Speaker 1: Videlino Morales is in her fifties. She's soft spoken and welcoming.
Speaker 1: She is the last person you'd expect would need to
Speaker 1: say the words we are not terrorists. Bavidelina is a
Speaker 1: president of the Association Royo Economical Associate or adis a
Speaker 1: community based organization in Salor that carries out educational, environmental
Speaker 1: and cultural projects. The group became nationally famous for sunning
Speaker 1: the alarm over mining projects that threatened reverse. In twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: the years of organizing helped secure a huge win. The
Speaker 1: government of Asaur became the first country in the world
Speaker 1: to ban mining. Today, Naibukeli, a man who likes to
Speaker 1: call himself the coolest dictator in the world, wants to
Speaker 1: reverse that ban, but first he needs to discredit the
Speaker 1: activists who fought for it, and he's gone about it
Speaker 1: in a strange way, accusing five leaders an adis of
Speaker 1: a decade's old murder. Over the past year, Videlina has
Speaker 1: been fighting on their behalf, touring radio stations and TV
Speaker 1: channels to explain that these accusations are part of a
Speaker 1: smear campaign meant to weaken the environmental movement.
Speaker 2: A stay.
Speaker 3: Organization all along We have fought this fight as communities,
Speaker 3: as organizations that believe in our efforts, that believe in
Speaker 3: the innocence of our comrades, and that know that first
Speaker 3: of all God and then this Salvadoran justice system will
Speaker 3: set them free. Because this case is manufactured. You can
Speaker 3: see it is a case with so many irregularities.
Speaker 1: The charges go back to ol Salvador's bloody civil war,
Speaker 1: when violence toured through the country and experienced. Videlina remembers well.
Speaker 1: She was born and raised on the border between Hoduras
Speaker 1: and Salor. In nineteen eighty, war broke out in between
Speaker 1: the US back to military dictatorship and the Frente Ferround
Speaker 1: Marti Praira the fm elen, a Marxist gorilla group. To
Speaker 1: crush the insurgency, the army launched a terror campaign in
Speaker 1: the north of the country where the guerrilla forces had
Speaker 1: their camps. Civilians were considered gorilla collaborators and became targets
Speaker 1: for the army and paramilitary groups. A series of massacres
Speaker 1: occurred in the Caabayas region, killing hundreds of unarmed men,
Speaker 1: women and children. Several thousand survivors crossed the Lampa River
Speaker 1: and took refuge in Honduras yegarum Los.
Speaker 3: I witnessed refugees arriving at Los Hernandez naked because they
Speaker 3: were fleeing.
Speaker 1: With Allina was fourteen when she saw the refugees crossing
Speaker 1: the river Cerca and ferente la casa mi padres installarum
Speaker 1: campamento parasanar.
Speaker 3: Near my parents' house. They set up a camp to
Speaker 3: treat the wounded. So I also saw how many people
Speaker 3: arrived wounded. Some had gotten lost in the mountains because
Speaker 3: from the Rio Olympa to Los Rnandez it's not an
Speaker 3: hour's walk, and people got lost. The Anduran army also
Speaker 3: participated in the massacre. The Limpa River massacre was supported
Speaker 3: by both the Duran and Salvadoran armies.
Speaker 1: As part of a local Catholic group, she helped assist
Speaker 1: the refugees as they settled in a camp called.
Speaker 3: One of the things I did was run errands. They
Speaker 3: would send us to the town to buy food, bread,
Speaker 3: any kind of food we could get for the people there,
Speaker 3: and I helped.
Speaker 1: That's how she got in contact with one of the
Speaker 1: insurgency groups that had a strong presence in the camp.
Speaker 3: This is how my awareness began to grow. During those
Speaker 3: years eighty one to eighty eight, I went from being
Speaker 3: a young girl to my life taking a turn. Got
Speaker 3: together with the father of my children. He was a
Speaker 3: friend and he was part of the Gorilla Army. I
Speaker 3: was eighteen when I got together with.
Speaker 4: In a c.
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty seven, groups of refugees started moving back
Speaker 1: to as. Many of them resettled in Santa Marta, one
Speaker 1: of the communities that had abandoned when they fled to Honduras.
Speaker 1: Although the military scorched earth campaigns were mostly over by then,
Speaker 1: the war was still raging and the refugees still feared
Speaker 1: the army's operations. It made people paranoid about infiltrators and spies.
Speaker 1: That's when a murder took place in Santa Marta. The
Speaker 1: rumor spread that a woman named Maria inz Obarenga was
Speaker 1: an army informant. One night, goerrilla fighters dragged her out
Speaker 1: of her house in front of her children and took
Speaker 1: her to an unknown place where she was shot and buried.
