Latin America concentrates most crimes against environmentalists

O number of murdered activists reached 200 last year, against the record of 227 in 2020, with attacks that took place in the context of “a wider range of threats” against environmentalists, who are targets of governments, companies and other non-state actors, highlights the report.

"More than 75% of recorded attacks occurred in Latin America“, informs Global Witness in the document.

O Mexico was the country with the highest number of murders, with 54 deaths of environmentalists in 2021, 30 more than the previous year.

“More than 40% of those murdered were indigenous people and more than a third of the total were forced disappearances, including at least eight members of the Yaqui community”, established in the north of the country, states the document.

The year 2021 is the third consecutive year that Global Witness has recorded an increase in lethal attacks in Mexico. Two-thirds of attacks are related to land and mining.

“Almost two-thirds of the murders were concentrated in the states of Oaxaca (south) and Sonora (north), both with important mining investments”, highlights the organization.

“We feel abandoned”

The indigenous community of Ayotitlán Jalisco (west) was one of the hardest hit for its defense against the Peña Colorada mine, which extracts iron and other minerals.

One of its leaders, José Santos Isaac Chávez, a declared opponent of the mine, was murdered in April 2021 while running for Commissionerariathat of Ejidal, responsible for indigenous administration.

Other residents of the community were killed, threatened and persecuted, including Rogelio Ramos, 17, son of activist José Santos Rosales.

“Mines destroy and pollute the environment. I ask the authorities to bring justice and punish those responsible, to have a permanent presence in the community,” said Rosales, whose brother disappeared in 1993, by telephone to AFP.

In the last 10 years, Mexico has become “one of the most dangerous places for land and environmental defenders”, with 154 murders documented during the period, warns Global Witness.

The majority of deaths (131) occurred between 2017 and 2021.

Colombia and Brazil they ranked second and third in the number of environmentalists killed last year.

Colombia recorded 33 murders last year, a significant drop compared to the 65 deaths in 2020.

Brazil recorded 26 murders of environmentalists in 2021, six more than in 2020.

Brazil, Mexico and Colombia accounted for more than half of the attacks against environmentalists last year, according to the NGO.

Of the crimes that were related to a specific sector, the organization indicates that more than 25% were linked to the exploitation of resources (forestry, mining or agribusiness), in addition to hydroelectric plants and other infrastructure works.

The number, however, may be higher because the reasons for attacks against environmentalists are often not investigated or reported adequately.

Indigenous people and women

Mining was the sector most linked to the 2021 murders, with 27 cases, 15 of them in Mexico, six in the Philippines, four in Venezuela, one in Nicaragua and one in Ecuador, according to Global Witness.

The NGO also warned of “disproportionate number of attacks against indigenous peoples“, with more than 40% of attacks targeting this group, despite representing only 5% of the world's population.

Global Witness recorded 12 mass murders in 2021, including three in India and four in Mexico, and highlighted that one in 10 activists killed were women, almost two-thirds of them indigenous.

The organization recommends “urgent actions” by governments and companies to stop the violence and criminalization of activists, such as the adoption of laws that protect them and the expansion of their rights, in addition to corporate policies that “identify, prevent and mitigate” any harm against these people and the spaces they defend.

(With AFP)

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