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PBI-Canada visits University of Ottawa encampment that calls for divestment from weapons companies

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Canada visits the encampment at the University of Ottawa, May 1, 2024.

The Ottawa Citizen reports: “Protesters at the University of Ottawa [uOttawa] began their second day of pro-Palestinian sit-ins Tuesday [April 30] on the rain-soaked lawn outside Tabaret Hall. The goal is to get the university to ‘disclose and divest’, said co-organizer Ayham Hakimi, a third-year student.”

The article continues: “[The university students ] are demanding uOttawa divest from Scotiabank, which has attracted media attention because of its investment in an Israeli arms firm known as Elbit Systems Ltd.”

Demands of the encampment at the University of Ottawa.

The Fulcrum also reports: “Organized by INSAF [Integrity Not Spite Against Falastin] uOttawa and the Palestinian Students Association (PSA), with support from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Carleton, the goal of the encampment is for the University of Ottawa administration to fully divest from ‘any and all corporations involved directly and indirectly’ involved in the genocide in Gaza, disclose their direct and indirect investments, and adopt the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association definition of Anti-Palestinian racism. They are also asking the university to sever ties with Israeli institutions, such as ending the exchange program with Tel Aviv University.”

Video by CTV.

In this statement posted on the University of Ottawa website, Éric Bercier, Associate Vice-President, Student Affairs, writes: “While peaceful protest is permitted in appropriate public spaces on campus according to our policies and regulations, encampments and occupations will not be tolerated.”

Encampment co-organizer Hakimi has responded to Bercier by saying: “I find it very ironic that talking about occupations won’t be tolerated. But that’s exactly what we’re protesting here — an occupation that’s happening in Palestine.”

CTV further reports: “The Ottawa Police Service says Tabaret Lawn is on private property and is not engaged on the campus at this time. ‘We continue to liaise with uOttawa Protection Services. We are also in communication with other post-secondary institutions,’ an Ottawa police spokesperson said in an email.”

Encampments at 6+ universities in Canada

World Beyond War Canada has noted that the University of Ottawa encampment is one of six currently happening in Canada (the others are at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, McGill University in Montreal, the University of Victoria, Western University in London, and Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo).

NBC News also notes that there is an encampment at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

And an encampment began at the University of Toronto this morning.

Campus-based protests in the United States

NBC also lists protests at 54 other campuses. That list shows there have been arrests made by police at 27 of those locations.

The Associated Press has reported that in the United States: “Police have arrested hundreds nationwide since detainments at Columbia [University in New York] on April 18.” By April 30, the BBC further noted: “More than 1,000 students have been arrested in less than two weeks during these protests.”

Divestment from weapons companies

The Guardian has highlighted that at Columbia “students are demanding the university drop its direct investments in companies doing business in or with Israel, including Amazon and Google, which are part of a $1.2bn cloud-computing contract with Israel’s government; Microsoft, whose services are used by Israel’s ministry of defense and Israeli civil administration; and defense contractors profiting from the war such as Lockheed Martin, which on Tuesday reported its earnings were up 14%.”

That article adds: “Yale University’s Endowment Justice Coalition and student groups at Cornell University, are [also] pushing administrators to drop investments in weapons manufacturers specifically.”

The United Nations comments

On April 30, Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, commented: “We are troubled by a series of heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle protests across university campuses in the United States of America. Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society, particularly when there is a sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are in relation to the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.”

Peace Brigades International supports the demand for an immediate ceasefire and continues to call “on the international community to suspend the supply of arms to Israel and the armed groups involved in the conflict.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: More than 800 human rights defenders killed in Palestine over the past six months (PBI-Canada, April 26, 2024).

PBI-Guatemala accompanies FAMDEGUA and survivors at commemoration of the Los Josefinos massacre

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“Today and tomorrow (April 29 and 30) #PBI accompanies the annual commemoration of the massacre that occurred in the village Los Josefinos, Petén, Guatemala on April 29 and 30, 1982 during the internal armed conflict (CAI).

We accompanied the members of the Famdegua [the Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared of Guatemala] and survivors of the massacre in the commemoration act, which included several talks, a presentation of photos of community people made by anthropologist Alejandro Flores and a walk to the Los Josefinos cemetery.

