Authorities claim the had fired a weapon at police, but there is strong forensic evidence that the protester was seated with hands up and had not fired a weapon.
Many other peaceful protesters as well as those providing mutual aid and bond support have been charged in a far-reaching prosecution that has labelled many as Domestic Terrorists.
On April 5th, two organizations, including Robert F Kennedy Human Rights and Southern Center for Human Rights together with the University of Dayton Human Rights Center filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calling for an investigation into the killing of Manuel Esteban Páez Terán, also known as Tortuguita.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Anthony Enriqez of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights.
Anthony Enriqez is an attorney working to reduce mass incarceration in the United States by exposing and stopping human rights abuses in the criminal legal and immigration systems. As the Vice President of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, he leads a team of advocates fighting for accountability for state-sponsored racial discrimination, torture, and extrajudicial killings. He has over a decade of expertise in child refugee protection, immigrants’ rights, and anti-detention advocacy and litigation.
Anthony graduated from New York University School of Law in 2013 and clerked for a federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve Taylor (00:00):
Welcome to Breaking Green, a podcast by
Global Justice Ecology Project.
On Breaking Green.
We will talk with activists andexperts to examine the
intertwined issues of social,ecological and economic
injustice.
We will also explore some ofthe more outrageous proposals to
address climate andenvironmental crises that are
(00:22):
falsely being sold as green.
I am your host, steve Taylor.
On January 18th of last year, aland defender protesting the
raising of an urban forest tobuild a police training
mega-complex known as Cop Citywas killed by a hail of bullets
fired by police in Atlanta,georgia.
Authorities claim that theprotester shot at police, but
(00:44):
there is strong forensicevidence that the protester shot
at police, but there is strongforensic evidence that the
protester was seated with handsup and had not fired a weapon.
Since, many other peacefulprotesters, as well as those
providing mutual aid and bondsupport, have been charged in a
far-reaching prosecution thathas labeled many as domestic
terrorists.
On April 5th, two organizations, including Robert F Kennedy
(01:08):
Human Rights and Southern Centerfor Human Rights, together with
University of Dayton HumanRights Center, filed a petition
with the Inter-AmericanCommission on Human Rights
calling for an investigationinto the killing of Manuel Pais
Turan, also known as Tortuguita.
On this episode of BreakingGreen, we will talk with Anthony
(01:29):
Enriquez of Robert F KennedyHuman Rights.
Anthony Enriquez is an attorneyworking to reduce mass
incarceration in the UnitedStates by exposing and stopping
human rights abuses in thecriminal, legal and immigration
systems.
As the Vice President of USAdvocacy and Litigation at
Robert F Kennedy Human Rights,he leads a team of advocates
(01:53):
fighting for accountability forstate-sponsored racial
discrimination, torture andextrajudicial killings.
He has over a decade ofexperience in child refugee
protection, immigrants' rightsand anti-detention advocacy and
litigation.
Anthony graduated from New YorkUniversity School of Law in
2013 and clerked for a federaldistrict court judge in the
(02:17):
Southern District of New York.
Anthony Enriquez, welcome toBreaking Green.
Anthony Enriquez (02:23):
Thanks so much , steve, it's great to be here.
Steve Taylor (02:25):
For those listeners who may not be
familiar with the case, couldyou give us an overview of who
Tortuguita was and how they died?
Anthony Enriquez (02:33):
Yes, I could.
Tortuguita is the firstenvironmental and human rights
defender in history to be killedby United States law
enforcement.
Tato Orquesta was killed by theGeorgia state police while
sitting cross-legged and engagedin a peaceful protest of plans
(02:56):
by Georgia officials to destroyan urban forest and construct in
its place a militarized policetraining facility, known as Cop
City, colloquially.
Alongside community members andcivil society activists,
Tortuguita sought to raiseawareness of the harms that
(03:19):
would be caused by thisenvironmental destruction and of
the racially discriminatorypolicing that Atlanta and
Georgia police engaged in.
Atlanta is a city where Blackpeople constitute 50% of the
population but make up 90% ofarrests and 88% of police
(03:39):
killings.
Steve Taylor (03:40):
And one of the elements was is that this cop
city?
There was going to be a raisingor destruction of an urban
forest?
Could you talk about theconcerns with that regarding, I
guess the disprop stop Cop Citybrings together many
intersecting human rightsmovements.
Anthony Enriquez (04:09):
It really called the attention of
environmental defenders whowanted to stop the destruction
of an urban area green spacethat was located in
predominantly blackneighborhoods.
It was located in predominantlyBlack neighborhoods.
It brought together people whowere concerned over increases in
(04:33):
police violence, especially inthe wake of racial justice
protests related to the murderof Judge George Floyd and others
in 2020.
And it's also brought togetherpeople who are concerned over
suppression of civic space inthe United States.
Civic space is really a termthat means all of us have the
(04:54):
right to assemble to peaceablyspeak our minds and to petition
our government to address ourgrievances.
But recent police activity,recent legislative proposals,
have really been aimed atreducing and even eliminating
(05:15):
civic space, criminalizing ourability to speak out in defense
of the causes that matter to us.
In defense of the causes thatmatter to us.
So Cop City and the movement tostop Cop City is really
occurring at the intersection ofall three of these movements.
Now you've asked what were someof the concerns specifically
(05:39):
related to the disproportionateeffects that the destruction of
the South River Forest couldhave on communities of color.
The South River Forest, whichis the land that the city of
Atlanta proposed raising inorder to construct Cop City has
a really long history in ourcountry of being a space of
(06:04):
racial violence.
It was previously occupied byCreek Indians who were, as
people famously know, wereejected from that territory in
the Trail of Tears.
They began to be displaced in1821 and today now live largely
(06:30):
in Oklahoma.
This community, actually membersof the Creek community, have
actually come back to Atlanta toexpress solidarity with the
Stop Cop City activists andtheir continued struggle for
racial justice.
Of course, another element ofthis is that the location of the
(06:51):
South River Forest, right in anurban area of Atlanta, really
abuts neighborhoods that arepredominantly Black.
This was therefore a space thatprovided people with
environmental benefits of trees,of rivers.
You know, those types of openand wild areas are associated
(07:16):
with health benefits, bothphysical and mental health, for
people who have access to thattype of environmental space, for
people who have access to thattype of environmental space, and
(07:37):
they also help reduce airpollution in neighborhoods that
have really suffered a lot ofthe consequences of
environmental degradation.
So this particular land really,as I said, has been a site of a
lot of racial injustice, andthat's part of what the Stop Cop
.
Steve Taylor (07:54):
City movement is intended to do is to finally put
a stop to that racial injustice, very aggressive and, I believe
, characterized these peacefulprotesters as domestic
terrorists right off the bat.
Could you give us a little bitof background on that?
Anthony Enriquez (08:14):
Absolutely.
The movement to criminalize theStop Cop City protesters has
been aggressive and really hasmanipulated portions of the law
that were intended to addressharms completely unrelated to
(08:34):
what the protesters are really awide variety of people
associated with severaldifferent focuses on human
rights.
Again, we talked about racialjustice, about movements to
(08:58):
reduce policing as the catch-allsolution for social ills, about
movements to preserve greenspace within our cities, and so,
as a consequence, the peoplewho make up this movement really
have different functions.
A portion of the Stop Cop Cityprotesters, for instance,
(09:19):
participated in the creation ofbail funds to help bail out
peaceful protesters who had beenwrongly arrested for speaking
their minds.
A portion of the Stop Cop Cityprotesters are not what we would
think of as traditionalprotesters, but really are
(09:40):
people who are concernedcitizens of their neighborhoods
and have gone to city councilmeetings to speak up against the
destruction of forest land intheir backyards.
And a portion of Stop Cup Cityprotesters were people who were
really dedicated toenvironmental defense, who
called themselves land defendersand who, in vindication of that
(10:10):
defense, went and actuallycamped out in the South River
Forest and occupied some of thetrees there to really draw
attention, through peaceful,non-violent, civil disobedience
to the harms that the Stop CopCity facility was going to visit
upon the committee the landdefenders.
That was the group to whichTortuguita belonged, and that
(10:35):
was the context in whichTortuguita was killed while he
was living in a tent within theforest.
Living in a tent within theforest, but the that was
(11:05):
originally passed in 2020 as areaction to the killing spree
that Dylan Roof engaged in whenhe entered a traditionally Black
church and killed parishionersthere.
Shortly after that happened, in2020, the Georgia legislature
passed a domestic terrorism lawthat enhanced criminal penalties
(11:29):
for people who used violence orcoercion to influence a
government policy.
Essentially and this is a reallyunfortunately sad example of
what happens when you ask thelaw to solve a problem like hate
(11:51):
that exists or racism thatexists, oftentimes what happens
is the tools that people thinkwill be used, that people trust
will be used in favor ofoppressed people, get used by
the state to actually oppresspeople further.
And so a law that was, uh,supposedly passed in order to
(12:48):
punish and ensure that violentkilling sprees that were when
the police are engaging inkillings of Black people effort
by Georgia authorities tocriminalize the ideology behind
this movement, and what I meanis Georgia authorities filed
racketeering charges againstwhat they alleged were
(13:12):
participants in a conspiracy touse violent vandalism against
the state.
So people, for instance, whowere running those bail funds
that we talked about, people whowere providing mutual aid,
giving someone a place to stay,some food those people were
(13:34):
arrested as members of a violentconspiracy.
Now what's interesting is, ifyou look at the indictments, the
conspiracy is alleged to havebegun the day that George Floyd
was murdered, in 2020, which wasa year before the Atlanta City
Council even authorized thedestruction of the South River
(13:59):
Forest to construct Cop City.
Essentially, what the state issaying is people who are
participating in protestsagainst the killings of Black
people.
The disproportionate killingsof Black people by United States
police are engaged in acriminal conspiracy and over 60
(14:21):
people have been indicted onthese currently pending
conspiracy charges to punishpeople for their beliefs in
racial equity and inaccountability for police for
their killings for police fortheir killings, but people
(14:53):
running bail funds are beingarrested under domestic
terrorism charges or conspiracycharges.
Steve Taylor (15:05):
Obviously, it is meant to chill.
I know that your petition dealswith this and we want to talk
about that later what you hopeto accomplish but it is really
chilling how aggressive and thetheory that the state is using
to brand people terrorists, andit does seem to be branding or
(15:30):
attacking an ideology.
So let's talk a little bitabout Tortuguita, who was
violently killed by police whowas participating in these
protests.
I would hope that you'd be ableto run us through a bit what
happened, and then I want totalk about all the evidence that
(15:50):
goes against the officialnarrative.
But first, what happened toTortuguita?
Anthony Enriquez (15:58):
So I'd like to start by emphasizing not
Tortuguita's murder, butTortuguita's life.
That's part of what ourpetition aims to do is to really
counter the narrative thatGeorgia authorities have put out
, that this person's life canjust be reduced to one day and
(16:18):
one violent act.
Tortuguita, who used they-thempronouns, identified as
non-binary, was a citizen ofVenezuela, but a lawful
permanent resident of the UnitedStates.
He had attended college inFlorida in the United States and
(16:52):
, by all accounts, was trulydedicated to nonviolence and to
caring for his fellow humanbeings.
Tortuguita graduated magna cumlaude from Florida State
University in the United Statesin 2021.
They had a degree in psychologyand they were truly dedicated
(17:23):
to nonviolence.
They were building low incomehousing for people who had been
affected by a hurricane.
Tortita was also a trainedmedic and was really renowned
for putting others first, almostto a fault.
