Many indigenous and traditional farming (or campesino) communities are struggling to protect the land on which their livelihoods depend. Often living in conditions of extreme poverty, they rely on their land for food, shelter, and cultural identity. In some cases, pollution from mining threatens to seep into the land and water. In others, communities have been forced from their land for development projects or monoculture plantations, condemning them to internal displacement and landlessness. Others campaign for sustainable land use, seeking to halt patterns of destruction for the benefit of future generations.
Defenders of land rights, culture, and natural resources can find themselves facing powerful interests and brutal opposition. Some have approached PBI for protection after they have been attacked or their colleagues assassinated. Many others have been subjected to criminal prosecutions based on spurious charges.
Published by Brent Patterson on May 15, 2025
PBI-Honduras has posted:
“OUR COMRADE JUAN LOPEZ HAS BEEN MURDERED. Our great friend, colleague and coordinator was murdered as he was leaving the church by men on motorcycles just days after he asked for the resignation of the mayor of Libre Adan Funez for his links with drug traffickers. Our hearts are broken. Our deepest condolences go out to Juan Lopez’s wife and daughters, and to all those who have been hurt in this fight for dignity. We will not rest until there is justice for Juan and our martyrs.”
Photo: PBI-Mexico accompanies the Peoples’ Front in Defense of Land and Water at the first Assembly of Cholultec Peoples convened by the Union of Peoples and Subdivisions against the Sanitary Landfill and in Defense of Life to reaffirm their rights to self-determination and autonomy; May 14, 2024.
PBI-Honduras has posted:
“From PBI Honduras, we send our deepest condolences to the @CntcTegucigalpa [National Union of Rural Workers] and to the family of campesino leader and land defender Olman García, who was murdered on August 4 in Ceibita Way (Esparta, Atlántida).”
The Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque has posted on Facebook:
“Today, August 9, we celebrate the international day of indigenous peoples from our Mayan Ch’orti’ territory in the sacred place 11 aj y cruz de la ermita, in the indigenous community of Quezaltepeque.
CREDHOS has posted on Facebook:
Photo of Lucía Ixchíu from Latin America Bureau by Eliana Lafone.
Lucía Ixchíu describes herself as: “K’iche, tree of the Forest, anti-patriarchal, cultural manager, journalist and Indigenous storyteller, architect (Mayan in exile).”
Photo: The CCR observes water being taken from a river for a water-intensive sugar plantation; May 3, 2023.
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanied the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) at the recent meeting of the Roundtable for Human Rights in the face of corporate power (la Mesa por los DDHH frente al poder empresarial) and the United Nations Business and Human Rights Working Group.