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PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Indigenous Resistance to dams on the Cahabón River

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 24, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “This week we accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón, visiting the members of the communities of Sacta, Sesaltul, Tuila, San Martín Chichaj, Secatalcab, Salac I and Tres Cruces.”

PBI-Guatemala adds, “Many of these communities are suffering intensely the environmental impacts caused by the Renace company dams.”

PBI-United Kingdom has previously explained, “On the Cahabón River and its tributaries Oxec, Canlich and Chiacté, seven hydroelectric plants currently operate: Renace I, II, III, IV, Oxec, Oxec II, and Chichaic.”

The Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón (Resistencia Pacifica de Cahabón) was formed in 2015 to defend the land, water and Indigenous rights.

In October 2016, the BBC Mundo reported (in Spanish) on community opposition to the controversial “Renace hydroelectric complex, which consists of four power plants” on the Cahabón River.

On February 21, 2017, Telesur reported, “Dozens of Indigenous Q’eqchi Mayans came from several towns along the Cahabon River, in the northern Guatemalan department of Alta Verapaz, to the capital Monday, to protest against hydroelectric projects carried out by the Spanish group Cobra, owned by Real Madrid’s President Florentino Perez.”

“Guatemalan firm Oxec, S.A. owns the hydroelectric dams Oxec and Oxec II, which is funded by investments from Panama-Based Energy Resources Capital Corp. The works are carried out by the Spanish company Grupo Cobra, owned by Florentino Perez, the president of Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid.”

That article highlighted, “Indigenous leader Bernardo Caal Xol told reporters that the firm has left about 50 communities without water, whose survival directly depended on the Cahabon River, among many other negative environmental impacts.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Resistance since July 2017.

PBI-UK has posted, “In August 2017, PBI provided security support to the good-faith consultation in which the 195 communities of the Cahabón River overwhelmingly rejected the Oxec hydroelectric projects, which threaten to seriously disrupt local ecosystems and water supplies.”

In November 2018, Caal Xol, a Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leader, was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison. He had already been imprisoned through “preventative detention” since January 2018.

Telesur notes, “It was Caal Xol who filed three lawsuits against the Oxec construction company at different institutions, including accusations for failing to consult the local population, and illegally cutting down 15 hectares of trees.”

Telesur has also reported, “The communities claim the Oxec and Renace hydroelectric projects are illegal because the local Indigenous Q’eqchi’ peoples were not properly consulted and informed about it, as established by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization.”

Convention 169, a forerunner of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), states, “The consultations carried out in application of this Convention shall be undertaken, in good faith and in a form appropriate to the circumstances, with the objective of achieving agreement or consent to the proposed measures.”

A May 2018 interview with Caal Xol conducted by PBI-Guatemala and published by PBI-UK in English can be read here.

#PBIAcompaña

PBI-Colombia accompanies meeting on displacement of Indigenous Wounaan community members

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 23, Contagio Radio reported (in Spanish), “50 days have elapsed since 417 [Indigenous Wounaan] people were displaced from the Pichimá Quebrada indigenous reserve in Litoral del San Juan (South Chocó). This second displacement suffered by the Wounaan was the result of clashes between armed groups in the area…”

That article then notes, “From that moment, people have settled in the municipal head of Santa Genoveva de Docordó in two shelters provided by the City Hall and one by the Community House that do not have the necessary conditions to be inhabited.”

On July 24, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted (in Spanish), “Wounaam leaders of the Pichima Reserve [in] Litoral San Juan Chocó, who live in displacement since June 3 due to clashes between illegal actors in their territory, meet with @UEenColombia [the Delegation of the European Union to Colombia] to request support for a return with security guarantees.”

The Delegation of the European Union to Colombia also tweeted (in Spanish), “Today we meet with Wounaan indigenous leaders of the Pichima Reserve in Chocó in displacement since 3/06 due to clashes between illegal armed groups in their territory. Now in a precarious situation in Docordó in search of guarantees to be able to return.”