Although there has been a sentence from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights holding the State responsible for enforced disappearance and forced displacement and for violations of rights to the family, childhood and judicial guarantees, the survivors are still waiting for the reparations considered by the sentence.”

The massacre

FAMDEGUA has explained: “On April 29 and 30, 1982, at the beginning of the de facto government of General Efraín Ríos Montt,  a unit of the Guatemalan Army massacred at least 42 people, including 28 adults and 14 minors, in the village of Los Josefinos,  La Libertad, in the department of Petén. During the time that members of the army were in the village they tortured and murdered several community members; later, the bodies were buried in a mass grave. Several survivors were forced to flee to the mountains, while others managed to escape. Nevertheless, some members of the community were pursued in their attempts to save their lives, and during their escape several minors were separated from their parents and to this day are still missing.”

The Associated Press adds that the massacre took place when the Guatemalan army was “conducting a scorched-earth campaign to wipe out any support for leftist rebels.”

The armed conflict

The Center for Justice & Accountability notes: “Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Guatemala’s military rulers continued to liquidate their political opponents, and with the reform movements defeated, the Left grew increasingly militarized and launched a full-scale civil war against the government. The new leftist guerilla movements initially obtained the support of some indigenous Maya, who viewed the guerillas as the last hope for redressing the economic and political marginalization of the indigenous communities. However, this link between the Maya and the guerillas eventually became an idée fixe for the government, who promulgated an ideology that perceived all Maya as natural allies of the insurrection, and thus as enemies of the state. The natural extension of this belief was the deliberate targeting of  the civilian population, in order to ‘starve’ guerilla forces of their popular support.  This essential tenet of counterinsurgency strategy found fertile ground in Guatemala, which soon became a laboratory for ‘dirty war’ tactics.”

They add: “In 1982, General Efraín Ríos Montt replaced Lucas García as head of state. Ríos Montt enjoyed close ties with the Reagan administration and with Christian conservatives in the United States. His reign from March 1982 to August 1983 was the bloodiest period in Guatemala’s history. During that time, the Guatemalan government led a campaign to wipe out large portions of the country’s indigenous populations: an estimated 70,000 were killed or disappeared.”

Inter-American Court ruling

On December 22, 2021, the Associated Press reported: “The court said criminal investigations into the massacre didn’t start until nearly 14 years after the events. The court said Guatemala should pay indemnities and court costs and speed up legal proceedings, as well as building a monument in the area where victims were buried in a mass grave and create an audiovisual documentary of the massacre.”

Edgar Perez, the director of the PBI-Guatemala accompanied Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) has previously commented about this massacre: “The State must reflect because there are more than 600 massacres that were committed during the internal armed conflict. We hope that the State assumes its responsibility and does not leave this type of atrocities unpunished.”

Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH)

In 1999, the Commission for Historical Clarification found that more than 200,000 people were killed or disappeared during the conflict (1960 to 1996) and attributed 93% of the violations to state forces and related paramilitary groups.

The commission noted that during the conflict the distinction between combatant and non-combatant was not respected. The commission also found that 83% of “fully identified” victims were Mayan and 17% Ladino (persons of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent). 93% of the violations were attributed to state forces and related paramilitary groups and 3% to insurgency groups.

Accompaniment

FAMDEGUA was accompanied by PBI from 1992 until 1999, when PBI’s Guatemala Project was temporarily closed. After receiving a renewed request from the organization, PBI began accompanying FAMDEGUA again in April 2023.

Reflections on the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa and community organizing to stop global human rights violations

By
Brent Patterson
-

News clipping from ARMX ’89.

The international weapons trade has been implicated for many years in multiple violations of human rights and in aggressions against human rights defenders. Amnesty International recently highlighted their concern about Canadian arms exports and the implications on human rights in Saudi Arabia/Yemen, Peru and Israel/Palestine.

With the CANSEC arms show coming to the EY Centre in Ottawa on May 29-30, we look at past and present community opposition to this gathering.

35th anniversary of mobilization against ARMX ‘89

The Ottawa-based Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) campaign against ARMX ’89, the precursor to CANSEC, “marked the first time in Canadian history that the peace movement had organized a large protest effort against a weapons bazaar.”

Their effort sparked a debate in the House of Commons, extensive media coverage, and a City of Ottawa by-law to ban all subsequent arms shows from City property (a ban that remained in place for almost 20 years).

