The 73-year-old president of Putreguel commune was last seen on November 8 when she left her home to feed the animals and, according to her family, had received threats for defending 900 hectares of native forest.

“The precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission and pressure from human rights organizations have not been enough to trigger a real search or guarantee justice,” the groups that make up the Dia a Dia por Julia Chunil space expressed.

The statement warns that this case highlights the lack of protection for environmental defenders, especially indigenous women, and revives repressive practices from bygone eras.

Lucia Sepulveda, spokesperson for the Movement for Water and Territories, stated that the government signed the Escazu Agreement and must comply with the guarantees for those who defend the environment.

The organizations that make up the Space for Day by Day by Julia Chunil prepared a report for the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

The 15-page document, which was released to the press outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denounces impunity, the criminalization of social protest, and the deepening of the extractive model under the guise of the energy transition.

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