Pete Simpson was remanded on the 17th December 2015. He is awaiting trial for ‘violent disorder’ after being attacked & arrested by police at an anti-cuts mayday demonstration in Cardiff, South Wales. He is on trial with another co-defendant in January 2016. Pete has spent the last several months with an electronic tag, his freedom severely restricted, and a change of bail address led to the court remanding him to prison.
Please write to Pete at: Peter Simpson A6060CF, HMP CARDIFF, Knox Rd, Cardiff, WALES, CF24 0UG
Stamps, envelopes, writing paper & books are also welcome. As well as any donations. Banner pictures, dedicated actions & other forms of solidarity are also invited from comrades across the world.
We also recommend using emailaprisoner.com if you are writing from abroad.
For any queries please email bristol_abc@riseup.net
A new project is raising funds for anti-fascist prisoners – covering medical bills, legal expenses, and even funeral costs. Donating at least $20U.S./€20/£15 or more allows you a voice in funding decisions.
Check out their quarterly report below which details who they’ve helped and how, and find out how to donate to this amazing project!
Supporters can now make regular monthly contributions of any amount automatically by signing up here. This is the best possible way to support the Fund and the anti-fascists and anti-racists it provides much-needed material aid to.
Here is who the Fund has supported so far:
Valentin is an anti-fascist in Bremen, Germany that was imprisoned for defending himself and his friends against an ambush by a gang of nazi scum. Valentin was released from prison in November 2015.
Sergiis a Spanish anti-fascist currently facing a lengthy prison sentence for defending himself at a protest against a neo-nazi concert.
Stephen was charged with “breach of peace” for standing up against a KKK rally in Columbia, South Carolina, USA in July.
Eddien was also charged with various “crimes” for confronting the KKK at the same action Stephen attended. Eddien was released from prison in September 2015.
Jeremiah was at a concert when two neo-nazis showed up and started making trouble. Jeremiah confronted them and was nearly stabbed to death by one of the racist scumbags.
Paul is a German anti-fascist who was arrested at a July anti-Pegida action for the “crime” of carrying a flag with a flagpole the police was decided was “too short.” He was released from prison in September 2015.
Maxime Bugsel was a young anti-fascist from Bruay-La Buissière who was shot to death late one night in August 2015. We were honoured to be able to help his family pay for his funeral expenses.
Vlad Lenko is an anti-fascist in Belarus currently serving a six-year prison sentence for defending himself against neo-nazis. We contributed to his legal defence, which hopes to mount an appeal of his brutal sentence.
An anti-fascist woman from Melbourne, Australia who was fined $1200 for her part in confronting the racist UPF in Bendigo in August 2015. Thanks to us and other donors, her fine was paid in full! More info here.
Oleg Serebrennikov is a Russian anti-fascist that was severely injured by nazi boneheads in 2004. While he hasn’t let that stop him from standing against racism, his injuries have required expensive ongoing treatment that the Fund is helping him pay for.
Joel is a Swedish anti-fascist that defended an peaceful anti-racist demonstration from a violent attack by neo-nazis. Joel is currently serving a severe sentence for his heroism and is due to parole in 2017. He also received a fine of 40000SEK, which we are helping him pay.
The Kungsan 15 are fifteen Swedish anti-fascists who were charged with various “crimes” for defending themselves and others against attacks by neo-nazis at an anti-racist march in Kungsan, Sweden. Two were acquitted but 13 of them received severe sentence of four-to-eighteen months in prison plus a cumulative total of 350,000SEK in fines.
HELP US HELP OUR BROTHERS & SISTERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST HATE! If you agree that fighting hate is not a crime; if you believe that anti-fascism is self-defence; and if you want to show real solidarity with your fellow antifa, please make a donation to The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fundand encourage people you know to join you in donating.
La macchina del caos lavora senza sosta creando i “fatti” secondo i propri principi e facendo, a suo modo, anche la nostra storia.
Per definizione, il suo operare non può riconoscere limiti e confini visto che, come è stato ammesso da fonte interna autorevolissima, “the american homeland is the planet”. Sebbene in queste ultime settimane venga effettivamente contrastata sul teatro siriano dall’intervento della Russia di Putin, essa mantiene nel suo ventre oscuro copiose riserve velenifere e notevoli capacità metamorfiche che la rendono comunque temibilissima e nemica irredimibile di qualunque popolazione. Lo si vede, forse meglio che in passato, proprio in Europa, dove per l’affondamento di qualsiasi speranza di “risveglio politico globale” si serve senza scrupolo, fra le altre, dell’arma di distruzione chiamata “accoglienza dei migranti”. In questa situazione l’Italia, che rimane a livello planetario uno dei massimi terreni di sperimentazione per la macchina del caos, potrebbe senza paradosso rivelarsi uno degli avamposti strategici decisivi nel quale, in un futuro nemmeno troppo lontano, si giocheranno le sorti dei processi di affrancamento dal doppio giogo dell’Unione Europea e della NATO.
Despite it could be an hoax for the spanish audience it is not. When "La Mañana" RTVE program was give the information about the attacks on the claimed capital of DAESH Raqqa they give as good the connetion of theAl-qaeda, DAESH and the Galactic Rebel Allianz. Look at 1:38:56- http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/la-manana/manana-1-161115-1000/3364980/
Hilarious if there were not lives and people suffering.
22 October 2015, 7 anarchist comrades arrested in Barcelona, 2 in Manresa. 8 houses and social centers in the neighborhoods of Sant Andreu, Clot, Gràcia, and Sants raided, including the Ateneu Llibertàri de Sants and La Revoltosa in Clot. They will be taken to Madrid where it will be decided in the next days if they are to be released or imprisoned pending trial. The operation takes place the day after Monica and Francisco were brought before the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, to decide whether they would be given an additional two years of preventive detention under the anti-terrorist law (the two comrades, who were also imprisoned and absolved in Chile in the so-called “Bombs Case” were arrested in Barcelona in November 2013).
This morning, starting at 5am, there were raids in two houses in Manresa and two people were arrested on the orders of the Audiencia Nacional, acting against anarchist struggles. Units of the mobile brigade of the Mossos d’Esquadra also carried out raids and arrests in various houses and social centers in Barcelona. As per usual, units from the Information Brigade seized materials, including electronic equipment, money, and propaganda. This operation is a continuation of the repressive strike known as the Pandora case, which was carried out in December of 2014 with the arrest of 11 comrades who are currently awaiting trial, and is related to Operation Piñata and Operation Columna, realized by the Policia Nacional.
This new repressive blow coincides with the hearing in the Audiencia Nacional to revisit the decision of preventive detention for the two imprisoned comrades, Monica and Francisco. We understand these arrests as a police and mediatic effort to facilitate the prolongation of the imprisonment of the two comrades, who have already been locked up for two years in preventive. This very day the high court confirmed the prolongation of their preventive detention. The principal objective of the State is to crush the anarchist struggles that it has singled out as the number one internal enemy. We understand that the figure of an internal enemy is necessary for a democratic State to justify “exceptional” methods of repression that supposedly should not exist in a society of “rights and liberties.”
Once again, we must signal the collaboration of the Audiencia Nacional [high court in Madrid] with the repressive forces of the Generalitat [the autonomous government of Catalunya], the Mossos d’Esquadra. Equally, the role of the media continues to give credibility to police sources and focus the case on the figure of the GAC, a public organization that in the police and media imagination has become a terrorist association.
In order to confront the repression and overcome the fear the State wishes to sow, we call for the following protests:
Gràcia: 20h. Pl. Diamant. Convocatoria unitaria de Barcelona
News arrived via email: Italy mobilization against the monstrous NATO Trident Juncture exercise (ongoing). Initiatives for October -November. Traducción al español Traduzione all'italiano ________
25th October Sunday, at 16h demonstration in Rome - Piazza del Pantheon - Arival of "bike ride" Pisa-Rome-Viterbo for the closure of all foreign military bases - Collection of signatures on the appeal for the withdrawal of NATO For a neutral and independent Italy and against the monstrous Trident Juncture NATO exercise (now in progress) 26th October Monday, 2015 10am to 5:30pm at Centro di Congressi di Cavour, 50/a Via Cavour, Rome - International meeting of the No War No NATO Italian Committee For an independent neutrality of Italy and Europe To create an international network of peace and neutrality '(the list of actions is sent with the next email) Please be on time We remember all the other initiatives announced against NATO and TRIDENT Juncture: 23th October, at 21h, at Milan- Camera del Lavoro, organized by the Committee Against War Milan, speakers Manlio Dinucci, Marinella Correggia, Lawyer. Giannangeli 24th October at 14.00, the Piazza del Gessu squarein Naples, national event with Alex Zanotelli. (On the same day there is also a rally in Parma organized by Pax Christi and others) 31th October demonstration in Marsala called by No Muos Sicilian and Trapani committees
3th November: sit-in at the Cagliari-Capo Teulada area organized by the Social Forum, USB, Clean Sardinia, CSS, Sardinia Natzione Indipendentzia 4th November: exhibition in Pisa with Alex Zanotelli 25/26th November: projected event in Florence in event of the NATO inter-parliamentary meeting. _____________
Informazione arrivata per email: Mobilizzazione nell'Italia contro la mostruosa esercitazione della NATO (in corso) Trident Juncture. Iniziative per ottobre e novembre.
Domenica 25 ottobre alle 16,00 manifestazione a Roma – Piazza del Pantheon
Arrivo della “biciclettata” Pisa-Viterbo-Roma per la chiusura di tutte le basi militari straniere
Raccolta di firme sull’appello per l’uscita dell’Italia dalla NATO
Per un’Italia neutrale ed indipendente e contro la mostruosa esercitazione della NATO (in corso) Trident Juncture
Lunedi’ 26 ottobre 2015 ore 10,00 – 17,30: presso il Centro Congressi Cavour, via Cavour 50/a Roma
Incontro internazionale del comitato italiano No Guerra No NATO
Per un’italia neutrale e per un’europa indipendente
Per la creazione di una rete internazionale di pace e neutralita’ (l’elenco degli interventi è inviato con successiva mail)
Si raccomanda la massima puntualità
Ricordiamo tutte le altre iniziative annunciate contro la NATO e TRIDENT JUNCTURE:
-23 ottobre, ore 21, alla Camera del Lavoro di Milano, organizzata dal Comitato contro la Guerra di Milano, relatori Manlio Dinucci, Marinella Correggia, Avv. Giannangeli
-24 ottobre, ore 14,00, piazza del Gesù a Napoli, manifestazione nazionale con Alex Zanotelli.
(nella stessa data ci risulta anche un presidio a Parma organizzato da Pax Christi e altri)
-31 ottobre: manifestazione a Marsala indetta dai comitati siciliani No Muos e di Trapani
-3 novembre: sit-in al poligono di Capo Teulada organizzata da Cagliari Social Forum, USB, Sardegna Pulita, CSS, Sardinia Natzione Indipendentzia
-4 novembre: manifestazione a Pisa con Alex Zanotelli
-25/26 novembre: progetto di manifestazione a Firenze in occasione della riunione interparlamentare della NATO.
Six militarists of MOC (Conscientious Objection Movement [agaist armies]) snake in Sagunto Port and four of them are got chained to the wheels of two tanks part of the military convoy prepared to leave to San Gregorio base in Zaragoza.
With this action intended to denounce the Trident Juncture manouvers, the largest military exercise of NATO since the WWII, as will mobilize between from October and November 30,000 soldiers, 4,000 vehicles and 11 war helicopters in Italy, Portugal and especially Spain, where will deploy 20,000 troops and hundreds of combat vehicles.
