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PBI-Guatemala observes trial of PAC members accused of violations against Indigenous Achi women during the internal armed conflict

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Yesterday #PBI observed a hearing of a second trial in the case of the #MujeresAchí [Indigenous Achi women], who after 40 years of struggle seek to achieve justice for the sexual violations and crimes against humanity suffered. Three former civilian self-defence patrol members are accused for the events that occurred between 1981 and 1985 in the municipality of Rabinal.”

CRN Noticias has previously explained: “The defendants [three former members of the Civil Self-Defence Patrols paramilitary force] face charges of sexual violence against more than 30 Mayan women of the Achí people during the 1980s, in the context of the internal armed conflict. [The Prosecutor’s Office has presented evidence] that the defendants sexually abused at least five women. These women were detained for more than 25 days in a military barracks in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz.”

Memoria Virtual has noted that the Civil Self-Defence Patrols (las Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil or PAC) “were paramilitary organizations … organized, armed, supervised, and directed by the military forces … [established] to monitor and defend the villages, to pursue and detect suspects of belonging to the guerrillas and to participate in military actions or punishment of the [mostly Indigenous] population.”

The internal armed conflict killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced more than one million people between 1960 and 1996.

45,000 people are still unaccounted, including 5,000 children.

The conflict between state military forces and guerilla combatants was underpinned by the poverty, marginalization and racism against Indigenous peoples.

The United Nations-backed Commission for Historical Clarification established in June 1994 determined that the Guatemalan military was responsible for 93 per cent of the atrocities – including forced disappearances, massacres and torture – and that 83 per cent of the victims were Indigenous Maya peoples.

The Commission concluded that acts of genocide occurred during the war.

Radio FGER has noted: “The ‘Mujeres Achi’ case is emblematic of sexual violence during the internal armed conflict, evidencing the use of rape as a weapon of war by the Army and paramilitary groups to attack women and subjugate indigenous communities. …Violations in these contexts were particularly degrading, as many victims were abused while in detention, and at times, in front of family members, which intensified their suffering.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) at #MujeresAchí trial (PBI-Canada, January 30, 2025).

Amnesty International could designate three Indigenous land defenders in Canada as prisoners of conscience

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Corey Jocko, Sleydo’ and Shaylynn Sampson. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood/The Tyee.

On Tuesday February 18, CBC reported that BC Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen ruled that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) breached the Charter rights of three Indigenous land defenders during a militarized raid on Wet’suwet’en territory in 2021.

Those land defenders are Sleydo’ (Wet’suwet’en), Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan) and Corey Jocko (Kanien’kehá:ka-Mohawk).

Amnesty International now says that it “is reviewing the implications of Tuesday’s decision. Should they receive a sentence that arbitrarily deprives them of their liberty, Amnesty will designate the affected land defenders as prisoners of conscience.”

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, says: “If the Canadian state decides to unjustly criminalize and confine Sleydo’, Shaylynn, and Corey, Amnesty International will not hesitate to designate them as prisoners of conscience. Canada is on the sadly long list of countries in the Americas where land defenders remain at risk for their essential work.”

France-Isabelle Langlois, general director of Amnistie internationale Canada francophone, adds: “The Court’s decision to uphold the convictions of the three land defenders is part of a broader context of shrinking civic space in Canada, where Indigenous land defenders, environmentalists, and human right defenders are frequently the victims of political or police repression.”

Photo by Amnesty International

Maximum sentence of five years

Justice Tammen found the three land defenders guilty last year of criminal contempt of court for breaking an injunction against blocking work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory. CBC reports: “Tammen said the maximum sentence for criminal contempt is no more than five years imprisonment.”

APTN adds: “The case will be back in court on April 3 to fix a date for sentencing.”

Chief Dsta’hyl

Video: Chief Dsta’hyl and Gitxsan land defender Kolin Sutherland-Wilson detained by the RCMP C-IRG, October 27, 2021.

The Amnesty International statement further notes: “If Amnesty International names Sleydo’, Sampson and Jocko prisoners of conscience, it will be the second time the organization has applied that designation to a person held by Canada. In July 2024, Amnesty declared another Wet’suwet’en land defender – Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl – a prisoner of conscience after the British Columbia court sentenced him to 60 days of house arrest.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: RCMP C-IRG snipers repeatedly deployed against Wet’suwet’en land defenders and water protectors (PBI-Canada, February 20, 2025).

PBI-Canada social media post.

Click here: The Yintah Access link to donate to help support the legal costs of the land defenders challenging RCMP C-IRG violence.

PBI-Mexico accompanies activities in Amilcingo on the 6th anniversary of the murder of Indigenous Nahua defender Samir Flores Soberanes

By
Brent Patterson
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On February 20, PBI-Mexico posted: “Today in Amilcingo #PBI accompanied the mass and the procession for the 6th anniversary of the murder of the defender and community communicator Samir Flores Soberanes. In the framework of the international accompaniment to the Front of Peoples in Defense of Land and Water – Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala, we remember the nonviolent work of Samir for his community, his territory, and the dignity of the Indigenous Peoples, and that violence against human rights defenders continues threatening their legitimate work in their fight for rights and justice.”

La Jornada San Luis reports:

“Around 8 a.m. a mass was held in the house of Samir’s children and his partner Liliana, near the home of his parents, and a few meters from where he was killed in 2019.

Video still.

Afterwards, those present marched with flowers and candles to the center of the community; they made a stop and political act in front of the Amiltzinko community radio station, which Samir founded to organize the resistance of this town and others in the eastern zone of Morelos.

Video still.

Around 10 a.m., the contingent arrived at the elementary school located in the center of Amilcingo, named after Samir Flores Soberanes. In this school the students sang songs to remember the struggle of the environmental defender.

In this act, the plastic artist Carmen Jiménez Cacho gave the school a painting in which she painted the body of Emiliano Zapata, with the face of Samir Flores; on the sides she placed the faces of Genaro Vázquez, Lucio Caballas, Rubén Jaramillo and Isidro Baldenegro [other social fighters who died to defend the land, the environment and life].”

Video still.

El Sol de Cuautla further reports: “The march concluded at the municipal cemetery, where flowers covered his grave. As every February 20 in recent years, the community renewed the promise not to forget and not to forgive until justice is done.”

Photo by CNI (National Indigenous Congress) México.

Other commemorations

The Mexico Times adds: “As part of the day of struggle for the six years since Samir’s murder, the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala and the National Indigenous Congress called for a march on February 21 [starting at 4 pm] in Mexico City.” Periodistas Unidos further notes: “[The massive mobilization] will depart from the Ministry of the Interior to the Zócalo.”

Diario de Morelos also notes: “On Saturday, February 22, at the cultural space La Bigotona, in Cuernavaca, there will be one more day of artistic and cultural activities, with Hugo Mazatl and Abril Luna (dance), Son de Chía, La Mosca con Smoking, El Viejo Luna, La Internacional Cananea and his Tiro de Piedra, who will continue to raise their voices for Samir.”

The demand for justice

El Sol de Cuautla also reports that the march took place “a day after President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would ask the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to make progress in the investigation of the case.”

And La Jornada San Luis reports: “In an interview, Juan Carlos Flores, Jaime Domínguez and Jorge Velázquez, members of the [Peoples Front in Defence of Land and Water], complained that the investigations did not advance in the State Attorney General’s Office or in the Attorney General’s Office, which took the case. They assured that if they really want to clarify this, the main line of investigation must be that it was a ‘narco-political crime’, ordered from the highest spheres of power, and that it was carried out by members of an organized criminal gang that operates in the state.”

Educa Oaxaca adds: “Two of the probable perpetrators of Samir’s murder are said to be dead, one of the detainees is about to be tried and another is a fugitive from the law. Of the three main witnesses, two are also dead. ‘This shows the terrible network of power behind Samir’s murder’, the [People’s] Front said.”

Up next, El Sol de Cuautla reports: “On March 10, a hearing will be held in the Judicial City of Atlacholoaya, where alleged perpetrators of the homicide will be summoned.”

Further reading: PBI-Mexico accompanies the People’s Front at press conference demanding justice for Samir Flores Soberanes (PBI-Canada, February 15, 2025).

We continue to follow this.

LINK TO CANADIAN MINING COMPANIES

Alamos Gold and Zacatecas Silver

We would also highlight that the People’s Front has linked the PIM megaproject to Toronto-based Alamos Gold and its Esperanza mine. In November 2020, they posted: “[Mexican president] Lopez Obrador’s [support for the PIM] betrays the peasant and the promise of change of his government, to favour transnational corporations [including] Canadian miners like Alamos Gold.”

In February 2022, Toronto-based Alamos Gold Inc. announced “it has entered into a binding agreement to sell its non-core Esperanza Gold Project located in Morelos State, Mexico to [Vancouver-based] Zacatecas Silver Corp. for total consideration of up to $60 million.”

Avispa Midia has also reported: “Gathered [at the ‘First Assembly of the Nahua people of Morelos against mining and megaprojects of death’ in April 2022], the Nahua peoples denounced the mining project ‘paradoxically called Esperanza’, for the exploitation, in open-pit pits, of gold and silver. This concession, for the Canadian companies Alamos Gold and Zacatecas Silver, is located just 500 meters from the Xochicalco site [an archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage Site].”