Speaker 1: Her body was never found. Three decades later, that murder
Speaker 1: would be used by prosecutors to target anti mining activists
Speaker 1: and the organization Videlia represents. As land defenders around the
Speaker 1: world know very well, an unsolved criminal case can easily
Speaker 1: become a tool for repressive government to attack its opponents
Speaker 1: and destroy their reputations. When the state watched a crusher movement,
Speaker 1: it can make any accusation stick. That's our story today.
Speaker 1: After this quick break, Ami Senia Funez and this is
Speaker 1: drilled with Elna wasn't in Santa Marta when Maria Averrenga
Speaker 1: was murdered. She didn't move there until nineteen ninety six,
Speaker 1: but she still lives there today. Santa Marta is in
Speaker 1: the northern department of Gavagnas, about four hours from the
Speaker 1: capital Sanslo. It's a town made of scattered houses in
Speaker 1: a deep valley along dirt roads that cars can barely
Speaker 1: get down in the raining season. At the center of
Speaker 1: the community, there's a small church, a soccer field, a
Speaker 1: basketball court, and a tiny pizza joint. On the hills
Speaker 1: surrounding Santa Marta, small farmers grow corn, beans, cassava, and vegetables,
Speaker 1: and the community keeps a conservation area covered by a
Speaker 1: thick forest. During her first years there, Viderino was a
Speaker 1: stay at home mom, taking care of her five children,
Speaker 1: but as they grew older, she got restless. She felt
Speaker 1: she wasn't doing anything for her community. That's when she
Speaker 1: got in contact with Antonio Pacheco, also known as Chico,
Speaker 1: the director of ADDIS.
Speaker 4: Siko Yoaki San, I.
Speaker 3: Feel like I'm doing nothing here. Is there a possibility
Speaker 3: you didn't involve me in any action?
Speaker 1: Antonio Pacheco had been an area commander of the Gorilla forces.
Speaker 1: He wasn't from Santa Marta, but he decided to stay
Speaker 1: there at the end of the war when the insurgents
Speaker 1: handed over their weapons. He created ADIS because the community
Speaker 1: was getting almost no support from the state. The organization
Speaker 1: provide education for the children, built the town's water supply network,
Speaker 1: and ran agriculture programs. It also launched a community radio
Speaker 1: station called Radio Victoria. Over the years, Alas got larger
Speaker 1: and started operating in other parts of the country too.
Speaker 1: The organization moved its offices closer to Sin Sun Depeke,
Speaker 1: the largest city in Gangs. Antonio Pacheco came to talk
Speaker 1: to with Elina.
Speaker 3: He said, there's a problem here that is really worrying me.
Speaker 4: And we have to tackle that.
Speaker 1: A Canadian company called Pacific grim was prospecting for gold
Speaker 1: in the region. He asked her to investigate was it
Speaker 1: true that mining was a once in a lifetime opportunity
Speaker 1: to bring prosperity to Kwangas or was it a threat
Speaker 1: to the water resources and the environment as some people
Speaker 1: were saying.
Speaker 3: Okay, I don't know anything about mining.
Speaker 1: Viderina wasn't sure she had the background to address the issue,
Speaker 1: but she started learning about mining in the early two thousands.
Speaker 1: Are like a lot of other Central American countries, looking
Speaker 1: to attract multi national mining companies, set new laws that
Speaker 1: made it attractive to investors. They promised little environmental oversight,
Speaker 1: cheap labor, and big tax breaks. Companies could pay royalties
Speaker 1: as low as one or two percent gold, silver, and
Speaker 1: nico companies, most of them Canadian, rushed in in two thousand.
Speaker 1: The San Martin mines are operating on Duras and in
Speaker 1: two thousand and five the Marlin mine opened in Guatemala.
Speaker 1: Here's a promotional video the Canadian mining company Gold Corps
Speaker 1: made about how great it is to mine and Guatemala.
Speaker 5: Mister x tensumed territorial Meinos de luno forcino toorio nacional.
Speaker 6: Vasodi Murvasa.
Speaker 1: In Nicaraiwa. The autocratic government of Daniel Rodega became a
Speaker 1: major asset for transnational mining companies. Even the environmentally frontly
Speaker 1: Costa Rica was eager to dig into its mountains before
Speaker 1: backtracking and declaring a ban on open pit mining in
Speaker 1: twenty ten. Esalor was no exception. Pacific Grim purchased land
Speaker 1: and drilled for samples. They decided to start their gold
Speaker 1: operation on a thirteen square kilometers site in Sane Sidro.
Speaker 1: The mayor and regional politicians were vocal supporters of the mine.
