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

On November 25, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on Facebook and Twitter: “This afternoon we accompanied the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women March in Mexico City.”

PBI-Mexico adds: “We express concern over the current crisis of femicides and disappearances and remember the obligation of the authorities to ensure the safety of women, journalists and defenders, in addition to the rights to freedom of expression and demonstration.”

Agence France Presse reports: “Around 10 women are killed every day in Mexico and activists accuse the government of not doing enough to tackle the problem.”

That same day, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted: “Today on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, PBI-Colombia accompanied the Campesina Association of the Cimitarra River Valley – National Agroecological Network (ACVCRAN) in the first mobilization of the year called in the municipality of Yondó, Antioquia with the slogan ‘No to violence against women’.”

Al Jazeera reports: “An average of nearly three women a day were killed in Colombia in September, with 86 femicides recorded in the month. It is the highest monthly total researchers have documented since they began tracking the killings in 2017.”

The UN has stated: “Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.”

The UN further highlights: “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, emerging data and reports from those on the front lines, have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified.”

Globally, 35 per cent of women have ever experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, or sexual violence by a non-partner.

The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability reported that a woman or girl was killed every 2.5 days on average in Canada last year.

Furthermore, the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls determined that “state actions and inactions rooted in colonialism and colonial ideologies” are in part responsible for the thousands of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing in Canada which the report names as genocide.

The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability says: “Empowering girls and young women, promoting equality for all women and confronting stereotypes and biases about violence against women can help prevent femicide.”

For further updates and analysis, we encourage you to follow the Canadian Femicide Observatory on Twitter and Facebook.

PBI-Canada is committed to a vision of a world free of violence. We stand in solidarity with women impacted by gender-based violence and with all who strive to end femicide, discrimination, harassment, and hate.

PBI-Canada backs civil society statement on mutual support organizing in the wake of hurricanes Eta and Iota

Photo: The PBI-Guatemala accompanied Verapaz Union of Campesino Organizations (UVOC) has tweeted that it “delivered 50 packages of provisions and food for the families of the communities that were affected by the tropical storm Eta.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada supports this solidarity statement on hurricanes Eta and Iota recently issued by the EU-LAT Advocacy Network, Espacio ACI (the Association for International Cooperation) in Honduras, FONGI (the Forum of International NGOs) in Guatemala, and the Latin America Working Group (LAWG).

This statement highlights: “In Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua the impact of hurricanes Eta and Iota have been devastating. At the moment it is estimated that almost 5 million people have been affected as a result of the first hurricane ETA.”

It adds: “The impacts of these hurricanes added to the global warming, a long period of drought, illegal logging, and the expansion of the extractivist model in the territories, hitting the region at a time of extreme vulnerability.”

Significantly, the statement then calls on the international community to: “Promote, protect and support civil society, particularly peasant, indigenous and afro-descendant organizations, which are playing a key role in the management of this crisis in the territories of the affected populations.”

As such, we would like to draw your attention to Vancouver-based Café Justicia and this online platform that is collecting funds for Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) communities impacted by the storms.

Our friend Jackie McVicar also has this online platform to receive donations. Earlier this month, she tweeted: “Wanted to let folx know we have so far raised enough for 11,200 lbs of corn – that’s 112 bags – for Eta storm survivors. Thank you! Tomorrow it’s on its way to the extraordinary Maya Q’eqchi community of Chicoyou.”

The statement from the EU-LAT Advocacy Network and allies also cautions: “The continuous crises of the rule of law that have marked the recent history of these countries culminate with reports of serious irregularities in the management of the COVID 19 pandemic by the governments.”

It urges: “Guarantee mechanisms of transparency and accountability in the management and use of international cooperation funds to minimize the risk of corruption.”

Canadian aid in response to natural disasters is channeled through the Emergency Disaster Assistance Fund which is administered by the Canadian Red Cross Society in coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The Canadian Red Cross reports that with support from the Government of Canada it is deploying its emergency health clinic to Honduras to provide urgent health care in communities devastated by Hurricanes Eta and Iota.

