We must honour lost land defenders by fighting the system which killed them
As the Guardian and Global Witness revealed that almost four environmental defenders were murdered every week in 2017, War on Want learned of two more killings through our Latin American partner organisations.
On 24 January, Márcio “Marcinho” Matos, involved in the fight for rights of landless peasants in Bahia in north-east Brazil, was shot in front of his son. Three days later, TemÃstocles “don Temis” Machado, a prominent figure in the struggle of Afro-Colombian communities across the Colombian Pacific, was murdered in his home in the Isla de Paz community.
Machado, of the Black Communities’ Process (PCN) and Matos of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) were tireless land defenders
These killings are designed to silence and break the frontlines of the struggles against corporate power, catastrophic climate change and the unlimited extraction of the world’s natural resources. The violent tactics aim to bypass local communities whose lives and livelihoods stand in the way of corporations looking to profit from exporting primary materials for global markets, whatever the human and environmental cost.
In Colombia, despite the historic peace agreement between the state and the leftwing Farc guerrillas, the social and armed conflict is intensifying. Machado lived in Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast, a predominantly Afro-Colombian region with diverse ecosystems and rural and urban territories intersect.
Buenaventura is also home to the country’s largest port, through which about 75% of imports and exports pass, generating huge corporate profits and much of the country’s tax revenue. However, the wealth that passes through the city makes for an uncomfortable contrast with the city’s appalling social realities. It has become known as a place where free trade presides over mass murder.
On 24 January, Márcio “Marcinho” Matos, involved in the fight for rights of landless peasants in Bahia in north-east Brazil, was shot in front of his son. Three days later, TemÃstocles “don Temis” Machado, a prominent figure in the struggle of Afro-Colombian communities across the Colombian Pacific, was murdered in his home in the Isla de Paz community.
Machado, of the Black Communities’ Process (PCN) and Matos of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) were tireless land defenders
These killings are designed to silence and break the frontlines of the struggles against corporate power, catastrophic climate change and the unlimited extraction of the world’s natural resources. The violent tactics aim to bypass local communities whose lives and livelihoods stand in the way of corporations looking to profit from exporting primary materials for global markets, whatever the human and environmental cost.
In Colombia, despite the historic peace agreement between the state and the leftwing Farc guerrillas, the social and armed conflict is intensifying. Machado lived in Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast, a predominantly Afro-Colombian region with diverse ecosystems and rural and urban territories intersect.
Buenaventura is also home to the country’s largest port, through which about 75% of imports and exports pass, generating huge corporate profits and much of the country’s tax revenue. However, the wealth that passes through the city makes for an uncomfortable contrast with the city’s appalling social realities. It has become known as a place where free trade presides over mass murder.
Source:
theguardian
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