Content Note: The following includes disturbing information on violence against Indigenous Peoples. We have strived to provide information on each individual, in celebration of their lives and work, without gratuitous detail on their deaths. While we have worked to avoid linking to sources with graphic imagery, please note that the sources linked may contain further details and images may be changed by websites after we have reviewed them.
Latin America is one of the most dangerous regions to be an Indigenous rights and environmental defender. Three out of four assassinations of environmental defenders take place in Latin America. Indigenous defenders face a double threat: defending rights and being Indigenous. In 2021, roughly 40 percent of murdered environmental defenders were Indigenous, a disproportionately high figure given that Indigenous Peoples comprise roughly 6 percent of the global population.
As part of our Advocacy Program, Cultural Survival tracks violence against Indigenous defenders in an effort to draw connections amongst these cases and demonstrate that this crisis, rather than being a set of unconnected attacks on individual people, is systemic.
We do this work in order to raise awareness about this systemic persecution of Indigenous defenders, but also for the sake of memory. The Indigenous defenders who were killed throughout 2023 will never be forgotten by their families and communities. The gap they leave in their communities and cultures cannot be filled, and this gap is equally important outside of their communities: these defenders are the people defending our planet from environmental collapse and keeping alive critical knowledge on how to protect our ecosystems and how to relate to one another.
Sometimes the news of murder or attacks on Indigenous people spreads in specific communities and territories, where the pain and loss is felt profoundly, but it does not always echo in mainstream media. Cultural Survival’s compilation of cases is not exhaustive. Our information comes both from other media and from communities and partner organizations. However, we cannot cover the full scope, and there are certainly cases that do not reach us. Although those people are not specifically named in this In Memoriam, this in no way implies less severity or importance. This work also aims to honor all those, who, for a variety of reasons, we could not mention, and whose struggles will continue to resonate in their communities, their territories, and their families.
The ways in which we receive information about these cases varies. In some cases there are plenty of news articles and calls for justice. In other cases, information is extremely scarce or even just a brief message or press release passed to us by a partner on the ground. Our purpose is to make all names and legacies known, regardless of how much attention the case received, especially uplifting those less covered by the media. When we were informed of otherwise unpublished cases by community partners, we ensured that it was safe to publish, always obtaining the community’s consent. Every individual was a beloved person, a community and family member, and someone who is mourned for not only the work they did but for who they were.
For most cases, a few months after the murder, impunity reigns. In some Latin American countries, the general impunity rate is 90 percent or more, meaning 10 crimes (or fewer) out of 100 are properly investigated and solved by the justice system. These figures are optimistic in comparison to crimes against Indigenous defenders. Authorities tend to not put much effort into thorough investigations related to Indigenous defenders for a variety of reasons: incidents take place in remote locations with limited access, collusion of authorities with illegal armed actors or multinational companies, and a general lack of interest in problems concerning Indigenous Peoples intrinsic to State discrimination towards them. Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, has said that impunity for killings is a key driver for more murders.
In the profiles below, we remember and mourn 77 Indigenous people who were killed in 2023. We also recognize and condemn attacks, disappearances, criminalization, and other forms of violence committed against Indigenous defenders worldwide. We acknowledge that our scope is limited and that violence against Indigenous Peoples and against particular defenders of rights and the environment far surpasses the data that we were able to collect, and we honor all of the Peoples and communities who have been affected. We commit to continuing to work towards justice for Indigenous land and rights defenders alongside the affected communities to the extent that we are able. Defenders are listed by country in alphabetical order, then chronologically by date of the incident.
Brazil
For further information check the Story Map on Indigenous land defenders and regions Cultural Survival published together with University of California Network for Human Rights and Digital Fact-finding.Nawir Brito de Jesus and Samuel Cristiano de Amor Divino
Photo via Mongabay
Two Pataxó leaders, Nawir Brito de Jesus (17) and Samuel Cristiano de Amor Divino (25) were brutally murdered on January 17, 2023. This incident took place in the municipality of Itabela, Southern Bahia state. According to a witness, Nawir and Samuel were returning to a reclaimed (retomada*) farm and they were shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle. The farm is located in the Barra Velha Indigenous Territory and the area was recognizedas traditionally occupied by the Pataxó people in 2008. However, the land hasn’t yet been fully demarcated. The Pataxó People have faced enormous conflicts with the local ranchers to protect their lands, including a situation in June 2022 when 180 members of the Pataxó community took over another area in the same region that was used for cattle ranching and producing pulpwood trees. Since then, the government has undertaken a series of raids to catch the illegal land loggers and ranchers in the Amazon rainforest to halt deforestation.
*Retomada: the reclaiming of traditional Indigenous land and culture by the younger Indigenous generations. They seek to collect their elders’ knowledge in order to reconnect with their history and culture, reaffirming their identity and avoiding disappearance. José Inácio GuajajaraValdemar Marciano GuajajaraJone Canaré GuajajaraIlson Xiriana and Venâncio Xirixana
Colombia
Context in Cauca
In the midst of this severe humanitarian crisis in northern Cauca, the Association of Indigenous Councils of North Cauca (ACIN) published its 2022 report, “Territorial Disharmonies,” emphasizing that the armed conflict aims to destroy territorial autonomy and exploit natural resources. The report cites alarming figures, including the recruitment of 250 children in 2022, 97 homicides, 88 threats, and various other forms of violence. The conflict is linked to strategic positions for drug trafficking, particularly involving the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents. Recent events, such as the death of William Vargas and the recruitment and killing of Murui Indigenous children, highlight the ongoing crisis. The Ombudsman and President Gustavo Petro condemned these acts, with Petro suspending the bilateral ceasefire with the FARC dissidents. The situation extends beyond Cauca, with a critical risk to social and human rights leaders across Colombia, recording 593 homicides between September 2019 and December 2022. The Ombudsman emphasizes the need to protect individuals in communal, Indigenous, community, peasant, agrarian, and Afro-descendant sectors, which account for 79% of the total homicides.José Taicus Pascal
José Taicus Pascal (Awá) was 16 years old when he was murdered January 2, 2023, in Tumaco, Colombia. He was with his family when three armed men arrived at the Alto Albi Reservation and shot José. His brother, Javier Taicus Canticus, member of the Indigenous Guard, was also hit and suffered serious injuries.
The Organization of Indigenous Reservations of the Awà People of the Pacific (ORIPAP) urged armed groups to establish dialogues and create a lasting and stable development of peace for Awá communities. José is remembered for fighting hard to protect his People and stood up against the use of sacred territories as battlefields.Berna Nastascuas PaiMarcos López EnríquezMarlon Hernando García PascalWilson Bomba PiambaAlbert Camilo Mendoza CorzoDiego Jair OrbesMarleny GüegüeJosé Isaías QuiguanásMary Cruz PetroWilliam VargasLibia Quiguanás and Telésforo IpiaMarcelino Dagua Baicue y Rosalía Quiguanas DaguaAlexander Chocué PeñaJosé Hernán Tenorio MestizoAlbán Mestizo YosandoJhonis Orfelio GarcíaHever GamboaAlex Germán García GuangaTiberio Chepe ZetiYesid Pechené MusicuéFredy Alexánder Bomba CampoBenito Segundo Castillo GutiérrezEduardo TimanáJose Arley Cruz ChocueMilton Santacruz AguilarCristóbal Nastacuas NastacuasJuan David Chávez YoinoRogelio Chate PeñaPhanor Guazaquillo PeñaMarino Paví JulicueJohn Freiman Ramos Ocaña, Yisel Menza, Jelen Charit Ramos Menza, Davinson Fernández Ramos and Jesús David Labio RamosEliecer Puyo Chocué
Ecuador
Eduardo Mendúa
On February 26, 2023 Eduardo Mendúa (A’i Kofan) was shot and killedoutside his home in the province of Sucumbíos in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Eduardo had just come from participating in a Council of CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), an organization of which he was a member and leader of international relations. He was a well-known defender of the A’i Kofan people against the oil companies that exploit their territory.
This crime did not come out of the blue. The oil company Petroecuador plans to dig 30 wells in the territory of the A’i Cofán de Dureno community, ignoring the State’s obligation to obtain the community’s Free, Prior and Informed Consent. On February 27, a suspect was arrested. Eduardo was aware that a price had been placed on his head, which had been confirmed through the testimony that at least five people gave after his murder, and yet the State failed to take action to protect Eduardo’s life. Eduardo’s brother was murdered less than a year before Eduardo’s murder. Community members opposed to oil extraction have been asking for protection ever since, but their requests have been ignored. The community fears that violence will continue due to the conflict that the company has generated.
Towards the end of January 2023, Eduardo gave an interview to Cultural Survival where he emphasized the great need his community had for international solidarity at that point in the struggle: “We invite all the organizations that can join us because our struggle is not only to conserve the forest. The environmental crisis is affecting us and it is evident what is happening worldwide. To conserve the forest is to conserve the common good for all people.”
Guatemala
Nicolasa López and Victoria Méndez
Nicolasa Lopez Mendez (27 years old) and Victoria Mendez Augustin (18 years old) were assassinated by gunfire on May 6, 2023. Both were defenders of nature belonging to the Xinca community and members of CODECA, the Comité de Desarrollo Campesino a campesino and Indigenous organization as well as members of the political party Movimiento para la Liberación de los Pueblos (MLP). They were born in the village known as Camarón, San Martin Jilotepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala, and were women who had much life left to live in contribution to their communities.
Nicolasa and Victoria were activists who protested against the nationalization of electrical energy. At the time of their death, their community was harassed because they spent 18 months protesting what they considered to be high prices of the utility. The government has not investigated who was responsible for this crime. CODECA has denounced the act of violence and demanded an investigation.Noé Gómez Barrera
Honduras
Ricardo Arnaúl Montero
Ricardo Arnaúl Montero was a Garifuna leader from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz, Tela, Honduras. He was a member of the Committee for the Defense of the Land and member of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH in Spanish). He was a strong defender of the area of Rio Gama, which is a recovered community area nearby Secundino Torres after the land grab for the development of touristic projects. In the past, he and other members of the community reported that they were receiving death threats, and Montero was murdered on January 28, 2023. No information about the perpetrators of this crime was found.
OFRANEH reported that the State has not fulfilled its obligations related to the land remediation and ownership in their territories; the organization also demanded the State assume its legal responsibilities and perform due diligence in the case of this and other murders that have occurred in the community. Also, they affirmed that these criminal acts have taken place after the territory extension of the state of emergency in the village because this action deepens the problem by making defenders more vulnerable.
This is not the first time that these events happen in the community Triunfo de la Cruz. In July 2020, five men, four of them Garifuna, disappeared and until this day, the community has no information about their whereabouts.
The Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz has precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights since 2006 and by means of a decision in 2015, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights prompted the Honduran state to provide reparations to the Garifuna People and to restore their lands to them.Amilcar Vieda and Naún Ismael ChacónMartín Morales MartínezJuana María Martínez
Mexico
Global Witness reported that Latin America, particularly Mexico, saw the highest number of environmental defenders killed in 2021, with Mexico recording 54 cases, surpassing Colombia and Brazil. The majority of attacks in Mexico were linked to land and mining conflicts, notably in Oaxaca and Sonora. Oaxaca was identified as the most lethal state for environmental activists, recording 18 cases. Overall, Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries for environmental defenders in the past decade, with 154 recorded murders between 2012 and 2021, most occurring between 2017 and 2021.Remigio de la Cruz López
We honor the legacy of Remigio de la Cruz López (48 years old) with the Amuzga community. Remigio was a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the Amuzga Nation made up of five municipalities: Xochistlahuaca, Tlacoachistlahuaca and Ometepec in Guerrero and San Pedro Amuzgos and Santa María Ipala in Oaxaca. Remigio was murdered on January 1, 2023, in the Indigenous community of Zacualpan, municipality of Ometepec, Guerrero. It is not clear what happened, but the police believes that he was shot to death as he was leaving a family dinner as he was left lying a few meters from his home.
The struggle of this Indigenous community is related to the recovery of their lands. In the geographical area where the Amuzgo community is located, there are caciques (local chiefs coming from landowning families and related to organized crime) who have gunmen to defend their bosses’ land, which was at one time part of the communal patrimony of the Amuzgo Indigenous People. According to Tlachinollan, a well established organization in Guerrero, Remigio was killed because of the struggle against the cacique practices that have subjugated the Indigenous population. The local caciques have set themselves up as organized crime bosses and the people who know the most about the crime are afraid to speak out.Isaul Nemesio Zambrano, Miguel Estrada Reyes and Rolando Magno ZambranoAlfredo CisnerosEustacio AlcaláFélix Vicente CruzGertrudis Cruz de Jesús y Cliserina Cruz MerinoNoel López GallegosLorenzo Froylan de la Cruz RíosHiginio Trinidad de la Cruz
Nicaragua
Jesmin Jacobo Lázaro, Lenín Vilchez Patrón Flores, Alberto Castillo Palacio, Jorge Enor Palacio Samuel y Morgan Díaz Palacio
On Saturday, March 11, 2023, Jesmin Jacobo Lázaro, Lenín Vilchez Patrón Flores, Alberto Castillo Palacio, Jorge Enor Palacio Samuel and Morgan Díaz Palacio, five Mayangna land defenders, were shot and killed by a group of at least 60 colonos (land invaders). The events happened in the early morning hours in the Wilú community, one of the 24 communities comprising the Mayangnas Territory of Sauni Bas, in the heart of the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, in the Autonomous Region of the Northern Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. After the killings, the invaders went on and burned down several houses, sparing only the church, the parsonage and the school. Frightened, the rest of the community was forced to flee and seek help in the neighboring communities.
The area is not new to these conflicts: the Mayangna authorities report the killing of land defenders since 1979, when the conflicts for the land intensified. Moreover, the Wilú community had been targeted by another attack already in 2017, and the settlers have been trying to push back the Mayangnas for many years. In light of the clashes, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures in February 2022 aiming at protecting three different communities which have been ignored by the Nicaraguan government.
The recent conflicts happen in a context of violence in spite of the passing of Law N.445, whose main purposes are to recognize Indigenous communities’ rights regarding use of their lands, property rights related to the natural resources, and the self-governance of their communities throughout their ancestral authorities.
Despite the frequency and scale of this violence, the Nicaraguan government has not addressed the issue and protected the Indigenous communities.Bernabé Palacios Hernández
Paraguay
Arnaldo Benítez Vargas
On October 22, 2023, Arnaldo Benítez Vargas (Paĩ Tavyterã), a spiritual leader (tekoaruvicha) of the Yvy Pyte community, was attacked amid the conflict over ancestral territories and ongoing genocide against the Paĩ Tavyterã Peoples in Paraguay.
Yvy Pyte leaders have been reporting threats and attacks by illegal invaders in their territories since 2021, seeking a resolution to protect their community from threats, land grabs, forced displacement, and destruction of their sustenance. If not resolved, the conflict may result in more deaths and harm to the community.
The Guarani Paĩ Tavyterã Peoples have been in the middle of a confrontation where their rights have been systematically violated by the army, the People’s Army of Paraguay (EPP), and other illegal actors.
Arnaldo Benítez Vargas’ murder comes painfully after a year in which two other Paĩ Tavyterã leaders, Alcides Morilla Romero and Rodrigo Gómez González, were murdered in October 2022.
Peru
Santiago Contoricón Antúnez
On April 8, 2023, Santiago Contoricón Antúnez, Asháninka leader and intercultural teacher who was 58 years old, was shot in front of his family in his house in the Puerto Ocopa community, Junín. Santiago was a well-known leader who had had several roles in recent decades, among them being his membership in the Self Defense Committee of Puerto Ocopa.
The Central Asháninka del Río Tambo (CART) asserted that those responsible for the crime were groups related to drug trafficking since Santiago collaborated with the authorities in the seizure of drugs. The CART had requested protection from the State to be able to carry out these operations without facing so many risks but they were ignored, which has resulted in the murder of Santiago.
At the end of June 2023, the Supraprovincial Criminal Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Human Rights and Interculturality ordered pre-trial detentionfor a hitman named Ronal Pozo Huamán for being the alleged accomplice of the perpetrator of the crime; however, more solid progress is still missing in the investigation.Quinto Inuma AlvaradoBenjamín Flores Ríos
