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The regional office for the Americas of Amnesty International sent a letter to the Mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, in which expresses its concern about the consequences that it could bring for social movements, which are classified as “attackers” in the media monitoring report that the local administration contracted with the company Selecta Consulting Group.
The text refers to the specific case of the movement Living Rivers, what has denounced the environmental and social impacts of the Hidroituango project, responsibility of EPM.
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For Amnesty International, “All this, in the Colombian context is very serious, where the killings of activists and human rights defenders reached historical records ”.
The human rights defense body warned that the signaling as ‘attackers’ to the oversight initiatives and denounces, puts at risk the safety of those who comprise them.
“We are concerned about following up on our social networks, we want to tell the mayor that it is not necessary to spend millions of pesos to know our complaints”, Indicated Isabel Cristina Zuleta, director of Ríos Vivos.
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Although the local administration has not responded publicly to the letter signed by the Deputy Director of Research for the Americas, Fernanda Doz Costa, once the contract of 139 million pesos was known, the mayor of Medellín assured that it is a media monitoring with which it is sought to identify the behavior of citizens and entities in social networks, to improve interaction with them.
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Finally, the text states that “we call on your management take the necessary steps to create a safe space so that the Ríos Vivos Movement can continue its work to protect human rights, and refrain from taking actions that may contribute to the stigmatization and increased risk of the Movement. “