Peace Brigades International-Canada continues to express its solidarity with the peoples and communities affected by Eta and Iota.

For further reading, please see: PBI expresses solidarity with people affected by Tropical Storm Eta (November 7, 2020)

What impact would the fracking pilot projects have on Indigenous rights in Colombia?

Photo by Mauricio Alvarado: The recent Indigenous Minga mobilization in Colombia raised concerns about fracking, extractivism, and adherence to the United Nations recognized Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent.

On November 25, the Colombian National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) confirmed that only Ecopetrol had submitted a bid for the initial auction for licences for fracking pilot projects (los proyectos piloto de investigación integral).

BNAmericas reports: “ExxonMobil and Drummond Energy withdrew their interest pending the publication of new guidelines related to evaluation terms and the appointment of a review committee.” While their bids may not be going forward immediately, it is still possible/likely they will participate in the second auction.

Peace Brigades International-Canada is following ExxonMobil with interest because its bid to frack a block near Puerto Wilches, Santander would be in partnership with Toronto-based Sintana Energy and its Colombian subsidiary Patriot Energy.

We are also looking at how the fracking pilot projects (and the larger scale fracking that could come) would impact on Indigenous rights in Colombia.

Fracking and Indigenous rights

The American business magazine Forbes has reported: “Nearly a third of Colombia is designated indigenous territory… Often, that land sits atop natural riches that have made it the envy of prospectors. Conflicts abound in Colombia between indigenous communities and extractive industries clawing for oil, gold or lumber.”

And in a recent article titled Colombian fracking edges closer to reality, Petroleum Economist reported: “Unconventional assets are also often near indigenous lands, which could pose further headaches.”

Furthermore, the British organization War on Want specified in 2017 that: “Approved exploration contracts for fracking overlap with the territories of Indigenous communities such as the Yupka, Wiwa and Wayúu peoples.”

That article cautioning against deepening environmental conflicts adds: “They also cross the ‘Black Line’ – an established demarcation of territories in the Sierra Nevada region that hold sacred value for the Kogi, Wiwa, Kankuamo and Aruaco peoples.”

Fracking could aggravate tensions, spur clashes

The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) has stated its rejection of fracking, as have Indigenous peoples in the Amazon region of Colombia and the Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement (MAIS) political grouping.

Alexander Rustler, a researcher at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, has further commented: “Fracking’s expansion risks aggravating tensions, potentially causing demonstrations against oil and gas drilling to metamorphose into violent clashes between communities and companies.”

And this past summer, Matthew Smith, Oilprice.com’s Latin-America correspondent, commented: “If fracking is eventually approved in Colombia, the lack of social license and intense opposition will see the oil companies engaged in unconventional oil operations become targets for protests from community groups and environmentalists.”

This in the context of a country where 250 Indigenous leaders have been murdered between the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016 and mid-2020.

The right to free, prior and informed consent

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP) that has long sought the implementation of the historic T-880 court ruling on Indigenous rights.

Judgment T-880/2006 of the Constitutional Court of Colombia relates to “the right to free prior and informed consent, and the rights related to demarcation of land, as well as exploitation of natural resources.”

The ruling referenced the then-draft of the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Notably, Colombia abstained at the historic UN General Assembly vote on UNDRIP on September 13, 2007 (while Canada voted against UNDRIP).

In November 2019, PBI-Canada and PBI-Colombia worked together to facilitate an advocacy tour in Canada with representatives from accompanied organizations CCALCP and CREDHOS who raised their concerns about fracking in Colombia with Members of Parliament, officials at Global Affairs Canada, and the broader public.

We continue to watch this situation with concern.

United Nations Special Rapporteurs express concerns about the Mayan Train megaproject in Mexico

In January 2019, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project commented: “The organizations that we accompany continue to be concerned about [Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s] position on the rights of indigenous populations, given that his public discourse seems to respect their autonomy, but he continues to propose initiatives of megaprojects such as the Mayan Train or new mining investments.”

The Mayan Train (Tren Maya) refers to a megaproject that would link by rail Mayan archaeological sites in five states (Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and the Yucatán). The multibillion-dollar project would involve the building of 1,500 kilometres of railroad track, with nearly one-third of it through tropical forests.

UN Special Rapporteurs concerned about Mayan Train

Now, Mexico New Daily reports: “A group of United Nations officials has written to the federal government to express concerns about possible human rights violations related to the construction of the Maya Train in Mexico’s southeast.”

The six UN special rapporteurs stated that Indigenous people’s land rights, the right not to be evicted and the right to health could be adversely affected by the megaproject.

Their letter further notes concern about: “information indicating that the environmental impact study for the project has been inadequate”; “risks of environmental damage”; the consultation process that was not “culturally adequate” and that “complete, adequate and impartial information about the project and its potential impacts” was made available because the studies had not been completed; the criminalization and defamation of human rights defenders opposed to the megaproject; and the “possible militarization” of Mexico’s southeast given the army will build two sections of the megaproject.

Their letter can be read in full here. One of the signatories is Pender Island, Canada-based UN Special Rapporteur David R. Boyd.

OHCHR-Mexico concerns

This follows the concern expressed in January by the Mexico Office of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights that the process of Indigenous consultation had not complied with all the international standards.

PBI-Mexico accompanied organizations

This past April, the signatories to this open letter further stated that the consultation of Indigenous peoples did not meet international criteria.

Among the 190 groups that signed the letter of concern were: Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y Agua Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala; Casa del Migrante Saltillo; Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos “Fray Juan de Larios”, A.C.; Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC); Familia Pasta de Conchos; Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña, Tlachinollan, A. C.; and Comité Cerezo.

Canadian companies

It is not known if any Canadian companies are currently involved in this megaproject, but EFE and Milenio reported earlier this year that several had expressed interest in it.

Those entities include: the Montreal-based train manufacturer Bombardier Inc.; the Quebec City-based pension fund La Caisse dé depot et placement du Québec; and the Toronto-based Canadian bank Scotiabank.

In July 2019, Scotiabank denied a media report that it had withdrawn from the project and stated, “[Scotiabank] carefully analyzes the opportunities in public and private projects that are presented exclusively according to business criteria. This process in the project in question continues its course.”

Timeline

Construction on the Mayan Train has continued during the pandemic and the Mexican President has given a firm completion date of October 2022.

Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh land defenders block access road to Port of Vancouver on Coast Salish territories

Twitter photo by Ben Miljure.

Indigenous land defenders and allies have set up a camp at the intersection of East Hastings Street and Clark Drive in Vancouver on the Unceded Coast Salish territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam peoples.

The camp and sacred fire has blocked one of the access routes to the Port of Vancouver.

Musqueam land defender Audrey Siegel is part of this land defence action.

She says: “These are unceded lands. That is a legal reality. Unceded means it was never sold, it was never given away, and it was never vacant.”

Siegel gave a territorial welcome and opening words at the Peace Brigades International public forum in Vancouver in November 2019 that featured speakers from the human rights organization CREDHOS and the women’s legal collective CCALCP.

This action in Vancouver is part of a week of action from November 23-29.

The Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory has posted this short video about the #WeAreOne call to action.

They note: “As Indigenous grassroots people, on the frontlines, we call on you to join us in solidarity from Nov 23-29 as a national call to action to support and respect our sovereignty. We call on you to demand justice for our people, to hold the companies committing acts of genocide accountable through direct action and rallies where you are.”

The struggles highlighted in that video include Secwepemc and Tsleil-Waututh opposition to the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline, Haudenosaunee resistance to a housing development on their lands, the Mi’kmaq asserting their Treaty and inherent rights to fish, Wet’suwet’en opposition to the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on their lands.

Jen Wickham, member of the Wet’suwet’en Gidimt’en Clan, says the call comes as Wet’suwet’en peoples are harassed, followed and questioned on their unceded lands by Coastal GasLink workers and the RCMP. She notes: “It’s a lot of heavy surveillance and a lot of harassment anytime we try to go anywhere on our territory.”