19: 10 Update: the convoy that was supposed to leave today towards San Gregorio, Zaragoza (Spain) from the German army has been suspended. The tanks blocked are Leopard main battle tanks
“Retreat is the only honourable military maneuver”, Boris Vian
#TridentRupture: Antimilitarists obstruct two tanks headed to the NATO war exercise “Trident Juncture” in Spain
At present a group of Antimilitaristes-moc activists are impeding and disrupting the organization of the departure of a military convoy from the port of Sagunto, due to be deployed in war maneuvers in the next few days by army units of more than 30 countries as part of NATO exercise “Trident Juncture 2015”
Today at 17:00 a group of antimilitarist activists, dressed in white overalls and pink reflective vests assembled at the dockside, where a cargo vessel with vehicles and arms was being unloaded, in preparation for live fire stage of the multinational NATO military maneuver “Trident Juncture”, due to begin in the next few days. While two activists stood in the way making stop two tanks, two more activists rapidly chained themselves with lock-on tubes to the vehicles and cut off the road leading from the port area. Another two activists unveiled banners with the words “War Stops Here” and “Sorry for the inconvenience: obstructing war preparations”. The destination of the tanks is intended to head towards the main maneuver field of San Gregorio (Zaragoza).
At the moment the activists remain chained to the tanks preventing their departure and they will maintain the blockade as long as possible, until removal and arrest by the police or the Guardia Civil.
The main motto of this action of civil disobedience is “War Starts Here, and Here we Stop It”. With this action, the anti war group denounces that “military aggressions as a scandal to public opinion are the fruit of political decisions taken thanks to our conscious or unconscious consent, and these maneuvers provide a perfect example of war preparations”. According to Antimilitaristes-moc, “the Trident Juncture exercise supposes the taking over and use of ports, airports, rail lines, and natural areas in Sagunto, Valencia, Zaragoza, Albacete and various areas in Andalucía in order to perform war training to assure the offensive and interventionalist capacity of the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, and prove its destructive power”.
According to Antimilitaristes-moc, another example of politics which prioritise war preparations is “the immense volume of military spending (around 18,000 million euros in Spain annually and over 1,000 bilion globally) from our taxes, or the arms trade in and with conflict zones: the Spanish state is among the 7 mayor world arms exporters, the permanent members of the UN Security Council making up the main arms exporters.”
They conclude “The consequences of these military policies of NATO, of Russia and its allies, are much more visible to public opinion: The systematic violation of human rights, the destruction and persecution of the civil population, extreme violence against women, the expoliation of resources, and the mass exodus of millions of people from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etc.”
“We wanted to stop the flow of material and personnel to these war games and at the same time make visible the contrast between the terrible situation of war refugees who seek protection and meet walls, razor wired fences and death, and the absolute freedom of movement for those who execute wars and their arms, especially during theses military exercises”. For the antimilitarist collective, “actions like those of today contribute to making a culture of peace based on cooperation, justice and non-violence, and not one of deterrence and force”. The paradigm of defense and military-based security has to be changed, it leads over and over again to war and violence. “Human security, according to the UN definition, puts at its axis the defense of the rights of people and nature. In this new paradigm, “armies and military structures are a threat to these rights and must be broken up and abolished”.
On the other hand, Antimilitaristes-moc, wish to express through today’s action their rejection of anti-liberty laws which criminalize social protest, laws passed recently by the Spanish government, such as the reform of the Penal Code and the Citizen Security Law (gaging law). Antimilitaristes-moc have declared that they will carry on using civil disobedience tactics, “because we consider them a legitimate and radically democratic tool for political participation and social change.
For Antimilitaristes-moc, this is a “non-violent direct action”, like similar actions carried out over the last 10 years, like the “citizen inspections” at the NATO Response Force base in Betera (Valencia). According toAntimilitaristes-moc, “It’s direct, because we use our bodies as tools, without mediation or representations. And it’s non-violent, because we believe in the higher legitimacy and efficiency of nonviolence to bring about social change. Coherently, we act against violent institutions without presenting a threat to life or the physical integrality of other people”.
More information:
Spokesperson for the Action: Rosario Polito (687 097 464) -during the action // Carlos Barranco (627 064 818) -next days-
Antimilitaristes-moc is a grass-roots, pacifist group based in Valencia that promotes nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience as tools for social change and works for the abolition of the military as a way of getting rid of war. It is part of the statewide network “alternativa antimilitarista-moc”, the European Anti-militarist Network and the War Resisters' International .
ANTI-MILITARY PROTEST AGAINST <<TRIDENT JUNTURE 2015 >> NATO MANEUVERS
2015 Trident Juncture NATO Maneuvers to be held in the Spanish state, particularly in Aragon region, start in October in its most virtual level to test the connectivity between the military command. But on the ground, as are known the maneuvers that use real fire and troop movements (36,000 soldiers acting, 20,000 deployed in the kingdom of Spain, 8,000 members of the Spanish armed forces and an expected huge cost, whose amount "War" Minister Morenés intend to keep hidden), will take place the "real stage" (<<Live Exercise>> or LIVEX) in the Iberic Peninsula and the Balearic Islands from October 24 to November 6.
Also, on Wednesday November 4 Zaragoza receives the visit of Secretary General of NATO in what they call "Distinguished Visitors Day", a day specially aimed to have a powerful media effect to legitimize their war preparations. Therefore we anticipate our action plan coordinated with the European Antimilitaristc Network . The maneuvers take place predominantly in the Spanish state, but also in Italy, Portugal and other Atlantic and Mediterranean water locations, where we are also prepare demonstrations around the same times and with which we keep contact.
SIGNING AGAINST THE OPERATIONS AND NATO
The week when the "real stage" maneuvers begins will be made public the supports, from local, national and international, that may has to that moment the manifest "Call to Action against Trident Junture 2015 maneuvers NATO " that, together, propose Alternativa Antimilitarista.MOC, the Red Antimilitarista y Nonviolenta de Andalucia and the European Antimilitaristic Network.
You can send up till October 16 your collective, group, association or organization, or your personal support (mentioning, if you wish, your current activity) until Friday, October 16 at: Mambru [AT] nodo50.org
We have planned in Zaragoza a series of activities, workshops, lectures and street actions, to be held from October 24 to November 6 (date of the end of maneuvers on the peninsula).
The central movilization in those days will be, therefore, November 4, with a human chain linking the former Military Captaincy of Zaragoza building and the Bank of Spain, a representative institution of the political-financial system that supports the armed organization that call itself NATO. In the route we want to make our protest visible to military of foreign armies that have booked accommodation at nearby hotels for their "Distinguished Visitors Day".
3 TO 6 NOVEMBER: "LIGHTS, PEOPLE, ACTION: AGAINST WAR '
During the week of November 3 to 6, at nightfall, we will make several "symbolic actions" (with music, theater or poetry against War) in the Zaragoza Paseo de la Independence street and them some meetings at "La Pantera Rossa" [social center] about "The Maneuvers of the Crisis", " The Dark Side of alliances for war" and "European and the Antimilitaristic Network against capitalistic war preparation: A Brief History of nonviolent direct action, Barbate 2015 ". This last with the participation of international activists who participated, from 30 October to 3 November, along with activists from Zaragoza, in civil disobedience against the maneuvers actions.
GET READY FOR CRE-ACTION
Previously, two weeks before, we plan to open to collaboration the preparation of the "artivists" activities, from an anti-militarist lanterns making workshop to "Theatre of the oppressed" workshop (which will be perform during one of the street actions), and another one about security entitled "NATO is watching you, protect yourself."
It is possible that we also count on the presence of Stasha Zajovic in Zaragoza, 'Women in Black' activist against the war in Belgrade, which will remind us the consequences of the military alliance actions, and the rest of other equally criminal armies, in the Balkans. Will help to keep newly present the analyzes, experiences and activities of the anti-militarist feminism (international court of women, the anniversary of Srebrenica ...) as well as its proposals: <<Let's expel war from history and our lives>>." http://www.antimilitaristas.org/spip.php?article5479 es
We will keep you informed with more details puntually
Meanwhile, next Saturday October 3rd, the Anti-NATO Zaragoza Platform calls for demonstration "against NATO and its maneuvers" starting from Plaza Sasera at 12pm.
