Mennonites said to deforest ancestral Indigenous land in Colombia
Environmental authorities and Indigenous groups accuse a Mennonite community, members of an Anabaptist Protestant sect, of destroying forests and polluting water sources in the Altillanura high plains of eastern Colombia.
Authorities say the Mennonites have burned 135 hectares (333 acres) of riverbank forest since arriving in the region in 2016.
Indigenous Sikuani communities say the Mennonites have taken over their ancestral lands and driven away the native wildlife and fish with their farming activities and intensive use of agrochemicals.
The Mennonite colony is one of many that left Mexico in recent years and settled in other Latin American countries, including Peru and Bolivia, where they have also been accused of environmental violations.
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Mexican president decries reports of cyber spying
FILE PHOTO: Mexico s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador participates on a commemoration on the third anniversary of his presidential election victory at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
July 21, 2021
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday described as “shameful” reports of purported government-ordered cyber spying several years ago that may have targeted him and his close allies and said his government did not spy on anyone.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that at least 50 people close to Lopez Obrador, among others, were potentially targeted by the previous administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto after it purchased Pegasus spying software from Israel-based NSO Group.
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The Mexican Attorney General s Office on Tuesday said it was planning to use some of the new information for its already-open investigation into spying on individuals using the Pegasus software. The [new] information is being incorporated into the already launched investigation, the office said in a statement.
The Guardian s reporting was based on what the newspaper and other media outlets have said was a leak of some 50,000 phone numbers that were selected for possible surveillance by NSO Group s government clients.
The list, first accessed by the French nonprofit journalist outlet Forbidden Stories and advocacy group Amnesty International, was shared with The Guardian and more than a dozen other news outlets.