CoDevelopment Canada’s Statement on Legal Proceedings Against Guatemalan Security Officials Accused of Crimes Against Humanity in the Case of the Military Dossier

As an organization that has supported human rights in Guatemala for more than 35 years, CoDevelopment Canada welcomes the opening of the trial of 12 former members of Guatemalan security forces accused in the kidnapping, torture and forced disappearance of 183 people between September 1983 and March 1985.  These cases are recorded in the “Military Dossier,” a document leaked in 2005, in which Guatemalan security officials meticulously documented the fate of people abducted by military and police.

In 2012, the Guatemalan State was condemned by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights for its role in the terrible crimes committed against the 183 people listed in the military dossier.  We see the opening of the trial against the alleged perpetrators of these crimes as an important step toward breaking the wall of impunity that reigns in Guatemala.

At the same time, we view with concern recent backsliding in the area of human rights and transitional justice in the country, including: dissolution of peace institutions, cooptation of judicial bodies, amnesty initiatives for crimes against humanity, and attacks against prosecutors and human rights defenders.

CoDevelopment urges the Guatemalan State to take all measures necessary to protect Judges, prosecutors, and witnesses involved in this important trial.

We support the work of Prosecutor Hilda Pineda and Prosecutor Erick de León, as well as their teams from the Special Cases Unit of the Internal Armed Conflict of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

We support the family members who are plaintiffs in the process, and we call on the Guatemalan State to guarantee their physical integrity.

We urge the Guatemalan State to provide all necessary protective measures to guarantee the hearings conducted by Judge Miguel Angel Galvez.

We condemn the intimidation, threats and media smear campaigns that have occurred against organizations related to the case since the former military and police officers were detained May 27.

We urge the Guatemalan State to comply with international agreements and take steps to reveal the whereabouts of the 183 persons listed in the Military Dossier who were abducted and disappeared by state actors, and the prompt application of justice,

We express our solidarity with the families, organizations and individuals who fight and have fought for Memory, Truth and Justice in Guatemala.

Greetings to CoDev from our Latin American partners

As 2020 grinds towards its end, we have received many greetings from partners in Latin America to CoDevelopment Canada and our members and Canadian partners. In addition to warm wishes, our partners have shared striking photos and video clips that demonstrate the work they have achieved even under the challenging circumstances of the global pandemic. Achievements made possible, in part, due to the solidarity of our partners and members.

To share these with the wider CoDev family, we have assembled here in a collage of 2020 Greetings from Latin American partners.

Colombia Delegation Learns Innovative Approaches to Peace Education

by Education Program Director, Wendy Santizo

CoDev accompanied a Canadian teacher delegation to visit Colombia and learn from the “Schools as Territories of Peace” project FECODE is implementing across the country. Our visit coincided with the celebration of provincial pedagogical circles encounters, where teachers shared their experiences in bringing peace education to the classroom. Pedagogical circles are made up of teachers, school principals, parents and students to discuss and create alternative pedagogies that will result in promoting peace, dialogue, conflict resolution, historical memory and democratic participation in their communities.

The delegation split up and visited three provincial encounters in Montería, Córdoba; Cúcuta, Norte de Santander and Fusagasugá in Cundinamarca.

Three of the experiences presented that most caught my attention were the “7 Hats”, “The Memory of the River” and “My History”.

The first provides students with a tool they can use to analyze any conflict situation and decide how to react in a constructive way. There are seven different coloured hats, each representing a question or perspective of looking at the conflict. Once the student answers these questions, they are in a better position to talk about it and solve it in a peaceful way.

The second is a long-term school project, it was created to recover the historical memory of the local river. It begins with students researching the history of the river, its names, where it originates, what stories are linked to the river, fiction or real, when did the contamination of the river begin and why. Today the school has created a project to protect the river and plant hundreds of trees.

The third consists of students interviewing their grandparents or elders in the family and neighbourhoods and asking: What was school like before? What was the neighbourhood like? What is the story of their town? These stories and anecdotes are shared in the classroom and collective memories begin to be recovered, as well as stronger ties across generations.

The delegation also had the opportunity to visit several museums and galleries including the photographic exhibition “The Witness” by Jesus Abad Colorado in the National University of Colombia. The exhibition demonstrates how communities and schools have experienced the armed conflict and were affected by multiple armed actors.

Meetings were held with FECODE’s Executive Committee and representatives of the CUT (Colombian labour central) Executive to speak about working conditions in Colombia, the impact on workers of the entry of Colombia into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, as well as analysis around the national strike that was being prepared for November 21st.Among the demands of the strike are: No more tax, wage and labour reforms without consultations; An end to the killings of social and environmental leaders; the right to healthcare for teachers and their families; Strengthening of the national teachers’ social security fund, and; Implementation of agreements previously signed with the national government, that include the implementation of a diploma program for teachers in peace education and declaring schools as Territories of Peace.

The teachers’ unions seek peace with social justice, reconciliation and truth. FECODE prepared a report with detailed cases of teachers, social leaders and unionists who were victims of systematic accusations, persecution, threats, forced disappearances and assassinations to be presented to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) as part of their commitment to the clarification of truth in Colombia.

