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British lawyer responds to PBI-Canada question about the need for a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 24, Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom held a webinar on ‘Environmental Rights and the Legal Community’.

To watch that 1-hour webinar, please click here.

Near the end of the webinar, a question submitted by PBI-Canada was chosen by webinar host Richard Dyton and directed to Kate Cook, a lawyer who practises generally in public international, European Union and human rights law.

We asked for any thoughts on the need for a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations beyond the voluntary Guiding Principles framework. Cook replied:

“Obviously, it could be very useful to have a Binding Treaty. Why don’t we have a Binding Treaty on these key issues? But I would just say that unless there is a reasonable amount of support, I don’t mean universal support, but a strong body of support from some key countries, I’m not saying it’s not a good idea, but it could use a lot of time and energy.

I think my focus at the moment with others is looking at the framework that we have that businesses have signed up to, that states have pledged themselves to deliver, and to make as much use of that as we can.

There are all sorts of ways in which the business human rights framework is relevant. There is an increasing trend for national legislation on due diligence as in France as in the state of California. There are parallels with the increasing trend to have on laws on modern slavery, for example, and the responsibilities that are assumed in relation to that.

I have absolutely no objections to pursuing a Treaty, but I think it’s important to have a two-pronged approach where you use the business human rights framework. For example, at looking at how states spend taxpayers’ money on export credits and export funding and overseas development assistance. To make sure that all public money is spent in a way that respects this framework that ensures that due diligence has been done.

And we all think about our position as consumers of products in countries that are buying in products that have been obtained, if they have been obtained, in situations where there are clear human rights violations.

So, I’m not saying no it’s not a good idea, of course I’m not saying, but I’m saying that it’s important not to focus on that at the expense of making maximum use of what we already have.”

PBI on Guiding Principles and Binding Treaty processes

In June 2018, PBI-UK launched this 108-page Human Rights Defenders’ Toolbox aimed at, as Kate notes, making maximum use of the existing Guiding Principles.

PBI-UK has explained: “The project seeks to address the fact that, despite the existence of [the Guiding Principles], gaps in their implementation mean that human rights defenders confronting corporate interests still face escalating violence.”

Concurrently, PBI has also supported the call for a Binding Treaty.

In September 2018, PBI-Mexico posted: “After 7 years of the Guiding Principles being in force, PBI has not witnessed an improvement in the situation of risk for human rights defenders on the ground.”

It highlights: “On the contrary, there has been a spike in attacks against land, territory and environmental defenders, indicating that the implementation of the Guiding Principles, mainly through voluntary codes of conduct, has not had the desired affect and that further action may be required.”

PBI-Mexico further notes: “PBI believes that a Binding Treaty has the possibility to contribute to greater accountability for companies in relation to human rights abuses and could potentially lead to greater protection of human rights defenders working on business and human rights cases throughout the world.”

For more on this, please see: PBI engaged in UN processes on human rights and transnational corporations (October 2019); Peace Brigades International and the call for a Binding Treaty on transnational corporations and human rights (May 2020); and in Spanish on the PBI-Mexico website Brigadas Internacionales de Paz y el llamado a la creación de un Tratado Vinculante sobre empresas transnacionales y derechos humanos (June 2020).

PBI-Mexico expresses concern over the deaths of 17 people in San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 23, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted: “From PBI Mexico we express concern over the serious events that occurred in the community of San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca. We join the call made by civil society organizations to the authorities to clarify the facts and ensure the safety of community members.”

The British newspaper the Independent explains: “Fifteen people were beaten to death in an indigenous village in southern Mexico which has been plagued by a dispute over an offshore wind farm project.”

That number has now sadly increased to 17 dead with the discovery of two more bodies.

The Guardian adds to the story of what happened: “Local media reported the latest violence broke out after a confrontation between municipal officials from San Mateo del Mar and members of the Union of Ikoots indigenous communities. The Union claimed supporters of the mayor Bernardino Ponce Hinajosa ambushed them at a coronavirus checkpoint and began shooting, injuring several people.”

And the Associated Press notes: “The government of the Pacific coast community of San Mateo del Mar in Oaxaca state said Monday that 13 men and two women were killed in what he described as an attack by a group of dissident townspeople on Sunday.”