Speaker 1: Midelina met with environmental organizations in San Salvor. She talked
Speaker 1: with experts. She went with other community members of the
Speaker 1: Vaya Assyria in Honduras, where Gold Corp was running a
Speaker 1: large open pit gold mine.
Speaker 4: Yes Endolo. That then don't safer.
Speaker 3: And that's how we've been expanding since two thousand and six,
Speaker 3: creating a network across communities. We went to Syria Valley
Speaker 3: because of the water scarcity, noise and damaged homes there,
Speaker 3: people were shocked. They raised awareness and.
Speaker 1: Mobilized via made uper Mind. Gold mines were a major
Speaker 1: threat to the whole region. Mining operations sucked up water
Speaker 1: resources in a place where access to clean water was
Speaker 1: already a problem. They used dangerous chemicals like cyanai to
Speaker 1: separate the gold from the rock. If a sinide spill occurred,
Speaker 1: it's a threatened the Lampa River, which provides sixty percent
Speaker 1: of the water resources of Alsalvador. Mining companies, as she
Speaker 1: would soon discover, were bad for communities too, dividing the
Speaker 1: population and bringing in social unrest, violence and death. Opposition
Speaker 1: started to mount against specific rim A. This and other
Speaker 1: organizations mobilized people in cabanas. The organized forums where the
Speaker 1: company experts were asked tough questions by local people. Santa
Speaker 1: Marta and other communities came to Sant Salor to protest
Speaker 1: in the mining company pushed back.
Speaker 3: We would station ourselves in san at different ministries, the
Speaker 3: Ministry of Environment in front of the President's house too,
Speaker 3: with a lot of fear because if they caught us,
Speaker 3: they would arrest us and throw us in prison.
Speaker 1: A major tool of the resistance against mining companies was
Speaker 1: Radio Victoria, Santa MARTA's community radio station. Its mix of music,
Speaker 1: news and commentary, and it's a large network of local
Speaker 1: correspondence gave the radio station a large audience across going yes.
Speaker 7: Depart, I mean oh yes.
Speaker 1: Rodya Victoria was one of Alis's main projects at the
Speaker 1: end of the war.
Speaker 2: That was nineteen ninety three when we first went on
Speaker 2: the air and when we moved up to Victoria.
Speaker 1: This is Christina Starr. She's from Charlotte, North Carolina. Her
Speaker 1: real name is Wendy Wallace, but everyone in Santa Marta
Speaker 1: knows her as Christina, a name she has used since
Speaker 1: the war. In nineteen eighty eight, she came to a
Speaker 1: sab to work at a trade union federation in Santaelo.
Speaker 1: The war was raging, and a year later, a death
Speaker 1: squad detonated a bomb in the offices where she worked.
Speaker 1: The attack killed ten unionists and wounded forty others. Christina
Speaker 1: was lucky she had left the cafeteria where the bomb
Speaker 1: exploded minutes earlier. Shortly after that experience, she joined the
Speaker 1: insurgency and became part of a propaganda unit, filming some
Speaker 1: of the gorilla's actions. In nineteen ninety one, she settled
Speaker 1: in Santa Marta, and at the end of the war
Speaker 1: she decided to stay. Because of her communications background. Others
Speaker 1: asked her to help create Drodia Victoria.
Speaker 2: Mostly my role has been to look for support for the.
Speaker 3: Projects that we have.
Speaker 2: I was never at the radio full time, but as
Speaker 2: part of the coordinating team, so we had a collective
Speaker 2: that ran the radio and basically accompanying. You know, I
Speaker 2: never wanted to be two hands on because I didn't
Speaker 2: want to be the green that runs the radio.
Speaker 1: From the beginning, Rodia Victoria became the voice of the
Speaker 1: anti mining front. Rodia Victoria explained the dangers of mining
Speaker 1: to his listeners by pointing to the environmental and social
Speaker 1: costs of the industry. It disrupted Pacific Rome's communication campaign.
Speaker 5: It's that condition de terminian he induststructivatales, brecio, simbia, bles economica,
Speaker 5: so emb and talmente.
Speaker 1: Public opinion turned against mining. But soon enough the threats began.
Speaker 1: The radio hosts received warning calls and their cell phones.
Speaker 2: The language was very much like gang members, you know,
Speaker 2: some of the terms they used and they were very vulgar.
Speaker 2: So the assumption was that they were getting money channels
Speaker 2: to them to carry out these threats.
Speaker 1: This wasn't a small thing since the gangs in a
Speaker 1: Cubode were known for their cruelty. Then the killing started.
Speaker 1: First there was Marcello Rivera, a teacher, community leader and environmentalist.
Speaker 1: He had been one of the first to sound the
Speaker 1: alarm bell when Pacific Rim began prospecting in the region.
