MEXICO CITY.– Diana Gabriela Aranguren could not believe what the news was saying.
He says he looked at the television screen, over and over again, trying to understand how it was possible that his friend had been murdered.
"I had just made a post on Facebook at 6:00 in the afternoon to participate in an activity and then the news of the tragedy began," explains Aranguren, a teacher and environmental activist, about the murder of
Oscar Eyraud Adams, a Mexican indigenous leader. who was executed on September 24, 2020
in Tecate, Baja California.
Eyraud Adams fought for the right to water for the Kumiai, his indigenous people who have been greatly affected by the excessive exploitation of the region's aquifers by large beer and wine companies.
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His text on social networks, which were the last words he wrote in life, was a call for an event called "Looking for rain in the desert."
A group of armed men entered his residence and shot him dead, the only thing they took was his cell phone and a notebook with his notes.
At least 13 bullet casings, of different calibers, were found by authorities at the crime scene.
“You
never think that defending our right to water and life will lead to death.
In Mexico, the people who defend their territory and natural resources are being killed, they disappear and criminalize us, ”Aranguren warns in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.
The case of Eyraud Adams, and many others, are analyzed in
Last Line of Defense.
The industries that caused the climate crisis and attacks against defenders of the land and the environment
, the latest report from Global Witness, an environmental rights organization that warns of the increase in attacks against activists.
Oscar Eyraud Adams, a Mexican activist and indigenous leader who was executed on September 24, 2020 in Tecate, Baja California.
["He hadn't hit like he did this time": Grace leaves at least 8 dead and houses destroyed in Mexico]
In 2020, there were 227 lethal attacks, which is an increase in the historical figures because, so far, 2019 was the deadliest year with 212 murders.
However, the most chilling data arises in
Latin America where 165 deaths occurred, that is, three-quarters of the attacks.
Global Witness researchers warn that almost three out of four attacks occurred in the region and in the list of the ten countries with the highest number of attacks, seven are in Latin America.
Colombia, with 65 deaths, and Mexico, with 30, lead the world ranking of murders of land and environmental defenders.
Other countries with worrying figures are Brazil and Honduras, with 20 and 17 murders, respectively.
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The document establishes that at least 30% of the attacks are related to the exploitation of resources in activities such as logging, the construction of hydroelectric dams, mining projects and large-scale agribusiness.
“The people who are killed every year for defending their local populations were also defending the planet we share.
In particular, our climate.
Activities that flood our atmosphere with carbon, such as fossil fuel extraction and deforestation, are at the center of many of these murders, ”writes activist Bill McKibben, in the foreword to the report.
The logging and deforestation industry is linked to the highest number of murders in 2020, with 23 cases
recorded in countries such as Brazil, Nicaragua, Peru and the Philippines.
Global Witness claims that its data does not reflect "the true dimension of the problem" because restrictions on press freedom and coercive tactics such as death threats, illegal surveillance, intimidation, sexual violence and criminalization can contribute to underreporting of assaults.
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Colombia and Mexico, the lethal vanguard
According to the organization, since the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015, an average of four environmental defenders have been killed each week.
In addition, the researchers assure that the governments of several countries used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to implement repressive methods against their populations. According to the report, that form of social control that was established in the quarantine closures was "
an opportunity to take drastic measures against civil society
while companies advanced with destructive projects."
For the second consecutive year,
Colombia registered the highest number of defenders killed, totaling 65 executions.
The attacks occurred in "the context of generalized attacks against human rights defenders and community leaders (...) In many of the most remote areas, paramilitary and criminal groups increased their control through the exercise of violence," he says. Global Witness.
The Kumiai territory in Juntas de Nejí, Baja California.Felipe Luna / Global Witness
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Almost half of the homicides registered in the country were perpetrated against people who were engaged in small-scale agriculture and a third of the activists were indigenous or Afro-descendant people.
"Contrary to what was thought, that quarantines could help protect them, they were located more easily and that is why
many of the homicides were perpetrated in their homes or in their surroundings,
" says Lourdes Castro, coordinator of the Somos Defensores program. in an interview with Mongabay Latam.
Castro affirms that last year the authorities' response decreased because they were also complying with the sanitary restrictions of the pandemic and "paradoxically, the violent people had the possibility to walk freely through the territories."
Another worrying case is the situation of Mexican activists.
Global Witness registered 30 lethal attacks in Mexico, which represents an increase of 67%
compared to 2019 when 18 deaths were counted.
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"Forest exploitation was linked to almost a third of these attacks and half of all attacks in the country were directed against indigenous communities," the researchers assert, recalling that impunity for crimes against defenders is "surprisingly high" because According to statistics,
almost 95% of the murders committed in the country do not generate a legal process.
"2020 was very complex for environmental defenders of the land and territory, in fact, we see that it was the most violent year of this Administration because there were more attacks," says Gabriela Carreón, human rights manager of the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda), in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.
As of July of this year, Cemda has registered 14 murders against environmental activists
and in a report published in April pointed out that in the country "structural and generalized violence prevails against those who defend the natural heritage, land and territory."
That same month, the Mexican Ministry of the Interior acknowledged that at least 68 human rights defenders and 43 journalists have been assassinated so far in the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
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Hell of Baja California
Heat kills in Baja California.
In 2019, at least eight deaths were recorded in Mexicali associated with high temperatures;
in 2020 they were 83.
“
There are days when we have 50 degrees Celsius temperature.
Living in these conditions is incredibly difficult and the worst thing is that not all of us have access to water, ”explains Aranguren, who is part of Mexicali Resiste, an environmental rights organization.
From October 1, 2020 to April 18, 2021 (during the dry season), the country experienced around 20% less rainfall than average, and several areas in the east, west and southeast reached temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 centigrade).
Due to low supply, many residents have been left without running water in various regions of the country.
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“
In the last 70 years, the temperature in Mexico has a clear and conclusive trend of increase
.
In the last decade it has increased very quickly and that rise is even higher than the average for the planet ", explains Jorge Zavala Hidalgo, general coordinator of the National Meteorological Service.
Activists like Oscar Eyraud Adams experienced firsthand the consequences of climate change in that region.
“Big companies have access to water much easier.
This is not fair
because we need water to survive
”, used to say Eyraud Adams, who was a promoter of solutions to guarantee the preservation of the water resources of the Kumiai, his indigenous people, and avoid the exodus of young people.
José Enrique Cuero Botello, a relative of Oscar Heyraud, in Juntas de Nejí. Felipe Luna / Global Witness
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In 2017, he opposed the installation of the Constellation Brands brewery, which, according to various estimates, would consume about 5.8 million cubic meters of water per year.
“He helped us make what is happening in Baja California visible, but he paid for it with his life.
It is sad because these murders take away the security of the future of the children
who come, ”said Aranguren, who affirms that since the attack on Eyraud Adams, activists in the region have lived in fear.
“We feel great fear because we have to keep fighting.
There are still megaprojects in this area that take away our water.
But if we don't protest, no one will come to help us, ”he concludes.