Why did this happen?

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador attributed the killing to “a confrontation between communities.” But Mexico News Daily reports: “Organized crime seeks to gain control of the area due to its strategic location for the traffic of undocumented immigrants and the storage of stolen fuel, municipal authorities claim.”

Mexico News Daily and other media also link it back to a controversial windpower megaproject that violated the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent.

The Guardian reports: “The area – where many residents belong to the Ikoots indigenous group – is coveted for its open, windy coast… Conflicts date back to 2012 when a consortium of companies tried to build a huge, 396-megawatt offshore wind farm planned for a narrow spit of land in a lagoon near San Mateo.”

This refers to the San Dionisio del Mar windfarm project being built by the Mareña Renovables consortium comprised of Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure Fund, the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation, the Dutch pension fund PGGM, supported by investments from fifteen banks.

The Independent notes: “Opposition groups from the Ikoots indigenous group, also known as the Huaves, managed to block the project, arguing it would affect their fishing, farming and sacred spaces.”

Several years ago, the PBI-Mexico briefing paper Wind Farms and Concerns about Human Rights Violations in Oaxaca highlighted that: “Throughout 2013, PBI observed with concern an increase in the level of violence in the context of wind farms, particularly against [human rights defenders] and community leaders whose work involves the defence of those affected by these developments.”

And on January 29th of this year, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project accompanied Codigo DH in their participation in the celebration of the 8th anniversary of the Assembly of San Dionisio del Mar that had rejected this megaproject.

The Mexican Centre for Environmental Law (CEMDA) has stated that in the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2018, there 460 cases of attacks on environmental defenders with 53 of those attacks in the wind energy sector. Almost one in three attacks since 2012 targeted defenders opposing energy projects, especially wind and hydroelectric power.

Today, June 24, Educa Oaxaca posted: “The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) asked the state government to protect and safeguard life, personal integrity and security of the inhabitants of San Mateo del Mar, after the events recorded this past Monday, June 22, where 15 people were killed, and that last night the balance increased to 17 victims with the discovery of two more bodies.”

Given it’s hard to discern from media reports what happened, we reiterate PBI-Mexico’s message that authorities should clarify the facts and ensure the safety of community members.

Investor-state challenge vs La Puya resistance elevates corporate profit over human rights

By
Brent Patterson
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In March 2010, residents from the communities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, just north of Guatemala City – began their struggle against the Vancouver-based Radius Gold Inc. Tambor mine.

By March 2012, they set up a peaceful, 24-hour a day blockade to the entrance of the mine. They did so because they had neither been informed nor consulted about the mine, they had concerns about water contamination and the amount of water the mine would use in an already dry region, and to protect the environment.

By August 2012, Radius Gold Inc. sold the Tambor mine to the US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).

Just a few months later, in November 2012, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project began accompanying the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya.

Then in May 2014, the blockade was violently evicted by riot police with flash bombs and tear gas. The Center for International Environmental Law notes: “Those who refused to move were beaten. The eviction left 20 community members injured and 7 hospitalized.”

Even after the blockade was broken by the police, members of La Puya continue to maintain a 24-hour presence in moral opposition to the project.

It was then that the resistance turned to the courts – and won.

In July 2015, a Guatemalan court ruled in favour of La Puya, ordering EXMINGUA – the Guatemalan subsidiary of Kappes, Cassiday & Associates – to suspend all activities at the mine until a community consultation was held.

Then in February 2016, the Guatemalan Supreme Court ruled to provisionally suspend the mining licence due to a lack of prior consultation.

But in December 2018, KCA filed a $300 million claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank arbitration mechanism.

The company cites community protests and unjust treatment by the state as a violation of the terms of the Free Trade Agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States.

Most recently, in March 2020, an ICSID arbitration panel rejected Guatemala’s ‘preliminary objections’ to the challenge and admitted the case for consideration on its merits. Emma Schoenberger notes this here, as does Jen Moore here.

As such, ten years after a Canadian mining company set this process in motion, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya continues in their struggle for the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent; the human right to clean drinking water; and the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Key concerns raised by human rights activists about investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) suits include: they are generally heard by secretive tribunals, rather than the regular court system; the provision elevates economic interests above human rights; and the threat of them can place a ‘chill effect’ on governments that further empowers transnational corporations to violate human rights.

Peace Brigades International supports the call for a United Nations Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights. Proponents of the Binding Treaty have called for the abolition of ISDS provisions from trade agreements.

PBI-Canada to participate in War and the Environment online course

By
Brent Patterson
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As part of our commitment to peace education, Peace Brigades International-Canada will be participating in the World Beyond War-organized War and the Environment course that takes place from July 6 to August 16.

We will be facilitating Week 2 of the course on July 13 to 19: What Wars Do to the Earth.

World Beyond War notes: “Grounded in research on peace and ecological security, this course focuses on the relationship between two existential threats: war and environmental catastrophe. The course will explore the environmental destruction caused by war, the ‘carbon bootprint’ of militarism, and the intersections between anti-war activism and the campaign for climate justice.”

“This course is 100% online and interactions are not live or scheduled, so you can take part whenever works for you. Weekly content includes a mix of text, images, video, and audio. Instructors and students utilize online discussion forums to go over each week’s content, as well as to provide feedback on optional assignment submissions.”

“At a minimum, you can expect to spend between 1-2 hours a week if you only review the weekly content (text and videos).”

World Beyond War hopes though that “you’ll want to engage in the online dialogue with peers and experts. This is where the real richness of the learning occurs, where we have the opportunity to explore new ideas, strategies, and visions for building a more peaceful world. Depending on your level of engagement with the online discussion you can expect to add another 1-3 hours a week.”

The course costs $100 (with the ability to pay less if need be or pay more if you can) and has a limit of 125 participants. To register, please click here.

Racialized militarism, peacebuilding and opening a conversation about defunding the military

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Racist graffiti on the side of a Canadian Army armoured personnel carrier on unceded Kanien’kéha:ka territory (Oka, Quebec), September 2, 1990.

After a recent incident of racism in the Canadian military, General Jonathan Vance and Defence Department deputy minister Jody Thomas acknowledged: “historically, the social structures that formed our nation disproportionally privileged white people.”

Unfortunately, their letter does not detail their understanding of this, but scholars have provided an analysis of the historic and contemporary role of the military and the para-military Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP).

Sean Carleton has written: “In recent decades, Canadian military and police forces have continued to play a central role in suppressing Indigenous resistance.”

Carleton gives this critical example: “In 1990, during the Oka conflict, Mohawks at Kanehsatà:ke endured a 78-day siege by La Sûreté du Québec and the Canadian military for opposing the expansion of a nine-hole golf course on unceded Kanien’kéha:ka territory.”

Pam Palmater adds: “[In June 2019] the national inquiry found that all levels of government – federal, provincial, territorial and municipal – have engaged in historic and ongoing genocide; a form of gendered colonization which targets Indigenous women and girls for violence and denies them basic human rights protections.”

She further notes: “This genocide includes the theft of Indigenous lands and resources and the criminalization of Indigenous peoples who peacefully defend their lands and peoples from the violence, especially from the extractive industry.”

Within recent years, a federal cabinet minister even threatened to use Canada’s “defence forces” in this context.

In December 2016, Jim Carr stated that the military could be deployed to quell protests against the construction of the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline that would cross unceded Secwepemc territory without free, prior and informed consent.

The Minister of Natural Resources said: “If people choose for their own reasons not to be peaceful, then the government of Canada, through its defence forces, through its police forces, will ensure that people will be kept safe.”

While Carr did apologize, the federal minister of infrastructure was then asked in February 2018 to guarantee that he would not use the military or the police to force through the construction of the pipeline. The minister refused to give that guarantee.

Others have pointed to a pattern of racialized militarism globally as well.

Bianca Mugyenyi recently wrote: “Each and every time we consider Canadian support for corporations or military interventions, we must take into account the standpoint of the largely Black and brown countries that make up most of the world.”

She specifies: “In 2011, a Canadian general led the bombing of Libya, which the African Union vigorously opposed. AU officials argued the NATO war would destabilize that country and the region. An upsurge in anti-Blackness, including slave markets, subsequently appeared in Libya and violence quickly spilled southward to Mali and across much of the Sahel.”