PBI-Nicaragua accompanies the REMUPI-organized Pinolera Fair of “resistance and sisterhood” in Costa Rica

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Nicaragua has posted on Instagram and Facebook:

“On Sunday, February 16, PBI accompanied the 41st edition of the Pinolera Fair, a space organized by the Pinolera Women’s Network [REMUPI] systematically for more than four years. In this edition, REMUPI joined forces with the Feminist Collective Las Volcánicas in the framework of the ‘Raíces que unen’ (Roots that Unite) Campaign, promoted by Oxfam Central America.

Defenders Fernanda and Egda from the Network animated the space recalling the importance of strengthening the spaces of articulation of women’s organizations, solidarity among peoples, to promote feminist economy and to promote art and culture as an expression of women’s resistance and struggle.

The fair ended with a concert, where the voices of artists from Nicaragua and Costa Rica joined the audience with messages full of shared stories between cultures, empathy with exiles and commitment to the construction of inclusive societies where xenophobia, discrimination, inequality, violence and injustice have no place.”

The Pinolera Fair

Intertextual has previously reported: “Mixtli T Córdoba has been exiled in Costa Rica for 5 years. For her, the Pinolera Fair, one of the spaces offered by Remupi, means ‘following the living flame’ of what Nicaragua means outside the territory, this being a space of ‘resistance and sisterhood’ among feminist women and activists.”

That article further notes: “According to Córdoba, what Nicaraguan women are seeking by organizing this fair is to follow their roots and cultures from a place of resistance, creating a space where their voices can be heard and their demands for freedom for political prisoners in their country can reach the ears of the international community.”

In September 2024, República18 also reported: “Fernanda Martínez, a member of the feminist organization, pointed out that for four years, the Pinolera Fair has been held every month. She pointed out that within her lines of work is political advocacy around the promotion and defense of the human rights of Nicaraguan women.”

That Republica18 article highlights: “The 36th Pinolera Fair that took place in San José, Costa Rica, on September 15, was dedicated to journalist Fabiola Tercero, who has been missing since July 12, 2024.”

Photo: The whereabouts of Tercero are still unknown.

Accompaniment of REMUPI

PBI-Nicaragua has previously explained: “The Red de Mujeres Pinoleras, also known as REMUPI, was founded in 2020 by Nicaraguan women refugees in Costa Rica, following the socio-political crisis of 2018 in Nicaragua.”

They have also noted: “The organisation accompanies and guides women fleeing state violence in Nicaragua, generating and strengthening networks so that they can sustain themselves emotionally and economically, as a strategy for resilience. It is a political space where women seek a dignified life, not only in exile but in a Nicaragua that respects all people. It is a network of solidarity, collective care, memory and struggle.”

Context

In June 2018, University of Saskatchewan professor Lori Hanson and Nicaraguan professor Miguel Gomez wrote in Briarpatch Magazine: “On April 18, university students calling themselves the autoconvocados (self-organized) launched national protests against government foot-dragging in controlling widespread fires in the Indio Maiz biosphere [a protected reserve in southeastern Nicaragua].”

Hanson and Gomez add: “At the time, the protests were organized using the hashtag #SOSIndioMaiz. And while those fires were still smouldering, [Nicaraguan president Daniel] Ortega proceeded to pass reforms to Nicaragua’s social security system (INSS) into law without consultation. The focus quickly shifted: in social networks #SOSIndioMaiz became #SOSINSS. Students joined pensioners in protest, much as they had in 2013 (#ocupaINSS).”

As of December 2022, close to 200,000 Nicaraguans have sought refugee status in Costa Rica since the state repression of those 2018 protests began.

El Pais has also reported: “In 2021, [Dora María] Téllez [a leader of the Sandinista Revolution] was one of dozens of Nicaraguan dissidents rounded up and sentenced to prison for ‘crimes against the nation’ in sham trials ordered by Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. After surviving 606 days of solitary confinement in the dungeons of El Chipote prison, in February 2023, Téllez was taken out of her cell, loaded onto a plane, and sent into exile in the United States along with 221 other political prisoners, including her partner.”

In December 2024, citing the case of Brooklyn Rivera, a leader of the Miskito Indigenous people and now prisoner of conscience, Amnesty International called on the Nicaraguan government “to put an immediate end to all repressive practices, respect the human rights of the entire population, and end the criminalization of dissident voices.”

PBI-Nicaragua

Along with REMUPI, PBI-Nicaragua also accompanies Las Malcriadas (a feminist organisation founded in 2018 in Nicaragua by young women who come from diverse experiences of feminist activism and organising), the University Coordinator for Democracy and Justice/CUDJ (that demands justice for the young people killed, injured and imprisoned for speaking out against government policies) and the Reflection Group of Former Political Prisoners/GREX (that was formed by survivors of arbitrary detention, inhumane and degrading treatment, and physical and psychological torture).

We continue to follow this situation.

RCMP C-IRG snipers repeatedly deployed against Wet’suwet’en land defenders and water protectors

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by Gidimt’en Checkpoint.