That historic municipal resolution stated: “the arms trade has little or no consideration of moral or humanitarian issues in that weapons have been used against civilians” and further highlighted that “exports of Canadian military equipment and components end up in countries which persistently violate human rights.”

Following this, the organizers of what would have been “ARMX ‘91” first looked at relocating their biennial show from Lansdowne Park  to Carp (a community about 38 kilometres away), but ended up canceling that planned convention.

Two years after that, ARMX rebranded itself as “Peacekeeping ‘93” at the provincial government-owned downtown Ottawa Congress Centre. Despite repeated pleas, Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae refused to stop this gathering.

After 1993, “Peacekeeping” relocated to Washington, DC where it fizzled out. A relatively small military-trade show was then mounted in 1997 and 1998, but didn’t last. But significantly that year CANSEC appeared as an annual arms show. Still, the success of previous organizing was evident. For its first year, CANSEC had 52 exhibiting companies, one-tenth the size of ARMX ’89 almost ten years earlier.

Success stories

We can look at other success stories for inspiration.

Along with the City of Ottawa in 1989 prohibiting ARMX from taking place in City-owned buildings, we have also seen:

– the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom ruling that four activists did not act unlawfully when they blocked the road to the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms show in 2017

– the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan calling on the organizers of DSEI to “reconsider” their event in 2021 highlighting for London “to be used as a marketplace for those who wish to trade in weapons to some countries that contribute to human rights abuses goes completely against our values”

– the Chilean government of  barring Israeli companies from participating in the FIDAE arms show in April 2024 in the context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Other potential measures of success could include the withdrawal of government funding (notably, Global Affairs Canada funding), the withdrawal of government agencies (including the Trade Commissioner Service that did temporarily withdraw from CANSEC this year), restrictions/sanctions on the companies that violate the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and federal legislation that would first strictly regulate them then eventually prohibit them from taking place.

Calls for a public inquiry

A public inquiry could be a starting point for all of this.

This year, multiple groups, including the International League for Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), are calling on the Government of Canada to hold “an independent and in-depth inquiry into CADSI and its direct involvement in human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

This harkens back to the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) organizing a “Public Inquiry into the Arms Trade and Human Rights” in 1989 that was chaired by former city councillor and Member of Parliament Marion Dewar.

That inquiry took place at Saint Paul’s University included testimony from people who had experienced state repression in El Salvador and Pakistan, and called on Canada “to cease all arms exports” and to “take over arms manufacturing, switch as many weapons factories as possible over to civilian production and support an international arms trade registry to discourage arms sales to repressive regimes.”

Compliance with ICJ ruling

Other demands that could be made this year might include independent monitoring of the exhibits, meetings and transactions at CANSEC to ensure that they are compliant with the International Court of Justice ruling of January 26, 2024.

Legal scholars in Canada have argued that “because the ICJ found a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, continuing to export arms to Israel would be illegal. It would also be flagrantly inconsistent with Canada’s obligation to prevent genocide, and could expose Canada and Canadian officials to liability for participation in genocide.”

This concern also extends to the House of Commons resolution of March 18, 2024 that pledges Canada will “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime.”

This could also be extended to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights that places responsibilities on transnational weapons companies. It says: “The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations, and does not diminish those obligations. And it exists over and above compliance with national laws and regulations protecting human rights.”

What mechanisms/protocols are in place to ensure these international human rights norms are respected at CANSEC? Will the Canadian government agencies promoting arms sales at CANSEC being doing this?

With Elbit Systems, the International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and some of the biggest suppliers of weapons enabling the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, serious questions remain about adherence to these human rights norms.

Challenging systems of oppression beyond CANSEC

There is also increasing reflection among some local organizers who see CANSEC as a focal point, but not the crucial concern that needs to be confronted.

In May 1911, Rosa Luxemburg wrote: “Militarism in both its forms – as war and as armed peace – is a legitimate child, a logical result of capitalism, which can only be overcome with the destruction of capitalism, and hence whoever honestly desires world peace and liberation from the tremendous burden of armaments must also desire socialism.”

As such, the local anti-imperialist movement, while continuing to organize to challenge CANSEC, has brought forward the analysis that it is the system that must be challenged, not just its manifestation as a trade show.

And just as capital is highly mobile across international borders, they raise the point that CANSEC could relocate to another city if mobilizations in Ottawa reached the point that the arms show could be shut down here (though the history of ARMX tells us that this is not so easily done and can be a significant, if temporary, setback).

Challenges to stop CANSEC

The challenges for local organizers to stop CANSEC are much greater now:

-it takes place at a privately-run convention centre, so the leverage to mobilize the City or province is less than before

-the City of Ottawa welcomes CANSEC each year, while the Canadian government provides funding to its organizers ($450,352.00 over the past two years)

-it takes place near the airport, so there are more logistical challenges than being able to mobilize people downtown

-it is much larger (exhibitors this year) and much more established

-the peace movement has largely dissipated in Canada (relative to its strength 35 years ago when ARMX ’89 was challenged) and the anti-militarist movement is still nascent and finding its strength.

Challenges and next steps

As such, we are left with many questions: How can the arms trade that has continually violated human rights be effectively challenged at a local level? How can CANSEC be confronted while recognizing the systemic analysis that it is just one manifestation of a larger concern? How can the traditional peace movement/pacifist analysis work in conjunction with the anti-imperialist movement and associated national liberation struggles? How can sufficient capacity be built in Ottawa to attain some of the political success of 35 years ago given a new political moment and new challenges?

Still, there is hope and the necessity to challenge the arms trade that imperils human rights and human rights defenders.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Famdegua at hearing on Inter-American Court ruling and acquittal of three soldiers in Dos Erres massacre

By
Brent Patterson
-

Update

On May 4, PBI-Guatemala posted:
“#PBI accompanies relatives of Famdegua Guatemala and the Human Rights Law Firm [BDH] to the hearing on the appeal of the #CasoDosErres.
Last November, three Kaibiles accused of crimes against the duties of humanity and murder in the 1982 massacre were acquitted. The hearing was adjourned without prior notice.
In a few days the decision will be notified in writing to the plaintiffs, which must comply with the judgement of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.”

**

On April 18, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“Yesterday #PBI accompanied Famdegua [the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala] to the public hearing for the special appeal filed by the plaintiffs of #CasoDosErres

In November last year the High Risk Court acquitted three defendants of the crimes of duty against humanity and murders of more than 200 people in the massacre perpetrated by Kaibiles military commandoes in 1982.

In the coming days a chamber will have to analyze the sentence/judgement in the case on the basis on the resolution of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the grounds of appeal presented by the plaintiffs.

The resolution hearing is scheduled for April 30 at 3pm.”

The Massacre

The BBC has reported:

“More than 200 people were killed in the village of Dos Erres in 1982, one of the most violent episodes in Guatemala’s brutal 36-year conflict.

The Kaibiles [were] a US-trained counter-insurgency force fighting left-wing guerrillas. …The special unit of the Guatemalan army stormed the village in the north of the country on 6 December 1982.

The Kaibiles suspected the villagers of sympathizing with left-wing guerrillas who had two months earlier carried out an ambush on a nearby army patrol, leaving 21 soldiers dead. Even though the soldiers’ search of the village did not uncover any of the weapons the guerrillas had seized during the ambush, the Kaibiles proceeded to kill the village’s inhabitants.

Over several days, the soldiers systematically shot or bludgeoned to death hundreds of men, women and children. They disposed of most of the bodies by throwing them down a well.”

Israel’s role in the Dos Erres massacre

Mark Lewis Taylor, a Maxwell Upson Professor of Theology and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, has written in CounterPunch:

“Investigative journalist George Black, writing for NACLA [in 2007], reported that Israel eagerly stepped in for the US [after the Carter Administration suspended arms sales in 1977 due to human rights violations], ‘becoming Guatemala’s principal supplier. In 1980, the Army was fully re-equipped with Galil rifles [Israeli manufactured] at a cost of $6 million.’

In an infamous massacre, one of many, the Israeli connection was clearly present. At the village of Dos Erres on December 6, 1982. Israeli-trained commandos left the village completely burned down, after shooting, torturing and/or raping over 200 villagers.

A UN investigative team reported: ‘All the ballistic evidence recovered corresponded to bullet fragments from firearms and pods of Galil rifles made in Israel’… This was just in the one village of Dos Erres. The same 12-volume investigation reports that Israeli made Galil rifles were used throughout the highlands…”

Aljazeera has also reported: “Investigative reporter Jeremy Bigwood, who as a photojournalist covered Latin American civil wars in the 1980s and 1990s, confirmed that the Israelis were ‘up to their ears in the genocide’ in Guatemala. He said the Israelis had supplied the military with Arava STOL planes and armoured personnel carriers, and established an ammunition factory in the city of Coban.”

And Spring magazine has noted: “The US suspended military aid to Guatemala in 1977—their human rights abuses were a bad look, so Israel stepped in for them. Israeli president Ephrain Katzir signed an agreement supplying the Guatemalan military with $38 million worth of arms during the civil war period, including rifles, helicopters, equipment for surveillance, and training.”

Trial and acquittal

The Center for Justice & Accountability has noted:

“The [Dos Erres] case was eventually brought to the attention of the Inter-American Human Rights system. In 2008, the Commission referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), which returned a landmark judgment in 2009, holding that Guatemala had violated the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection under the American Convention on Human Rights by failing to fully investigate the massacre.

In 2010, the Guatemalan Supreme Court ordered a lower court to execute the IACtHR’s decision by enforcing long-outstanding arrest warrants and by re-opening the criminal proceedings. Guatemala issued warrants for the arrest of 17 ex-Kaibiles, many of which are still at large overseas.”

By November 2018, six soldiers had been convicted for their role in this massacre.

On November 7, 2023,  a court acquitted thee former Kaibiles accused in the Dos Erres massacre case. Gilberto Jordán, José Mardoqueo Ortiz and Alfonso Bulux Vicente had stood accused of their participation in the massacre.

Accompaniment

FAMDEGUA was accompanied by PBI from 1992 until 1999, when PBI’s Guatemala Project was temporarily closed. In 2023, after receiving a renewed request from the organisation, PBI began accompanying FAMDEGUA again in April.

We continue to follow this case.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the trial of General Benedicto Lucas accused of genocide against the Maya Ixil people

By
Brent Patterson
-

Photo by PBI-Guatemala.

PBI-Guatemala is accompanying the trial of General Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia who is accused of committing genocide against the Maya Ixil people between August 1981 and March 1982 during the Internal Armed Conflict.

He stands accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, forced disappearances and sexual violence.

Now 91 years old, Lucas Garcia is directly accused of being responsible for the deaths of 844 people. As the Chief of Staff of the Army, he identified the Ixil peoples of Santa María Nebaj, San Juan Cotzal, and San Gaspar Chajul as “the enemy within.” In this region, 32 massacres were carried out in more than 20 communities.

More than 50 Indigenous families impacted by the massacres are part of the criminal process against Lucas García through the non-governmental organization Justice and Reconciliation Association (AJR).

The trial is expected to continue into June.

An estimated 200,000 people were killed during the internal armed conflict, that took place from 1960 to 1996. More than 80 per cent of those killed were Indigenous Maya. The final report of the United Nations-backed Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) released in February 1999 found that the military committed acts of genocide against five of the country’s 22 different Maya peoples, including the Ixil, between 1981 and 1983.

Image by FGER.

UPDATED

May 3: “Yesterday #PBI accompanied the oral and public debate against the former general Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia for the case #GenocideIxil. Testimonies of survivors of the massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan army between 1981 and 1982 against the Mayan people Ixil in the Quiché continued to be heard.”

April 26: “PBI accompanies the case #GenocidioIxil. During the hearing, expert testimony was heard about the consequences of the massacres against the civilian population.”

April 25: “PBI accompanies the Association for Justice and Reconciliation -AJR- to a hearing of the #CaseGenocidioIxil, in which they and the Public Prosecutor’s Office presented four witnesses who suffered serious human rights violations that occurred in 1982 by the army during the internal armed conflict (CAI). The next hearings will take place on 26, 29 and 30 April.”

April 23: “PBI accompanies the trial against Benedicto Lucas García for the #GenocidioIxil case. Today the testimonies of 3 Ixil women survivors of sexual violence suffered during the war continued.  Indigenous women from different territories of the country, among others from the Ixcán region and the Achís women, were at the hearing to show solidarity with the witnesses. The trial will continue Thursday 25 April at 8.30am on the 15th level of the Court Tower.”