Tamara Lorincz further points out: “Over the past decade, Canadian fighter jets have bombed Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria, prolonging violent conflict and contributing to massive humanitarian and refugee crises.”

And CODEPINK for Peace activists Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies have written: “As we chant ‘Black Lives Matter’, we should include the lives of black and brown people dying every day from US sanctions in Venezuela, the lives of black and brown people being blown up by US bombs in Yemen and Afghanistan, the lives of people of color in Palestine who are tear-gassed, beaten and shot with Israeli weapons funded by US-taxpayers.”

The links have also been made between the military and climate breakdown, which disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous and people of colour.

Just one example that connects military spending and the fossil fuel economy is the paper by a clean-energy advocacy group composed of retired military and business leaders that found (in a conservative calculation) that the United States spends $81 billion a year defending its oil supplies around the world.

Phyllis Bennis has observed: “The US military is clearly an obstacle to a safe climate — so any comprehensive climate justice policy must confront US militarism head on.”

The current movement around defunding the police and the increasing militarization of the police opens up the space to talk about all this.

Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, has explained: “Defunding the police means we’re actually resourcing communities with access to healthcare, access to adequate public education, and access to jobs.”

Years ago, Petra Kelly similarly noted: “We spend billions on weapons research and millions training our young people at military academies. Why not invest in peace studies and peace actions? We need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict. We need to work concretely to realize peace and nonviolence in our time.”

In this regard, the Canadian Peace Initiative has a campaign to establish a federal Department of Peace. And Eriel Tchekwie Deranger has urged NGOs advocating for a Green New Deal to: “center the destructive intertwined roles of capitalism, consumerism, militarism and colonialism as foundations to the current crisis.”

As the Canadian government prepares to spend $1 billion on Raytheon missiles and related equipment, award a $19 billion contract for new fighter jets in 2022, and to increase spending to $32.7 billion a year on the military by 2026, it is both timely and necessary to have a conversation about peacebuilding and the structures of violence.

Calgary-based Parex Resources Inc. and its Aguas Blancas oil field in Simacota, Colombia

By
Brent Patterson
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Calgary-based Parex Resources Inc. operates the Aguas Blancas oil field in the municipality of Simacota, Santander in northeastern Colombia.

In September 2015, Energía 16 reported: “The Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol has entered into an agreement with the Canadian Parex Resources in order to increase reserves and production in Aguas Blancas field.”

That article also notes: “The company wants to … increase production in that field to 10,000 barrels of oil per day in 2020.”

Then in August 2016, Vanguardia reported on community concerns about fracking and that: “Ecopetrol assured the neighborhoods Guayabal, El Diviso La Colorada, Aguas Blancas Baja and Aguas Blancas Alta, in the municipality of Simacota … [that] unconventional techniques will not be used [by Parex in Aguas Blancas].”

By January 2017, Parex announced: “Parex has completed the drilling of the first 4 wells of an initial 15 well drilling program at Aguas Blancas.”

That statement noted that “two development wells (AB-26 and AB-32) and two appraisal wells (AB-9 and AB-14) have been drilled” and further noted that the “AB-26, 14 and 32 wells will be tested in Q1 2017.”

It also stated: “Parex plans to operate a continuous 10 well drilling program through Q1 and Q2 2017 at Aguas Blancas, and upon receiving the environmental permits for new drilling pads, Parex plans to drill an additional 5-8 other wells prior to year-end 2017.”

Then in April 2019, Reuters reported: “Colombia’s state-run oil company Ecopetrol will split its participation in three oil fields equally with Canada’s Parex, which will operate the fields, the government said.”

That article adds: “Investment in at least 15 wells in the Aguas Blancas, Boranda and De Mares fields in northeastern Colombia will reach at least $150 million, the national hydrocarbons agency (ANH) said in a statement.”

The Vanguardia article on this quotes Rafael Pinto, vice president of government affairs for Parex Resources Colombia Ltd. stating: “This transfer is very important for us because it allows us to have legal certainty about our investments and also open the way to continue doing business in Colombia.”