Speaker 2: You know, he was a performer and he would come
Speaker 2: to our We would have these community arts festivals for
Speaker 2: our anniversary and he would always come, and he was
Speaker 2: pretty close to us.
Speaker 1: Riveta was tortured before he was killed, and his body
Speaker 1: was thrown into a well. This had a huge impact
Speaker 1: on those who were opposing the mining project.
Speaker 2: And then the death threats said you know you better
Speaker 2: shut up. Are the same thing that happened to Marcella
Speaker 2: will happened to you.
Speaker 1: Later that year, two other activists, Ramiro Riverra and Dora
Speaker 1: Soortor gunn down.
Speaker 8: We begin today with Elsalvador, where, for the second time
Speaker 8: in a week of prominent anti gold mining activists has
Speaker 8: been assassinated. On Saturday, thirty two year old Dora Alicia
Speaker 8: Esino Soorto was shot dead near her home. She was
Speaker 8: eight months pregnant carrying her two year old son. Soorto
Speaker 8: and her husband were both active members of the Cabanas
Speaker 8: Environment Committee, which is campaigned against the reopening of a
Speaker 8: gold mine owned by the Vancouver based Pacific Rim Mining Company.
Speaker 8: Last week, Ramiro Rivera Gomez, the vice president of the
Speaker 8: Cabanas Environment Committee, was shot dead by heavily armed men
Speaker 8: despite having been under twenty four hour police protection.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, the death threats against Radio Victoria staff kept coming.
Speaker 1: People would bang the doors at their homes at night
Speaker 1: and caught guns, and I was scared.
Speaker 2: I was really scared, and you know, I didn't know
Speaker 2: if we should shut down the radio or what we
Speaker 2: should do. But you know, people at the radio said,
Speaker 2: this is our only weapon.
Speaker 4: For us.
Speaker 2: To stay on the air is the only way we
Speaker 2: can resist this, and that's what we're going to do.
Speaker 1: One day, Christina talked to one of the radio hosts,
Speaker 1: a young man called Oscar.
Speaker 2: And I said, Oscar, aren't you afraid? Aren't you scared?
Speaker 2: And he went yeah. But you know, once you dedicate
Speaker 2: so much of your life to something, it's your life,
Speaker 2: and to not do that is to kind of lose
Speaker 2: your life. So you know, this is what's important, and
Speaker 2: this is what we have to do.
Speaker 1: The three murders were never thoroughly investigated, but for the activists,
Speaker 1: there was no doubt that they were the result of
Speaker 1: the anti mining protests. Despite the threats and the killings,
Speaker 1: the environmental defenders kept going. They brought on board new allies,
Speaker 1: including Ancelo's archbishop, prominent churchmen. Monseigneur Sin Sakaye was also
Speaker 1: a chemist, and he worried that the use of cyanide
Speaker 1: by mining companies could cause a major environmental disaster. They
Speaker 1: also convinced both right wing and left wing politicians to
Speaker 1: join them. In two thousand and eight, the government decided
Speaker 1: to stop approving permits for new mines. It wasn't a
Speaker 1: ban yet, but President Andonio Saka said he wanted to
Speaker 1: better understand the impact gold mining was having on the
Speaker 1: country's water sources before proving any more permits. Pacific RIM
Speaker 1: followed a complaint against also using a legal tool known
Speaker 1: as investors State dispute settlement. We've covered this many times
Speaker 1: and drilled but it's a quasi legal system that is
Speaker 1: meant to protect companies from governments and enforce free trade agreements.
Speaker 1: In practice, what it does is help companies scare governments
Speaker 1: away from a environmental and human rights legislation and push
Speaker 1: forward harmful projects. Even activist pressure works and governments reject them.
Speaker 1: The Pacific Room claimed that in Salor, by not allowing
Speaker 1: it to move forward with its gold mine, had violated
Speaker 1: its rights. The company asked for three hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: million dollars to cover the revenue it was losing as
Speaker 1: a result of the government's refusal to grant its permits. This,
Speaker 1: of course, did nothing for Pacific Room's popularity in Ossalo.
Speaker 1: In twenty sixteen, the tribunal made a rare ruling against
Speaker 1: the company, and Esalor won the dispute, but not before
Speaker 1: spending millions fighting it. Twenty seventeen marked the end of
Speaker 1: the struggle an unprecedented decision, Esalor's government approved a law
Speaker 1: that banned all mining for medals in Essalor well via
Speaker 1: historico hiero.
Speaker 9: Derobizio metali normlo exploras.
Speaker 1: Ter The decision was unanimous. Midelina still can't believe it.
Speaker 4: The wameuerdo.
Speaker 3: This was such a marvelous thing that when I remember
Speaker 3: it for me and sina la piel, as we say
Speaker 3: in Salvo in English, we might say it gives me chills.
Speaker 1: But if mining companies have learned anything in their dealings
Speaker 1: with Latin American countries, it's patient If political circumstances are
Speaker 1: not in your favor at first, don't worry. That might
Speaker 1: change sooner than you think. In Esalor, it took only
Speaker 1: two years.
Speaker 6: Thirty seven year old Naibu Kelly entered San Salvador's Convention Center,
Speaker 6: a main voting station, a few hours later than planned
Speaker 6: to cast his ballot. He brought all the confidence, swagger,
Speaker 6: and even the black leather jack backet of a rock star.
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, an outsider candidate called Naib Bukeley won
Speaker 1: the elections with an absolute majority. He rocked the country
Speaker 1: as no one had done since the war. He assumed
Speaker 1: leadership in a country dominated by two violent gangs, the
Speaker 1: Marasoba Rucha and Barrio Yaesiocho, controlled entire neighborhoods in rural communities.
Speaker 1: For years, they made us one of the most dangerous
Speaker 1: countries in the world. Ordinary Salvadorians lived in fear of
Speaker 1: leaving their homes every day. Hundreds were killed every year
Speaker 1: for the crime of coming from a neighborhood controlled by
Speaker 1: a rival gang. Every business, no matter the size, was
Speaker 1: burdened with huge protection payments to the gangs. In twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: the most violent year, more than six thousand people were murdered,
Speaker 1: more than any year during the civil war. In the beginning,
Speaker 1: Naibukeli did what his predecessors had tried before him, sided
Speaker 1: the gangs in return for prison privileges. The gangs agreed
Speaker 1: to decrease the murder rate, but they soon started asking
Speaker 1: for more. To pressure the government, one of the two
Speaker 1: main gangs went on a killing spree, assassinating close to
Speaker 1: one hundred innocent people in three days. Bokley changed his
Speaker 1: strategy immediately.
Speaker 4: Tonight.
Speaker 9: The crackdown on gangs intensifies in El Salvador. As these
Speaker 9: images of mass arrests and police searching through homes and
Speaker 9: families belongings at neighborhood checkpoints fuel concerns that human rights
Speaker 9: are being violated.
Speaker 1: He declared a state of emergency, suspending constitutional rights. He
Speaker 1: empowered the authorities to arrest anyone suspected of being a
Speaker 1: gang member. He even went on national TV and threatened
Speaker 1: to star the detainees if the gangs tried to retaliate.
Speaker 10: Oh, no, do that, and there will be no meal
Speaker 10: time in the prisons.
Speaker 6: One.
Speaker 10: Let's see how long their home boys last in there.
Speaker 1: Since then, more than seventy five thousand people have been
Speaker 1: put in overcrowded jails. Among them are thousands of innocent people,
Speaker 1: mostly young men from poor neighborhoods, with no ties to
Speaker 1: the gangs. Official dulciers obtained by the newspaper at Farro
Speaker 1: showed that the reason for an arrest can be as
Speaker 1: flimsy as he looked like a gang member or he
Speaker 1: was nervous when the police showed up. But the results
Speaker 1: of this policy have been spectacular. Extortion and murders decreased dramatically.
Speaker 1: The homicide rate is now one of the lowest in
Speaker 1: Latin America, even lower than in the United States. Now,
Speaker 1: small businesses bloom everywhere, and ordinary Salvadorians have reclaimed their streets.
Speaker 1: Nor is this sense of security more obvious than in
Speaker 1: the center of Santa l What was a maze of
Speaker 1: street stamp under the tight control of the gangs has
Speaker 1: become a pleasant district with walkepp plazas, fountains and street
Speaker 1: performers on the Plaza Hirado Barrios in front of the
Speaker 1: Metropolitan Cathedral and at the side of the National Palace.
Speaker 1: A brand new library, a gift from China. Solsa is
Speaker 1: now one of the landmarks of Sansabel. But in Saloo's
Speaker 1: democracy has paid the price for this piece. As Naebuchill's
Speaker 1: popularity skyrocketed, he took control of all the institutions. To
Speaker 1: rein in the judicial system. He hand picked the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court magistrates and sent a third of Osavor's judges to
Speaker 1: retirement by decree.
Speaker 10: There is talk of an authoritarian populism and a hybrid
Speaker 10: regime that is losing the guardrails of democracy. We have
Speaker 10: all governmental powers concentrated in the executive branch and specifically
Speaker 10: in the president, and this makes it so that the
Speaker 10: system of checks and balances doesn't work.