There was, for instance, aremembrance written about Togita
by a reporter who had spenttime in the forest with them in
(17:47):
December 2022, who describedthem as curious, engaging,
earnest, educated, self-aware.
Engaging, earnest, educated,self-aware, well-read and very
funny, and they really quotedTortuguita as saying the right
kind of resistance is peaceful.
(18:08):
We're not going to beat them atviolence.
They're very, very good atviolence, but we went through
nonviolence.
That's really the only way wecan win.
We don't want more people todie and we don't want Atlanta to
turn into a war zone.
So part of what our petitionseeks to do is to really
(18:28):
vindicate Tortuguita's memory,is to really let the world know
that this was a young personfull of promise.
This was a young person who wasdedicated to care for their
fellow human beings, and a youngperson who was going to make a
difference had their life notbeen snuffed out so tragically.
(18:52):
As far as what happened, well,people first started coming to
the South River Forest inAtlanta and identifying as
forest defenders in late 2021.
Was a group of defenders whostarted camping there,
(19:23):
establishing tree houses in thecanopy of the forest and
building temporary structuresabout 15 feet off the ground.
And in January 28th of 2022,members of local police the
DeKalb County Police made theirfirst forays into the forest,
(19:47):
where they encountered some ofthese protesters who were really
described as chanting andwaving banners, making loud and
boisterous marches really whatwe think of as the epitome of
non-violent protests.
And the Georgia authoritiesresponded to that with violence.
(20:08):
So in May of 2022, they firstentered the forest and arrested
eight of the forest defenders,typically on charges of
trespassing.
In December of 2022, amulti-agency task force convened
by the Georgia Bureau ofInvestigation raided the forest
(20:31):
and arrested 12 people andcharged them with domestic
terrorism.
And then we come to January2023, where, early in the month,
the Georgia governor, brianKemp, gave a report, an
interview with a reporter, wherehe vowed to maintain the
(20:52):
aggressive approach and said theonly response we will give to
intimidation and violence isswift and exact justice.
And so you really see theauthorities really struggling to
create violence and to createthis narrative that the forest
defenders were engaging inviolence, when all evidence
(21:14):
shows it was the police thatactually escalated the violence.
And it was the morning ofJanuary 18th 2023, when the
Georgia State Patrol and theDeKalb County police conducted
another raid on the forest.
They found Tortuguita in theirtent and they shot Tortuguita
(21:39):
with at least 14 bullets,producing over 50 wounds, and
that was how Tortuguita diedtragically.
Steve Taylor (22:14):
Yeah, so it was shocking to hear that when the
report had suggested or assertedthat Tortuguita had fired a
weapon and injured a policeofficer and that's why they had
this barrage of fire, could youtell us what you know about the
(22:47):
evidence that Tortuguita did notfire, or what you know about
these autopsies?
Because if what I am saying istrue, that's very disturbing.
Anthony Enriquez (22:58):
So there were two autopsies conducted.
The first was by a state agency, the DeKalb County Medical
Examiner's Office, and thesecond was by an independent
investigator that the familycommissioned investigator that
the family commissioned and bothof those autopsies found.
(23:25):
For instance, the state'sautopsy found that soot,
stippling, searing and gunpowderresidue were not found in
association with any of theclothing that Tortuguitita was
wearing.
And the forensic pathologistwho was hired by the family also
(23:46):
concluded in his investigationthat the injuries to Tortita's
hands showed evidence fromwounds in both palms, fingers
and forearms, suggesting thattheir hands were raised, that
wounds to their legs, includingbroken bones to the tibia and
fibula from shotgun missiles,suggested that Tortuguita was
(24:10):
seated cross-legged at the timeof their shooting, with their
left leg crossed over theirright, and confirming what the
DeKalb County Medical Examiner'sOffice had concluded was that
there was no gunpowder residuefound on Tortita's clothing or
(24:33):
body.
Steve Taylor (24:35):
How has the state responded to these findings or
to requests for informationregarding this?
Anthony Enriquez (24:45):
One of the most frustrating things for
Tortuguita's family and friendsis that the state has
continually hidden or obfuscatedevidence, has said that it
can't release evidence of theinvestigation that it conducted
into Tortuita's killing becausethey have a currently pending
(25:08):
criminal case against several ofTortuita's co-activists and
protesters, several of Tortita'sco-activists and protesters,
and it's you know, the onedoesn't really have much to do
with the other.
It really just seems like astrategy to avoid any type of
public accountability for thispolice killing.
Steve Taylor (25:31):
What about the possibility of friendly fire
officer and officer?
Anthony Enriquez (25:37):
It's not unique that in police killing
situations or in situationswhere police have been injured,
it's often the police themselves, who typically have access to
the weapons do end up shootingor hurting themselves.
Do end up shooting or hurtingthemselves.
Steve Taylor (26:05):
The interesting thing about this situation is
that the Georgia State.
Anthony Enriquez (26:08):
Patrol that ended up.
The officers that did killManuel don't typically use body
camera footage, or at leastthat's what the state is telling
us.
No body camera footage existsfrom the officer who actually
shot Tortita to death.
So the investigative report inTortita's death stated that no
(26:31):
body camera footage existsbecause the Georgia State Patrol
the agencies whose officerskilled Tokita don't uniformly
use them.
But the Cab County policeofficers, who were also present
that morning, are equipped withbody cameras and one of those
(26:52):
cameras picked up footage of anofficer saying, quote is this
target practice?
And man, you fucked your ownofficer up.
So this really suggests that aninjured officer had been shot
by another officer.
Steve Taylor (27:08):
If it was an officer involved shooting.
It seems as if they may even bepanicking a bit and just really
overcharging.
I mean, does overchargingactivists, does that play into
this at all, or am I just comingup with some sort of idea of a
(27:28):
conspiracy here?
But it seems to me like they'realmost in a panic to suppress.
Anthony Enriquez (27:34):
Well, it's ironic that you use the words
conspiracy theory, becausethat's exactly what the Georgia
authorities are chargingactivists with conspiring to
violently overthrow either plansto raise the forest or plans to
construct Cop City raise theforests or plans to construct
(28:01):
cop city.
But if you really look at thecombination of all of the
actions criminalizing sleepingin a hammock in a forest, saying
that that is domestic terrorism, criminalizing people who are
simply setting up charitablebond funds to help people be
released from pretrial detentionwhile their criminal cases are
(28:24):
ongoing you start to see theextraordinary pressure that as a
whole, atlanta authorities andGeorgia authorities are putting
on this movement.
But I think it's important toalso bear in mind that it isn't
Georgia alone.
The federal US Department ofHomeland Security also referred
(28:46):
to Atlanta activists as domesticviolent extremists in a public
terrorism bulletin.
So there is a real fellowshipbetween state authorities and
federal authorities here thattogether are working to really
restrict the use of civic spacefor nonviolent civil
(29:10):
disobedience or peaceful protest.
Steve Taylor (29:13):
Anthony, could your work here be considered
terrorist or part of thatterrorist conspiracy?
I mean, according to thestate's theory.
Anthony Enriquez (29:22):
It's an interesting question.
You know, the really chillingthing about the state statute is
that it doesn't have manybounds that have been
articulated.
We've been seeing the state tryto stretch it as far as
possible.
We've been seeing the state sayyou know, one of the elements
(29:43):
of conspiracy is a plan to havean intention to carry out a
criminal enterprise.
And in one sense, if thestate's saying everybody who
supports those who arepeacefully protesting, racial
(30:05):
violence and police violence arepart of that intention, then
yes, it seems that the state'stheory of criminal behavior
really doesn't have any outwardbounds, right?
Steve Taylor (30:20):
So what is the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights?
Anthony Enriquez (30:24):
The Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights is an independentbody in the Western Hemisphere
that's part of an organizationcalled the Organization of
American States.
It was really set up as across-national cooperation
(30:46):
mechanism for countries withinthe Western Hemisphere to
coordinate essential policiesthat would help them function
better for their mutualprosperity.
The Organization of AmericanStates actually got together in
(31:06):
the late 1940s to pass theworld's first general
declaration of human rights.
So this was before, forinstance, the International
Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights that was passed by the UN
.
Many people say that theInternational Covenant on Civil
(31:27):
and Political Rights issomething like a bill of rights
that we have in the USConstitution for the world.
But the American Declarationwas actually first, actually
preceded that and really seededit in important ways.
It was really the firstinternational human rights
instrument to say people don'thave rights just by virtue of
(31:51):
the fact that they're a citizenof the state.
They have rights by virtue ofthe fact that they're people,
that they're human beings, andthere are certain human rights
that every state is obligated torespect.
And so the Inter-AmericanCommission for Human Rights was
(32:12):
set up about a decade or soafter that to really examine
charges and allegations of humanrights violations by states
that are participating in theOrganization of American States.
You have to remember the contextthat these organizations were
birthed in was one in whichthere were many non-democratic
(32:35):
regimes that were in charge ofcountries across the Americas,
where there were really crediblestories of military juntas
disappearing people, oftorturing people, of genocides
of indigenous peoples, and sothis was the commission was
(33:00):
really playing an essential rolein trying to build public
pressure to put a stop to thesethings.
Today, the Inter-AmericanCommission is composed of seven
independent experts fromcountries across the Americas
who receive petitions andallegations of human rights
(33:23):
abuses that have been carriedout by countries that are
members of the Organization ofAmerican States, who evaluate
them and really decide what didor did not happen and can then
suggest to states of measuresthat a state can take to bring
(33:45):
human rights abusers toaccountability or to provide
some type of redress for victimsof human rights abuses.
Steve Taylor (33:55):
So tell us about the petition that has been filed
, and I guess maybe it would beright to say in Tortiquita's
behalf, or in the behalf ofthese forest defenders and
others who are being prosecutedunder this overly broad
terrorist rubric.
Anthony Enriquez (34:15):
So our petition really is narrowly
focused on Tortuguita and onTortuguita's mother and on the
violation of their human rights.
That being said, that violationoccurred within the context of
suppression of political speech,suppression of civic space, and
(34:37):
that includes the prosecutionof Tortuguita's fellow
protesters and land offenders.
So the story of what'shappening to them really plays
an essential part inunderstanding how and why
Tortuita's human rights wereviolated.
But our petition presents thisstory within the larger context
(34:59):
of the movement to stop Cop Cityand within the larger context
of protests against racializedkillings by police in the United
States that have occurred since2020.
The protest that is, of course,the killings much predate that
date, and our petition reallylays out the ways in which
(35:25):
Georgia authorities and federalauthorities have violated the
human rights of Tortuguita andof Tortuguita's mother.
Some of those violationsinclude the right to life
Obviously, when the state killssomeone, that's a violation of
their right to life.
But they also include humanrights like violation of the
(35:50):
right to special protection forhuman rights defenders, which is
a human right that theinter-american commission and
the inter-american court havefound is part of the American
Declaration of Human Rights.
They include the right to truthin investigation of human
(36:12):
rights abuses.
They also include the right todignity for survivors of victims
survivors or victims of humanrights abuses or of their family
as well, Because when we talkabout the way that the state has
tried to malign Tortuguita'smemory, that's inflicting an
(36:34):
ongoing human rights abuseagainst their mother, against
their family, people who caredeeply about Tortuguita and who
now have to face all of thequestioning and the
recrimination and the insultsthat people in their life are
telling them about their brother, their child, their family
(36:59):
member.
There's also an aspect thattalks about the fact that the
state of Georgia tried tointroduce Tortuguita.
In their tent was a diary thattalked about all of the ways in
(37:29):
which they were fighting forracial justice, for
environmental justice, and thestate of Georgia, after killing
Tortuguita, took that diarywithout a warrant and then
entered it into evidence to saythis is evidence of a criminal
conspiracy to violentlyoverthrow the Georgia government
(37:54):
.
And our petition talks abouthow the state has really used
torture to obtain evidence andthen introduce it into a
criminal proceeding.
That's a human right that can'tbe violated is the protection
against torture.
(38:14):
And so statements that areobtained through torture in this
case through killing that arethen later used to prosecute
other people.
That's an ongoing human rightsviolation that Georgia
authorities are engaged in rightnow.
Steve Taylor (38:28):
So you filed the petition in April.
Has there been a response?
What's the likelihood of itbeing reviewed?
What's the status?
Anthony Enriquez (38:37):
The petition has been acknowledged by the
commission, meaning they'vereceived it and they've assigned
it a identification queue inthe number of petitions that are
before the commission.
You know the petition processitself can seem agonizingly slow
(38:58):
, especially for people who areseeking accountability now and
who have been denied it for along time.
It could take several yearsbefore the petition is brought
to a public hearing.
A public hearing would enableTortuguita's family, loved ones,
(39:19):
friends, co-protesters totestify in Tortuguita's favor,
and it would allow the UnitedStates and Georgia authorities
to also appear and to testifyabout their actions.
It's important to ask, in thecontext of these types of
(39:42):
petitions before theInter-American Commission,
inter-american Court or reallyany international court, I know
many people think does humanrights law make a difference?
What is it going to do?
It's not like an American courtwhere you can walk in and you
get an order for a judge andpeople are going to listen to it
and they have to follow thejudge's order Because at the end
(40:04):
of the day the Inter-AmericanCommission, you know are they
just going to give arecommendation and then?
it's just going to be ignoredlater.
I oftentimes, when I hear thesetypes of criticisms of
international human rightsmechanisms, I think you know
just because human rightsmechanisms I think you know,
(40:29):
just because robbery stillexists or murder still exists,
you know doesn't mean that wesay, oh well, the law is useless
, it never, there's no point init at all.
Right, and a lot of what thismovement before international
human rights mechanisms is is anattempt to really make the law
matter.
Law, at the end of the day, isan agreement that all of us say.
We want to follow these rules,we think these are rules that
(40:52):
should govern our community, andso we commit to mutually
respecting those rules.
That's part of what this isdoing.
Is really sending a message tothe state that you can't engage
in this type of behavior becausethe citizens of this country
(41:13):
are aware that it's a humanrights abuse.
And say no to it, though, isreally providing a public forum
for some type of accountabilityfor this family.
When someone's killed,especially by state violence,
you really have to ask yourselfdoes justice exist at all for
(41:42):
that?
There's really no bringing thatperson back, and even to throw
the perpetrator into a jail.
Certainly that's a measure ofaccountability, but not
everyone's going to be satisfiedwith that, with someone else's
suffering isn't necessarilygoing to eliminate my suffering,
and so what we're left with ismaking meaning out of a tragic
(42:02):
event that happened and that wecan't erase, and so a public
hearing is an opportunity forTortuguita's family to make some
meaning out of this reallytragic and senseless murder.
It's an opportunity for them tovindicate their family member's
(42:22):
life, to say that it had meaning, that it was important to help
spread their message ofnonviolence and environmental
defense and mutual aid and care,and so that's what we're really
trying to do with the petition.
Steve Taylor (42:38):
Well, Anthony, is there anything that I haven't
asked you that you would like toaddress?
Anthony Enriquez (42:42):
You know, I think that what's important for
people who are motivated andpassionate about these issues is
to not give in to fear, is toreally continue to speak out.
Right now in the country, weare seeing a wave of police
(43:05):
repression of people who arenonviolently expressing their
opinions on what they view to beimportant political issues.
Falls on in a debate on theissue at hand.
(43:29):
What's really important for allof us is that we have the
ability to peacefully expressourselves without fear of
violence from police.
I think it's really importantto interrogate narratives that
say camping in a forest isviolent, Occupying a campus lawn
(43:49):
is violent.
Even shattering a window isviolent.
When we talk about violence, wereally have to make sure that
there's a difference between theviolence that takes someone's
life, that causes someone injury, and the violence that makes
someone uncomfortable becausethey don't agree with what we're
saying or, you know, might begraffiti on the side of a
(44:16):
building, as many windows as youcan, but it is to say we really
have to be careful about how weuse the word violence and
question how the word violenceis being used against us and
really truly ask yourselves whois the source of the violence,
(44:39):
who is the source of theassaults, of the killing?
I think that's very importantfor your listeners to ask.
Steve Taylor (44:47):
Well, Anthony Yerriquez, thank you for joining
us on Breaking Green.
Anthony Enriquez (44:51):
Thank you, we appreciate the opportunity.
Steve Taylor (44:55):
You have been listening to Breaking Green a
Global Justice Ecology Projectpodcast.
To learn more about GlobalJustice Ecology Project, visit
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Please help us lift up thevoices of those working to
(45:15):
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That's 1716-257-4187.
Welcome to Breaking Green, a podcast by
Global Justice Ecology Project.
On Breaking Green.
We will talk with activists andexperts to examine the
intertwined issues of social,ecological and economic
injustice.
We will also explore some ofthe more outrageous proposals to
address climate andenvironmental crises that are
(00:22):
falsely being sold as green.
I am your host, steve Taylor.
On January 18th of last year, aland defender protesting the
raising of an urban forest tobuild a police training
mega-complex known as Cop Citywas killed by a hail of bullets
fired by police in Atlanta,georgia.
Authorities claim that theprotester shot at police, but
(00:44):
there is strong forensicevidence that the protester shot
at police, but there is strongforensic evidence that the
protester was seated with handsup and had not fired a weapon.
