Zuleyka MabelVíctor Colindres, a well-known defender of the territory, was killed with a firearm today in his community of San Antonio Sejá in the city of Livingston, Izabal in Guatemala. He participated in numerous rallies against an excessive issuing of mining licenses in the country throughout the year.
eyes@collectifission worth pointing out that large amounts of the necessary uranium that would need to be mined to keep up with the demands of these new reactors is on indiginous land, with many proposed and existing projects being done without the consent of the lands' respective indiginous inhabitants.
American Uranium mines and processing plants have a horrible track record of poisoning rivers and groundwater on indigenous land; the largest nuclear accident in American history happened happened to the Navajo due to complete corporate negligence which was largely swept under the rug, because the US government and corporations know they can get away with these massive accidents so long as it doesnt effect white people 🙄 the Church Rock Uranium spill is *still* responsible for increased cancer rates among Navajo folks almost 50 years later.
Like im not necessarily against nuclear power in certain careful contexts, but it can't continue to exist if it's implemention is done in a way that's practically genocidal towards indiginous communities. Currently proposed Uranium mines in the Southwest to keep up with these "modular" reactors are *still* being done without consulting the indiginous communities they will effect, and if history tells us anything it's that these projects *will* taint the rivers and groundwater in an already water-scarce area for highly vulnerable communities. And like what even is the point in all this if most of the produced power is just going towards powering new datacenters to fuel the AI bubble rather than actually going to decarbonize existing power demands for residential and legitimate industial applications? (e.g. Microsoft's deal for exclusive energy rights from the three-mile island plant for datacenter use)
#nuclear #nuclearenergy #indigenousrights #genocide #landback #ClimateChange #pollution #antimining #whitesupremacy #colonialism
DoomsdaysCW#ElSalvador faces scrutiny for ‘political’ trial of five #EnvironmentalActivists
UN and legal experts have condemned prosecution of #AntiMining campaigners over alleged civil war-era killing
Nina Lakhani
Wed 9 Oct 2024 11.43 EDT
"Five environmental activists who helped secure a historic mining ban in El Salvador are facing life imprisonment for an alleged civil war-era crime, in a case that has been condemned by #UN and legal experts as baseless and politically motivated.
The trial against Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Antonio Pacheco and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega, who were arrested in January 2023 for the alleged killing of an army informant in 1989, opened on Tuesday in Sensuntepeque, in the department of Cabañas in northern El Salvador.
"The case has proceeded in almost total secrecy amid widespread allegations of legal violations – and repeated calls for the charges to be dismissed from UN experts, and hundreds of international lawyers, academics and rights groups.
"The defendants, who were at the forefront of a 13-year grassroots-led campaign to ban #MetalMining to protect the country’s dwindling #water and #farmland from further #contamination, were arrested amid warnings that President Nayib Bukele was planning to overturn the 2017 historic law.
"The five anti-mining activists had denounced suspicious land sales and mining interests operating in the area when arrested, accused of murder and illicit association over an alleged crime during the 1979-1992 civil war.
"'This case has no legal basis, but we fear that the lack of judicial independence and the Bukele government’s desire to overturn the metal mining ban risks the five #environmental leaders being subjected to a terrible miscarriage of justice,' said Pedro Cabezas, coordinator of the Central American Alliance Against Mining.
"'The five are respected community leaders, and sentencing them to inhumane prison conditions would be a death sentence.'"
[...]
"In what was perceived as a show of support for the activists, #Canada, #Germany, #France, the #UK and the #EU sent representatives to pre-trial hearings. The #Biden administration has remained silent despite 17 members of Congress condemning the arrests and urging the secretary of state, Antony #Blinken, to join calls for the charges to be dismissed."
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/09/el-salvador-trial-environmental-activists-mining
#EnvironmentalActivists #CriminalizingActivism #WaterIsLife #TrumpedUpCharges #NoMiningWithoutConsent #BigMining #Corruption
Honduras: Anti-mining activist Juan Lopez shot dead
#JuanLopez is the fourth member of an #environmental #activism group based in in #Tocoa to be killed since 2023.