April 22: “PBI accompanies the #GenocidioIxil case hearings. Before entering the hearing, the Ixil women, accompanied by solidarity organizations, recited an invocation to ask for strength for this week, in which women survivors will testify about the sexual violence suffered during the war in the Ixil area.”

Additional context

Prensa Comunitaria has reported:

“The trial against the former chief of staff of the army, Benedicto Lucas, began this Friday [April 5] in the High Risk Court ‘A’, presided over by Judge Gervi Sical. The facts on trial are the deaths of 844 people of the Mayan Ixil ethnic group between 1981 and 1982, when Lucas was chief of staff of the army.

According to the prosecutor’s office, when the general held the position of chief of staff of the army, between August 16, 1981, and March 23, 1982, the attack against the Mayan Ixil population, north of Quiché, in the municipalities of Nebaj, Cotzal and Chajul, intensified.

This area was declared red by the Chief of Staff with the intention of destroying this population because they were considered to support the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), one of the four guerrilla groups during the internal armed conflict.

Lucas is accused of being the mastermind behind the deaths of the 844 people who have been identified by witnesses and expert witnesses. In addition, there are 71 victims of individual deaths, 12 communities displaced by the army, looting and destruction of 18 communities, 16 victims of sexual violence and 42 victims of enforced disappearance.

In this trial, the prosecution will seek to prove genocide. In addition, it has the testimony of 152 witnesses who will attend the hearing and narrate how they experienced the massacres in their communities and who suffered displacement to the mountains. The army burned their houses and crops, seeking the death of the survivors. A total of 81 experts will also be heard.”

Regeneracion adds: “In May 2018, Lucas García was sentenced along with [retired General Manuel Callejas y Callejas, who was the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate] and two other military officers to 58 years in prison. This is due to the forced disappearance of the teenager Marco Antonio Molina Theissen and the rape and torture of his sister Emma Guadalupe in 1981.”

Photo: Emma Guadalupe Molina Theissen and her mother who is holding a photograph of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen.

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: Israel and Genocide: Not Only In Gaza by Mark Lewis Taylor, CounterPunch, December 22, 2023.

#CasoGenocidioIxil #GenocidioIxil

Photo: General Benedicto Lucas Garcia points at a map, January 19, 1982. Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Archive Photos/Getty Images.

Photo.

Photo: At the proceedings via video link.

PBI-Mexico accompanies Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water at march against San Pedro Cholula landfill

By
Brent Patterson
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On April 22, PBI-Mexico posted:

“Today, on International Mother Earth Day, we are accompanying the FPDTA-MPT [Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water- Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala] in the March for Water and against the San Pedro Cholula landfill. At PBI Mexico we recognise the fundamental role that communities play in the non-violent resolution of conflicts, we express our concern for the possible environmental and health impacts that could result from the activity of this landfill, and we call for the necessary spaces for dialogue to be created, in good faith, between the communities and the institutions of Puebla to resolve this conflict.”

La Jornada de Oriente has explained:

“…There is evidence that the San Pedro intermunicipal landfill contaminates the region, nothing has been done to remedy the situation by the authorities.

[The landfill] is located just 300 meters from the Casas Garza housing complex and 600 meters from the Polytechnic University of Puebla (UPP).

The main point of contention [between affected residents and municipal authorities] centers on the expansion of the solid waste landfill, a proposal that has generated resistance and protests from local residents and environmental groups. It is argued by the villages that the expansion of the landfill could have significant negative impacts on the natural environment and the quality of life of nearby inhabitants.

Among the concerns raised by opponents of expansion are increased air and water pollution, as well as the potential risk of diseases associated with waste accumulation. In addition, it is pointed out that the expansion of the landfill could involve the expropriation of land and negatively affect the biodiversity of the area.

Environmental engineers who participated in a forum held at the Polytechnic University of Puebla on March 4 said that the San Pedro Cholula landfill violates federal restrictions and puts the health of thousands of residents at risk, because it was built near a populated area and on groundwater.

For her part, Nayeli Carreón Carmona, a specialist in sanitary landfills, said that at first glance the Cholula landfill does not comply with environmental standards, so it represents a ‘time bomb’ for the region.”

