Social activists at risk - Real World Radio

Features / Social activists at risk

In this section Real World Radio aims to expose the murders of social activists and the cases of death threats against leaders. We will report on the wave of criminalization of the social protest. This new section of Real World Radio is also a memorial page for all those who were murdered in their struggle for a socially just world.

This special section is funded in part by the European Commission.

4 October 2013 | News | Social activists at risk

No More Deaths

Colombian Peasant Leader Killed in Cauca Department

Human rights defender and peasant leader Adelina Gomez was murdered on Monday in Almaguer municipality, Cauca department, Colombia. She had received death threats over her resistance to mining activities. Adelina was part of the Macizo Colombiano’s Integration Committee (CIMA). Read more
3 October 2013 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

As in the worst years

Guatemalan Community Leader Kidnapped in Joint Operative by Government and Spanish Corporations

In the morning of Friday 27th September, many helicopters were flying over Santa Cruz Barillas municipality (in Huehuetenango department), Guatemala. Civilians and military arrested Maynor Lopez, a renowned leader of the opposition to hydroelectric project Santa Cruz, owned by Spanish corporation Hidralia SA through its subsidiary Hidro Santa Cruz. Read more
22 September 2013 | News | Social activists at risk

Another Social Activist Murdered in Colombia

Member of the Movement Rios Vivos killed in Colombia: Interview with one of his colleagues

Nelson Giraldo Posada, a 31 year-old Colombian of Ituango, in Antioquia department, was the leader of the Movement Rios Vivos. He was in charge of a group of nearly 50 people affected by Hidroituango hydroelectric project, who are taking refuge in the Coliseum of the University of Antioquia, in Medellin. Read more
17 September 2013 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

No step back

Colombian Community Organizations Reject Government’s “Agrarian Pact” as Meaningless

The National Agrarian, Peasant and Popular Summit was held last Thursday in Bogota, Colombia, 25 days into the national agrarian strike and after hundreds of demonstrations all over the country. The summit assessed the repercussions of the strike and called a new meeting next month. Read more
4 September 2013 | News | National Meeting of the Movement of People Affected by Dams | Social activists at risk

Challenge Equals Struggle

People Affected by Dams Aim to Strengthen Continental Coordination and Announce Intensification of Struggle in Brazil

The member of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) Joceli Andrioli made an overview of the current situation of the movement during the MAB’s national meeting that is taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Nearly 3,000 Brazilian delegates are participating in the meeting Read more
30 August 2013 | Testimonies | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

The Face of Horror

Guatemala: Two Kids Murdered by Hitman Hired by Hydroelectric Company

David Eduardo Pacay Maas and Hageo Isaac Guitz, two Maya q’eqchies children of 11 and 13 years old of Monte Olivo community, in Alta Verapaz department died by bullet injuries caused by a hitman “hired” by the company Hidro Santa Rita SA in an attempt to kill one of the community leaders of the resistance to the project, David Chen. Read more
25 August 2013 | Testimonies | Social activists at risk

Living Proof

Mexican Community Resists Canadian Mining Inspired by Example of Late Community Leader

Mariano Abarca Roblero was a community leader murdered four years ago in a series of violent acts committed against his family, which has become a symbol of the community resistance to Canadian gold extraction corporation Blackfire. Read more
22 August 2013 | News | Social activists at risk

Complicity naked

The Terrible Impacts of Canadian Mining in Mexico and the Canadian Embassy’s Complicity

Mariano Abarca, a resident of Chicomuselo, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, was murdered in December of 2009 after leading his community’s resistance to Canadian mining corporation Blackfire. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, his family and dozens of Mexican organizations and networks that resist mining organized a panel in his honor at the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, and demonstrated outside the Canadian embassy in Mexico. Read more
14 August 2013 | Interviews | Social activists at risk

The Legacy of Murdered Activist Noe Vazquez

On August 2 Mexican activist Noe Vazquez was murdered shortly before the beginning of the 10th Meeting of the Mexican Movement of People Affected by Dams and for Rivers (MAPDER) in Amatlan, Mexico.

He was 30 years old and he was to open the event, that ended two days later. “We believe we were watched days before the event by some strangers. We don’t know why, but in the meetings we attended we found that strangers would come and we found that unusual. We did not think that something would happen, but it did”, leader Gabriela Sainz of Colectivo Defensa Verde Naturaleza para Siempre told Real World Radio’s correspondent in Mexico, Monica Montalvo. She added: “We still can’t believe what happened”. Read more
9 August 2013 | Interviews | Free Honduras | Land grabbing | Social activists at risk

Kidnapping in Honduras

Urgent Action to Stop Harassment and Threats Against Nueva Esperanza Communities

Two human rights activists, Orlane Vidal from France and Daniel Langmeier from Switzerland, were kidnapped by gunmen in Nueva Esperanza, Honduras. Both international observers working for the Honduras Accompaniment Project (PROAH) were kidnapped for two and a half hours by men with fire arms and machetes. Read more