Many times from cities we wonder about the ravages of capitalism and how it affects our everyday lives without having a clear idea. Here we have a typical conflict in which all the ingredients are given. Under the banner of development, employment and social work, including environmentalism, the interests of a conglomerate premium against an entire population. The consequences are immediate. Our brother Rigoberto, a protest leader, has had to die to make us realize the magnitude of the problem. He was shot outside the courthouse the day of his victory by two gunmen on a motorcycle.
Mayan jungles are threatened and harassed by monoculture and pastures. In Guatemala it arises one of the most flagrant cases of corporative bioterrorism, crimes aganisnt nature, of recent times. Perhaps not by the importance itself of pollution but by the brazenness with which firms operate. Whith problems since the inauguration of the refining plant the REPSA or River Passion case jumped to highlights a few years ago in Guatemala, for the disastrous and immediate effects over the environment, death of thousands fish, hundreds of kilometers of river, tributaries and aquifers pollution, affecting the area retail economy in what has been called as ecocide act by the administration, the same that covers the case with impunity and permissiveness.
Refined palm oil is an industry that unfortunately is expanding. It has its own ecological limits due to extension, deforestation, chemical dependents of sickly monocultures and subsequent contamination of aquifers and affluents. It is alleged that the death of fish was produced by the use of the pesticide Malathion, wich is possible as there is not large seaweed masses. The option for the company could be to change the pesticide, making the production more expensive. But we fear that this is only a part of the story and is also pinpoint the plant residual untreated wastes. It seems that either want to spend money on waste treatment facilities because will rise the prize of the project and surely would make it unaffordable.
The company began operations 15 years ago without environmental impact assestmets, as state by the courts. Although the conflict jump both courts and global media that not frightened the firm owners, determined to continue with the business at any cost. The company moved all possible ways and managed to make sign a document, headed by the mayor Rodrigo Pop and representatives of seven districts, which stated that "the company has no responsibility in the death of fish".
The company suffered a temporary cessation order of six months, responded by killing the people spokesman in the case, the teacher, and activist councilor Rigoberto Lima Choc, blocking roads, abducting at least three other speakers and threatening to kill the rest.
Typical: the government responds with evasives and proposals to militarize the area, to continue with the extractive and predatory activities of REPSA. We have found little or nothing about the company or conglomerate. Just a press spokesman. Nor web, or facebook, or references. Some indications point relation with Aceites Olmeca company. Being so powerful we should know at least the board. What do they hide? Who are they protecting?
Along with the pollution reaches the information noise. It is unclear whether the sanction was due to operate without impact assestments or by probed pollution, as the Falsimedia keep talking about "alleged contamination" when contamination is evident and is the only source.
We emphasize in the use of workers as REPESA shock troops, alleged perpetrators of the facts, arresting, kidnapping and death threats against local fighters and staging protests against judicial decisions. This is not new in capitalism. The degree of despair, lack of perspective and alienating is so high that it is not difficult to get set against forces that should work together. In the twenty-first century no scabs are needed.
It is curious that the company is tricky called palma "Reforester" instead of oil producter or refiner. It is covered with a green halo at BP oil company style, responsible for the Gulf of Mexico spill in 2011, one of the largest ecological disasters in history, for which has not been held accountable to anyone. They engaged in robbing the forest and planting palms, killing all traces of biodiversity. The same effect as if it had a desert.
It si not clear what ares the next steps to follow, but not take action on the matter sentence the entire area to suffer the consequences of pollution and deforestation in brief. If the community were to lose the litigation and environmental degradation continue at the Passion River [río de la Pasión], about 100-200,000 people would lose their livelihoods, must leave the contaminated area and flee to the cities to join his corresponding misery belt, the ghetto. To capitalism it is more important a master's factory tham a 650,000 people population and a hole ecosystem.
