IRTF News

Human rights defenders are at great risk in the Magdalena Medio Valley of north-central Colombia.

Several individuals and organizations were named in pamphlets circulated by Magdalena Medio Block of the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army) on January 18. Then on February 1, the AGC paramilitaries (Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) issued their own pamphlet declaring members of even more organizations as military targets. At least two well-known and respected organizations appeared in both sets of pamphlets: Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS) and Peasant Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC). IRTF’s Rapid Response Network has written about 20 letters on behalf of CREDHOS and its leadership over the past 20 years, and several for ACVC as well. The faithfulness and persistence of these human rights defenders is admirable considering the toll that these threats take on them and their families.

We wrote to officials in Honduras about another attack on a campesino cooperative leader in the Aguán Valley, Colón Department, in northern Honduras.

José Abel López Perdomo has been outspoken in denouncing the activities of criminal groups (suspected to be aligned with agroindustrialists) who threaten and extort the families of the Remolino Cooperative in Trujillo. He has also been falsely criminalized by the Agroindustrial Company Oleopalma and the head of security of the company Grupo Litoral, hired by Oleopalma, who accuse him of usurpation of the Remolino farm.

On January 30, while transporting palm fruit with other farmers, their vehicle was intercepted by armed men in hoods who forced José Abel López Perdomo into another vehicle and drove away. He has not been seen since.

Brutal violence against campesino leaders is on the rise in the the Aguán Valley of northern Honduras.

According to campesino leaders, agroindustrialists are employing criminal organizations to wage violence against them because they fear the pending investigations of the Tripartite Commission, a keystone of the agreement signed by President Castro with several campesino cooperatives in February 2022.

There were two assassination attempts, both on January 27, 2024:

Franklin Izaguirre, president of the Camarones Farmers Agricultural Cooperative, was driving home at 11:30am, when he was surprised by two heavily armed men who approached him on a motorcycle and shot him repeatedly.  Injured in the neck, hand and right side, he miraculously survived the attack.

Leaders of the Las Brisas Cooperative were ambushed by four armed men wearing hoods who shot out the rear window of their car and stole their mobile phones and approximately $13,000 that was intended for payroll for the 200 families of the cooperative.

We are reminding authorities in Honduras of their mandate by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to offer protection measures to land defenders in the Aguán Valley. Violence is expected to continue if not escalate while preparations are being made for the installation of the Tripartite Commission

For the past five years, IRTF has played an active role in the international campaign to support the Guapinol River defenders in northern Honduras. They are up against some mighty players with interlocking ownerhip: Emco Holdings (thermal electric generation), Inversiones Los Pinares (iron oxide mine), and Ecotek (pelletizing plant). Some principle owners include family members of the longstanding oligarchy. Ana Facussé, daughter deceased land baron Miguel Facussé, and her husband Lenir Pérez (currently residing in Florida and under investigation by the FBI), are the owners of Inversiones Los Pinares and have financial stakes in the other companies.

Environmental defenders like Carlos Leonel George have been falsely criminalized, stigmatized, and imprisoned. He was already previously criminalized and imprisoned (falsely) in 2019 for his active participation in the organized environmental defense movement led by the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT).  On January 28, he was detained again on an old arrest warrant. This recent illegal arrest signals a reactivated campaign against environmental defenders leading up to the request of renewal by Inversiones Los Pinares for its mining concession.

Foreign investors use false criminalization, stigmatization of community leaders, and judicial persecution as strategies to silence ethnic Garífuna communities’ defense of their territories. The false arrest and detention of Cosme Ávila on January 24 is another example of the systematic persecution against the Garífuna people who defend their territories against foreign investors who are illegally expropriating their ancestral territories to construct tourist and residential projects along the Atlantic coast of Honduras. 

When the National Police arrested Cosme Ávila in Trujillo on January 24, they were acting on an outdated arrest warrant. The charge on the arrest warrant (a false charge of “invasion” by the Canadian owner of a beach club) was no longer valid. More than six years ago, Cosme Ávila has already been arrested on that false charge, detained, released, and had the charged dismissed.

This kind of thing is happening all over Honduras. It is suspected that police are intentionally acting on old arrest warrants to harass community leaders. They claim that they do not have the capability to synchronize records with prison and judicial systems.

Indigenous communities are at particular risk where armed groups vie for territorial control. In northern Cauca Department, the Indigenous Nasa People of the Sa'th Tama Kiwe territory in Caldono suffered great losses in 2023. Six of their Indigenous authorities or other community leaders were assassinated. On Christmas Eve,  Eliécer Chocue, a member of the Indigenous guard,  was killed just two days after the community held an assembly of the special Indigenous jurisdiction. He immediately began receiving threats.

In addition to calling for justice in the assassination Eliécer Chocue , we are also urging that authorities in Colombia consult with the Indigenous guard to offer them more support for their collective defense mechanisms.