And PBI-Colombia also tweeted (in Spanish), “Thank you very much to [the Delegation of the European Union to Colombia] for receiving us and listening to [the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission] and the Wounaan leaders of the Pichima Reserve, Litoral San Juan Chocó and for supporting the communities affected by the armed conflict.”

As noted in this PBI-Colombia backgrounder, the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission accompanies several Wounaan communities.

El Espectador recently published this commentary (in Spanish) by Armando Valbuena who wrote, “According to the Observatory of Human Rights of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, from November 2016 to June 2019, 1,029 leaders of the indigenous peoples have been threatened, 330 have been killed and 166 have suffered attacks by armed actors such as the Black Eagles, dissidents of the FARC and the ELN.”

Valbuena highlights that, “More than 22,532 indigenous people have suffered forced displacements, 12,066 have been violated their rights due to lack of attention and guarantees by the State, 116 indigenous people have been forcibly recruited, 16 were kidnapped and 11 indigenous were tortured.”

And Valbuena concludes his piece with, “The current situation comes from the folly to exploit the land and the use of violence as a framework that allows it. It is about implementing extractive, legal or illegal projects that bleed our lives and impose bad death. However, even though the horizon is dark, we are in minga [mass Indigenous mobilizations]; cane in hand and with a calm look, we will continue fighting for the Unity, the Territory, the Culture and the Autonomy of the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia.”

The department of Chocó in western Colombia includes six Indigenous communities and twelve collective Afro-Colombian territories. The struggle for peace with justice, for land rights and respect for Indigenous and Afro-Colombian rights, continues in Colombia.

#PBIAcompaña

PBI-Colombia accompanies journalist Claudia Julieta Duque at trial of DAS agent accused of psychological torture

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 24, Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque tweeted (in Spanish), “Many thanks to @PBIColombia for accompanying me in the court hearing on William Merchán for torture in my case…”

She also thanked in her tweet, “@IFJGlobal @PeriodistasFSC and @marvindelcid for the coverage and support always.”

That morning Duque had tweeted (in Spanish), “About to resume trial for torture in my case against William Merchán, DAS hacker. We continue to fight for JUSTICE.”

Earlier this year, Time magazine named Duque one of the 10 journalists in the world facing the most urgent threats to press freedom and explained, “Duque has endured kidnapping, illegal surveillance, psychological torture and repeated exiles as a result of her work.”

Duque and her daughter were targeted by Colombia’s DAS intelligence service beginning in 2001. That was when Duque was investigating the murder of journalist, comedian and peace activist Jaime Garzón who was shot to death in August 1999.

El Espectador explains (in Spanish), “Duque found clues that could link state agents to the crime. After her findings, she began to be intimidated, through threatening calls and funeral wreaths that arrived at her home, until she was kidnapped that year for a few hours.”

Reporters Without Borders has highlighted, “After the DAS spied on her while pretending to protect her, she fled abroad from 2004 to 2006. Following her return, she and her 10-year-old daughter were the target of death threats in 2008, so she fled abroad again, returning later the same year.”

Years passed until 2013 when the prosecutor’s office finally issued a detention order against seven former DAS agents for the aggravated psychological torture of Duque.

One of those accused of psychological torture is William Merchán.

Journalist Marvin David Delcid tweeted about the court hearing on July 24 here, here, here, here and here.

Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied Duque since 2010.

Of PBI, Duque says, “They are indispensable people who not only support you but accompany with respect and dedication for your struggles and with their company give you the strength to continue. Many of the things I do could not be done without PBI.”

#PBIAcompaña

Colombian-Canadians to rally for peace on Friday July 26

By
Brent Patterson
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The Toronto Star headline reads, “Colombian-Canadians rally for peace amid rising violence back home”.

The newspaper article highlights, “Almost three years after the peace deal was signed, Colombian-Canadians will take to the streets on Friday as part of a global effort to draw attention to the situation in their homeland.”

Those rallies will be in: Montreal, 5 pm, in front of the Consulate of Colombia; Ottawa-Gatineau, 6:30 pm, at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill; Quebec City, 5 pm, in the Atrium of the Church of San Roche; Toronto, 6 pm, at Matt Cohen Park (Bloor and Spadina); and Winnipeg, 6 pm, at the group entrance to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has shared on social media this promotion for the global day of action being circulated by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP). PBI-Colombia has accompanied the CIJP since 1994.

