Which Human Rights Defenders Are Most Often Attacked in the Americas?

[Judi Lynn]

Which Human Rights Defenders Are Most Often Attacked in the Americas?

By Larry Ladutke
June 3, 2013 at 9:01 AM

In its 2012 report on attacks against human rights defenders (HRDs) in the Americas, Transforming Pain into Hope, Amnesty stated that people “working to defend human rights related to land, territory or natural resources make up the majority of cases of human rights defenders on which Amnesty International took action from 2010 to 2012 in the Americas.”

In Honduras alone, Amnesty reported that “scores” of rural farmers were killed during this period, often at the hands of employees of powerful landowners. The powerful forces behind these attacks have also targeted individuals such as human rights lawyer Antonio Trejo Cabrera, whom they murdered in September 2012.

~snip~

There are three main factors that contribute to the alarmingly high level of attacks against land activists in the Americas:

1.The extreme degree of economic inequality in the region—the highest in the world
2.The valuable economic resources in certain regions, such as gold and fertile farmland that could be used for cash crops
3.Impunity—the states’ failure to investigate these crimes and punish those responsible, including the groups and individuals who organize these attacks and pay for the hired guns who carry them out.

More:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/americas/which-human-rights-defenders-are-most-often-attacked-in-the-americas/

[Peace Patriot]

1. The first factor contributing to human rights murders is U.S. support of RW gov'ts!

In Colombia.
In Honduras.
In Guatemala.
In Mexico.
In Haiti.

U.S. government policy on human rights murders is utterly, irredeemably hypocritical and disgusting. The U.S. funds, trains, arms, encourages and covers up for human rights murders in Latin America--murders of labor leaders, teachers, community activists, land reformers, peasant farmers, leftist political leaders and activists, human rights workers, environmental activists and anybody and everybody who dares to advocate for the poor and for social justice, or does--or might--oppose U.S. corporate rule. Billions of our tax dollars are being spent for this purpose.

The three factors that AI mentions are all encouraged by, funded by and in some cases required by the U.S. government in its client states. And it is in the U.S. client states that these murders are occurring, where it has been make okay to kill the poor and their advocates.