IRTF News

Assassinations of land rights defenders in the Aguán Valley: José Ángel Flores (President of the Unified Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MUCA) and MUCA member Silmer Dionosio George in Tocoa, Colón Department.

Paramilitaries at the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Antioquia Department are waging violence, destroying crops, intruding into homes, and threatening to kill residents of the Peace Community.

Assassination attempts against two indigenous leaders: Tomás Gómez Membreño, the General Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), and local COPINH leader Alexander García Sorto.

Violation (by the state) of precautionary protective measures for award-winning investigative journalist and human rights defender Claudia Julieta Duque.

Break-in and vandalism of Jesuit-sponsored Kino Migrant Center and death threats to staff in Nogales, Sonora (US border).

Attack against Esteban Hermelindo Cux and Fredy Qib, two indigenous community leaders. On September 2, approximately 20 masked men armed with machetes and firemarms attacked the home of Esteban Hermelindo Cux, an indigenous Q’eqchi’ organizer in Panzós in Alto Verapaz Department.

Murder of peasant farmer leader Cecilia Coicue, age 62, in the village of Cominera, municipality of Corinto in Cauca Department.

Concern for the safety of human rights defender Rocío Campos, a member of the Magdalena Medio chapter of Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE).

Escalating wave of intimidation against legal officials. At 6am on August 15 in Guatemala City, eight armed men posing as police officers forced their way into the house of Ramón Cadena Rámila, Central America Director of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).