For more on this call to action, you can watch this short video and visit this Coast to Coast Call to Action! Facebook page.

NUPGE denounces the death threat made against the executive committee of the Colombian Federation of Education Workers (FECODE)

Photo: The banner says: “We demand respect for life and for peace! United, we go with FECODE.”

The Colombian Federation of Education Workers (FECODE) has been a key organizer of the national strike mobilizations in Colombia.

PBI-Colombia accompanied organizations including the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR), Nomadesc, CREDHOS, the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) and the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) have participated in these massive mobilizations.

They have affirmed a series of demands including an end to the killing of human rights defenders, an immediate dissolution of the ESMAD riot police, a ban on fracking, and a full implementation of the 2016 peace agreement.

Following the repression, arbitrary detentions and excessive use of force by security forces against the first national strike mobilization in November 2019, PBI-Colombia stated: “Social and peaceful protest is a human right above all else.”

Now we are receiving word about a death threat recently made against all fifteen members of the Executive Committee of FECODE and Diógenes Orjuela, the president of the Unitary Workers Central (CUT) and a former leader of FECODE.

And just yesterday, FECODE denounced the murder of two teachers – Douglas Cortés Mosquera and Bayron Revelo Insuasty – in the department (province) of Risaralda. This follows the murder of 14 unionized teachers in Colombia last year.

Furthermore, FECODE president Nelson Alarcon has stated that over 1,100 teachers have been killed in Colombia over the past 30 years. There have also been 49 attempted murders, over 3,000 threats and more than 1,500 forced displacements.

And this past February, FECODE reported that 230 teachers had received death threats in just the first few weeks of this year alone.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has denounced this and the recent death threats against FECODE executive committee members and the president of the Colombian trade union federation CUT.

NUPGE President Larry Brown says: “The news of the death threats sent to Colombian unions leaders is horrific. Such violence is never acceptable but is even more shocking because it comes in response to noble union-led efforts to stand up for the health and wellbeing of teachers, workers, and students.”

Brown highlights: “NUPGE strongly condemns the death threats and the ongoing repression of union leaders and activists in Colombia.”

NUPGE has also shared this LabourStart campaign petition that states:

“The authorities are accountable to ensure immediate protection measures for the entire FECODE leadership and for all union and social leaders and activists in Colombia exercising their right to express opinions, to demonstrate and to organise to defend the public education system.”

NUPGE supports CCAJAR, a legal collective that works to protect human rights and represents labour activists in Colombia. Similarly, PBI-Colombia has provided protective accompaniment to CCAJAR since 1995.

CCAJAR lawyer Dora Lucy Arias Giraldo has stated: “International accompaniment, especially the accompaniment of Peace Brigades International, has been decisive in enabling us to continue our work as human rights defenders and lawyers, accompanying processes and victims who have suffered grave human rights violations.”

To watch a recent 7-minute PBI-Colombia video with CCAJAR lawyer Reynaldo Villalba speaking about illegal military intelligence operations against CCAJAR and other repression they have experience, please click here.

PBI-Mexico expresses concern about the National Guard eviction of the Apatlaco blockade in defence of the Cuautla River

Photo: The National Guard raid of the Apatlaco camp at 3 am this morning.

On November 23, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted: “We express concern about the eviction by officers (elementos) of the National Guard (GN Mexico) of the Apatlaco blockade/camp (planton) which they had maintained for 4 years in opposition to the Huexca thermoelectric plant and the PIM.”

The PIM refers to the Morelos Integral Project (Proyecto Integral Morelos), an energy megaproject that includes a gas and steam generating plant, a gas pipeline that crosses three states, and an aqueduct.

The Frente De Pueblos Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT) explains that the camp had been in place on both sides of the Cuautla River to stop the water from the river being diverted into the aqueduct.

El Financiero reports: “Around 3:00 a.m., the National Guard, with the support of elements of the State Security Commission (CES), arrived with heavy machinery to begin removing the tarps, tents and other objects that the residents placed.”

That article adds: “On this site, located on the banks of the Cuautla River, were the tents in which there were guards to prevent the connection of the pipeline to bring water to the thermoelectric plant, which would be used to cool the turbines.”

Termometro en linea further reports: “After evicting them at least two machines entered to continue with the works of the aqueduct through which they intend to take the water from this river and from the sewage treatment plant to cool the turbines of the Huexca thermoelectric plant [which could] start operating as of next December.”

That article adds: “The peasants maintain that the water from the Cuautla River [is needed] for their crops of grains, fruits and vegetables to feed themselves.”

The Frente De Pueblos also notes: “[Mexican President] Lopez Obrador betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favor transnational corporations Saint Gobain, Nissan, Burlington, Continental, Electnor, Enagas, Northeast Gas, corporations Canadian miners like Alamos Gold, among others.”

Pulso has also reported: “The [FPDTA-MPT] has previously indicated that the federal government plans to conclude this project in December despite the fact that most of the amparos [a procedural writ relating to the protection of constitutional rights] and suspensions remain open due to the lack of indigenous consultation, protection to the water of the ejidos of Ayala (1180/2019 and 162/2020), the gas pipeline on the lands of the ejido of Amilcingo (1185/2019) and against the discharge of pollutants into the Cuautla river that the Huexca community claims (1823/2014).”

Ejidos refer to communally held plots of farmland granted to poor often Indigenous farmers in the 1920s following the Mexican Revolution.

Following the eviction of the planton, PBI-Mexico affirmed: “We accompany the Frente De Pueblos Morelos Puebla Tlaxcala in their fight for the right to free and informed consultation of communities. We are closely monitoring the situation and keeping various national and international authorities informed.”

Photo: Indigenous Náhuatl activist Samir Flores, a member of the Front of Peoples in Defence of Land and Water for the states of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala, was killed in February 2019 after receiving death threats for his role in protests against the PIM.

Defensoras de Kenia, Colombia y Mi’kma’ki comparten sus luchas desde el territorio, este 29 de noviembre, día de las defensoras de DDHH

Foto: Maryanne Kasina, Sophia Sidarous, Tatiana Triana y Meera Karunananthan. Para escucharlos hablar, regístrese aquí para este seminario web el dia internacional de las personas defensoras de derechos humanos.

El próximo domingo 29 de noviembre es el Día Internacional de las Defensoras de los Derechos Humanos. Es un día que reconoce que las mujeres están al frente de las luchas contra la opresión y comprometidas en la resistencia para defender los derechos humanos fundamentales.

Peace Brigades International-Canada está celebrando este día y amplificando esas luchas con un seminario web con tres mujeres defensoras de Kenia, Colombia y Mi’kma’ki (los territorios tradicionales de los pueblos Mi’kmaq en Canadá).

Nuestro panel contará con la activista comunitaria de Kenia Maryanne Kasina, la abogada colombiana Tatiana Triana y la defensora de tierras Mi’kmaq Sophia Sidarous.  El webinar será moderado por Meera Karunananthan, integrante de la junta directiva de PBI-Canadá con sede en Ottawa.

Puede registrarse para este seminario web haciendo click aquí.

Cada una de las defensoras en este seminario web ha defendido la justicia, ha apoyado las luchas desde la primera línea y tiene una visión para un mundo mejor.

Durante la discusión, reflexionarán sobre: ​​qué las llevó a convertirse en defensores, qué las inspira a seguir haciendo este trabajo; las repercusiones personales que enfrentan; qué significa para ellas el día internacional de las defensoras de derechos humanos; una lucha clave por la justicia en la que están inmersas ahora; y cómo podemos ayudar en estas luchas.

El formato del seminario web de 1 hora incluirá: bienvenida y presentaciones; una presentación de 10 minutos de cada uno de las ponentes; 10 minutos para que cada defensora comente más o agregue puntos planteados por las otras  defensorasoradores; 10 minutos para preguntas de las personas asistentes las webinar; y seguimiento y cierre.

Para registrarse en el seminario web, haga clic aquí. Este seminario web estará disponible en español e inglés.