Esto es Cholula has also reported: “In an interview, Juan Carlos Flores [has] explained that the landfill in question provides service to 23 municipalities, several of which are the most populous in the state. He warned that it has exceeded its storage capacity and has begun to contaminate the wells that supply water to the communities of Calpan, Juan C. Bonilla and Cholula.”

PBI-Mexico has accompanied the Peoples’ Front since early 2020. In August 2022, that accompaniment was extended for another three years.

Further reading: PBI-Mexico accompanies Peoples’ Front in Defence of Land and Water at highway blockade at Cholula garbage dump (March 22, 2024)

PBI-Guatemala accompanies women’s group from Chinautla supporting Poqomam leader Armando Vazquez

By
Brent Patterson
-

On April 23, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies this morning to the women’s group from Chinautla, which accompanies the family of the defender Armando Vazquez whose son was killed last Thursday and while the other son survived the attack and is injured in the hospital. To local and national authorities, we express our concern for the security situation of the family and other members of the Chinautla Multisectoral. The Multisectoral defends its territory against the uncontrolled exploitation of sand that damages its homes, the environment and the health of the municipality’s population.”

Two days later, on April 25, PBI-Guatemala posted on Facebook: “We share our ALERT about the murder of Denilson Alberto Vázquez Chacón and attempted murder of Lester Moisés Armando Vázquez Chacón [on Thursday April 18], children of a defender and indigenous authority of the Multisectoral Chinautla. Find it here.”

PBI-Guatemala is calling on the international community to:

-pay special attention to the situation in Chinautla and, in particular, to the safety of the members of Multisector Chinautla.

-organize a visit to Chinautla to express their solidarity with the Vázquez Pascual family and publicly share their concern over and raise awareness of the risk in which the members of the Multisector Chinautla are facing.

-in their political dialogue with the Government of Guatemala, request that the State grant protection measures to the Vázquez Pascual family and the members of Multisector Chinautla and that the provision of these measures be coordinated with the beneficiaries and;

-request the prompt and effective investigation and criminal prosecution of those responsible for the events.”

Their ALERT can be read here.

The PBI-Guatemala Project has been accompanying the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform since December 2018.

PBI-Colombia notes urgent concern about new attacks on the territory of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

By
Brent Patterson
-

Video: PBI-Colombia at the Peace Community on March 27, just days after the murder of two community members.

PBI-Colombia has posted on social media: “Urgent. After the murder of two members of @cdpsanjose [the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó], new attacks occur on the territory of the Community. Guarantees, research results and progress in the commitments made by the State are urgently needed.”

This follows the tweet from the Peace Community that says: “Urgent! Upon arriving at our Las Delicias community property, we evidenced that the property was violated again, the gate, work tools, food and dishes were stolen.”

On April 20, the Peace Community had also tweeted: “Urgent! Paramilitaries in the Las Nieves village break into private property. There are several paracos [which may mean supporters of former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe Vélez] camped inside the property and they do not allow residents to carry out agricultural work there. It is already the third consecutive threat against anyone who tries to work the property.”

As noted above, these incidents follow the murders of Peace Community members Nallely Sepúlveda (30 years old) and her brother-in-law Édinson David (14 years old) in the village of La Esperanza on the collective farm known as Las Delicias.

We continue to follow this closely.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado since 1999.

ALERT: 16-year-old son of Maya-Poqomam leader opposed to sand extraction in Chinautla, Guatemala killed by gunmen

By
Brent Patterson
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Prensa Comunitaria photo: “Poqomam people of Chinautla say goodbye to Enilson Vásquez Chacón … who was murdered during an attack against his father on Thursday, April 18.”

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has posted on Facebook: “We share our ALERT about the murder of Denilson Alberto Vázquez Chacón and attempted murder of Lester Moisés Armando Vázquez Chacón, children of a defender and indigenous authority of the Multisectoral Chinautla. Find it here.”

Prensa Comunitaria has also reported: “Brothers Lesster Moisés, 19, and Anilson Alberto Vásquez Chacón, 16, were attacked by two unknown men on a motorcycle on the night of Thursday, April 18, at approximately 8:30 p.m. Both are the sons of Francisca Chacón and Armando Vásquez, members of the Mayan community authority Poqomam, from the Cruz Blanca community, in Chinautla, Guatemala.”