That promotion notes (in Spanish), “Following the murder of María del Pilar Hurtado in Tierralta, Córdoba, Defendamos la Paz called on citizens to mobilize on July 26 and raise a national clamor to end the systematic murders of leaders and social leaders in the country.”

Colombia Reports explains, “María del Pilar Hurtado dedicated the last months of her life to negotiating a way for a group of landless peasants to live on a piece of land owned by wealthy and connected men.”

The promotion then highlights that since the July 26 mobilization was announced that at least 10 other social leaders have been killed in Colombia.

There will be rallies in at least 29 communities in Colombia, as well as in numerous other cities around the world including the five noted above in this country.

The Toronto Star article quotes the organizers of the Canadian rallies: Sandra Cordero, “a union activist who sought political asylum in Canada in 2002 after she and her family received death threats from paramilitaries in Bogota over her advocacy work”, Luis Alberto Mata, “a former journalist, who fled to Canada in 2002 with his lawyer wife and son after receiving repeated threats from paramilitary forces”, and Raul Burbano of “Common Frontiers, an international labour and human rights advocacy group”.

In the article, Cordero says, “People outside of Colombia think everything is OK after the peace agreement, but it’s not. People continue to be displaced and murdered. The only power we have is speaking out.”

A report released this past May states that 702 social leaders and 135 former members of the FARC have been killed since the beginning of 2016. 499 of the 837 people killed were members of indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant farmer communities. Just over 70 per cent of the killings were related to disputes over land and natural resources.

There are now more than 100,000 Colombians living in Canada.

The Toronto Star article notes, “According to Canada’s refugee board, the number of Colombian refugee claimants tripled to 2,582 last year from 820 in 2016, with another 671 seeking asylum in the first three months of 2019 alone.”

In 2018, 27 PBI-Colombia volunteers accompanied members of 13 organizations and 2 individual human rights defenders working on business and human rights and forced disappearances. Volunteers are based in Bogotá, Barrancabermeja and Apartadó. You can follow the work of PBI-Colombia via their website, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and their YouTube channel.

#DefendamosLaVida #26deJulioDespertemos

Canada and the Latin American migrant rights crisis

By
Brent Patterson
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What is the role that Canada plays in the migrant rights crisis that has been making headline news throughout North America (Turtle Island)? Let’s start in Mexico and work our way northward to understand the context of this situation.

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project accompanies the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, which is located near the Mexico-Texas border.

PBI-Mexico has noted, “The Saltillo Migrant Shelter offers daily humanitarian assistance — including clothes, medicines, food, rest, and medical and psychological care — to hundreds of migrants crossing Mexico to reach the United States.”

Migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have sought asylum in the United States from the poverty, violence, human rights violations and the impacts of climate breakdown (including food insecurity) in their home countries. The negative impacts of Canadian capital (notably mining projects) and support for the Honduran government have also been cited as contributory factors in this migration.

On July 1, The Washington Post reported, “In the weeks since Mexico signed a pact with the United States to stop migration [from Mexico into the United States], conditions in detention centers and shelters have deteriorated dramatically, according to diplomats and human rights officials who have visited the facilities.”

That article highlights, “Mexico has detained 99,203 migrants this year and deported 71,110 of them, according to its immigration agency.”

As of late June, Mexico also deployed 15,000 troops on its northern border to stop migrants from entering the United States.

Furthermore, on July 20, PBI-Mexico expressed its “concern about the visit this morning of the federal police to the Casa Del Migrante de Saltillo, for possible intervention and immigration verification at the hostel.” The Casa had tweeted that the federal police had tried “to do immigration check in the [shelter] under the argument of verifying immigration status of sheltered persons.”

You can read more about that in our article PBI-Mexico expresses concern over federal police check at Saltillo Migrant Shelter.

National Public Radio reports, “If Mexico fails to satisfy Trump’s demands, the next step could for Mexico to enter into a ‘safe third country’ agreement with the U.S. That would mean that asylum-seekers who travel through Mexico would have to apply for protection in that country, and would be ineligible to do so in U.S.”

