Bety Cariño

I learned just this morning that another colleague of ours from Front Line died tragically yesterday. Bety Cariño was a courageous human rights defender from Mexico, who came to Dublin just over two months ago - with G who I mentioned last week - to take part in the Dublin Platform. Yesterday she was shot and killed while travelling in a humanitarian caravan which was bringing aid relief, food supplies and teachers to a small town blockaded in recent months by paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico. The caravan was ambushed and fired upon; an international observer from Finland, Tyri Antero Jaakkola, was also killed. Others were wounded and many remain missing. No one knows if they too have been killed or kidnapped, or if they are hiding in the bush.

Being a human rights defender from Mexico is a particularly difficult, even deadly, profession. Bety faced the additional risks that came from her belonging to an indigenous community, and from being a woman. Both the indigenous and woman are particularly vulnerable, mostly thanks to economic disadvantage and the threats of stigmatisation and violence they face from the authorities and from society itself. During her time in Dublin, she spoke so eloquently about the problems facing her indigenous community in their struggle for autonomy and access to their lands and resources that her testimony was truly poetic. At a party at the Jameson Distillery late on a Friday night, she took to the stage and held the whole room spellbound as she sang a song from her community. I took some pictures, one of which you can see above.

You can read Front Line's report on Bety's death here or read more about the attack in which she was killed here. It is reported of the caravan in which Bety travelled that:

The caravan was carrying food, water, and other basic necessities to San Juan Copala, which has been subject to a paramilitary blockade that has prevented anyone from entering or leaving the community since January. In addition to carrying much-needed supplies, the caravan was meant to accompany teachers who were returning to classes after paramilitaries denied them access to the community nearly five months ago. The caravan included representatives from the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), Section 22 of the teachers union, the Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS), Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Liberty (VOCAL), two reporters from the Mexican magazine Contralinea, and international observers from Belgium, Finland, Italy, and Germany.

I hardly know what to say.