Indigenous-rights leader murdered in Costa Rica

Sergio Rojas, a leader of the Bribrí people in southern Costa Rica’s Salitre indigenous territory, was under threat. He knew it, and the Costa Rican government knew it. So did the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which in 2015 called for precautionary measures aimed at ensuring the safety of the Bribrí—a year in which Rojas escaped an attempt on his life. The awareness and attention ultimately did not suffice: on the night of March 18, Rojas, a prominent advocate for protection of indigenous lands and rights, was murdered in his home, his body riddled by 15 bullets. “He was killed hours after he accompanied some neighbors from his community to the public prosecutor’s office, to report threats they had received,” according to a March 22 statement issued by the IACHR, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States. Rojas, a 59-year-old father of five... [Log in to read more]

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