Canada already has a Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.

The Globe and Mail has previously explained, “The Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States, signed in the wake of the September 11 attacks, means that with few exceptions, refugee claimants must make their claim in the first safe country they arrive in. That means virtually all asylum seekers attempting to enter Canada through a U.S. port of entry will be turned away.”

But significantly the article adds that “because Canada is a signatory of the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention, asylum seekers entering the country between border points are not automatically deported and may make asylum claims.”

In other words, the agreement, reached by then-Liberal prime minister Paul Martin and then-U.S. president George W. Bush, does not cover asylum-seekers who cross through unguarded sections of the Canada-U.S. border.

In April, Reuters reported, “Canada wants the agreement rewritten to apply to the entire border. …’We’d like to be able to get [the United States] to agree that we can, if somebody comes across, we just send them back’, [a Canadian official] told Reuters, adding Canada had raised the issue ‘at least a dozen’ times since.”

Professors Anne-Emanuelle Birn (University of Toronto) and Liisa L. North (York University) have written in this article, “In the 1980s, Canada did open its doors to Central American asylum seekers amid the region’s civil wars.”

They add, “But the numbers were small. About two million ran for their lives, either internally displaced or forced to flee across borders, with fewer than 22,000 people taken into Canada between 1982 and 1987.”

Professors Birn and North then comment in their analysis, “In 2017, Canada allocated a pitiful number of spots to Central Americans: out of 25,000 total spaces for resettled refugees, just 380 for all of the Americas.”

On May 26, The Canadian Press reported, “The United Nations is urging Canada to help ease Mexico’s refugee burden by helping resettle some of the most vulnerable of its new arrivals, including women, children and LGBTQ people.”

“A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen was unable to provide statistics of how many Mexican asylum seekers Canada has received recently.”

But some of those statistics have been reported on in Canadian media.

Global News has reported, “Ottawa imposed a visa requirement on visitors from Mexico in July 2009, after the country became Canada’s top source of refugee claims, which totaled 9,000 that year, most of which were rejected.”

That article then notes that the visa requirement was lifted on December 1, 2016 and that, “Three-quarters of the Mexican refugee claims that were heard by the Refugee Board in 2017 were either rejected, abandoned or withdrawn.”

While the Casa Del Migrante de Saltillo is located more than 3,800 kilometres south-west of the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (where the largest number of Mexican refugee applicants have sought asylum), geographic distance should not obscure the interconnectedness of Canada in the current migrant rights crisis.

PBI-Mexico expresses concern over federal police check at Saltillo Migrant Shelter

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 20, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project expressed its “concern about the visit this morning of the federal police to the Casa Del Migrante de Saltillo, for possible intervention and immigration verification at the hostel.”

The Casa had tweeted that the federal police had tried “to do immigration check in the [shelter] under the argument of verifying immigration status of sheltered persons.”

Periódico Zócalo reports (in Spanish), “Elements of the Federal Police tried to enter the Casa del Migrante de Saltillo and threatened the shelter’s coordinator, José Luis Manzo, to cordon off and besiege the place if they were not allowed to detain four migrant people who requested asylum.”

That article also notes, “The activist and defender of the migrants said that when he questioned the policeman about his actions, he clarified that he was not authorized to detain migrants or verify their immigration status, so the agent released the four migrants, but threatened the coordinator.”

Newsweek adds (in Spanish), “The incident occurred around one o’clock in the afternoon, when the feds, who were transported in official vans of the unit, arrived at the facilities of the shelter with the intention of reviewing the migratory status of the refugees.”

That article notes, “When the people in charge of the place denied them access to the security elements, they proceeded to threaten them, especially the defenseman José Luis Manzano, who was warned that ‘he was getting into a problem’.”

24 Horas reports (in Spanish), “The Mesoamerican Migrant Movement asked the Government of Mexico to stop all acts of harassment of migrant homes and shelters.”