Speaker 1: Luis Consalez is a lawyer and activist at the Salvadorian
Speaker 1: Ecological Unit. This environmental organization has been at the site
Speaker 1: of Idelina and Alis in the fight against mining and
Speaker 1: joined various other environmental fights, including the expansion of sugarcane plantations,
Speaker 1: the destruction of mangroves, and deforestation. It has also denounced
Speaker 1: attacks against indigenous leaders. Louis has seen firsthand how the
Speaker 1: state of emergency, which was meant to fight gangs, has
Speaker 1: been used to attack environmental activists and community.
Speaker 7: Leaders o Costria.
Speaker 10: Without a doubt, and I'll give you a couple of examples.
Speaker 10: Under the state of emergency, they wanted to build a
Speaker 10: prison in Teotepek. There were people there working the land
Speaker 10: and they expropriated it and the approach was either sell
Speaker 10: it or the state will take it. And if you object,
Speaker 10: remember that we are a regime. The same sort of
Speaker 10: rhetoric was used against people who were organized in a
Speaker 10: labor union where they were building a new airport. Remember
Speaker 10: that we are a regime. They took the vendors off
Speaker 10: the street with that too. Remember we are a regime.
Speaker 7: Ila comuniaes Bisto an Asako.
Speaker 10: The communities that want to say anything have been threatened
Speaker 10: with putting people in prison. Indigenous leaders we work with
Speaker 10: in Sonsnate the case of a father who was taken
Speaker 10: to prison. They let him go after some time, but
Speaker 10: it was if you keep talking. We have other leaders
Speaker 10: where they've captured their family members.
Speaker 1: It is on a coincidence that this repressive trend happened
Speaker 1: at the same time that Bu began to look at
Speaker 1: the potential of various extractive industries to help ESA's economy.
Speaker 7: Yamatartivista already in twenty twenty one, this extractivist agenda resumed,
Speaker 7: this very neoliberal agenda, let's say, extractive of environmental resources.
Speaker 10: And it is within this framework that there are government
Speaker 10: positions against environmental issues and against defenders.
Speaker 1: Environmental leaders like Pedrokasas from a Central American Alliance against Mining,
Speaker 1: say Bokilly's primary focus now that he's been re elected
Speaker 1: is the.
Speaker 4: Economy an next momental principal interest, well, principal economia.
Speaker 10: In this moment, the primary interest where the primary concern
Speaker 10: of the public is the economy. Lack of work, inflation,
Speaker 10: this lack of economic opportunities in the country, and more
Speaker 10: than sixty percent of the population is saying look, look, no, no,
Speaker 10: I'm not doing very well.
Speaker 1: This is especially true after Bookeley's signature move to improve
Speaker 1: Aslo's economy backfired spectacularly. In twenty twenty one, he decided
Speaker 1: to make bitcoin a national currency. Then he gambled with
Speaker 1: the country's reserves by buying one hundred million dollars worth
Speaker 1: of bitcoins. Virtually no one has adopted the new currency. Now,
Speaker 1: Bukilly is desperate to bring invast stris back an. Environmental
Speaker 1: activists are convinced that Buqueili burned by his bitcoin mining,
Speaker 1: wants to return to the old fashioned sort, and the
Speaker 1: activists are in his way. In the middle of the night,
Speaker 1: on the eleventh of January twenty twenty, three police patrols
Speaker 1: pulled up in front of three houses in Santa Marta.
Speaker 1: They arrested three men, Miguel Anghilgames, Pedro Rivas, and Alejandro Laynez.
Speaker 1: All three were members of ADDIS. Police told them that
Speaker 1: they were accused of murdering Maria Ines Albarenga, the woman
Speaker 1: who was said to be an informant to the army
Speaker 1: thirty years ago during the Civil War. The three men
Speaker 1: were sent to Santalo to be charged by a judge. There,
Speaker 1: they learned that the director of ADDIS, Antonio Pacheco, and
Speaker 1: the organization's lawyer, Saul Riuas, had also been arrested for
Speaker 1: the same case. A sixth man, Piedel Rosinos, who isn't
Speaker 1: a member of ADDIS, was also taken into custody. All
Speaker 1: of them fought within the ranks of the guerrillas in
Speaker 1: the eighties and nineties. All deny any involvement in out
Speaker 1: vetting as murder. These arrests were surprising for a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons. Very few cases related to the war have
Speaker 1: ever made their way to the courts. Except for a
Speaker 1: handful of high impact cases, no one has been charged
Speaker 1: for crime related to the war. Why was a prosecutor's
Speaker 1: office suddenly interested in this particular thirty year old murder
Speaker 1: for with Deelina? The reason is clear. The Attorney General,
Speaker 1: close allied to Naiveokeley, is trying to cripple at this
Speaker 1: in preparation for Pucalli's move to bring mining back to
Speaker 1: us Ala. The defendants cannot talk openly to journalists as
Speaker 1: their trial is pending. We won't hear them in this podcast,
Speaker 1: but they've always claimed their innocence on their behalf. Videlina
Speaker 1: launched a campaign to denounce the arrests. She participated in
Speaker 1: countless TV and radio shows and led protests in San
Speaker 1: Salvor in front of the prison where the six men
Speaker 1: were held in custody.