Since, many other peacefulprotesters, as well as those
providing mutual aid and bondsupport, have been charged in a
far-reaching prosecution thathas labeled many as domestic
terrorists.
On April 5th, two organizations, including Robert F Kennedy
(01:08):
Human Rights and Southern Centerfor Human Rights, together with
University of Dayton HumanRights Center, filed a petition
with the Inter-AmericanCommission on Human Rights
calling for an investigationinto the killing of Manuel Pais
Turan, also known as Tortuguita.
On this episode of BreakingGreen, we will talk with Anthony
(01:29):
Enriquez of Robert F KennedyHuman Rights.
Anthony Enriquez is an attorneyworking to reduce mass
incarceration in the UnitedStates by exposing and stopping
human rights abuses in thecriminal, legal and immigration
systems.
As the Vice President of USAdvocacy and Litigation at
Robert F Kennedy Human Rights,he leads a team of advocates
(01:53):
fighting for accountability forstate-sponsored racial
discrimination, torture andextrajudicial killings.
He has over a decade ofexperience in child refugee
protection, immigrants' rightsand anti-detention advocacy and
litigation.
Anthony graduated from New YorkUniversity School of Law in
2013 and clerked for a federaldistrict court judge in the
(02:17):
Southern District of New York.
Anthony Enriquez, welcome toBreaking Green.
Anthony Enriquez (02:23):
Thanks so much , steve, it's great to be here.
Steve Taylor (02:25):
For those listeners who may not be
familiar with the case, couldyou give us an overview of who
Tortuguita was and how they died?
Anthony Enriquez (02:33):
Yes, I could.
Tortuguita is the firstenvironmental and human rights
defender in history to be killedby United States law
enforcement.
Tato Orquesta was killed by theGeorgia state police while
sitting cross-legged and engagedin a peaceful protest of plans
(02:56):
by Georgia officials to destroyan urban forest and construct in
its place a militarized policetraining facility, known as Cop
City, colloquially.
Alongside community members andcivil society activists,
Tortuguita sought to raiseawareness of the harms that
(03:19):
would be caused by thisenvironmental destruction and of
the racially discriminatorypolicing that Atlanta and
Georgia police engaged in.
Atlanta is a city where Blackpeople constitute 50% of the
population but make up 90% ofarrests and 88% of police
(03:39):
killings.
Steve Taylor (03:40):
And one of the elements was is that this cop
city?
There was going to be a raisingor destruction of an urban
forest?
Could you talk about theconcerns with that regarding, I
guess the disprop stop Cop Citybrings together many
intersecting human rightsmovements.
Anthony Enriquez (04:09):
It really called the attention of
environmental defenders whowanted to stop the destruction
of an urban area green spacethat was located in
predominantly blackneighborhoods.
It was located in predominantlyBlack neighborhoods.
It brought together people whowere concerned over increases in
(04:33):
police violence, especially inthe wake of racial justice
protests related to the murderof Judge George Floyd and others
in 2020.
And it's also brought togetherpeople who are concerned over
suppression of civic space inthe United States.
Civic space is really a termthat means all of us have the
(04:54):
right to assemble to peaceablyspeak our minds and to petition
our government to address ourgrievances.
But recent police activity,recent legislative proposals,
have really been aimed atreducing and even eliminating
(05:15):
civic space, criminalizing ourability to speak out in defense
of the causes that matter to us.
In defense of the causes thatmatter to us.
So Cop City and the movement tostop Cop City is really
occurring at the intersection ofall three of these movements.
Now you've asked what were someof the concerns specifically
(05:39):
related to the disproportionateeffects that the destruction of
the South River Forest couldhave on communities of color.
The South River Forest, whichis the land that the city of
Atlanta proposed raising inorder to construct Cop City has
a really long history in ourcountry of being a space of
(06:04):
racial violence.
It was previously occupied byCreek Indians who were, as
people famously know, wereejected from that territory in
the Trail of Tears.
They began to be displaced in1821 and today now live largely
(06:30):
in Oklahoma.
This community, actually membersof the Creek community, have
actually come back to Atlanta toexpress solidarity with the
Stop Cop City activists andtheir continued struggle for
racial justice.
Of course, another element ofthis is that the location of the
(06:51):
South River Forest, right in anurban area of Atlanta, really
abuts neighborhoods that arepredominantly Black.
This was therefore a space thatprovided people with
environmental benefits of trees,of rivers.
You know, those types of openand wild areas are associated
(07:16):
with health benefits, bothphysical and mental health, for
people who have access to thattype of environmental space, for
people who have access to thattype of environmental space, and
(07:37):
they also help reduce airpollution in neighborhoods that
have really suffered a lot ofthe consequences of
environmental degradation.
So this particular land really,as I said, has been a site of a
lot of racial injustice, andthat's part of what the Stop Cop
.
Steve Taylor (07:54):
City movement is intended to do is to finally put
a stop to that racial injustice, very aggressive and, I believe
, characterized these peacefulprotesters as domestic
terrorists right off the bat.
Could you give us a little bitof background on that?
Anthony Enriquez (08:14):
Absolutely.
The movement to criminalize theStop Cop City protesters has
been aggressive and really hasmanipulated portions of the law
that were intended to addressharms completely unrelated to
(08:34):
what the protesters are really awide variety of people
associated with severaldifferent focuses on human
rights.
Again, we talked about racialjustice, about movements to
(08:58):
reduce policing as the catch-allsolution for social ills, about
movements to preserve greenspace within our cities, and so,
as a consequence, the peoplewho make up this movement really
have different functions.
A portion of the Stop Cop Cityprotesters, for instance,
(09:19):
participated in the creation ofbail funds to help bail out
peaceful protesters who had beenwrongly arrested for speaking
their minds.
