GUATEMALA: SHOOTING BY MASKED ASSASSINS OF YURI MELINI, A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST / LAWYER
On Thursday, September 4, Yuri Melini, Director of CALAS (Center of Legal Action in Environment and Social issues) was shot four times.
“In June 2008, CALAS won a legal process in the Constitutional Court of Guatemala to change and censure the law of mining. This attack could be seen as retribution and warning from the powerful sectors of the Mining Interest groups.”
BELOW: three short articles / urgent actions about the shooting of Yuri Melini.
REPRESSION & IMPUNITY ARE THE NORM: This repression is normal in Guatemala, against people who work in defense of the environment, human rights, community controlled development.
This repression and impunity give lie to the constant claims of the global mining industry, of the World Bank (that invests in mining), and the governments of Guatemala, Canada and the USA, that they are abiding by the democratic will of the people of Guatemala, that they are abiding by the rule of law in Guatemala.
We mention the issue of mining here, as Yuri was very involved, as you will read below, in mining related struggles and legal action in Guatemala.
WHAT TO DO: see below. To get on/ off Rights Action's email list: http://www.rightsaction.org/lists/?p=subscribe&id=3
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ATTACK ON ENVIRONMENTALIST - YURI MELINI
(Friday, September 5, 2008, by Barbara Schieber, Guatemala Times)
Yesterday, Yuri Melini, environmental activist and Director of Center of Legal Action in Environment and Social issues (CALAS) was attacked by unknown gunmen and seriously wounded by gunshots. A Press release of the Government of Guatemala emphatically stated that they reject and condemn all acts of intimidation towards environmentalists.
Yuri Melini, 46 years old, was shot and severely injured by unknown attackers. Over 20 environmental organizations and human rights organizations expressed their rejection and outrage about the attack. They demand that the Government adopts the necessary measures to protect and safeguard the lives of Human Rights activists and enviromentalists.
In June 2008, CALAS had won a long legal process of 4 years in the Constitutional Court of Guatemala to change and censure the law of mining. This attack could be seen as retribution and warning from the powerful sectors of the Mining Interest groups.
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ENVIRONMENTALIST YURI MELINI, DIRECTOR OF CALAS, ATTACKED FOR HIS ACTIVISM
(By Mariela Castanon (lahora@lahora.com.gt), LaHora newspaper, September 5, 2008. Translated for Rights Action by Rosalind Gill, RGill@glendon.yorku.ca)
At 7.30 this morning, Yuri Melini, Director of CALAS (Center of Legal Action in Environment and Social issues) was wounded by gunshots outside his house. However, his condition is stable. According to the Municipal Fire Department, Melini was shot four times, twice in the leg and twice in the stomach, as he was leaving his home on 12 St. and 9a.Avenue in Zone 7, Quinta Samayoa. He was taken to a medical clinic in Zone 10.
Guilleremo Melini, brother of the victim, said that the family had not received any recent threats, but he noted that attacks on the Director of CALAS were not unknown. In the past, the Director had been the subject of intimidation because of his work to protect the environment and the public denouncements he had made regarding impunity of offenders.
The Ministry of the Environment, Luis Ferraté went to the hospital where Melini was being treated and ensured that security was placed outside the hospital, as well as outside of Melini’s room. Ferraté said he was concerned about the attack on the Director of CALAS: “He is a friend of mine, I am very angry about this. Why does this always happen to the good people?”
The Environmental Parliament, with whom Melini was scheduled to meet today to discuss environmental issues, also said that they were concerned and angry about this physical attack on Melini, as well as other attacks on environmentalists.
To date, there have been 50 recorded cases of attacks on environmentalists, none of which have been resolved. Areas that have seen the highest incidence of violence of this kind are Izabal, Petén, the western region and the south coast.
The Environmental Parliament also pointed out that the attack on the Director of CALAS could be linked to investigations of environmental impact on workers, such as mining workers, announcements made by FONPETROL and illegal activities in the Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre in Petén, amongst other things.
“We are very concerned about this situation and we strongly condemn what has happened. All of us who work to protect the Environment in Guatemala should make it clear that we are working for this country”, said Gerardo Paiz, Executive Undersecretary of the Consejo Nacional de Personas. (CONAP)
Elmer Velásquez, Executive Director of the Coordinacion de ONG”s y Cooperativas (CONGECOP) also expressed his concern about what happened, adding that this represents an attack on the fundamental rights of Yuri Melini.
A few weeks ago, this newspaper denounced violence against those protecting the environment. At that time, Melini condemned such attacks and requested more security for those working to protect the environmentalist. Today, environmentalists are asking state authorities to protect them and their families.