Reporting this week on an abuse of process application brought forward by three Wet’suwet’en land defenders, The Tyee’s northern B.C. reporter Amanda Follett Hosgood wrote: “The court heard that RCMP officers had set up snipers in the area prior to the arrest…”

This issue noted by Follett Hosgood is perhaps one that should receive more extensive coverage and examination by a wider range of news sources. Toward that end, we take this fuller look at the issue of police snipers being deployed against Indigenous land defenders, including the killing of Dudley George in 1995.

November 2021

Follett Hosgood has previously reported that the C-IRG (Community-Industry Response Group) had “used ‘lethal-force overwatch’ — snipers armed with rifles — during the high-profile enforcement [on November 19, 2021], according to officers with a specialized RCMP response team meant to resolve high-risk situations.”

After that raid, Toronto-based Canadian Forces College Department of Defence Studies professor Chris Madsen told PressProgress: “Emergency Response Teams [ERTs] are being improperly used in suppressing peaceful indigenous protests on their own lands. Use of the ERT in this situation is improper because the protestors are clearly neither armed nor offering resistance, other than perhaps words.”

Further to the comment by Professor Madsen, University of Winnipeg criminal justice professor Kevin Walby told PressProgress: “I think the use of the ERT and the snipers is clearly meant to intimidate and abuse. It is meant to be traumatizing.”

February 2020

Follett Hosgood has also noted: “In February 2020, The Tyee observed what appeared to be officers armed with rifles dropped by helicopter onto a hillside overlooking the area where police arrested seven people outside the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre.”

Shortly after this raid, Global News reported: “[In a video] one [C-IRG] member is repeatedly shown aiming what looks like a sniper rifle directly at [23-year-old Gitxsan land defender Denzel] Sutherland-Wilson from behind a truck that has been turned onto its side.”

In that video, Sutherland-Wilson can be heard pleading: “He’s pointing his gun at me! Take your gun off of me! …I have nothing! Please, take down your weapon!”

Video still: C-IRG officer points assault rifle at Gitxsan land defender.

January 2019

And following the first C-IRG raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, The Guardian reported: “Canadian police were prepared to shoot Indigenous land defenders blockading construction of [the Coastal GasLink pipeline] a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia, according to documents seen by the Guardian.”

That article noted: “Police records seen by the Guardian include transcripts from police strategy sessions, reports filed after the raid and audio and video files. One document noted that the Wet’suwet’en possessed ‘firearms for hunting/sustenance’ but police intelligence indicated that there was ‘no single threat indicating that [land defenders] will use firearms’.”

Following that article, the CBC reported: “The RCMP falls under federal jurisdiction. [The then-Indigenous Services Minister Marc] Miller said police deployment tactics need to be reviewed ‘in these very, very sensitive situations’.”

APTN also reported: “Canada’s minister of Public Safety [Bill Blair] says he has raised concerns with the RCMP about what he calls ‘unacceptable words and phrases’ that were found in RCMP documents [obtained by The Guardian] that revealed the RCMP was prepared to deploy snipers against Indigenous protestors.”

Dudley George killed by police sniper

In this context of the C-IRG deploying snipers, we recall the killing of Indigenous land defender Dudley George by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) sniper on September 6, 1995, and the Ipperwash Inquiry, a two-year judicial inquiry, that concluded with the release of a Final Report in May 2007 and 100 recommendations.

The recommendations from that inquiry included (on page 96): “The Province of Ontario should enact a regulation pursuant to the Police Services Act requiring officers to file a use of force report when they point a long gun or rifle, regardless of whether a shot is fired.”

The inquiry also recommended (on page 105): “The OPP should post all significant OPP and provincial government documents and policies regarding the policing of Aboriginal occupations and protests on the OPP website.”

Photo: An OPP officer rushes toward Tina George at Ipperwash Provincial Park the day after her cousin Dudley George was killed by the OPP.

It’s unclear how many of the inquiry’s recommendations were implemented or how many are currently being followed.

Photo: An OPP officer at 1492 Land Back Lane near Hamilton, Ontario, October 2020.

Concerns

While federal cabinet ministers Marc Miller and Bill Blair (a former Metropolitan Toronto Police officer), and professors Chris Madsen and Kevin Walby, along with numerous Indigenous land defenders and water protectors, have expressed concern, BC Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen appears less worried on the subject.

This past week, Justice Tammen found that the C-IRG had violated the Charter rights of three Indigenous land defenders during the November 2021 raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, but rejected allegations the C-IRG had employed “unnecessary resources”.

Justice Tammen stated: “The police were unaware of the number of protesters they might encounter. They were not engaged in a simple peaceful demonstration akin to a sit-in, but rather wanton destruction of property, including vehicles and infrastructure. Police did not know if the protesters were armed nor if they were violent.”

