Amnesty Eilaktion: Mitglieder der Umweltorganisation Rios Vivos getötet

TWO RELATIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEMBERS KILLED

On 22 September, two relatives of members of the Rios Vivos Movement were killed in Antioquia, Colombia.

These killings come after several others of environmental human rights defenders , members of the same

movement, affected by the environmental and human rights impact of the Hidrohituango dam construction.

On 22 September, the nephew of Rubén Areiza, a member of the Rios Vivos Movement (Movimiento Ríos Vivos Antioquia, MRVA), was shot death by unidentified men while returning from a sport event in the Briceño municipality, Antioquia department, northwest Colombia.

Another man was injured in the attack. On the same day, the son of a former member of MRVA was killed with a sharp object in the Valdivia municipality , also in Antioquia.

These later killings came after several others.O n 8 May, Luis Alberto Torres Montoya , a member of MRVA and the Association of Artisanal Miners and F ishermen of Puerto Valdivia , and his brother Duvián Andrés Correa Sánchez were killed by unidentified assailants . A few days before, Hugo Albeiro George Pérez , also a member of MRVA, and his nephew Domar Egidio Zapa ta George were killed by unidentified assailants.  These events took place the same day that MRVA organis ed a demonstration where 160 people gathered to express their concerns over flooding and the risk of avalanches in their communities ,  due to heavy rain blocking a tunnel built by the Hidroituango hydroelectric project. This blockage caused an increase in water levels that, according to MRVA, affected at least 45 families.

Since 2008, the movement has campaigned against the Hidroituango hydroelectric project denouncing the damages the dam has brought to the area; first as Process of Communities Affected by Hidrohituango ( Proceso de Comunidades Afectadas por Hidrohituango) and from 2011 as MRVA.

Please write immediately in Spanish, or your own language, to the Colombian authorities:
*Urging them to conduct a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation of the people killed, taking into account
their membership to MRVA and their relationship to MRVA members / former members; and bring all those found
responsible to justice;
*Urging them to fully and immediately implement the collective Prevention and Protection Plan for MRVA
members;
*Demanding them to take immediate steps to overcome the structural causes behind the threats, killings and
attacks faced by human rights defenders in the context of the Hidroituango hydroelectric project