A portion of the Stop Cop Cityprotesters are not what we would
think of as traditionalprotesters, but really are
(09:40):
people who are concernedcitizens of their neighborhoods
and have gone to city councilmeetings to speak up against the
destruction of forest land intheir backyards.
And a portion of Stop Cup Cityprotesters were people who were
really dedicated toenvironmental defense, who
called themselves land defendersand who, in vindication of that
(10:10):
defense, went and actuallycamped out in the South River
Forest and occupied some of thetrees there to really draw
attention, through peaceful,non-violent, civil disobedience
to the harms that the Stop CopCity facility was going to visit
upon the committee the landdefenders.
That was the group to whichTortuguita belonged, and that
(10:35):
was the context in whichTortuguita was killed while he
was living in a tent within theforest.
Living in a tent within theforest, but the that was
(11:05):
originally passed in 2020 as areaction to the killing spree
that Dylan Roof engaged in whenhe entered a traditionally Black
church and killed parishionersthere.
Shortly after that happened, in2020, the Georgia legislature
passed a domestic terrorism lawthat enhanced criminal penalties
(11:29):
for people who used violence orcoercion to influence a
government policy.
Essentially and this is a reallyunfortunately sad example of
what happens when you ask thelaw to solve a problem like hate
(11:51):
that exists or racism thatexists, oftentimes what happens
is the tools that people thinkwill be used, that people trust
will be used in favor ofoppressed people, get used by
the state to actually oppresspeople further.
And so a law that was, uh,supposedly passed in order to
(12:48):
punish and ensure that violentkilling sprees that were when
the police are engaging inkillings of Black people effort
by Georgia authorities tocriminalize the ideology behind
this movement, and what I meanis Georgia authorities filed
racketeering charges againstwhat they alleged were
(13:12):
participants in a conspiracy touse violent vandalism against
the state.
So people, for instance, whowere running those bail funds
that we talked about, people whowere providing mutual aid,
giving someone a place to stay,some food those people were
(13:34):
arrested as members of a violentconspiracy.
Now what's interesting is, ifyou look at the indictments, the
conspiracy is alleged to havebegun the day that George Floyd
was murdered, in 2020, which wasa year before the Atlanta City
Council even authorized thedestruction of the South River
(13:59):
Forest to construct Cop City.
Essentially, what the state issaying is people who are
participating in protestsagainst the killings of Black
people.
The disproportionate killingsof Black people by United States
police are engaged in acriminal conspiracy and over 60
(14:21):
people have been indicted onthese currently pending
conspiracy charges to punishpeople for their beliefs in
racial equity and inaccountability for police for
their killings for police fortheir killings, but people
(14:53):
running bail funds are beingarrested under domestic
terrorism charges or conspiracycharges.
Steve Taylor (15:05):
Obviously, it is meant to chill.
I know that your petition dealswith this and we want to talk
about that later what you hopeto accomplish but it is really
chilling how aggressive and thetheory that the state is using
to brand people terrorists, andit does seem to be branding or
(15:30):
attacking an ideology.
So let's talk a little bitabout Tortuguita, who was
violently killed by police whowas participating in these
protests.
I would hope that you'd be ableto run us through a bit what
happened, and then I want totalk about all the evidence that
(15:50):
goes against the officialnarrative.
But first, what happened toTortuguita?
Anthony Enriquez (15:58):
So I'd like to start by emphasizing not
Tortuguita's murder, butTortuguita's life.
That's part of what ourpetition aims to do is to really
counter the narrative thatGeorgia authorities have put out
, that this person's life canjust be reduced to one day and
(16:18):
one violent act.
Tortuguita, who used they-thempronouns, identified as
non-binary, was a citizen ofVenezuela, but a lawful
permanent resident of the UnitedStates.
He had attended college inFlorida in the United States and
(16:52):
, by all accounts, was trulydedicated to nonviolence and to
caring for his fellow humanbeings.
Tortuguita graduated magna cumlaude from Florida State
University in the United Statesin 2021.
They had a degree in psychologyand they were truly dedicated
(17:23):
to nonviolence.
They were building low incomehousing for people who had been
affected by a hurricane.
Tortita was also a trainedmedic and was really renowned
for putting others first, almostto a fault.
There was, for instance, aremembrance written about Togita
by a reporter who had spenttime in the forest with them in
(17:47):
December 2022, who describedthem as curious, engaging,
earnest, educated, self-aware.
Engaging, earnest, educated,self-aware, well-read and very
funny, and they really quotedTortuguita as saying the right
kind of resistance is peaceful.
(18:08):
We're not going to beat them atviolence.
They're very, very good atviolence, but we went through
nonviolence.
That's really the only way wecan win.
We don't want more people todie and we don't want Atlanta to
turn into a war zone.
So part of what our petitionseeks to do is to really
(18:28):
vindicate Tortuguita's memory,is to really let the world know
that this was a young personfull of promise.
This was a young person who wasdedicated to care for their
fellow human beings, and a youngperson who was going to make a
difference had their life notbeen snuffed out so tragically.
(18:52):
As far as what happened, well,people first started coming to
the South River Forest inAtlanta and identifying as
forest defenders in late 2021.
Was a group of defenders whostarted camping there,
(19:23):
establishing tree houses in thecanopy of the forest and
building temporary structuresabout 15 feet off the ground.
And in January 28th of 2022,members of local police the
DeKalb County Police made theirfirst forays into the forest,
(19:47):
where they encountered some ofthese protesters who were really
described as chanting andwaving banners, making loud and
boisterous marches really whatwe think of as the epitome of
non-violent protests.
And the Georgia authoritiesresponded to that with violence.
(20:08):
So in May of 2022, they firstentered the forest and arrested
eight of the forest defenders,typically on charges of
trespassing.
In December of 2022, amulti-agency task force convened
by the Georgia Bureau ofInvestigation raided the forest
(20:31):
and arrested 12 people andcharged them with domestic
terrorism.