It’s not clear if Justice Tammen had access to C-IRG documents that contradicted their 2019 assessment in which police intelligence indicated that there was “no single threat indicating that [land defenders] will use firearms.”

Further study warranted

It may be that further examination into the use of force by the RCMP C-IRG on Wet’suwet’en territory over the period of 2019 to 2021 is needed to ensure that the lives of Indigenous land defenders are not put at risk (notably on Gitxsan and Gitanyow territories with the imminent decision on the construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline) and that the tragedy of the police killing of Dudley George is not repeated.

Photo: This commemoration marks the site where Dudley George was killed.

Further reading: What weapons are deployed by the RCMP against Indigenous land defenders? (PBI-Canada, January 20, 2023).

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH to Jiniguare and hears concerns about dam

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Honduras has posted:

“Yesterday we accompanied ARCAH [the Honduran Alternative for Community and Environmental Vindication] during a visit to the Jiniguare community in the municipality of Ojojona. ARCAH expressed their concerns about the impacts of the Jiniguare dam project in the community, since the construction of the dam would mean the displacement of the people living in the area, among other things. They also stressed the importance of respecting the open council where the community declared itself free of dam projects.”

The Jiniguare dam

El Heraldo has previously reported: “Jiniguare Dam will provide water to some 300 thousand residents of the capital.” This is the promise of Mayor Jorge Aldana of the Municipal Mayor’s Office of the Central District (AMDC) who was elected to represent the “Central District, capital of Honduras” in 2021.

In October 2024, Bnamericas reported: “A contract has been signed for construction of the long-awaited Jiniguare dam in Honduras and the works could begin in the coming months, local authorities announced.”

That article adds: “Financing will soon be secured and the project’s environmental studies are underway, according to Aldana.”

Peace Brigades International is aware that UK Export Finance (UKEF) is considering loaning support to the parties involved in the Jiniguare dam project.

That same month, El Libertador also reported: “The contract for the design and construction of the Jiniguare dam has already been signed… For the execution of this project, progress is being made on environmental issues and the financing of English banks.”

Dams on the San José and Jacaleapa rivers

On December 8, 2022, PBI-Honduras also posted: “This week we accompanied ARCAH to the Public Ministry to file a complaint against the privatization of water and the construction of dams on the San José and Jacaleapa rivers, and the Jiniguare river, both in the department of Francisco Morazán.”

It has been reported that construction on the San José dam will be completed in mid-2025 and operational in 2026. In November 2024, it was reported that it has already reached 45% of construction.

La Tribuna has also noted the Quebramontes and Río del Hombre projects. In September 2024, Tiempo reported: “The Municipal Mayor’s Office of the Central District (AMDC) signed a letter of understanding with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for the construction of the Rio del Hombre dam, located in the Amarateca sector.”

International finance

La Tribuna also highlights “the contribution of multilateral organizations” that are “supporting the Municipal Mayor’s Office of the Central District (AMDC) in projects that will enhance the future of water” in Tegucigalpa including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), and South Korea.

Accompaniment

The Honduran Alternative for Community and Environmental Vindication (ARCAH) is a space for community articulation and an anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonialist and anti-classist social movement that seeks to defend territories and common goods from any project that threatens the peace and cosmovision of communities.

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying ARCAH since September 2022.

Further reading: PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH as it files a complaint against the privatization of water and the construction of dams (PBI-Canada, December 8, 2022).

Canadian judge finds RCMP C-IRG violated Charter rights of three land defenders in “extraordinarily rare ruling”

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: RCMP C-IRG officers arrest Sleydo’ on Wet’suwet’en territory, November 19, 2021.

The CBC reports: “A B.C. judge says police breached the charter rights of three people arrested for blocking work on the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline, and they will receive a reduction in their sentences because of that.”

The article continues: “[Justice Michael] Tammen said it would be inappropriate to stay court proceedings, but found that some of the accused’s Section 7 rights— life, liberty, and security of person — were breached during the police raid.”

The CBC further notes: “[Justice Tammen] said there were multiple offensive and discriminatory comments made by multiple officers on Nov. 18, 2021 and Nov. 19, 2021. RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group [C-IRG] led the enforcement. ‘That is potentially a sign of systemic attitudinal issue within the C-IRG,’ he said…”

Afterwards, in a session live streamed on Instagram moderated by Jen Wickham, the three land defenders — Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), Shaylynn Sampson, and Corey Jocko — made comments along with their lawyer Frances Mahon, Chief Na’Moks and Chief Woos. Excerpts from that 28-minute session include:

Frances Mahon: “The court found that the conduct of the police officers abused the court’s process. This is an extraordinarily rare finding and it demonstrates how serious the police officers misconduct was. In particular it was a rebuke to the C-IRG members who thought it was appropriate to say the most egregious, racist things about beautiful Indigenous women when they thought nobody could hear them.”