FECODE’s “Schools as Territories of Peace” project is facilitated by CoDevelopment Canada with support from the BC Teachers’ Federation, the Ontario Secondary Teachers’ Federation, the Centrale des Syndicats du Quebec and the Surrey Teachers’ Association.

CoDev in Solidarity with Colombian Rights Defenders and Social Leaders

Vancouver, Canada, July 26, 2019.

CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev) stands in solidarity with our Colombian partners and the many human rights and social organizations mobilizing today to demand an end to the systematic killing of social leaders and human right defenders and the undermining of the 2016 peace accords.

The number of social leaders assassinated has increased every year since the Peace Accords between the Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). Between January 2016 and May 2019, 681 community leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated , as well as 135 former guerrillas. Hundreds more are under threat or are politically persecuted.

The majority of these crimes take place in territories where indigenous and afro-Colombian communities resist state-supported displacement for mining and oil projects and the expansion of agro-industries, as well as the illegal drug trade. Those killed played important roles defending their communities’ territorial rights, denouncing government corruption, or opposing illegal armed groups and illegal economies. They include community leaders involved in land restitution processes, teachers, trade unionists, representatives of victims and survivors’ groups, and water and forest defenders.

The Final Peace Accords were signed in November 2016, but President Ivan Duque’s administration has resisted their full implementation, attempting to dismantle the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a transitional system to guarantee justice for the victims of mass atrocities and other human rights violations. Under Duque, Colombia has become even more militarized, with the increased use of soldiers to surveil social leaders and communities, and a suspension of the peace process between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN, Colombia’s other guerrilla movement).

CoDev, joins human rights and social movements in Colombia and around the world to call on Colombian authorities to:

• Protect the life and integrity of social leaders and human rights defenders, and investigate and bring to justice those responsible for their killings.

• Respect and fully implement the 2016 Peace Accords, including the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to guarantee the right to Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-repetition.

From Canada, we send our support and our commitment to continue to accompany our Colombian partners in their struggle to defend the human, social and environmental rights of their communities, and to call our own government to denounce the human rights violations in Colombia and support the full implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords.

Colombian Civic Strike Leaders Visit Canada

In 2017, social organizations launched a remarkable three-week civic strike that forced the Colombian government to negotiate solutions to the city’s pressing social and human rights crisis. Residents literally shut down Colombia’s most important trade route. Many, many activists were called upon to organize and participate in this momentous event with remarkable success.

The strike won important concessions from the 3 levels government to improve community infrastructure and the collective rights and safety of the inhabitants. Yet threats against the community leaders continue to grow exponentially as plans to expand and modernize the port continue. While the Colombian government signed peace agreements in the autumn of 2017, violence connected to large landowners and corporate economic interests remain active throughout the country.

CoDev was pleased (along with other organizations listed below), to host a high level delegation of three of those Colombian social leaders as they toured Canada from October 25 to November 9, 2018. These leaders represent the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee in Colombia’s principal Pacific port city. Members of the delegation included:

• Maria Miyela Riascos: spokesperson for the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee. In February 2018, she became one of several strike leaders to receive death threats.
• Victor Hugo Vidal: spokesperson for the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee, former municipal councillor and an organizer of the Black Communities Process (PCN).
• Olga Araujo: human rights defender and popular educator for the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc).

As part of the tour, CoDev sponsored an International Solidarity Committee Conference. This conference brought together many of our union partner IS Committee representatives for a memorable day of sharing and learning about not just the historic civic strike in Colombia, but how activists in Canada can learn from our brothers and sisters in Latin America and from each other. Workshops included such topics as: Creative Ways to Engage Members (union) in International Solidarity, Dealing with Divisive Issues in International Solidarity and Community/Labour Alliances to Protect Public Services.Andrea Duncan, a member of the BC GEU International Solidarity Committee put it best when she said, “Labour’s battles and human rights have absolutely no borders.” This was a sentiment echoed widely throughout the day.For more information about International Solidarity and how CoDev can provide you and/or your organization with learning opportunities, please contact CoDevelopment Canada at: codev@codev,org or call 604.708.1495.To read more about the Buenaventura Strike Committee and its historic work, read: https://bit.ly/2J9SvTw. You can also listen to a radio interview with Maria Miyela Riascos on Radio Canada Internationale here: https://bit.ly/2PobU9w_{(NOTE: The delegation was organized by Co-Development Canada and the Colombia Frontlines Initiative (includes: Public Service Alliance of Canada, Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Canadian Union of Public Employees)}

Message from CoDev's newest partner "Totlahtol Yoltok" in Veracruz, Mexico

In January 2017, a collective of Mexican indigenous educators in Veracruz began a new project supported by CoDev and the BC Teachers Federation, Aimed at strengthening indigenous education in the  Nahuatl speaking communities of the Altas Montañas region. We share with you a message from Lucia Morales,  coordinator of the Totlahtol Yoltok ("Our Living Word") project: