IRTF News

police repression and injuries to the mostly Afro-descendant residents of Buenaventura in Valle del Cauca Department during a general strike and other protests for health, education, water and sanitation

arrest, detention and travel ban of César Geovanni Bernardez, director of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), which is in a legal battle to secure Garífuna (Afro-Caribbean people) lands against challenges by tourism developers

surveillance, attacks, and death threats against environmental and indigenous rights defenders Rodrigo Flores Peñalosa and Lucila Bettina Cruz Velázquez of the Tehuantepec Indigenous Peoples’ Assembly in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT) in Oaxaca

Raids by Gaitanista paramilitaries threaten the mostly indigenous and Afro-descendant communities of the Jiguamiandó River Basin collective territory in Chocó Dept., near Pueblo Nuevo Humanitarian Zone (an official demilitarized safety zone)

Arson is among the threatening actions by paramilitaries in the rural areas of Remedios, Antioquia Department. Paramilitaries are seeking out Ricaurte García, a human rights defender with CAHUCOPANA (Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace of Northeast Antioquia).

attempted murder of Maynor López, son of human rights defender Francisca Ramírez, who is Coordinator of the Council for the Defense of the Land, the Lake and Sovereignty, active in organizing resistance to construction of the Nicaraguan Grand Inter-oceanic Canal

Torture and assassination of transgender woman Sherlyn Montoya, active member of LGBT Rainbow Association.

Kidnapping and assaults on a woman associated with Peasant Movement of Cajibio (MCC) leader Marylen Serna Salinas, in Popayán, Cauca Department.

Intimidation tactics (shots fired) against Pedro Rafael Maldonado Flores, the legal director for the Legal, Environmental and Social Action Center of Guatemala (CALAS), which represents communities organizing resistance to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources.