Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

unjust detention of environmental rights defenders Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Pedro and Arturo Pablo Juan of Santa Cruz Barillas municipality in Huehuetenango Department.

attacks on Marlene Benitez, her family, and other members of the Afro-descendant communities of the Curvaradó River Basin in Chocó Department.

assassinations of four indigenous land rights activists in Cauca Department (Gerardo Velasco Escue, Emiliano Silva Oteca, Arturo Andrés Galindo Bastos and Carlos Algeiro Mera Pino) and death threats to indigenous community leader Alfredo Campo Lectamo and others speaking out against these killings

harassment of two indigenous women who were key eyewitnesses in a murder trial in the Triqui indigenous community of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca State.

death threats by paramilitary group Black Eagles to Sabino Lucomi, Eduar Mina, Jhon Jairo Valverde, Francia Marquez, leaders of the Afro-descendant community in La Toma who have been calling on authorities to take action against illegal mining.

armed attack on Jesús Flores Satuye (shot in the head and arm), a member of the Afro-descendant Garífuna community of Nueva Armenia in Atlántida Department, and concurrent attack on the offices of La Via Campesina in Tegucigalpa.

threats to Silvia Pérez Yescas, a defender of women’s, indigenous, and land rights from the community of Matías Romero in Oaxaca State

death threats and security incidents against defenders of Afro-Colombian territorial, labor, and civil rights Francia Marquez Lisifrey Ararat, Luis Ernesto Olave Valencia, Senator Piedad Cordoba and Jesús Enrique Andrade (shot 3 times in the head)

murder of environmental and indigenous rights defender Juan Francisco Martinez, a member of the Independent Indigenous Lenca Movement of La Paz (MILPAH).