The years are adding up and in Costa Rica, there are still no judicial actions for the deaths of indigenous territorial rights defenders. There have been two indigenous activists, Sergio Rojas (year 2019, Bribri Uniwak de Salitre) and Jehry Rivera (year 2020, Brorän-Térraba).
This is precisely one of the reasons why the Organization of Women in Mano de Tigre (Dbón Orcuo) published a statement. A document that emphasizes the case of Jehry Rivera, ombudsman of Brorän, to be specific, and the lack of justice in his case. Rivera, was attacked by a group of usurpers of the indigenous lands of the Térraba territory.
Escalation of violence
“We emphasize that on this date, the Brorän people suffered an escalation of violence from the previous day where a series of incidents that threatened our integrity occurred both physical and territorial, of the settlers who defend ancestral rights and territory”, says the statement.
For the Organization of Women, these acts infringed in an extreme and violent way against the dignity of a people that refuse to disappear, claiming their territorial patrimony, putting their bodies first in order to exercise the full right to the land that by law corresponds to their descendants.
On various occasions, the State of Costa Rica has been considered “incapable” by environmentalists, who make up Federations and other defense organizations, to resolve give priority and sensitivize issues that guarantee the survival of the territories, in this case of Brorän.
“We urge the state, through the Public Ministry, the Attorney General’s Office, and its other justice bodies, to respond promptly to the necessary steps to bring the alleged aggressors to court, so that they are accountable and justice can be applied for the murder of Jerhy and the damage caused to our people. A justice that is not whim, but rather the same justice that the Costa Rican judicial system boasts of implementing”, the organization adds.
Once again, they urge the national and international community to speak out for the Human Rights that correspond to the Térraba indigenous population, fundamental rights of a democracy based on the rule of law.
Stop the plunder
In these times, the challenges to face -big capital- that plunder and destroy biodiversity continue to be active. It is a struggle of indigenous peoples of Salitre, Térraba, China Quichá, Curré, Cabagra and Maleku, who recover the integrity of their territories.