Sleydo’: “My hope is that this decision will signal to the RCMP that they can no longer violate their own laws and they cannot act with impunity. C-IRG members on the ground will not be sentenced for breaking their own laws… I hope this decision will assist other land defenders in the future and the containment of C-IRG. They now call themselves the Critical Response Unit and they act openly as unaccountable mercenaries for private industry.”

Shaylynn Sampson: “[The RCMP] were created to take our children from our territories and put them in residential schools. They were created to keep us off our territory. And we see that is the work they are still doing today. They remove us from our land, they criminalize us, they put us through years and years of court battles in a system that was made to undermine our hereditary governance structures.” 

The full 28-minute video can be seen here.

The CBC article notes: “Tammen said the maximum sentence for criminal contempt is no more than five years imprisonment.” APTN adds: “The case will be back in court on April 3 to fix a date for sentencing.”

We continue to follow this.

Photo: Land defender Shaylynn Sampson arrested by the RCMP C-IRG, November 19, 2021.

Further reading: RCMP Violated Charter Rights During CGL Arrests, Court Finds (Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee, February 19, 2025).

PBI-Mexico calls for “urgent protection measures” following the ambush and murder of three UCIZONI members

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: The banner says: “No to dispossession! Long live the Indigenous resistance!”

PBI-Mexico has posted:

“From PBI Mexico we join in the expressions of concern about the violence faced by the communities of the Isthmus, especially against @UCIZONI [the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus].

We remind the Mexican State of its duty to protect communities and human rights defenders.”

Their social media post links to this statement signed by multiple organizations including Educa Oaxaca, Red TDT, UCIZONI, Front Line Defenders, Article 19, SERAPAZ, Peace Brigades International Mexico (PBI) and Espacio OSC.

That statement demands: “Implement urgent protection measures immediately to protect the integrity of the members of UCIZONI, the community of El Platanillo, and other communities at risk. It is essential to establish precautionary measures for the community of El Platanillo, which continues to be at risk.”

Three UCIZONI members killed

On February 14, Proceso reported: “Relatives of the members of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (Ucizoni) ambushed and murdered by an armed group from Santo Domingo Petapa urgently requested the intervention of the government of Salomón Jara Cruz to hand over the bodies of Wilfrido Atanacio Cristóbal, Victoriano Quirino Jiménez and Abraham Quirino.”

That article adds: “They recalled that this Thursday, February 13, around 2:00 p.m., at the checkpoint located in Zapote Santo Domingo Petapa, Wilfrido Atanacio Cristóbal, 64 years old; Victoriano Quirino Jiménez, 37, and Abraham Quirino, 84, when they were traveling in a gray Nissan Frontier pickup truck model 2022.”

La Jornada further notes: “According to Ucizoni, the attack occurred at the height of the Río del Sol in Santo Domingo Petapa, when Wilfrido Atanacio, delegate of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus in the area, was traveling with two other people in a truck, losing his life on the spot.”

A second letter signed by multiple organizations

Yesterday, a civil society letter was posted that is addressed to “the Presidency of Mexico” as well as “national and international public opinion”, “human, social and resistance rights organizations” and “indigenous peoples of Mexico and the world”.

That letter says:

“The undersigned organizations condemn and denounce the ambush that occurred in the border area between Santo Domingo Petapa and San Juan Mazatlán, Oaxaca, in which three comrades from the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) were murdered and where the community of El Platanillo continues to be under serious threat.

The megaprojects of death, such as the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the misnamed Mayan Train and the Morelos Integral Project, advance with the militarization, repression, murder and disappearance of those who resist. We will not allow the blood of our peoples to continue to be the cost of corruption and the incapacity of those who govern. In Oaxaca, the power vacuum and the indifference of the authorities have turned the state into a territory of impunity.”

The letter was signed by the People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water, Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT), Services for an Alternative Education A.C. (EDUCA), the Mexican Network of Action against Free Trade, the Union of Peoples and Subdivisions Against the Garbage Dump and in Defense of Water of the Cholulteca Region, the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center, and many others.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Ayuuk environmental defender Arnoldo Nicolás Romero, an opponent of the Interoceanic megaproject, killed in Mexico (February 6, 2025) and Union of Indigenous Communities from the North of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) opposes TC Energy gas pipeline in Mexico (August 29, 2023).

PBI-Canada to participate in “Who Bears the Cost?” webinar on the port of Buenaventura in Colombia and transnational corporations

By
Brent Patterson
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Image from the promotional poster for the webinar.

PBI-Canada will be participating in a PBI collaboratively organized webinar this coming Monday February 24 (at 10:00 am in Colombia and Ontario/Quebec/Nunavut; 4:00 pm in Catalunya/Spain). The webinar is titled: “Who Bears the Cost? Impacts of the global economy and the risks for the defence of human rights”.

