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PBI-Colombia expresses concern about death threat received by CAHUCOPANA

By
Brent Patterson
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On September 1, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project tweeted, “We express our concerns about the threats received by leaders of @CAHUCOPANA, who accompany communities in the Northeast of Antioquia, and report a situation of insecurity; their protection and investigation of the facts is necessary @ONUHumanRights.”

CAHUCOPANA (the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace of the Northeast Antioquia) was formed by a group of three hundred family farmers in 2004. You can read more about them in this PBI-Colombia overview.

The PBI-Colombia tweet and Facebook post follows after CAHUCOPANA tweeted, “Leaders and peasants are threatened with death in the Northeast of Antioquia. The list shows a peasant leader from CAHUCOPANA, members of Community Action Boards and a leader who works with children, among others.”

That list of seven names includes CAHUCOPANA human rights defender and peasant leader Ricaurte de Jesús García.

In this Facebook post, CAHUCOPANA further explains, “On August 30, several leaders, peasants and villagers of the municipality of Remedios, received a death threat through a message sent by WhatsApp, with a series of insults and the warning: ‘by lambs toads we’re going to kill them … we’re waiting for them.’”

CAHUCOPANA demands that:

1- the competent authorities investigate to find those responsible for this threat;

2- strong actions are taken to guarantee the life and integrity of the leaders and the peasant mining community that inhabits the area;

3- the National and Departmental Government provide security guarantees, activate collective and differentiated plans and programs for the inhabitants of the region.

PBI-Colombia was recently present for the inauguration by CAHUCOPANA of a House of Memory in Lejanías, accompanied CAHUCOPANA at a meeting with the Victims Unit on the first steps of implementing the Comprehensive Reparations Plan, accompanied CAHUCOPANA at a workshop in Puerto López at a workshop with social leaders in the area in order to determine protection and self-protection measures, and accompanied CAHUCOPANA to the IV Encuentro of rural women this past March.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CAHUCOPANA since 2013.

PBI-Honduras accompanies CEHPRODEC at annual march against extractivism

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 30, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted on social media, “Yesterday we accompanied CEHPRODEC to an annual march in which hundreds of people from the communities protested against the extractivism that, they say, threaten the territories and natural resources.”

PBI-Honduras has explained that CEHPRODEC (the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development) is focused on “the defence of human rights, in particular on economic, social, cultural and environmental rights.”

CEHPRODEC has previously raised concerns about the toxic legacy in the Siria Valley from the Vancouver-based Goldcorp San Martin mine that was closed in 2010. The water there is now polluted with heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, and mercury.

In March of this year, PBI-Honduras accompanied alongside CEHPRODEC and C-Libre (the Committee for Freedom of Expression) the trial of 13 water defenders from Guapinol opposed to a mine on their territory.

In May, PBI-Honduras accompanied CEHPRODEC to San Estebán, a municipality 285 kilometres north-east of Tegucigalpa, for an “assembly on the care of the environment, natural resources and mining” that discussed the impacts of mining on human rights.

And in early August, PBI-Honduras observed with CEHPRODEC a census in the community of Namasigüe in the department of Choluteca. PBI has noted, “With an accurate census, there is greater hope of being able to hold an open consultation on possible future mining and solar energy concessions in the area.” Montreal-based Glen Eagle Resources Inc. may be pursuing two mining projects in the area.

PBI-Honduras has accompanied CEHPRODEC since May 2014.

Donald Hernandez from CEHPRODEC has stated, “CEHPRODEC was the first institution in Honduras to receive accompaniment from Peace Brigades. We are very thankful and content because this accompaniment has permitted us to carry out our work in a better way.”

#PBIacompaña

PBI-Mexico accompanies EDUCA’s 25th anniversary conference

By
Brent Patterson
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On August 30, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project tweeted, “PBI accompanied EDUCA at the colloquium ‘Challenges of the social and popular movement in the times of transformations in Mexico 1994-2019’.”

PBI-Mexico notes that it has accompanied Services for an Alternative Education (EDUCA) since May 2013 “because of their vulnerable situation and the high-threat situations faced by the communities where they work.”

In this reflection on their 25th anniversary, EDUCA notes, “1994 was the year of the uprising. That year we rose up. With the Zapatista rebellion we saw not only the awakening of consciousness of millions of people but also a hope for change in Mexico. For a group of young people who had been doing social work in ecclesial spaces, this uprising also meant organizing and taking alternatives.”

As highlighted on the PBI-Mexico website, “Part of EDUCA’s work includes accompanying “various community processes which defend territory from energy-based megaprojects, such as the silver mine in San José del Progreso, the gold mine in Magdalena Teitipac, and the wind farms on the Isthmus of Tehuántepec.” EDUCA also supports community opposition to the construction of the Paso de la Reina hydroelectric dam.

In November 2018, PBI-Canada hosted public forums with Neftalí Reyes Méndez from EDUCA and Indigenous leader Salvador Martínez Arellanes where they highlighted concerns being expressed by the residents of Santa Catarina Minas about a concession granted near their community to Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver Mines.

They noted that the residents are aware of the violence Fortuna’s operations has brought to the nearby community of San José del Progreso, including the deaths of Bernardo Méndez Vásquez and Bernardo Vasquez Sánchez.

EDUCA comments about the overall situation in Mexico: “The ‘accumulation by dispossession’ has reached a climax, with territories granted to mining, wind power and real estate companies, or for the development of hydraulic projects, the construction of highways and the large-scale production of genetically modified corn.”

To download the programme from today’s conference, please click here. For numerous short video clips of their 25th anniversary forum, please see EDUCA’s Twitter feed.

For more on their recent work – including supporting communities opposing to a newly announced proposed hydroelectric dam on Río Verde – click here.

PBI-Canada extends to EDUCA our best wishes for its 25th anniversary!

#Educa25años

PBI-Honduras seeks volunteers! Apply by September 15!

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project is seeking field volunteers!

Key qualifications include a fluency in Spanish, a commitment to at least 12 months of field work, and an ability to work in a horizontal structure where decisions are made through consensus.

PBI-Honduras will cover the following costs: a round trip ticket to Honduras and back, accommodation and medical insurance, an honorarium of about $285 CAD per month for personal costs and repatriation once you have finished your contract.

Key dates include:

Deadline for applications – September 15

Interviews – September 15 to October 6

Online training – October 15 to December 31

In-person training in Valladolid, Spain – January 12-18, 2020

In 2018, eight international volunteers accompanied members of six organizations and one human rights defender working on business and human rights, land rights, indigenous rights, freedom of expression, support to victims, women’s rights and LGBTI rights.

Volunteers are based in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

All the information on how to apply to be a field volunteer in Honduras can be found here.

Please help spread the word!

PBI-Mexico accompanies Paso del Norte at march against enforced disappearances

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has posted, “This August 30, the international day of forced disappearance, PBI accompanied the Paso del Norte Human Rights Center on the march to make visible the struggle of mothers and families. To make the search for missing persons a priority for the government.”

PBI-Mexico has previously noted, “The Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre, located in Ciudad Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua, was created in 2001 by priest Óscar Enríquez Pérez to address human rights issues in the region.”

It adds, “Today, the Centre’s main areas of work are a comprehensive defense of rights and the accompaniment of victims of human rights violations, with a focus on cases of torture and enforced disappearances.”

Equal Times has reported, “A total of 37,435 people recorded by the Mexican government as having disappeared between 2007 and April 2018. The authorities admit, however, that the figure could be much higher, taking into account the many cases that are not reported, and those that have happened since April.”

The United Nations has highlighted of particular concern “the ongoing harassment of human rights defenders, relatives of victims, witnesses and legal counsel dealing with cases of enforced disappearance.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre since 2013 due to concerns about their security.

#EnElCamino #HastaEncontrarles #PBIacompaña

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Corporation for Judicial Freedom on a Humanitarian Caravan

By
Brent Patterson
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On September 2, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project posted, “Last week we accompanied the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) in the Humanitarian Caravan for Life in Bajo Cauca Antioqueño.”

“Within the framework of which we visit the communities of several villages and municipalities (Puerto Valdivia, La Caucana, Alto del Tigre, El Tigre and Tarazá) that are in a high-risk situation due to the persistence of the armed conflict in their territory.”

PBI-Colombia adds, “In these places, the caravan members carried out cultural and humanitarian interventions in order to make visible the importance of defending life, peace and inhabiting the territory.”

Prior to its launch, El Espectador reported, “From August 25 to 28, social leaders, human rights organizations, peasants, artists and media will travel through Puerto Valdivia, Caucasia, Cáceres, Tarazá, Antioquia, in order to demand the right to life and make visible both the abandonment of the State and the problem facing this area of ​​the country due to the violent acts of the illegal armed groups.”

“Its first stop was the corregimiento of Puerto Valdivia, where there was a press conference for the community to express their requests and problems to achieve their visibility. In addition, they developed recreational activities with the population.”

And the article notes, “The Humanitarian Caravan will end this Wednesday [August 28] with a meeting between its organizers and the civil and military authorities of the department. With this they will seek guarantees of protection and security in the communities and human rights defenders of the area.”

Johan Giraldo Radio, a lawyer with Corporation for Judicial Freedom, says, “The communities demand state intervention, not only public force is needed here. The roads are in poor condition, there is nothing to live on. Social investment is what is needed.”

The findings from the Humanitarian Caravan can be read here.

PBI-Colombia has previously explained, “The Corporation for Judicial Freedom is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the judicial defence and promotion of human rights and the rights of peoples. Their members represent victims of State crimes at national and international courts, and fight against injustice and impunity.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied CJL since 2000.

#BajoCaucaPorLaVida

When Peace Brigades International accompanied Rigoberta Menchú in Guatemala

By
Brent Patterson
-

Rigoberta Menchú is a Mayan k’iche’ human rights defender who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 when she was 33 years old.

In the late 1980s she was accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project, which had been created in 1983.

And as Green Left Weekly notes, “Menchu credits PBI with her survival in Guatemala, because of their work in escorting her around under threat of the regime’s death squads.”

The Nobel Women’s Initiative provides the background: “In 1960, ethnic and socioeconomic tensions engrained since colonization spurred a brutal civil war against the Mayan people. The military dictatorship, under the leadership of Efraín Ríos Montt, and rich landowners initiated the bloodshed. Rigoberta and her family mobilized Guatemalans during the war to denounce government-led mass atrocities.”

During this war, Rigoberta’s father, mother, two brothers and cousin were murdered.

In 1981, at the age of 21, Rigoberta went into exile in Chiapas, Mexico.

In the book Unarmed Bodyguards, Liam Mahony and Luis Enrique Eguren write about Rigoberta’s first trip back to Guatemala on April 18, 1988.

They note, “Her delegation was the first to use international accompaniment strategically for a visit from exile.”

“The delegation was met at the airport by three PBI volunteers; dozens of national and international reporters; a crowd of hundreds of Guatemalan students, unionists, and GAM members – and a battalion of 500 policemen on the runway.”

“Despite the heavyweight accompaniment, Rigoberta and her colleague, Dr. Rolando Castillo, were whisked into police cars the instant they stepped off the plane.”

“PBI volunteers and the rest of the arriving delegation rushed to the airport pay phones to start an international human rights alert. In the next few hours, President Cerezo was barraged with telephone calls from the international and diplomatic community.”

Several hours later Rigoberta and Dr. Castillo were released.

Mahony and Eguren comment, “Accompaniment alone did not prevent the arrests, but international pressure reversed them.”

Rigoberta left Guatemala in late April 1988 but returned again in May 1989.

PBI volunteer Patty Mutchnick was accompanying Rigoberta on that visit when she received anonymous Mother’s Day bouquets with threats on the cards.

Mutchnick recounts that experience: “Rigoberta knew as well as I that when I went out to scan the street for snipers and dangerous men behind tinted windows, the actual physical protection I offered was absurd, and to myself in that moment, laughable. I was absolutely vulnerable, and so [was she].”

Rigoberta left the country within days.

Overall, as highlighted by Jackie Smith in the book Transnational Social Movements and Global Politics, “Peace Brigades International (PBI) escorted Rigoberta Menchu to Guatemala on five occasions prior to her receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.”

PBI-UK has noted that in 1999 the Rigoberta Menchú Túm Foundation awarded Peace Brigades International its Medalla Comemorativa de la Paz for its contribution to promoting the peace to which the foundation and its founder Rigoberta Menchú are dedicated.

Rigoberta has stated, “PBI’s work demonstrates that supporting victims of authoritarianism, intolerance and state violence is invaluable and necessary. It makes the fight for human rights more effective and makes the dream of democracy a reality.”

More recently, as reported in this Prensa Latina article, Rigoberta addressed a high-level forum of the United Nations General Assembly the obstacles that impede the development of a culture of peace including the extreme concentration of wealth, the nuclear arms race, climate change, hate speech, and actions against migrants on the U.S. border.

Photo: Rigoberta Menchu accompanied by PBI volunteer Liam Mahony (in white shirt) in Guatemala in 1988. Photo by Marlyse Gehret.

Remembering Alaine Hawkins

By
Brent Patterson
-

Alaine Lisham Hawkins played a crucial role in the early formative years of the global human rights organization Peace Brigades International.

In terms of her childhood, Alaine was born in England in 1935 and moved with her parents to Pickering, Ontario, Canada in 1937.

After completing university, she took a teaching job in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario before moving to the United States and then back to Uxbridge, Ontario in 1965. Uxbridge is not far from Toronto, which is where she and her husband John began attending the Toronto Monthly Meeting of Friends on Lowther Avenue.

In 1975, Alaine, John and their three daughters moved to British Columbia so that Alaine could teach at Argenta Friends School.

In 1982, the family moved back to Toronto. During this time, while she was also assisting refugees from Central America, she encountered Peace Brigades International.

Notably, Alaine was a founder and active member of Peace Brigades International-Canada, the first PBI country group (incorporated in January 1984).

From 1986 to 1991, Alaine was the Toronto-based coordinator of PBI’s Central American Project. Joan Edenburg comments in the book Making Space for Peace, “During these tense and difficult years in Central America, Alaine made a major contribution in establishing PBI as a respected organisation in the region.”

In 1988, she explained to Toronto’s NOW Magazine our work: “Peace Brigades supports the political space in which people work for social change in a non-violent way. Our people are a physical presence. If anything happens to the people they are escorting, we are able to get the word out immediately.”

Alaine was also crucial in the formation of PBI’s Sri Lanka Project in 1989 (which was based in Halifax, England) and the North America Project in 1992 (based in Toronto).

The Canadian Friends Historical Association notes, “Social justice circles in Canada were well aware of Alaine’s work, and through her, Peace Brigades International became known. In recognition of her work for peace in Central America, North America, and world-wide, she was awarded a Governor-General’s Medal.”

Alaine died of cancer on April 3, 1997 at 62 years of age after a two-year battle with cancer. Edenburg notes, “About 200 people attended a memorial meeting in Toronto to celebrate Alaine’s life, and to grieve her passing.”

Alaine’s commitment to peace and her dedication to Peace Brigades International continue to remembered and celebrated.

#PBI38años

December 1988 – Alaine Hawkins, Lyn Adamson and Jennifer Dennison in the PBI Central America Project Office at 345 Adelaide Street West, Suite 606 in Toronto, Ontario.

PBI-Honduras accompanies C-Libre at appeal for Guapinol water defenders

By
Brent Patterson
-

On September 5, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “This morning we accompanied the Committee for Free Expression [a coalition of journalists and civil society representatives] to the Constitutional Chamber, where they signed a Habeas Corpus appeal in favour of the eight defenders of the Guapinol territory who have been in preventive detention since last Sunday.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “This resource is intended to review whether the requirements to adopt that resolution were met.”

ACI-Participa further explains, “The appeal is that this Chamber of the CSJ [la Corte Suprema de Justicia] review the actions of the Judge and if the necessary requirements were met for the magistrate to take that resolution. The measure is clearly illegal, so within the next 24 hours a ruling from the Constitutional Chamber is expected.”