That article adds, “For its part, the Office in Mexico of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for compliance with the Migration Law, which in its Article 76, establishes: The competent authority ‘will not be able to make migratory verification visits in places where migrants are housed by civil society organizations or people who carry out humanitarian acts, assistance or protection to migrants’.”

Periódico Zócalo also reports that the Casa “filed a complaint yesterday with the Human Rights Commission of the State of Coahuila.”

Manzo says, “The house as a matter of principle has precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, has measures of the National Commission and the State Commission, and apart we are part of the Governance Protection Mechanism.”

On June 24, the head of the Mexican army announced that Mexico had deployed almost 15,000 soldiers and members of its National Guard in the north of the country to stem the flow of migration into the United States.

Thomson Reuters reports, “Mexico is trying to curb a surge of migrants from third countries crossing its territory in order to reach the United States, under the threat of tariffs on its exports by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made tightening border security a priority.”

On July 1, The Washington Post reported, “Mexico has detained 99,203 migrants this year and deported 71,110 of them, according to its immigration agency.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Saltillo Migrant Shelter, which is located near the Mexico-Texas border, since February 2014.

PBI-Mexico has noted, “The Saltillo Migrant Shelter offers daily humanitarian assistance — including clothes, medicines, food, rest, and medical and psychological care — to hundreds of migrants crossing Mexico to reach the United States.”

PBI-Guatemala observes the 19th Annual Parade of Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 21, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Yesterday, July 20, we observed the development of the march for sexual diversity.”

More than 5,000 people reportedly took part in this march in Guatemala City.

El Periodico reports (in Spanish), “The XIX Parade of Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity toured several points of the capital city on Saturday.”

“Between January and June 2019, the murders of 28 gays, lesbians and trans were reported. This figure doubled compared to the cases recorded last year, according to a report by the Organizing Committee of the Parade.”

The newspaper also noted, “Civil society organizations were accompanied by national and international entities.”

Additionally, Prensa Libre reports (in Spanish), “The community recalled one of the defining moments of the history of the LGBTIQ movement in Guatemala, regardless of the official history. [It commemorated] the murder of María Conchita, a trans woman who tried to unite two populations: gay men and trans women.”

That article explains, “She was killed in October 1997. Her death stirred the hearts of her companions: some drowned by the fear of going out to protest and others revolutionized against silence and repression.”

And PubliNews reports (in Spanish), “There is no moment to mark the beginning of the LGBTIQ movement in Guatemala, but it is recognized that during the armed conflict, which lasted 36 years, the police and military authorities committed thousands of harassments against people who identified themselves as diverse.”

On July 6, PBI-Mexico accompanied the LGBTI+ pride march in the city of Chihuahua. On May 17, PBI-Honduras Project accompanied LGBT Arcoiris at the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia in Tegucigalpa.

#MarchaDelOrgulloGT #OrgulloGT2019 #Pride2019

Human rights defenders play a crucial role in the struggle for climate justice

By
Brent Patterson
-

“You can sit there calmly and believe that nothing is happening, while the planet – our home – is destroyed; or we can come together to take the necessary actions to stop global warming. It is time to act; it is our responsibility to cool the planet down.” – Colombian human rights defender Francia Márquez who survived an assassination attempt this past May.

Climate breakdown is a human rights issue in at least four significant ways.

First of all, human rights defenders are often on the frontlines of community mobilizations to stop the megaprojects that accelerate climate breakdown.

Those projects relate to oil and gas extraction, including fracking and the construction of pipelines; the deforestation that hinders the key role forests play in absorbing carbon; fuel-intensive large-scale mining; and the major hydroelectric dams that emit methane gas by trapping organic materials and vegetation under the water.

Secondly, human rights defenders also support migrants who have been forcibly displaced from their communities because of climate breakdown-related factors including food insecurity, crop failures, water shortages and rising sea levels.

Thirdly, so-called green solutions, notably massive industrial wind power megaprojects in Mexico, have been linked to a significant increase in human rights violations including threats, intimidation, surveillance, acts of aggression, shootings, and killings.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (from the Philippines) stated at the UN COP24 climate summit in Poland in December of last year, “I’ve seen how renewable projects like wind farms and hydropower electric dams have been done without consultation with indigenous peoples. And in the process, indigenous peoples are expelled or worse yet, killed.”

And fourthly, as the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston (from Australia) recently pointed out, “the enjoyment of all human rights [including the rights to life, water, food, and housing] by vast numbers of people is gravely threatened” by “climate apartheid” in which “the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger, and conflict while the rest of the world is left to suffer.”

Alston wrote in his report to the UN Human Rights Council that a reliance on the private sector in this scenario “would almost guarantee massive human rights violations, with the wealthy catered to and the poorest left behind.”

He has also stated, “The risk of community discontent, of growing inequality, and of even greater levels of deprivation among some groups, will likely stimulate nationalist, xenophobic, racist and other responses.”

Alston has somberly concluded, “Human rights might not survive the coming upheaval.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada shares the belief that human rights defenders are essential actors in promoting environmental and social justice, highlighting the importance of respecting human rights norms in the context of large-scale projects, as well as forced displacement and migration.

In 2018, PBI provided accompaniment to over 1,000 human rights defenders so that they could continue and expand their vital work.

A PBI chart notes that 55% of those human rights defenders work on issues related to civil and political rights, 21% on land and environmental rights, 17% on economic, social and cultural rights, and 7% on gender and sexual rights.

The preamble of the Paris Climate Agreement reached at COP21 in December 2015 states, “Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights.”

In March of this year, the UN Human Rights Council adopted this resolution that, “Stresses that human rights defenders, including environmental human rights defenders, must be ensured a safe and enabling environment to undertake their work free from hindrance and insecurity, in recognition of their important role in supporting States to fulfil their obligations under the Paris Agreement and to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development…”

David R. Boyd (Canada), the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, and Michel Forst (France), the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, additionally acknowledged the youth who are leading the Fridays For Future school strike for the climate protests.

The crucial role of human rights defenders in both the mitigation of and adaptation to climate breakdown should be further recognized at the upcoming COP25 that will take place in Santiago de Chile, Chile this coming December 2-13.

PBI-Guatemala accompanied Q’eqchi fisherman opposed to now suspended Fenix nickel mine

By
Brent Patterson
-

On May 7, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project reported in this article that it had accompanied the case of Eduardo Bin Poou, a Q’eqchi human rights defender and vice president of the Fishermen’s Association of El Estor, Izabal, who had been unfairly criminalized by being charged with the crime of trespassing on protected areas.

Human rights defenders in the department of Izabal oppose the open-pit Fenix nickel mine in the municipality of El Estor because it is causing serious environmental damage and irreparable harm to Lake Izabal, Guatemala’s largest freshwater lake.

The mine was first developed by Toronto-based Inco, then owned by Toronto-based Hudbay and Vancouver-based Skye Resources, and is now operated by the Russian-owned Solway Group that is based in Zug, Switzerland.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos (the Human Rights Law Firm) that represented Eduardo in court.

Eduardo was first acquitted on May 3 of the charge of usurpation of land.

The Guatemala Human Rights Commission USA provides the context of this charge against Eduardo: “A ‘protected area’ was created inside an indigenous community and they ended up being thrown out. Eduardo once visited the community to check on their conditions and as a result was charged with illegally occupying the area.”

Eduardo was not freed after that acquittal because of other charges against him.

The GHRC-USA notes, “All the charges [illegal detention, threats and instigation to commit a crime] are related to a protest on May 3-4, 2017 that was organized after representatives of Guatemala’s Natural Resources Ministry did not show up for a meeting scheduled to review contamination charges the fishermen had levied against the CGN nickel mine.”

CGN refers to Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel, the Guatemala-based subsidiary of the Russian-owned Solway Group that owns the Fenix mine.

Jackie McVicar comments, “He had been arrested, there were trumped up charges against him, stemming from him denouncing contamination of the lake that was impacting his ability to meekly provide for his family through fishing. He has been in jail ever since.”

On June 15, PBI-Guatemala posted, “Yesterday we accompanied the BDH in the review hearing of the measure of coercion of Eduardo Bin Poou, Vice President of the fishermen’s guild of Izabal. The court of criminal judgment of Izabal decreed substitute measure in favour of the lake defender, granting house arrest and payment of a bail.”