Speaker 4: Ben and we've.
Speaker 3: Come to ask that, in compliance with the judicial resolution,
Speaker 3: the release of our comrades from prison is not further delayed.
Speaker 1: She organized an international campaign of solidarity that included Washington
Speaker 1: based organizations too. US congress persons wrote to Asavoora's government
Speaker 1: to ask for the liberation of Addess activists. The arrest
Speaker 1: fueled the belief that mining would soon make a comeback,
Speaker 1: but so did other recent actions by the government. For example,
Speaker 1: in May twenty one, ESAU join the Intergovernmental Form on Mining, Minerals,
Speaker 1: Metals and Sustainable Development, an initiative founded by the Canadian
Speaker 1: government to help countries develop mining operations. Why would a
Speaker 1: country or mining as prohibited join such a club. That
Speaker 1: same year, the government created a new institution, the Oil,
Speaker 1: Energy and Mines Directorate, proving that the attraction of a
Speaker 1: Savadorian resources is a priority for the government. One of
Speaker 1: this institution's first missions was to evaluate the current legislation
Speaker 1: on mining. The government of as and various ministers declined
Speaker 1: multiple requests for an interview. For months, the pressure from
Speaker 1: Videlina to freeer comrades seemed to be fruitless. The six
Speaker 1: men remained in custody. They couldn't see their families. Not
Speaker 1: even their lawyer, Denis Munios, was allowed to talk to them.
Speaker 1: They were moved from prison to prison, experiencing increasingly heroing conditions.
Speaker 10: Well very little zero health care, in humane conditions in
Speaker 10: the sense that there was one toilet for two hundred
Speaker 10: people very little space to move around.
Speaker 1: This is Denis Munos, their lawyer.
Speaker 10: They could hardly bathe their clean themselves because there was
Speaker 10: not much water, zero drinking water in biologically unfavorable conditions.
Speaker 10: So the conditions were really a lot. And and then
Speaker 10: you have to watch out because that will really impact
Speaker 10: the health of an older person who already has chronic
Speaker 10: degenerative or other serious illnesses like diabetes or kidney failure
Speaker 10: or even high blood pressure.
Speaker 1: In something on his prison they spent their nights in
Speaker 1: large cells with two hundred people, sometimes sleeping on the
Speaker 1: bare floor with all the lights on. During the day,
Speaker 1: they stayed in a courtyard so packed they couldn't even sit.
Speaker 1: The meals consisted of eight spoonfuls of rice and a
Speaker 1: few black beans. They all lost weight and developed chronic
Speaker 1: illnesses due to malnourishment. On top of that, every day
Speaker 1: someone would be dragged out of the cells and beaten
Speaker 1: by the guards. Some mornings a prisoner wouldn't wake up,
Speaker 1: his body was wrapped in its sheets and taken out.
Speaker 1: Most of the prisoners, like the activists from Santa Marta,
Speaker 1: were in temporary custody awaiting their trial.
Speaker 10: So one of them for example, told me that he
Speaker 10: still has nightmares about what he experienced in that place.
Speaker 1: And then Inela received a tremendous blow. Her son was detained.
Speaker 1: The police told her that it was because they suspected
Speaker 1: he was a member of a gang.
Speaker 4: She knew what that meant, and.
Speaker 3: They will mess with the very, very very private, intimate
Speaker 3: interests of a family member. I said, no, no, I
Speaker 3: will not allow my son to be incarcerated because I
Speaker 3: know my son, and everyone in the community knows my son.
Speaker 3: He's never been involved with any gang, but he's being
Speaker 3: accused of being a gang member. When they arrested him,
Speaker 3: I immediately went to the police station. That's the first
Speaker 3: place I went. What I want to tell you is
Speaker 3: what the chief of the Santa Marta police station said
Speaker 3: to me. Look, he said, here, we have a very
Speaker 3: good list of people to arrest.
Speaker 1: For Vida. There was no doubt they were attacking her
Speaker 1: through her son. She was desperate. She thought she wouldn't
Speaker 1: see him for years. She knew of the detention conditions
Speaker 1: and couldn't imagine her son in a cell with hundreds
Speaker 1: of actual gang members. Immediately went to social media to
Speaker 1: denounce the arrest. She contacted on Budsman. She activated her
Speaker 1: network of national and international allies.