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Amnesty International Index: AMR 34/021/2008
8 September 2008
GUATEMALA
Yuri Melini has been shot by masked men, apparently in connection with his work as Director of the Centre for Environmental, Social and Legal Action. Amnesty International believes he, his family and colleagues are in grave danger.
On 4 September at approximately 7:30 am Yuri Melini left his car and walked towards a house of a relative. A man standing near to him called his name and when he caught his attention fired at him four times. One bullet missed but three other hit him in the stomach, right knee and left leg.
CALAS has recently been involved in a number of high profile environmental issues, including legally challenging the law that permits opencast mining for gold and other metals, campaigning against contamination of water sources and occupation of land in nature reserves. The attack against Yuri Melini is believed to be linked to his role in CALAS and the work of the organization.
Other human rights defenders working on environmental concerns and focussing on similar issues to CALAS have also been threatened.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Guatemalan environmental activists have in the past been subject to attacks in order to stop them from carrying out their legitimate activities. They work to protect the environment and the human rights of indigenous and peasant communities whose livelihoods depend upon the environment.
On 10 January 2007, Carlos Albacete Rosales and Piedad Espinosa Albacete of the environmental organization Trópico Verde were shot at while they were in a taxi. They managed to escape unscathed.
In January and February 2007, Flaviano Bianchini of the environmental organization MadreSelva Collective (Colectivo MadreSelva) was threatened with death and followed on several occasions (see Persecution and Resistance: The experience of human rights defenders in Guatemala and Honduras, AMR 02/001/2007, 08 August 2007).
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WHAT TO DO?
1- We recommend that North Americans not write Guatemalan government officials. Impunity and repression are the norm in Guatemala, as they long have been.
Rather, we ask that North Americans write to their own politicians and media in the USA and Canada. Ask: ?Why are our governments, investors and corporations promoting “free” trade agreements and pressuring Guatemala to open its resources to our investors and mining companies (like Goldcorp Inc.), amongst other “development” projects (like hydro-electric dams), when it is well known that repression and impunity are the norm in Guatemala against people who work to defend human rights, the environment and community development, and to hold global companies accountable for their actions?
By hiding behind the facade of "democracy" and the "rule of law", North American governments, companies and investors contribute to and benefit from the impunity and repression.
2- Make TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS for community-based organizations that are implementing their own community development projects (schools and scholarships, health clinics, solidarity economy productive projects, etc), human rights and environment projects in Guatemala and Honduras (as well as El Salvador and Chiapas), and resisting the harms caused by large-scaled “development” projects (like mining and dams), make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to:
UNITED STATES: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887;
CANADA: 552-351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8.
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS: http://www.rightsaction.org/Templates/donations_index.html
3- EDUCATIONAL DELEGATION-SEMINARS: Form your own group and come on an educational seminar trip to learn more about community and Indigenous development, human rights and environmental issues in Guatemala and Honduras.
2nd HEMISPHERIC GATHERING AGAINST MILITARIZATION – HONDURAS, OCTOBER 3-5: !Para callar las armas, hablemos los pueblos! (To quiet weapons, the people must speak!) For more information or to attend this gathering in La Esperanza, Intibucá, Honduras: (504) 783-0817; copinhonduras@yahoo.es; antimilitarizacion@gmail.com; www.antimilitarizacion.blogspot.com.
3rd SOCIAL FORUM OF THE AMERICAS – GUATEMALA, OCTOBER 7-12: Thousands of people from across the Americas are expected at this gathering to debate and discuss (and enjoy awesome music, art and theater) how Another World Is Possible … And Necessary. For information or to go: http://www.fsaguatemala.org/.
5th “SOLIDARITY ECONOMY” FORUM / FAIR – GUATEMALA, NOVEMBER 27-30: Come learn about “Solidarity Economy”, a challenge and alternative to the dominant “free trade” development model, and participate in the 5th Annual “Solidarity Economy Forum/Fair” to be held in Chimaltenango. For information or to go: escriba en espanol a: redraisgt@gmail.com.
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READ: Eduardo Galeano’s “Open Veins of Latin America”; Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”; Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine”; Paolo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”.
SMILE: And live to make another world is possible, everyday.
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RIGHTS ACTION -- Based in Guatemala, Rights Action (with tax-deductible legal status in Canada and USA) funds and works with community-based Indigenous, development, environment and human rights organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in El Salvador, Oaxaca and Chiapas; and educates about and is involved in activism related to global development, environmental and Indigenous and human rights struggles. info@rightsaction.org / www.rightsaction.org
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