And in its Financial Statements for the interim period ended March 31, 2020, Parex noted: “During Q1, 2020, total drilling and completion costs were $67.9 million of which the majority related to drilling, completion and capitalized workover costs at Block LLA-34, Cabrestero Block, Aguas Blancas and CPO-11 block.”

Community concerns, Export Development Canada support

Parex has affirmed its commitment to “Strengthening Human Rights protection mechanisms” and that it: “has guidelines for formulating and implementing a Human Rights Policy based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, and the Global Compact Principles.”

And yet the Yariguíes Regional Corporation Group of Extractive, Environmental and Social Studies of Magdalena Medio (CRY-GEAM) began to highlight emerging concerns shortly after Parex started drilling its first wells in the area.

CRY-GEAM posted to Facebook this video in January 2017 with concerns about the absence of needed environmental documents and these photos in April 2017 expressing concern about a flipped truck and runoff into the Colorada River.

In April 2017, CRY-GEAM also 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?”

Despite this, Export Development Canada, the Government of Canada’s export credit agency, has provided financing and support to Parex including: $50-100 million (27-05-2019): $50-100 million (22-02-2019); and $25-50 million (07-05-2018).

Fracking announcement coming in September-October

Beyond the concerns expressed about Parex and Aguas Blancas, Reuters reported in March 2019: “At least five companies are interested in six fracking blocs in Colombia…” In that article, Colombian Mines and Energy Minister Maria Fernanda Suarez named Parex as one of the companies interested in the fracking blocs.

In November 2019, Rigzone further confirmed: “Leading energy firms with fracking expertise including ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips, Parex and Ecopetrol have expressed their interest in starting pilot fracking projects” in Colombia.

That contract will be awarded soon.

On June 11 of this year, Business News Americas reported: “Colombia is on track to award contracts for fracking pilots this year as the government fast tracks plans for unconventional oil and gas drilling, according to a senior energy official.”

That article quotes Armando Zamora, the head of national hydrocarbons regulator ANH, who says the contracts will be awarded in September or October.

PBI & CREDHOS

PBI-Colombia accompanies the human rights organization CREDHOS. While on an advocacy tour in Canada in November 2019, CREDHOS president Iván Madero Vergel raised concerns about Parex. PBI-Canada remains attentive to these human rights concerns in relation to Aguas Blancas and the fracking pilot projects.

Sixteen Canadian oil and gas companies visited Colombia on government-organized trip despite conflicts over Indigenous rights

By
Brent Patterson
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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 yet in January 2019, CBC reported: “Provincial and federal officials are putting the finishing touches on a trade mission to Colombia and Ecuador next month.”

“A spokesperson with Alberta Economic Development and Trade says officials from Global Affairs Canada and Export Development Canada will join the mission, which will focus on showcasing Canada’s mature fields technology and expertise.”

That article adds: “It’s described as a department-led mission without elected officials. Part of the discussions will include an overview of how the provincial and federal governments can support Canadian companies.”

The Alberta Gazette provides further details:

“Purpose: Led an oil and gas trade mission to Ecuador and Colombia to expose Alberta companies to operators and future partners in oil and gas and discuss ways on how Indigenous people can be involved in the energy sector. Six companies participated in the Ecuador mission and 16 in the Colombia mission. $8,399.20 of event costs were recovered from participants through the Dedicated Revenue Initiative. Date: February 20-28, 2019. Amount: $9,657.29 Location: Quito, Ecuador; and Bogota, Colombia”

The application form for the Colombia portion of this mission noted: “The Government of Alberta, in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Export Development Canada (EDC), is organizing a trade mission to Colombia for February 26-28, 2019.”

“The mission will focus on showcasing Canada’s mature fields technology and expertise through several activities such as a mature fields seminar, a networking reception and targeted business-to-business meetings.”

It also noted: “A selection committee comprised of industry associations and partners will select the companies to participate on the mission based on their expertise and products or services. The main criteria for the selection process is that your company offers a product or service related to mature fields.”

Following that mission, Claudio Ramirez, the senior trade commissioner for Global Affairs Canada in Bogota, highlighted in August 2019 in an EDC blog:

“Colombian resources are depleting fast, so there’s a push to increase exploration through the auction of new blocks. Technologies related to oil recovery and mature fields are much sought after, as well as in the development of unconventional resources, like fracking and deep-water exploration.”