As such, Eduardo was freed from jail!

Now, The Guardian reports, “Guatemala’s constitutional court has upheld a request from indigenous campaigners to suspend operations at one of the largest nickel mines in Central America, in a battle over the facility’s environmental impact.”

“The court found in favour of an appeal brought by campaigners who claim the ministry of energy and mines failed to carry out a full consultation with local people when it decided, in 2016, to extend the licence for the Fenix mine.”

That news report adds, “Solway is appealing against the ruling that it should consult the community. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for 25 July.”

#PBIAcompaña

PBI-Mexico accompanies Indigenous Zapotec group opposed to industrial wind power megaprojects on their territory

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 19, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted on Facebook that it accompanied Los Comuneros Zapotecas de Unión Hidalgo at their event celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Presidential Resolution of Communal Property.

A recent headline in El Universal (in Spanish) explains that it was in 1964, by presidential order, that the Indigenous Zapotec peoples of the municipality of Union Hidalgo in the state of Oaxaca, were recognized as possessors of the land and were given 20,000 hectares that today they defend against megaprojects.

That article notes, “The agrarian community of Union Hidalgo defends its right to land, territory and natural assets before the wind industry that is settling in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec [in the state of Oaxaca] without respecting the communal character of the land, nor the human rights of the Indigenous peoples.”

The PBI-Mexico social media post adds the details that, “They have a history of resistance against the arrival of five wind megaprojects and other miners in their territory. There are approximately 300 wind towers that are intended to be installed in areas with a large presence of trees and natural reserves.”

In May of this year, Mexico News Daily reported that the Energía Eólica del Sur wind farm was built by the Japanese transnational Mitsubishi corporation.

The newspaper article further highlights, “It is the newest of 28 farms in the state, all of which are located in the windy Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, which generates 62 per cent of Mexico’s wind energy.”

That article also notes, “One group of indigenous Zapotecs sued Energía Eólica del Sur, arguing that their right to prior consultation under international law had been violated because the consultation took place after construction had already started.”

The Mexico City-based Project on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, AC (ProDESC) has previously explained that the Zapotec indigenous community of Unión Hidalgo opposed the Piedra Larga wind project.

Desarrollos Eólicos Mexicanos (DEMEX), a subsidiary of the Spanish company Renovalia Energy, along with the private U.S. investment firm First Reserve, developed the controversial Piedra Larga wind farm projects despite community opposition. Piedra Larga I, which is comprised of 145 wind turbines, has been in operation since October 2012. Piedra Larga II, which consists of 69 wind turbines, was constructed in 2014.

In February of this year, the Istmopress News Agency also noted these projects being developed in this territory:

1- the Gunna Sicarú wind farm to be built by Eólica de Francia (EDF);

2- a wind farm that is still unknown but belongs to the company Eólica Unión Hidalgo;

3- the Palmita 1 and 2 wind farm to be built by the German company Siemens and Gamesa;

4- a wind farm to be built by the U.S. company Ecowin.

That article also listed:

5- a mine being developed by Minaurum Gold in the community of La Cristalina in the municipality of San Miguel Chimalapa;

6- a stone material mining companies such as the Cruz Azul cement factory that intends to excavate an area in a small mountain range.

In 2013, a representative of PRoDESC stated in this IPS newspaper article, “There is a pattern of human rights violations in the communities. Wind energy companies advertise themselves well, offering money and jobs, but the jobs are temporary. The companies’ actions are not transparent, nor do they meet established standards.”

This PBI-Mexico briefing paper has also previously noted, “Throughout 2013, PBI observed with concern an increase in the level of violence in the context of wind farms, particularly against HRDs [human rights defenders] and community leaders whose work involves the defence of those affected by these developments.”

It adds, “PBI believes that HRDs are essential actors in promoting environmental and social justice, highlighting the importance of respecting human rights norms in the context of large scale economic projects.”

ProDESC is a member of the Focal Group of Civil Society on Business and Human Rights (Focal Group) that PBI-Mexico has accompanied since 2015.

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