Rapid Response Network

Indigenous community leader Rolando Crispin López has been assassinated in the community of Álvaro Obregón in the municipality of Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca State. He was a member of the Assembly of Indigenous People of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Defense of Land and Territory (APIITDTT), the Peoples' Assembly of the Juchiteco People (APPJ), and the Peoples' Assembly of Álvaro Obregón.

Contaminated water from the Mezapa River, resulting from the construction of the Hidrocep hydroelectric dam (Hidroeléctrica Centrales El Progreso), in Pajuiles, Atlántida Department, Honduras, caused an increase in diseases. Residents are suffering strong stomach pains, spots on their skin, and rashes.

Environmental defenders have been subjected to smear campaign, threats, and police violence.

There is an alarming rate of assassinations of social leaders in Cauca Department, Colombia. On July 3 the bodies of seven men were found on a road in the municipality of Argelia. They had been shot at point blank range with visible signs of torture and other ill-treatment.

The paramilitary group Águilas Negras (Black Eagles) threatened in recent email and social media communication to kill a number of individuals, organizations and journalists. The message vowed to “exterminate” all human rights defenders and social leaders, calling them “guerrillas in disguise.”

Human rights defender Bernardo Caal Xol is in prison for being an indigenous Q’eqchi’ leader who has spoken out against the illegal construction of massive hydroelectric dams in indigenous territory, which were built without consulting the indigenous population as required by law and have resulted in the destruction of local ecosystems, clear cutting of old growth forests and decimation of mountain ridges sacred to the Q’eqchi’ people.

More than 200 indigenous Nasa Embera Chamí people from La Delfina reservation in Buenaventura (West), Colombia, have been displaced following an armed attack on a member of their community. The National Indigenous Organization (ONIC) reports that 80 women (5 pregnant), 90 men, and 80 children are are currently confined in a nearby school. They are in need of food, clothing, medicine, basic shelter items (tents, blankets), and access to health services.

On May 17 there was an attack on the binational indigenous Yukpa people living in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander Department. Jesuit Refugee Service has reported that 106 indigenous people, including 56 children, were forced to move in search of refuge and assistance from the local authorities. Some were subsequently displaced to the Venezuelan border.

The indigenous leaders Ramon Choc Sacrab, Florencio Pérez Nájera and Alejandro Hernández García were murdered in Guatemala, which make a total of six human rights leaders who have been killed in less than a month.

Massive arrests of dozens of elected community leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia on April 23: Among them are members of the Black Communities’ Process (PCN), an internationally recognized organization that has worked to dismantle illegal armed groups’ activities in Afro- descendant territories.