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).

PBI-Canada continues to monitor the involvement of the Canadian state and Canadian corporations in oil and gas activities in Colombia in relation to concerns about human rights, Indigenous rights, water protection and climate change.

Specifically, we are drawing attention to the concerns being expressed about Toronto-based Frontera Energy in San Luis del Palenque; Calgary-based Parex Resources in Aguas Blancas; and Toronto-based Sintana Energy, Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. and Parex Resources bidding to win contracts for fracking pilot projects in Colombia.

We have also just developed this brief overview noting Frontera Energy, Canacol Energy Ltd. and Calgary-based Gran Tierra Energy Inc. in relation to Indigenous rights struggles to protect the land and water in the Putumayo region of Colombia.

Colombian human rights defender Jani Silva defends communities impacted by oil operations in Putumayo

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has noted: “Jani Silva is the leader of the Peasant Reserve Zone- Perla Amazónica (ZRCPA) and legal representative of the Association for the Sustainable and Comprehensive Development of the Perla Amazónica (ADISPA), which promotes peace [and] environmental protections.”

PBI-Nederland has noted: “Her work involves defending the human and environmental rights of communities affected by the operations of oil companies in the area.”

And The Guardian has reported: “Community leader Silva says she has seen firsthand the effects of big business in Putumayo, where, she believes, oil companies ‘exploit irresponsibly’ and contaminate the environment despite legal protection granted by courts to the Amazon peasant farmer reserve zone.”

Amerisur/GeoPark partnerships with Canadian companies

Amnesty International has noted: “She has also denounced the socio-environmental effects of oil operations, including those of Amerisur. Amerisur is a hydrocarbon exploitation company operating mainly in Putumayo basins [whose partners have included] Canacol Energy Ltd. (Canada) [and] Pacific Exploration & Production (Frontera Energy, Canada).”

In November 2019, GeoPark purchased Amerisur.

This December 2019 GeoPark statement on new acquisitions in Colombia notes: “GeoPark will further expand its position of more than two million gross acres in the Putumayo basin, with existing production, a nearby dedicated cost-effective transportation solution with spare capacity and significant exploration potential.”

Canadian oil operations in Putumayo

Toronto-based Frontera Energy, Calgary-based Canacol Energy Ltd. and Calgary-based Gran Tierra Energy Inc. all appear to have some involvement in the Putumayo region.

In this August 2019 interview, Richard Herbert, the CEO of Frontera Energy in Colombia, stated that Frontera has an increased production contract with Ecopetrol in the Orito field in Caguán, Putumayo basin. The Canacol Energy Ltd. website also suggests that Canacol is involved in the Capella oil field in the Caguan-Putumayo basin.

And this statement from Calgary-based Gran Tierra Energy Inc. highlights: “Highly strategic acquisition further strengthens and consolidates Gran Tierra’s position as the premier operator and top landholder in the Putumayo Basin, and makes the Company the operator of 100% of its Putumayo Blocks.”

This Oil Channel interview with a Gran Tierra executive further notes that the company holds 1.1 million acres (445,000 hectares) in contracts with the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) to develop in Putumayo.

For further historical context, this 2004 article in Canadian Dimension magazine notes: Canada a big player in Putomayo’s oil operations.

Indigenous resistance to oil operations on their territories

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.”

That article further notes that 37 petroleum production contracts awarded by the National Hydrocarbon Agency in 2019 infringed on 81 indigenous reserves, another 26 of which were violated by exploration contracts.

In October 2019, this PBI-Canada article noted that grandparents from seven Indigenous communities of Putumayo, Caquetá, Amazonas, Boyacá and Venezuela (including members of the Siona, Cofan, Kamentsa and Inga communities in Putumayo) developed a “manifesto for the Amazon” which includes a call for the “cancellation of licences for the exploration and exploitation of the natural resources of Mother Earth.”

Notably, the Siona also wrote Colombian president Iván Duque in August 2018 stating that Amerisur was violating their collective, territorial and constitutional rights, and endangering their “physical and cultural integrity”.

Peace Brigades International-Canada will continue to monitor this situation and research the human rights implications of Canadian oil company operations in Putumayo.