To register for the webinar, click here.

It will have simultaneous Spanish-English interpretation.

The speakers will include Vicente Vailies, the researcher of the “Who Bears the Cost?” report, Milba Diaz from the Justice and Peace Commission in Colombia, Ixmukane Quib from the Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC) in Guatemala, Laia Otero from CooperAcció in Catalunya, and Brent Patterson from PBI-Canada.

The executive summary of the report notes: “PBI, which has had a presence in Colombia for over 30 years, accompanies various organizations and collective initiatives that defend human rights in Buenaventura.”

“In response to these voices, PBI has prepared this report, which seeks to contribute to an identification of the interests – specifically those of Spanish companies – and an understanding of the territorial context and risks associated with the defense of human rights, social and environmental justice.”

“In this context, the Buenaventura region is attracting growing international economic interests, including that of Spanish companies, due to its strategic location and remarkable growth potential. This study notes a Spanish economic presence manifested through several companies linked to the port economy” including companies that provide port services (such as Ership Grupo), freight logistics companies (TIBA) and companies dedicated to infrastructure development (Grupo Sacyr).”

To register for the webinar, click here.

Buenaventura and Canada-Colombia trade

In 2010, the year before the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement (CCOFTA) came into force, Canada and Colombia traded over $1.4 billion in merchandise. By 2023, the Canada-Colombia two-way trade totalled $2.6 billion.

Global Affairs Canada has highlighted that since the CCOFTA was implemented the total bilateral trade has increased by 92 per cent. A significant portion of this trade would pass through the port in Buenaventura.

A condition of the CCOFTA is an Annual Report on human rights.

The latest Annual Report concludes: “As has been the case in previous years, the 13th annual report is unable to demonstrate that any actions taken by the Government of Canada in 2023 through the implementation of the CCOFTA (i.e. tariff reductions related to the CCOFTA as well as actions taken under the Agreement on Labour Cooperation or the Environment Agreement) have had a direct impact on human rights in Canada or Colombia.”

On February 24, PBI-Canada will use its portion of time during this webinar to reflect on this conclusion and to suggest to the Government of Canada a broader understanding of how the port in Buenaventura, its expansion, the displacement of communities, and a range of other factors impact human rights.

To register for the webinar, click here.

Promotional poster for the webinar.

UN special rapporteur, organizations raise concerns about the safety of human rights defenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: M23 rebels patrol the streets of Goma, January 29, 2025. The city of Goma, situated on the border with Rwanda, has a population of about 782,000 people plus an additional 500,000 displaced people. Photo by Brian Inganga/AP.

On February 17, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, highlighted: “Human rights defenders – people peacefully advocating for the human rights of others, including by documenting human rights violations – have been directly targeted by the M23 and Rwandan forces.”

Image: Mary Lawlor on Bluesky.

Three days earlier, on February 14, Front Line Defenders also noted: “Reports state that human rights defenders are facing targeted threats from both the M23 and government authorities, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary detentions.”

As further noted below, concerns have also been expressed by Global Witness and Amnesty International.

Canadian soldiers withdraw from Goma, DRC

Also on February 14, CTV reported: “Canadian soldiers have been temporarily relocated from a major city [Goma] in eastern Congo amid an escalating conflict that the United Nations and locals say has displaced more than 110,000 people in recent days. [These Canadian soldiers are part of] the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) [that] was created in 2010 to protect civilians from violence and to monitor a UN arms embargo [adopted in 2003] following the Second Congo War [that took place from August 1998 to July 2003].”

Historical colonial exploitation of Congo

Elizabeth Schmidt, an emeritus professor of history at Loyola University Maryland, has explained: “Congo’s exploitation by outsiders began in the 16th century, when the territory became a major source of slaves for Brazil. Following the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the 19th century, Congo was pillaged for rubber and ivory. King Leopold II of Belgium claimed Congo as his personal fiefdom and imposed a harsh labor regime that consumed five to eight million lives between 1890 and 1910…”

“Following Congo’s independence in June 1960, it became a key Cold War battleground in Africa. The West, including Belgium and the US, along with white settler states and foreign mineral companies, targeted then prime minister Patrice Lumumba, whose economic nationalism and political nonalignment threatened their interests.”

Photo: Patrice Lumumba under arrest on December 2, 1960. He was executed on January 17, 1961. Photo from Rue des Archives.

“In 1965, following a coup d’état by CIA protégé, General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, the US threw its support to the military strongman, helping him establish a sophisticated, well-equipped army that transformed Congo into a regional powerhouse.”

