Rising variety of demise threats from paramilitary teams goal environmental defenders who oppose fracking in Colombia.
Santander, Colombia – Environmental activists Fabian Urquijo and Jhordan Peinado, who hail from Colombia’s Santander area, obtained an eerie warning in February.
They had been named in a pamphlet shared by the Gulf Clan paramilitary group, warning that they'd be killed if they didn't hand over their activism. Greater than 20 different native activists had been additionally named within the pamphlet, which was distributed all through their neighbourhood.
“It was a tough second,” Peinado instructed Al Jazeera. “Given what we do, we’re conscious that these threats occur – particularly in a rustic the place main social and environmental struggles create many issues.”
The pair have since fled their hometown of Barrancabermeja, fearing for his or her lives.
And that is not at all an remoted case: Many Colombian activists are more and more anxious that they may very well be focused for his or her work, as latest knowledge from Colombia’s Particular Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and Corporacion Compromiso, an area NGO, reveal a pointy enhance in threats and violence in direction of environmental defenders.
The stakes for activists in Santander are particularly excessive. Over the previous 18 months, the JEP recorded greater than 4 dozen threats towards activists throughout the area.
Corporacion Compromiso reported even greater numbers, citing 68 threats in direction of environmental defenders in Santander within the opening three months of 2022 alone – a major enhance from 2021, when it documented a complete of 70 incidents in the entire yr.
Colombia is named the world’s deadliest nation for environmental defenders, and Santander’s Magdalena Medio area, situated within the nation’s north, has grow to be a hub for a lot of threats. The realm contains the guts of Colombia’s petroleum business, and the native city of Puerto Wilches has been chosen for the nation’s first fracking venture, assembly robust resistance from locals and environmental teams. This opposition, in flip, has drawn threats from native armed teams.
Yuvelis Natalia Morales, a 21-year-old environmental activist, was reportedly pressured to flee Puerto Wilches and search safety in France after intruders got here to her residence final yr and put a gun to her head.
Carlos Andres Santiago, an anti-fracking activist, instructed Al Jazeera: “Their message is mainly that whoever opposes fracking will get a bullet, as a result of they're the regulation right here.”
Armed teams vying for management
Earlier this month, a whole lot of locals gathered in Puerto Wilches to protest towards the proposed fracking venture. Activists who took half within the demonstration instructed Al Jazeera that after their march, assailants threw one protester off his bike and warned he could be killed if he continued opposing the venture.
“Environmental leaders stand out in communities, as they stop them from being essentially taken maintain of by unlawful teams,” Sergio Guzman, the director of Colombia Danger Evaluation, a political threat consultancy, instructed Al Jazeera.
“If there's a felony group that desires to determine itself because the chief of the world, it submits the native social leaders to their will. If they don't comply, they grow to be an impediment for a lot of of those organisations.”
Native environmental defenders and a consultant of the JEP instructed Al Jazeera that they suspected a connection between the paramilitary teams intimidating them and the state-owned Ecopetrol, which is behind the fracking venture. The corporate has been accused of getting ties with the Gulf Clan particularly. For its half, Ecopetrol has denied all such allegations and publicly denounced any violence in direction of environmental defenders.
“Many contractors and people linked to those [fracking] tasks have hyperlinks to unlawful teams,” a JEP consultant instructed Al Jazeera on situation of anonymity. “We've got obtained quite a few stories from organisations which have documented how activists and human rights defenders have been killed up to now for his or her opposition to extractive oil tasks. The scenario could be very severe.”
Armed teams, such because the Nationwide Liberation Military and the Gulf Clan, have gained an growing foothold in Magdalena Medio lately, following the 2016 deal to finish Colombia’s long-running battle.
“After the peace settlement … armed teams have taken maintain of most of the vacuums of energy all through the whole nation,” Guzman stated. “This has put many communities in danger, as a result of the state is unable to fulfill its function as a major safety supplier.”
At the very least 5 totally different pamphlets issuing threats to environmental defenders have been distributed throughout Magdalena Medio this yr, all attributed to the Gulf Clan. However regardless of the heightened intimidation, activists corresponding to Urquijo stay dedicated to their trigger.
“We’ll proceed, as a result of we desire to dwell championing this battle than to die and see the lands we love destroyed.”
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