From the tarcoteca condelencias with relatives of Rigoberto, a hero. We encourage everyone to participate in the protection of natural spaces. All support and solidarity with the Mayan and Guatemalan community in their struggle against capitalist predation. They are giants with feet of clay, not as strong or as powerful as they said. Go for them! tctca
______________ REPSA, councill, military, agricultural camera and Falsimedia accomplices in contamination of the Maya jungle Palma Africana: The Farce of Corporate Social Responsibility | CMI Guatemala
REPSA is part of a five palm company conglomerate in the Palma group Sayaxche, a newly created umbrella group of palm companies operating in the municipality, and that drives monoculture in order to earn a "social license" for through media campaigns and public relations.
In that effort they have joined the municipal government, the army, the Agriculture Chamber and other palm companies: Tikindustrias, Palmas del Ixcán, NAISA and Unipalma. In that campaign to win over the population, they decided to sponsor the Sayaxché football team, named the fury of passion, paradoxically named after the now severely polluted river that unleashed the fury of its inhabitants.
________ Professor Rigoberto Lima Chocmurdered in Sayaxche COMMUNITY PRESS Km. 169
Professor Rigoberto Choc Lima was killed with firearm a few minutes ago facing the court in the Center Sayaxché neighborhood, Petén. According to witnesses, at noon on Friday two men driving a motorcycle shot and kill Lima Choc.
Professor Lima was a key player in the process against the REPSA company.
He lived in the village Champerico, where he worked as a teacher in school. This community has been one of the most affected by the spill to be the nearest facility REPSA, so that suffers most directly coercion, so that neither COCODE dared to participate in the complaints.
According to the attorney Paau Saul, Professor Lima was the first person who wnet to the capital to publicly denounce the company REPSA for committing ecocide in the river The Passion. In a boat photographers and cameramen took to observe the effects of the spill on the river of the Passion. He made delations to the competent authorities, even before the other organizations support.
The professor was elected 5th Team Councillor of José María Cabnal mayor, from the National Unity of Hope party -UNE. Source: journalists and people from Sayaxche.
___ Suspected workers used as shock troops of the company Front Line Defenders
The September 18, 2015 the human rights defender Prof Rigoberto Choc Lima was killed later the abduction of three human rights defenders, Messrs Hermelindo Asij, Lorenzo Perez and Manuel Mendoza. The three human rights defenders were released later.
Rigoberto Choc Lima was the first person to document the environmental damage that occurred as a result of the activities of the Reforestadora Palma de Petén SA Company-REPSA in the Passion Riber.
[...]
Hermelindo Asij, Lorenzo Perez and Manuel Mendoza are members of the Committee for the Guatemala Defense of Life and Nature and of the Council of Displaced People- CONDEG, and also work in the local support community in the exercise of their economic and social rights. The June 11, 2015, the CONDEG filed a complaint regarding the ecocide.
On the morning of September 18, 2015, a demonstration organized by REPSA workers at 315Km, to protest against a decision taken on September 17, 2015 by Judge Karla Hernandez, who temporarily suspended the activities of the company while research on pollution of the river is performed. About 6 am, while Hermelindo Asij, Lorenzo Perez and Manuel Mendoza passed the Km315 on its way from Coban to Sayaxche, were arrested, forced to get off the car and surrounded by protesting workers. They allowed the human rights defenders briefly contact their families and colleagues, and protesters detained, informing them that were so because of their alleged involvement in the closure of the company. The contact with the three defenders was lost shortly thereafter.
By midmorning, 600 REPSA workers occupied the San Benito Petén Administration of Justice Centre- CAJ, retaining 100 employees, lawyers and clients. Despite of calls for government intervention by the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations Office and several non-governmental organizations, there was no response. At approximately 12:30 pm, Judge Karla Hernandez and assistant Attorney General's office came to the Center to demand the release of detainees in the CAJ. However, they were warned to stay away or they would also be kidnapped. At that time, Rigoberto Choc Lima was shot dead in front of the magistrate of Sayaxché, where he was seeking government intervention along with other human rights defenders.
At 5:30 pm, Hermelindo Asij, Lorenzo Perez and Manuel Mendoza were released, as well as others held illegally in the CAJ. The human rights defenders reported being threatened to be burned alive.
_____________
To know more:
