Leonard Saleo, Conservationist in Indonesia - Portrait 19

Pencil and digital by John Cleveland Sherman III

Leonard Saleo, known as "Pak Leo,"was a conservationist in Indonesia who used his influence as a traditional leader of the Batanta people to organize patrols to reduce the incidence of dynamite bomb fishing. He was also working for Conservation International as the head of the Dayan Field Station. 

March 1, 2010, Pak Leo was killed by illegal loggers during a confrontation. He was awarded CI's Conservation Warrior award posthumously. 



Sources:

http://magazine.conservation.org/online/07/#page06

Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego, Water Quality and Community Activist in Colombia - Portrait 18

Rough draft gouache painting by Liz Peterson

Sandra Viviana Cuellar Gallego has been missing since February of 2011. She was a 26 year-old environmental engineer, teacher and activist who advocated for the rights of the local community to have a voice in the decisions affecting their environment and livelihood. She was passionate about water quality and wetland issues. She was working with Friends of the Earth Colombia at the time of her disappearance. 

Sandra Viviana's cell phone and identity documents were found near a bus stop that she was to take to give a talk at the National University of Colombia. Her family and many international groups have appealed the Colombian government to investigate her disappearance thoroughly, but there has been no progress in the search for her. Colombia has the worst record in the world for forced disappearances, according to a report by the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, with over 50,000 people being registered as missing. 


Sources:


http://english.pravda.ru/history/09-03-2011/117139-Colombia_Sandra_Viviana_still_missing-0/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXi938zYfM

http://www.usofficeoncolombia.org/docs/breaking-the-silence/press-release-forced-disappearance-report-final.pdf

Juvy, Jordan and Jhon Capion, Anti-mining Activist in the Philippines - portrait 17

Portrait in progress, pencil and copper paint on paper

Juvy Capion was one of the leaders of an organization fighting for the rights of the B'laan people in the Philippines to prevent mining on their ancestral lands. Sagittarius Mines, Inc (SMI), owned by swiss-operated X-strata, is the owner of the Tambakan gold and copper project. There have been many conflicts with the local tribes over the legality and ethics of their developments. According to statements by Mrs. Capion before her death, SMI did not fairly obtain consent for the development of the land for the Tambakan mine, but instead obtained the signatures from fake "leaders" of the tribe who were asked to sign a sheet of paper to be given a free lunch. 

Capion's husband Daguil, was leading a resistance to SMI and was a wanted fugitive at the time of his wife's death. 

In October of 2012, Juvy Capion and two of her children, Jordan (age 15) and Jhon (age 7) were killed when the Philippine army stormed their house. The soldiers allege that they were searching for Daguil Capion as they had a warrant for his arrest, and that they were fired upon when they arrived at the house. Other witnesses to the encounter said that Juvy and her sons were shot as they were sleeping and that Daguil was no where near the home at the time. No charges have been filed against the soldiers as the Philippine government has declared that the incident was the result of a legitimate effort to capture Daguil Capion. 

According to a recent Al Jazeera article, there have been 67 murders of environmental activists in the Philippines and only 2 suspects have been charged. 

Sources:


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/04/filipino-eco-warriors-losing-battle-philippines-2014415125912780562.html

http://www.rappler.com/nation/14418-anti-mining-tribe-leader’s-wife,-2-sons-killed-in-‘encounter’

http://www.nordis.net/?p=14075

http://www.rappler.com/business/special-report/whymining/whymining-latest-stories/141-no2mining/2065-mining-is-a-social-justice-issue

Volodymyr Honcharenko, Anti-Pollution Educator in the Ukraine - Portrait 16

charcoal and gouache on watercolor paper by Liz Peterson

Volodymyr Honcharenko wanted to educate and protect the Ukrainian citizens from environmental hazards. He was a scientist who helped compile reports for one of the few sources of data on nuclear contamination and safety of drinking reservoirs in the country, and was the head of an NGO called "For Citizen's Right to a Safe Environment". In September of 2012, Honcharenko gave a press conference to inform the public about a "chemical time bomb" of toxic metal waste being held in the Kryvyi district. The massive metal stockpile contained scrap once used in the production of a pesticide hexachlorobenzene, which was banned in the 60s after it was found to cause liver damage and other serious health problems. He was concerned that the waste metal would be cut and mixed with other metals and reused, and also that the location in which they were cutting the metal was very close to the drinking reservoir for a city. 

Four days after Mr. Honcharenko went public with these concerns, a group of men blocked his vehicle and then pulled him out and brutally attacked him. He died three days later on Aug. 3, 2012. Several of his friends had reported that Honcharenko was receiving threats leading up to his death, and are convinced that his activism was the reason he was targeted. Since his death, the pile of metal has disappeared from its previous location and no progress has been made in finding his murderers .


