An environmental activist lives in constant fear in northern Mexico. An Indigenous leader is stabbed to death and tossed in a river in the Brazilian jungle. A regional governor is given a six-year prison sentence by a court in Peru. Separate fates tied by a single thread: all three had opposed mining projects.

The extractive industries – and their devastating impact on the environment – will be on the agenda when officials convene for the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December in Spain, under the presidency of the government of Chile. But outside diplomatic circles, publicly discussing mining activities has become a perilous task in Latin America.

According to Global Witness, an environmental watchdog, mining was the deadliest sector for land defenders in 2018: 43 people were murdered after standing up to mining interests, and 11 of those killings occurred in Latin America.

Read the complete article at Index on Censorship