IRTF News

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.

We are deeply concerned by the ongoing criminalization of human rights defenders reporting on environmental degradation in El Estor, Guatemala, which we believe are motivated solely by their legitimate and peaceful work in defense of environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights.

Continual flooding related to the construction of the Hidroituango Hydroelectric Project is having disastrous effectson the communities along the Cauca River in the municipality of Valdivia in Antioquia Department.

Continued violence and criminalization of the peaceful resistance to the Los Planes hydroelectric dam being constructed in Pajuiles, Atlántida Department. Since March 2017, Pajuiles and surrounding communities, with the support of the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ), have maintained an encampment to block Hidrocep (Hidroeléctrica Centrales El Progreso) from constructing the hydroelectric dam. Since the disputed presidential election in November 2017, there has been a military and police raid on MADJ’s headquarters, assaults on and surveillance of their members, and threats against Martín Fernandez Guzmán, MADJ’s General Coordinator. At least four members of MADJ have been murdered by state security forces and paramilitaries during the ongoing post-electoral crisis.