Sources:

http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1344161969
http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1344173215
http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1364160190

Sister Dorothy Stang, Rainforest Protector in Brazil - Portrait 15

Portrait made with pastel, paint and photoshop by Lucy Grady, age 12

Sister Dorothy Stang was an american-born nun and member of the congregation of Notre Dame de Namur. She was murdered in the state of Para, Brazil, in 2005. Sister Dorothy was very outspoken about protecting the rights of the poor and preventing the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Her congregation's website has a beautiful write-up of Sister Dorothy's life and work, and includes many links to current news and initiatives to help the poor and the environment in Brazil. 

Here is the summary from their website:

"Sister Dorothy, 73, was born in Dayton, Ohio, one of nine children. She was raised on a farm in a traditional Catholic family. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur community in 1948 and professed final vows in 1956. From 1951 to 1966 she taught elementary classes at St. Victor School in Calumet City, IL, St. Alexander School in Villa Park, IL and Most Holy Trinity School in Phoenix, Az. She began her ministry in Brazil in 1966, in Coroata in the state of Maranhao. 

A citizen of Brazil and the United States, Sister Dorothy worked with the Pastoral Land Commission, an organization of the Catholic Church that fights for the rights of rural workers and peasants, and defends land reforms in Brazil. Her death came less than a week after meeting with the country's human rights officials about threats to local farmers from loggers and landowners. 

Before her murder, Sister Dorothy was named 'Woman of the Year' by the state of Para for her work in the Amazon region. She also received the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Brazilian Bar Association for her work helping the local rural workers. 

Since her death, Sister Dorothy has been widely honored for her life and work by the United States Congress and by a number of colleges and universities across the United States. She was posthumously awarded the 2008 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. Books, movies, documentaries and an opera have been developed about her. And she was formally recognized by the Vatican as a modern day martyr."

Sources:

About Dorothy Stang from the Notre Dame de Damur website

http://www.theykilledsisterdorothy.com

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0215-03.htm

Amit Jethwa, Voice for the Gir National Forest in India - Portrait 14

Watercolor gouache and marker by Liz Peterson - this is a draft and study for larger painting

It is difficult to fully summarize the accomplishments of Amit Jethwa, a skilled advocate for the nature and community of Gujarat in western India. Jethwa began his career as a pharmacist and later became a social worker helping communities organize against abuses by helping them understand and use the RTI (Right to Information Act). He also founded the Gir Youth Nature club which monitored illegal activities against wildlife in the area, particularly the poaching of asiatic lions in Gir National Forest and the illegal hunting of sea turtles along the coast. His vigilance in asking questions about the suspicious deaths of lions in the park helped reveal an undercover lion poaching gang operating in collusion with some park officials. Jethwa was also an instrumental figure in the prosecution of a famous bollywood actor, Salman Khan, after Khan illegally killed an endangered animal, a chinkara deer. 

In 2008, Jethwa began to use the RTI act to expose illegal mining operations in a protected area near the Gir Forest. Based on information he found, he filed a public interest lawsuit against the mining efforts and named one particular government official, Dinu Solanki, as respondent in the case. He aimed to get the court's backing to cut off the power supply to the mining operations. In the midst of his activism against Solanki's illegal mining activities, Jethwa was threatened on several occasions by Solanki, and had sought an order of protection by the police, saying he believed that Solanki would try to have him killed. 

On July 20, 2010, two gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed Jethwa outside of the high court of Gujarat where he had been meeting with his lawyer. The two men, Pachan Silva and Shailesh Pandya, escaped but were soon found, and initial investigations revealed that the two men were hired by a constable of Solanki's nephew, Shiva Solanki. The police ruled out the possibility of Dinu Solanki being involved in the crime, in spite of the fact that Solanki and his nephew lived together at the time. Jethwa's father appealed to have Dinu Solanki tried in September of 2012. Dinu Solanki was finally arrested by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) in 2013. 


Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/world/asia/23india.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://amitjethwa.blogspot.com

http://amitjethwa.blogspot.com/2010/11/biography-of-activist.html

Ketheeswaran Thevaraja, Anti Sand Mining activist in Sri Lanka, Portrait 13

Today's "portrait" is a short sequence of Thevaraja's pictures by my 14 year-old son, Ben, whose preferred media is filmmaking. The song was chosen to honor Thevaraja who is wearing a John Lennon shirt in his photos. 

In late 2010, a young postal worker and environmentalist named Ketheeswaran Thevaraja led a social media campaign to reveal the illegal destruction of the sand dunes of Vadamaraadchi in Sri Lanka. As indicated in his photos, the sand excavation in the area was damaging the ecosystem and creating sea water seepage and land loss in the nearby villages. The companies harvesting the sand were backed by the Sri Lankan military.  In addition to the Facebook posts, Thevaraja was working with Sri Lankan media outlets to expose the information, and it is believed that this is the reason he was killed. 

On new year's eve of 2010, several members of the S.R. paramilitary shot and killed Thevaraja in his home.

Sources:

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2012/01/brutal-murder-of-environmentalist-and.html

http://www.globaltamilnews.net/GTMNEditorial/tabid/71/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/76484/language/en-US/SL-military-backed-sand-mining-irreversibly-destroys-environment-in-Jaffna.aspx

http://www.humanrights.asia/news/forwarded-news/AHRC-FST-001-2011