After a record number of killings, Colombia has ranked as the most dangerous country for environmentalists, Global Witness said. The government responded, describing the report as “dishonorable.”
A recorded total of 196 environmental activists and land defenders from around the world were killed in 2023, watchdog Global Witness said Tuesday, with Colombia ranking as the deadliest place.
Latin America remained the most dangerous region of the world for environmental activists, with 85% of the killings occurring there.
Colombia saw 79 such murders in 2023 — the highest recorded for an individual country since the organization began its annual review in 2012. Brazil, Honduras and Mexico were next in line.
It is crucial to understand, that the fight for the environment is an anti-colonial fight. It is the same system of oppression that is murdering activists in South and Central America, protesting illegal mining and logging and that is murdering the people in Gaza for beachfront property and enslaving children in cobalt mines in Congo.
It is the same system of oppression that seeks to take land and resources from any native population they can oppress with violence. These fights are all interconnected and they are fights for the rights of the ordinary people vs. the power of capital and military might, serving the interests of a selected few.
