On April 24, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project published its latest Human Rights Update (January to April 2020).
It notes: “On 9 April, several organizations accompanied by PBI Colombia and other national and international organizations (CEJIL and WOLA), filed a public complaint with President Iván Duque, the Attorney General [regarding several matters including calling] attention to the 26 March assassination plan against Jani Silva.”
“[Jani is the] leader of the Peasant Reserve Zone- Perla Amazónica (ZRCPA) and legal representative of the Association for the Sustainable and Comprehensive Development of the Perla Amazónica (ADISPA), which promotes peace, environmental protection, and voluntary crop substitution plans.”
“Jani Silvia had already received repeated threats and is a beneficiary of precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in addition to receiving support from the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP).”
On March 26, PBI-Colombia had previously tweeted, “@Justiciaypazcol [the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace] has been informed of an assassination plan against female social leader Jani Silva from #Putumayo. We call for protection guarantees for social leaders in the light of the high-risk situations and threats they are facing.”
Then on May 1, Amnesty International Canada noted in their Urgent Action 67/20, “On 17 April, at around 2:30 pm, Jani Silva heard 6 gunshots at less than 30 meters from her residence in Puerto Asís in Putumayo, southwestern Colombia. On 22 April, she again heard three gunshots at less than 50 meters from her residence and noise from the movement of people and a motorcycle around her house.”
AI adds, “She has also denounced the socio-environmental effects of oil operations, including those of Amerisur. Amerisur is a hydrocarbon exploitation company operating mainly in Putumayo basins [whose partners include] Canacol Energy Ltd. (Canada) [and] Pacific Exploration & Production (Frontera Energy, Canada).”
Peace Brigades International, Amnesty International, and other organizations continue to keep a close watch on this situation.
Photo: Javier (PBI), Jani Silva (ZRCPA), Carlos Fernández (J&P) y Sandra Lagos (ZRCPA). Photo by PBI-Colombia.