César Díaz dedicates his film ‘Nuestras Madres’ to the victims of Guatemala’s genocide

By
Brent Patterson
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The film Nuestras Madres (Our Mothers) was virtually released in the United States on May 1 and is now being released worldwide on various dates.

Filmmaker César Díaz says: “Our Mothers focuses on the story of a young researcher trying to identify victims buried in mass graves during the civil war, the conflict that bled the country between 1960 and 1996, leaving thousands of people dead and missing.”

Screen Daily explains: “This is an appealingly dignified, humane story of the repercussions of the little-known civil war in Guatemala as borne by the country’s women. Cesar Diaz’s debut feature is both compact and ambitious, distilling its larger themes into the core story of one young man and his secretive mother.”

In an acceptance speech last year at the Cannes Film Festival, Diaz stated: “I’d like to dedicate this prize to the 250,000 victims of Guatemala’s genocide and the women still standing and who teach us a great lesson of life.”

That acceptance speech can be seen here.

On March 11, just as the pandemic hit, the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival interviewed Pamela Guinea, the executive producer of the film.

She commented: “People in Guatemala are waiting for the film with great eagerness. It is a very controversial subject that generates a lot of debate [and] I don’t know how they will receive it when they see it.”

She added: “We plan to release the film this month at the International Film Festival of Memory Truth Justice (Opening Film), but we will not have a commercial run in theaters yet. We are going to wait, as it is not easy to premiere in commercial cinemas.”

The film had virtual screenings in cities across the United States in mid-May, but it’s not clear just yet how to see a virtual or in-person screening in Canada. We are looking into this and will hopefully have more to share with you soon!

A trailer for the film with English subtitles can be seen here.

PBI-Guatemala denounces the murder of Olopa defender Medardo Alonzo Lucero

By
Brent Patterson
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On June 18, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted: “We repudiate the murder of Medardo Alonzo Lucero and express solidarity with his family and the communities of Olopa and Nuevo Dia.”

This PBI-Guatemala statement followed the Nuevo Dia post that Medardo had been found at dawn on June 15 with signs of torture and violence. Nuevo Dia then also expressed its solidarity with the indigenous community of La Cumbre (Olopa Chiquimula) and the Maya Ch’ortí’ Indigenous Council of Olopa.

Prensa Comunitaria described Medardo as a “defender of the territory and natural resources, who according to authorities of this community, was part of the organized and peaceful fight for a mining and hydroelectric free territory.”

PDH Guatemala, the Human Rights Ombudsman, further noted: “The indigenous authority of the community reported that the death is linked to the defense of the territory and the fight against mining.”

A peaceful blockade of the mining project Cantera Los Manantiales was established by the Olopa resistance in February 2019. The blockade was established because of concerns that the mine violated the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent and that its operations were polluting local water sources.

Prensa Comunitaria has reported that the mine was “provisionally suspended” in late November 2019 by the Supreme Court of Justice because the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines had granted a 30-year mining licence to the company in 2015, without consultation with the Ch’orti‘ Indigenous communities of Olopa.

Nuevo Dia has stated that the mine “illegally extracts antimony, contaminating water, cutting down forests, causing strange diseases that especially affect children and removing tranquility, the peace and joy of the communities.”

And it has noted: “Leaders and authorities have suffered criminalization, persecution, slander and defamation for opposing the company ‘Cantera Los Manantiales’.”

In November 2018, Telesur reported: “The Indigenous Maya Ch’orti’ environmental activist Elizandro Perez, who led a local resistance against a mining company in his community, was found dead Wednesday morning in his home.”

“Perez, 36, was head of the Indigenous Maya Ch’orti’ Council, a member of the Nuevo Dia [New Day] Central Indigenous Campesino Ch’orti’ organization, and one of the most visible faces of the legal battle against Cantera Los Manantiales, an antimony mine just 400 meters away from his house in Olopa, Chiquimula, eastern Guatemala.”

Just weeks ago, on March 30, PBI-Guatemala had also posted: “We express our concern about various threats that the colleagues of the Olopa resistance shared with us in the last days in the face of the mining project Cantera Los Manantiales.”

PBI-Guatemala Project has accompanied Nuevo Dia since 2009.

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