Professor Schmidt continues: “The withdrawal of US military support [at the conclusion of the Cold War in 1991] rendered Mobutu vulnerable to a pro-democracy  movement and to rebel forces… After the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, genocide perpetrators, aided by France, fled to Congo from where they launched attacks and plotted a return to power. Rwanda and Uganda, in turn, backed rebel forces that drove Mobutu from power in 1997 and seized control of the embattled state.”

US, European policies on Rwanda

This week Professor Kristof Titeca from the University of Antwerp commented in The Conversation: “The current situation doesn’t look good for DRC president Felix Tshisekedi. The further M23 advances, the more it highlights the failure of his policies in eastern Congo and weakens his legitimacy.”

Photo: Amnesty International says: “[The international community must] increase pressure on President Tshisekedi’s government to uphold human rights…”

“Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame in the past has publicly questioned the borders between Rwanda and Congo. This narrative on ‘Greater Rwanda’ would mean extending Rwanda beyond its colonial borders. Access to resources plays a role in Rwanda’s presence in the DRC, as does (in)security.”

“While actors such as the European Union and United States have firmly condemned Rwanda, this has materialised into little action.”

Professor Titeca continues: “So far, Germany has suspended aid talks with Rwanda, and the United Kingdom has threatened to cut aid. Other than that, there has been no action… Belgium has been pushing for sanctions, while France has been taking the lead in blocking these. France’s national interests are a key reason for this: Rwandan peacekeeping troops are key in Mozambique, where a major TotalEnergies gas project – worth US$20 billion – is on hold because of an ongoing insurgency.”

Photo: The TotalEnergies LNG project in Mozambique.

Canada on Rwanda, mining in the DRC

Last month, Montreal-based author Yves Engler noted in Canadian Dimension: “In the latest phase of three decades of Rwandan-instigated insurgency, Kigali’s proxy March 23 Movement (M23) rebel force recently took control of Goma, a city of two million and the biggest in eastern Congo. Four hundred thousand people have been displaced in fighting since the start of the year and over a million during the past three years. The Canadian government has stayed silent on Rwanda’s aggression while continuing to back its leader, Paul Kagame, who presides over a brutal police state.”

Photo: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau meets Kagame in Rwanda, June 2022.

Engler adds: “In 2002, eight Canadian companies including American Mineral Fields, Banro, First Quantum, Hrambee Mining, International Panorama Resources, Kinross Gold, Melkior Resources and Tenke were implicated in a UN panel report on the ‘Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.’ The report detailed widespread abuses by Canadian and other foreign mining companies and recommended that Ottawa undertake a formal inquiry into the allegations and investigate the matter. This has never been done.”

Global Affairs Canada notes: “There are significant Canadian mining investments in the DRC. Trade relations between Canada and the DRC are modest.”

Cobalt, copper and Chinese weapons

Late last year, NPR reported: “More than 70% of the world’s cobalt, a critical metal used in electric-vehicle batteries and jet engines, comes from Congo, for example. The country is also the second-largest producer of copper. But despite the recent U.S. push to increase its footprint in critical minerals, China remains overwhelmingly dominant. Its firms own over 80 percent of Congo’s copper mines…”

In May 2024, Military Africa reported: “The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has taken delivery of three additional CH-4 Rainbow medium altitude and long endurance (MALE) drone from China. The drones will be transferred at once to the theatre of operations against the M23 and the Rwanda Defence Force in the east of the country. Three more are expected in the coming months.”

Photo: The CH-4 drone.

Last week, as explained in this media release, the European Parliament voted (443 votes in favour, 4 against, 48 abstentions) on a resolution that says: “the Commission and EU countries should also halt their military and security assistance to the Rwandan armed forces to avoid contributing directly or indirectly to abusive military operations in eastern DRC” and that also expressed concern “about the consequences of Russian interference in the conflict, as well as the increasing presence of Chinese actors in the DRC’s mining sector and in wider region and working without respect for economic and social responsibility.”

HRDs in Kenya at risk

Front Line Defenders notes: “HRDs in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of killings, threats, intimidation and judicial harassment. The risks are especially acute for WHRDs and HRDs working on land and environmental rights who are often seen as a threat to economic interests.”

Amnesty International adds: “After a drawn-out process lasting seven years, the human rights defenders’ law was enacted in October [2023]. The law increased state control over the status and activities of civil society organizations and human rights defenders. It required them to register with the National Human Rights Commission, an official body, or face criminal prosecution. Those disseminating information deemed “defamatory, insulting or slanderous” risked six months to two years in prison.”

Photo: On July 19, 2023, human rights defender Obedi Karafuru was shot and killed in his house by unidentified men in a region controlled by the M23 rebels.

And in their most recent report, Global Witness documented: “In Africa, two defenders were murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one in Rwanda and one in Ghana in 2023. Between 2012 and 2023, 116 defenders were murdered in Africa, most of them park rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (74).”

We continue to follow this with concern.

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