President #XiomaraCastro condemned the murder and has ordered an investigation.
September 16, 2024
"An #AntiMining #EnvironmentalActivist in #Honduras who protested to preserve #TropicalForests and rivers was killed over the weekend, even after warnings to better ensure his safety.
"Juan Lopez, 46, was gunned down as he left church Saturday in the northeastern town of Tocoa, police said on Sunday.
"Honduran President Xiomara Castro condmened the apparent murder of Lopez, a member of the Libre party she's allied to, in comments online.
"'We condemn the vile murder of our comrade and environmental leader Juan Lopez in Tocoa, Colon,' she said. 'I have ordered that all the capabilities of law enforcement be used to clarify this tragedy and identify those responsible.'
Multiple members of Lopez's enviromental organization killed
"Lopez belonged to the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods, an environmental organization in Tocoa on the country's Atlantic coast.
"Three other members of the group were killed last year in what the organization saw as retaliation.
"The group had suffered threats and harassment for years amid efforts to preserve the #Guapinol and #SanPedro rivers, and the #CarlosEscaleras #Nature Reserve, as the presence of #mining and #hydroelectric companies increased.
"Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya said the 'reprehensible' murder would not go unpunished, and paid tribute to Lopez's #activism.
"'His life was an example of struggle. He never gave up in his incessant battle, hand-in-hand with the people to preserve natural resources,' Zelaya said on X.
Lopez aware of risks of his activism
"An outspoken member of the ruling #LibreParty, Lopez had recently publicly called for the resignation of Libre officials caught on video negotiating bribes with drug traffickers in 2013.
"Carlos Zelaya, a brother-in-law of president Castro, was caught up in that video. He resigned his seat in congress after admitting he took part in that meeting with drug gangsters.
"'If you leave home, you always have in mind that you do not know what might happen, if you are going to return,' Lopez had said in 2021 when speaking of his activism with AFP.
"Lopez had also raised the alarm himself earlier in the year, saying he had noticed two people on motorbikes observing him in locations around his home.
Activist deaths high in Latin America
"Global Witness, a British NGO, says Honduras is one of the world's most dangerous countries for environmental activists.
"#LatinAmerica accounted for 85% of all the world's environmentalists who were killed last year, with 18 deaths registered in Honduras, according to #GlobalWitness.
"The United Nations resident coordinator in Honduras, Alice Shackelford, said Lopez had been threatened for his activism and praised his determination to stand up to powerful interests.
"'We condemn the terrible murder of Juan Lopez, a human rights defender threatened for his work,' she said in a post."
km/msh (AFP, Reuters)
https://www.dw.com/en/honduras-anti-mining-activist-juan-lopez-shot-dead/a-70223466
#JusticeForJuan #GuapinolRiver #WaterDefender #SaveTheForests #DefendTheSacred
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #Greenwashing #WaterIsLife #SaveTheRivers #EMCO #InversionesLosPinares
#MunicipalCommitteeForTheDefenseOfCommonAndPublicGoods
Killer Rabbit 90‘Historic moment’: Panama activists celebrate ruling against copper mine https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/28/panama-supreme-court-canadian-copper-mine-unconstitutional #Panama #FirstQuantum #IndigenousRights #AntiMining #Indigenous
Ariel CajarFinally logged from a computer after some time. While I don't have almost any followers here and I have no idea of my reach, I'll use this account to, first, lay out a summarized timeline of the protests happening in Panama in English and then try to provide information on ongoing events as they unfold.
#panama #antimining #generalstrike #protests #environment #publichealth #corruption #poverty #globalsouth #latinamerica #firstquantum
Dick Smiths Fair Go Supporters@human_dude
Its great to hear that you are joining the resistance.
Sorry to hear that they are using #Zoom to #organise. #Surveillance software served by #Amazon. Its like asking #BHP or #RioTinto to host your #antiMining videos, they will do it. But not for the reason you think.
Do they allow joining over email?