Threats against environmental rights defenders from Movimiento Ríos Vivos
Since January 2014 environmental human rights defenders from Movimiento Rios Vivos – MRV (Living Rivers Movement) have been facing death threats, surveillance, break-ins, smear campaigns and harassment. In 2013, two members of Movimiento Rios Vivos were murdered.
Movimiento Rios Vivos is a movement in the defense of the territories and communities affected by dam constructions and mining projects in Colombia. The movement is constituted by active organisations in four different locations: In Antioquia Department, Rios Vivos denounces the negative impacts suffered by communities with the construction of the Hidroituango hydroelectric; In Santander Department, the Movimiento Social Río Sogamoso integrates the organisation and the community leaders who live in the territory of Sogamoso River; In Huila Department, the Asoquimbo organisation fights against the impacts of the construction of the Quimbo dam. Lastly, Rios Vivos is also active in the Caldas Department.
Since January 2014 environmental human rights defenders from Movimiento Rios Vivos – MRV (Living Rivers Movement) have been facing death threats, surveillance, break-ins, smear campaigns and harassment. In 2013, two members of Movimiento Rios Vivos were murdered.
Movimiento Rios Vivos is a movement in the defense of the territories and communities affected by dam constructions and mining projects in Colombia. The movement is constituted by active organisations in four different locations: In Antioquia Department, Rios Vivos denounces the negative impacts suffered by communities with the construction of the Hidroituango hydroelectric; In Santander Department, the Movimiento Social Río Sogamoso integrates the organisation and the community leaders who live in the territory of Sogamoso River; In Huila Department, the Asoquimbo organisation fights against the impacts of the construction of the Quimbo dam. Lastly, Rios Vivos is also active in the Caldas Department.
On both July 22 and 13 2014, environmental human rights defender and spokesperson of MRV, Isabel Cristina Zuleta, received messages on her social media account accusing her of being a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) by an account reportedly identified as being part the National Army. The previous month on June 20, Isabel Cristina Zuleta's house was broken into and a hard disk with information from MRV was stolen. Since her participation in the social protests in 2012 and 2013 against the construction of the Hidroituango dam, the environmental right defender has been a victim of surveillance, interventions in her communications, death threats and criminalisation.
On July 6 2014, the company FOCUS along with Empresas Publicas de Medellin surveyed citizens in Ituango, Antioquia Department, regarding the current members of Movimiento Rios Vivos and enquired about the qualifications of their work. Rios Vivos had not given permission for the survey and viewed such actions as surveillance tactics, which could also put their members at risk. On 2 July in the Nueva Llanada community, the teenage daughter of Ms Asened Higuita Higuita, a leader of MRV, was followed by an unknown man in black clothes with his face covered when she was returning to her house. Members of the National Army have also questioned Asened Higuita Higuita and her daughter about her human rights work.
On June 27, 2014, human rights defender José Orlando Gonzalez Herrón from Movimiento Rios Vivos Antioquia, received a death threat at his work place. On January 2, 2014 two unknown men threatened Jose Orlando González Herrón, exhorting him to “abandon the village or we will find you in your house or in the mines”. José Orlando González Herrón is a leader in the municipality of Briceño, where the Hidroituango Dam is currently being constructed.
In 2013, on September 17, Nelson Giraldo Posada, environmental rights defender from MRV was found dead with bullets in his chest and legs by the banks of the Cauca River in the municipality of Ituango, Antioquia Department. Later that year, on November 30 2013, Robinson David Mazo, also a member of MRV, was shot at and killed with 7 bullets in the municipality of Toledo, northern Antioquia Department.
The surveillances, smear campaigns, break ins, death threats and killings of human rights defenders from Movimiento Rios Vivos are believed to be part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation and harassment against environmental rights defenders in Colombia. Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned with the safety of Isabel Cristina Zuleta and members of Movimiento Rios Vivos and believes they have been targeted due to their legitimate work in the defence of environmental rights.