That Prensa Comunitaria article adds: “Armando Vásquez is a Poqomam authority who, together with the authorities of the surrounding communities, who during July and August 2022, held a protest against the companies that exploit pebbles and that has affected the community; In addition, these companies operated without a valid license for more than two years in the community of Santa Cruz.”

The PBI-Guatemala alert further notes: “About two months before the events, on February 9, Denilson Alberto was run over and seriously injured by a clay extraction truck belonging to the company La Primavera, one of the many companies operating in the area whose activities Multisector de Chinautla have been protesting for years. This company’s license has expired and yet it continues to operate in the area, causing serious impacts on houses and infrastructure, as well as air pollution and noise pollution.”

PBI-Guatemala calls on the international community to:

-pay special attention to the situation in Chinautla and, in particular, to the safety of the members of Multisector Chinautla.

-organize a visit to Chinautla to express their solidarity with the Vázquez Pascual family and publicly share their concern over and raise awareness of the risk in which the members of the Multisector Chinautla are facing.

-in their political dialogue with the Government of Guatemala, request that the State grant protection measures to the Vázquez Pascual family and the members of Multisector Chinautla and that the provision of these measures be coordinated with the beneficiaries and;

-request the prompt and effective investigation and criminal prosecution of those responsible for the events.”

The PBI-Guatemala Project has been accompanying the Chinautla Multisector Urban Platform since December 2018.

PBI-Canada visited with the community in May 2023.

Instagram post.

Da’naxda’xw-Awaetlala land defender Rainbow Eyes sentenced to 60 days in jail

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Rainbow Eyes outside the Nanaimo courthouse with supporters just prior to sentencing on April 24. Photo by Jordan Davidson/Nanaimo News NOW.

Da’naxda’xw-Awaetlala land defender Angela Davidson, also known as Rainbow Eyes, was sentenced this week to 60 days in jail for her participation in the peaceful blockades against Teal Cedar logging on the Fairy Creek watershed on Pacheedaht territory on Vancouver Island on seven occasions in 2021 and 2022.

CBC reports: “Angela Davidson, also known as Rainbow Eyes, received 60 days of jail time, after being convicted of seven counts of criminal contempt earlier this year, though she received credit for 12 days of time already served in pretrial detention.”

That CBC article adds: “Davidson, who is of the Da’naxda’xw First Nation and a deputy leader of the federal Green Party, was also ordered to do 75 hours of community service for her role in the protests.”

During her trial this past January, Kwakwaka’wakw Hereditary Chief Walas Namugwis described Davidson’s obligations as being those of a people “groomed to be land defenders,” “to look after mother nature, to care and nurture and not be greedy.”

The Times Colonist notes: “Defence lawyer Ben Isitt asked for any more jail time to be suspended, suggesting a 13-day sentence that would have been negated by time already served.”

Biased injunctions

The Chilliwack Progress further reports: “An injunction had been ordered prohibiting people from obstructing or interfering with anyone accessing the logging road from April 1 to Sept. 26, 2021. Davidson had violated the injunction numerous times including chaining herself to a gate, climbing on top of a grader and dropping food off at a roadside camp, according to the judge. She was arrested and given curfew during that time.”

Green Party leader Elizabeth May has stated: “Injunctions are used to convert the justice and policing systems of the state into private cops to protect corporate profits over the public interest. This has to stop.”

The Canadian Press has reported: “[An October 2019] study of over 100 injunctions published by the Yellowhead Institute … found 76 per cent of injunctions filed by corporations against First Nations were granted, compared with 19 per cent of injunctions filed by First Nations against corporations.”

After the sentencing, May further commented: “[Rainbow Eyes] was trying, as an Indigenous land defender, to protect what’s left of our old growth forests. She deserves the Order of Canada, not [jail time].”

Impunity for the C-IRG

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) is the controversial unit used against Indigenous land defenders and allies challenging resource extraction projects in this country.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) is now conducting a systemic investigation of C-IRG activities, including its enforcement of “the Teal Cedar Products Ltd injunction in the Fairy Creek watershed”, after receiving nearly 500 formal complaints that include allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and Charter violations.

Despite being launched more than a year ago on March 9, 2023, there has been little information on the progress of this investigation and no date has been set for the release of their report.

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