Speaker 3: But this is the moment when my lions clause came
Speaker 3: out because he's my son. So I don't know helplessness.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know how to explain it. But
Speaker 3: I said, this is the time to fight for my
Speaker 3: son to be released. And of course I also thought
Speaker 3: about all the effort I've put into this cause for
Speaker 3: so long. It can't be in vain.
Speaker 1: This time the pressure worked. About forty hours later, her
Speaker 1: son was released. They just kicked him out of since
Speaker 1: with the Beca's jail, no charges were brought against him
Speaker 1: and no explanation was given. Midelina was lucky. Dozens of
Speaker 1: families have been without news of their incarcerated relatives for years.
Speaker 1: They often don't know where they are jailed or even
Speaker 1: if they are still alive. That's why environmental activists are
Speaker 1: so scared of the state of exception, Bokeley declared two
Speaker 1: years ago. It means anyone can be tagged as a
Speaker 1: gang member and disappear into the nightmarish prison system. The
Speaker 1: government wasn't done trying to intimidate Adis. In August twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, Bokeley declared the militarization of the whole going
Speaker 1: S region. Eight thousand soldiers were sent there officially to
Speaker 1: fight against the gangs. For the first time since the war,
Speaker 1: armored vehicles entered Santa Marta.
Speaker 2: Salang, Victoria and.
Speaker 3: And of course a good sized group of them settled
Speaker 3: in Victoria around Santa Marta and it was terrifying.
Speaker 1: For those who survived the war, seeing the army patrolling
Speaker 1: in front of their houses was a traumatic flash back.
Speaker 1: Buchilles regime is characterized by its opacity. Many of its
Speaker 1: actions come with no explanation. The militarization of Cabaygas could
Speaker 1: be part of buchilles cracked on gangs. It could also
Speaker 1: be a warning to activists in the area who might
Speaker 1: oppose any of his plans. The uncertainty is just another
Speaker 1: burden on community organizers and environmental defenders. Finally, on September fifth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, the five BYUS activists were sent back
Speaker 1: home after a judge granted them house arrest. Videlina thinks
Speaker 1: the international pressure on the government paid off. The men
Speaker 1: are still recovering from the horrendous experience in prison. Their
Speaker 1: trials had to start this month. Last February, naib Bulkelly
Speaker 1: ran for reelection, even though the constitution clearly says that
Speaker 1: no one can hold office twice. Boosted by his crackdown
Speaker 1: on gangs, he won with more than eighty percent of
Speaker 1: the vote. In his new term, he faces no political opposition.
Speaker 1: His party also won fifty four of the sixty seats
Speaker 1: at the National Assembly. For the activists, Luis Gonsalez, the
Speaker 1: future under an increasingly powerful Bochille looks grim. Still, he
Speaker 1: has a lot of faith in community organizers.
Speaker 10: Cambius, Are we going to have an environmental policy that
Speaker 10: only changes with special interests, where the economic issue, the
Speaker 10: security issue is the only thing the government discusses with
Speaker 10: all of the impacts that has on the poorest and
Speaker 10: most vulnerable communities.
Speaker 1: Let's hope not.
Speaker 10: And I still believe that hope lies in the communities
Speaker 10: that are resisting. I believe that now more than ever,
Speaker 10: we have to resist. We have to resist to be
Speaker 10: able to face these anti activists attacks, and hopefully the
Speaker 10: resistance and life will win out over these other interests.
Speaker 3: Drilled is an original Critical Frequency production. This episode was
Speaker 3: reported and written by Sebastian Escalon. The episode was narrated
Speaker 3: by Yesienne Funess and edited by me Amy westervelts I
Speaker 3: also read the English translations for Videlina. Our senior editor
Speaker 3: for this series is Alan Brown. Peter Duff, our audio engineer,
Speaker 3: read the male English translation parts in this episode, and
Speaker 3: sound design and engineered it. Because we're a small shop
Speaker 3: here at Drilled, all hands on deck. You can get
Speaker 3: a transcript of this episode, plus lots more information from
Speaker 3: this series, including other episodes and related articles and documents,
Speaker 3: on our website at Drilled dot media. You can also
Speaker 3: sign up for our weekly newsletter there. People tell us
Speaker 3: it helps them cut through the overwhelming fire hose of
Speaker 3: information about climate. It's never more than ten minutes to
Speaker 3: read every week, and you can follow us on Instagram
Speaker 3: and TikTok at Drilled Media. Thanks for listening and we'll
Speaker 3: see you next time.