[Debate] (Fwd) Guatemalan fights eco-destruction, shot seven times

[Patrick Bond]

LA Times

FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Bullets don't stop Guatemala green activist
Yuri Melini, Guatemala

Dr. Yuri Melini who was awarded the Frontline Protection of Human Rights 
Defenders Award, is seen in Dublin City Hall, Ireland on May 8.

Yuri Melini was shot seven times by an assailant nine months ago. The 
outspoken champion of environmental causes has made many enemies, and 
gained recognition too.

By Ken Ellingwood
June 11, 2009

Reporting from Guatemala City -- His stride is an awkward hop, the scars 
on his abdomen and legs an ugly road map of hurt. Seven bullets tore 
into Yuri Melini -- that much is known.

Harder to figure out is who did it. Melini has a lot of enemies.

Drug traffickers. Midnight loggers. Mining giants. Corrupt military men. 
Politicians. The 47-year-old Melini has taken on all of them as lead 
agitator of a Guatemalan environmental advocacy group, the Center for 
Legal, Environmental and Social Action, or CALAS.

Melini doesn't seem surprised that police have yet to come up with a 
solid lead into September's shooting by a lone gunman. Or that telephone 
threats and sightings of shadowy men haven't stopped.

He opts for the bright side. "I'm alive," Melini says.

If you think it's not easy being green, try doing it in a place as 
violent as Guatemala, where environmentalism is often viewed as a 
radical pursuit and the rule of law remains a distant goal. Speaking out 
can bring a hit man to your door.

For the last nine years, Melini has spoken out a lot. Using a mix of 
grass-roots activism, lawsuits and old-fashioned lobbying, his 
organization tackles issues from illegal logging in protected forests 
and the impact of a growing mining industry to the supply and 
cleanliness of water.

Guatemala has plenty of other grave social problems, poverty and 
inequality among them. But Melini, who gave up his training as a 
physician to focus on conservation causes, says his environmental work 
ties into a wider effort to improve life for the powerless, including 
the country's large indigenous population.

"There are enough laws -- the problem is they are not being applied," 
Melini says, as government-supplied bodyguards wait outside his office 
in Guatemala City, the capital. "It is a matter of awareness and will: 
raising the awareness of the people and the will of the politicians."

Big triumphs have been few for CALAS, with a staff of 21 lawyers, 
engineers, agronomists, sociologists and other experts.

But a major victory came last June, when the group won a Supreme Court 
of Justice ruling that struck down parts of the nation's mining law as 
too lax. CALAS had argued in its legal challenge that the law didn't 
adequately safeguard people living near mining operations.

Melini has done battle with oil firms and gone to court to challenge a 
decision to allow logging in a mountain forest designated for protection.

In addition, he has complained loudly about damage caused by drug 
traffickers in a vast wilderness in the northern province of Peten, 
where smugglers fell trees to build secret airstrips and roads. This 
year, CALAS is to open its first offices in the region, home to some of 
its toughest fights and most dangerous adversaries.

Such crusades don't always charm. Melini acknowledges that even some 
environmentalists consider him too strident. He relies on foreign 
sources for funding, with most coming from a special environmental 
program of the Dutch government.

But admirers say Melini is breaking new ground by carrying environmental 
fights to the courtroom -- a tactic that is common in the United States 
but not in Guatemala or much of the surrounding region. Melini says he 
wants to create a legal-aid network devoted to environmental issues and 
to lobby for creating special environment courts.

"Environmental litigation across Central America is still not very 
common," said Erika Rosenthal, an attorney for the Oakland-based group 
Earthjustice. "That kind of advocacy . . . is sorely needed."

Last month, Melini was honored by the Irish-based human rights group 
Front Line for his efforts on illegal logging and mining issues. The 
group cited his attempts to bring attention to attacks on environmental 
activists. (He counted 128 during two years.)

Melini was ambushed outside his mother's house Sept. 4 by a gunman who 
fired from close range. The activist said he lay curled on the ground, 
awaiting the coup de grace, but the attacker left.

Nine months later, Melini gets around with a walker and faces more 
surgery. He's had residency offers from several countries, including 
Switzerland and the Netherlands, but refused. He figures fleeing 
Guatemala would serve those behind the attack on him, whoever they are.

"I am like a tree," Melini says. "They chopped me down, and I'm bouncing 
back again."