On September 2, Prensa Latina reported, “The director of the Committee for Free Expression, Edy Tábora, who is also part of the environmental defense lawyers, denounced that the trial is plagued by irregularities.”

That article adds, “Initially the environmentalists had been charged for the crimes of illicit association and illegal carrying of weapons. …[They] are now in preventive detention for the crime of aggravated fire, dictated by a judge of national jurisdiction.”

Background

In August 2018, area residents set up a ‘Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life’ in opposition to the Inversiones Los Pinares mine. Many oppose this mine inside the Carlos Escaleras National Park because it is causing damage to the Guapinol River, the source of drinking water for 14 nearby communities and about 42,000 people.

In October 2018, 1,500 Honduran military and police officers evicted the camp.

Twelve of the water defenders who had been at that camp went on trial in late February of this year. PBI-Honduras, along with CEHPRODEC [the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development] and C-Libre, accompanied that trial.

On August 26, PBI-Honduras was also present for an initial hearing of seven of the additional water defenders noted above. Those water defenders were referred to judicial detention at the Tamara Penitentiary where they are still being jailed.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has stated, “This confinement is just one of numerous due process failures plaguing this case, including the fact that one of the defenders is now being tried inside a military base. The water defenders must be released and all the charges dropped – protecting the human right to water is never a crime.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied C-Libre since January 2018.

Further reading: Guapinol water defender Roberto Antonio Argueta killed; PBI-Honduras at court hearing for Guapinol water defenders and Peace Brigades accompanies at-risk lawyers and criminalized human rights defenders.

#GuapinolResiste #DefenderLaTierraNoEsDelito #NoMasCriminalización

Guapinol water defender Roberto Antonio Argueta killed

By
Brent Patterson
-

Water defender Roberto Antonio Argueta Tejada, one of the 32 people criminalized for defending the Guapinol River, was killed on August 28 in the city of Tocoa in the department of Colon in northern Honduras.

COPINH and C-Libre, two organizations accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project, have posted about his death.

COPINH stated, “No more murders of defenders of the earth!”

The Municipal Committee in Defence of Common and Public Assets (CMDBCP) and the Coalition against Impunity have condemned Argueta’s murder and demanded an investigation. (On January 20 of this year, PBI-Honduras observed the Municipal Summit for Water and Life that was organized by the CMDBCP.)

In August 2018, area residents set up a ‘Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life’ (see photo above) in opposition to the Inversiones Los Pinares mine.

Argueta and many others oppose this mine inside the Carlos Escaleras National Park because it is causing damage to the Guapinol River, the source of drinking water for 14 nearby communities and about 42,000 people.

Italia Star has reported, “According to the villagers, the dragging of sediments from the opening of the road [for the mine] caused the drinking water plants to fill with mud. The residents of 13 communities had joined the protest because the mine is located in the area where the San Pedro river is born, which supplies them with water.”

In October 2018, 1,500 Honduran military and police officers evicted the camp.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has noted, “Argueta, who despite not being part of the CMDBCP, was sympathetic and had supported the Guapinol defenders, for example, by providing them with food or water, which is why he was one of 32 people criminalized as part of the Guapinol case.”

Twelve of those water defenders (Argueta chose not to present himself) went on trial in late February and early March of this year. PBI-Honduras, along with CEHPRODEC and C-Libre, accompanied that trial.

On August 26, PBI-Honduras were also present at the hearing for 7 more water defenders who have been accused of illegal association, robbery and aggravated fire in the Guapinol case. Those water defenders were referred to judicial detention at the Tamara Penitentiary with a hearing scheduled for August 29.

On August 30, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) posted this update: “The Guapinol water defenders are still being jailed, after their initial hearing was suspended. …The water defenders must be released and all the charges dropped – protecting the human right to water is never a crime.”

#GuapinolResiste #DefenderLaTierraNoEsDelito #NoMasCriminalización

Photo of the Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life from this article by Canadian lawyer, journalist and activist Dimitri Lascaris.

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