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Damming dissent: how an Italian multinational is persecuting environmental defenders In Colombia

The practices of an Italian multinational in Huila, Colombia, exemplify how the criminalization of activists is increasingly used to end dissent and real democratic participation in Latin America. Español

By Thomas Mc Donagh and Philippa de Boissière
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Local_communities_organise.jpg
Local_communities_organise.jpg

Local communities organise. Authors´photo. All rights reserved.

“EMGESA ’s strategy is to stop this resistance, because the whole department of Huila is rising up against dams, against fracking." Miller Dussan

In his late sixties, Miller Dussan is an affable, well-respected Colombian academic and community leader. Yet on 6th February 2017 the father of two will appear in court to face one of two legal charges that could see him locked behind bars for up to twelve years. Miller's alleged crimes stem from his committed defense of Colombia's main waterway in his native region of Huila and the livelihoods of those that depend upon it. His accuser, EMGESA, is the local subsidiary of Italian multinational energy giant ENEL.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0