Environmental activist Diana Isabel Hernández was slain Sept. 14 in an attack by armed men on a religious procession in her community of Monte Gloria, Santo Domingo municipality, in the Guatemalan department of Suchitepéquez. Hernández was a leader of the Mujeres Madre Tierra Association, a group linked to the local Catholic church that worked to protect forests and promote organic agriculture. The Alianza por la Solidaridad [9] human rights network denounced the slaying as a "cowardly murder that adds to the many cases of attacks on leaders who work for the common good." The network counts [10] 16 social leaders assassinated in Guatemala last year—compared to three in 2017.
The Alianza por la Solidaridad is also demanding the release of Bernardo Caal Xol [11], a community leader in Alta Verapaz department, who was imprisoned last year on "delinquency" charges related to his protests against the local Renace [12] hydro-electric project on the Río Cahabón, which would flood traditional lands [13] of the Qeqchi Maya people. (InfoLibre [7], Spain, Religión Digital [14], Spain)
