Costa Rican indigenous land activist killed by armed mob – “The government either can’t or won’t protect the Bribri and Brörán from violence”
By Nina Lakhani
25 February 2020
MEXICO CITY (The Guardian) – A Costa Rican indigenous defender has been killed by an armed mob while trying to reclaim ancestral land – the latest in a spate of violence targeting native communities in Central America’s safest country.
Yehry Rivera, 45, from the Brörán community in Térraba, was shot dead around 11pm on Monday after being surrounded by a group of angry locals armed with sticks, machetes, stones, and at least one gun.
The attack took place amid mounting tensions in Térraba, where human rights groups had warned authorities in recent days about non-indigenous groups violently confronting Brörán families reclaiming ancestral land.
The events leading up to Monday night’s fatal shooting remain unclear, but video footage seen by the Guardian shows members of the group throwing stones and insults over Rivera’s bleeding body, with a police car parked close by.
The killing comes just two weeks after Mainor Ortiz Delgado, 29, a leader of the Bribri indigenous people in neighbouring Salitre, was wounded in a gun attack, and less than a year since Sergio Rojas Ortiz, 59, was shot dead. Both cases remain unsolved. […]
“Early warnings about the growing tensions in Térraba were once again met with an ineffective response by the state,” said Vanessa Jiménez, a lawyer with the not-for-profit organization Forest Peoples Programme who works with the indigenous communities. “The government either can’t or won’t protect the Bribri and Brörán from violence.”
Latin America is the most dangerous continent in the world to defend land rights and natural resources, and indigenous communities often bear the brunt of the violence. [more]