And then we come to January2023, where, early in the month,
the Georgia governor, brianKemp, gave a report, an
interview with a reporter, wherehe vowed to maintain the
(20:52):
aggressive approach and said theonly response we will give to
intimidation and violence isswift and exact justice.
And so you really see theauthorities really struggling to
create violence and to createthis narrative that the forest
defenders were engaging inviolence, when all evidence
(21:14):
shows it was the police thatactually escalated the violence.
And it was the morning ofJanuary 18th 2023, when the
Georgia State Patrol and theDeKalb County police conducted
another raid on the forest.
They found Tortuguita in theirtent and they shot Tortuguita
(21:39):
with at least 14 bullets,producing over 50 wounds, and
that was how Tortuguita diedtragically.
Steve Taylor (22:14):
Yeah, so it was shocking to hear that when the
report had suggested or assertedthat Tortuguita had fired a
weapon and injured a policeofficer and that's why they had
this barrage of fire, could youtell us what you know about the
(22:47):
evidence that Tortuguita did notfire, or what you know about
these autopsies?
Because if what I am saying istrue, that's very disturbing.
Anthony Enriquez (22:58):
So there were two autopsies conducted.
The first was by a state agency, the DeKalb County Medical
Examiner's Office, and thesecond was by an independent
investigator that the familycommissioned investigator that
the family commissioned and bothof those autopsies found.
(23:25):
For instance, the state'sautopsy found that soot,
stippling, searing and gunpowderresidue were not found in
association with any of theclothing that Tortuguitita was
wearing.
And the forensic pathologistwho was hired by the family also
(23:46):
concluded in his investigationthat the injuries to Tortita's
hands showed evidence fromwounds in both palms, fingers
and forearms, suggesting thattheir hands were raised, that
wounds to their legs, includingbroken bones to the tibia and
fibula from shotgun missiles,suggested that Tortuguita was
(24:10):
seated cross-legged at the timeof their shooting, with their
left leg crossed over theirright, and confirming what the
DeKalb County Medical Examiner'sOffice had concluded was that
there was no gunpowder residuefound on Tortita's clothing or
(24:33):
body.
Steve Taylor (24:35):
How has the state responded to these findings or
to requests for informationregarding this?
Anthony Enriquez (24:45):
One of the most frustrating things for
Tortuguita's family and friendsis that the state has
continually hidden or obfuscatedevidence, has said that it
can't release evidence of theinvestigation that it conducted
into Tortuita's killing becausethey have a currently pending
(25:08):
criminal case against several ofTortuita's co-activists and
protesters, several of Tortita'sco-activists and protesters,
and it's you know, the onedoesn't really have much to do
with the other.
It really just seems like astrategy to avoid any type of
public accountability for thispolice killing.
Steve Taylor (25:31):
What about the possibility of friendly fire
officer and officer?
Anthony Enriquez (25:37):
It's not unique that in police killing
situations or in situationswhere police have been injured,
it's often the police themselves, who typically have access to
the weapons do end up shootingor hurting themselves.
Do end up shooting or hurtingthemselves.
Steve Taylor (26:05):
The interesting thing about this situation is
that the Georgia State.
Anthony Enriquez (26:08):
Patrol that ended up.
The officers that did killManuel don't typically use body
camera footage, or at leastthat's what the state is telling
us.
No body camera footage existsfrom the officer who actually
shot Tortita to death.
So the investigative report inTortita's death stated that no
(26:31):
body camera footage existsbecause the Georgia State Patrol
the agencies whose officerskilled Tokita don't uniformly
use them.
But the Cab County policeofficers, who were also present
that morning, are equipped withbody cameras and one of those
(26:52):
cameras picked up footage of anofficer saying, quote is this
target practice?
And man, you fucked your ownofficer up.
So this really suggests that aninjured officer had been shot
by another officer.
Steve Taylor (27:08):
If it was an officer involved shooting.
It seems as if they may even bepanicking a bit and just really
overcharging.
I mean, does overchargingactivists, does that play into
this at all, or am I just comingup with some sort of idea of a
(27:28):
conspiracy here?
But it seems to me like they'realmost in a panic to suppress.
Anthony Enriquez (27:34):
Well, it's ironic that you use the words
conspiracy theory, becausethat's exactly what the Georgia
authorities are chargingactivists with conspiring to
violently overthrow either plansto raise the forest or plans to
construct Cop City raise theforests or plans to construct
(28:01):
cop city.
But if you really look at thecombination of all of the
actions criminalizing sleepingin a hammock in a forest, saying
that that is domestic terrorism, criminalizing people who are
simply setting up charitablebond funds to help people be
released from pretrial detentionwhile their criminal cases are
(28:24):
ongoing you start to see theextraordinary pressure that as a
whole, atlanta authorities andGeorgia authorities are putting
on this movement.
But I think it's important toalso bear in mind that it isn't
Georgia alone.
The federal US Department ofHomeland Security also referred
(28:46):
to Atlanta activists as domesticviolent extremists in a public
terrorism bulletin.
So there is a real fellowshipbetween state authorities and
federal authorities here thattogether are working to really
restrict the use of civic spacefor nonviolent civil
(29:10):
disobedience or peaceful protest.
Steve Taylor (29:13):
Anthony, could your work here be considered
terrorist or part of thatterrorist conspiracy?
I mean, according to thestate's theory.
Anthony Enriquez (29:22):
It's an interesting question.
You know, the really chillingthing about the state statute is
that it doesn't have manybounds that have been
articulated.
We've been seeing the state tryto stretch it as far as
possible.
We've been seeing the state sayyou know, one of the elements
(29:43):
of conspiracy is a plan to havean intention to carry out a
criminal enterprise.
And in one sense, if thestate's saying everybody who
supports those who arepeacefully protesting, racial
(30:05):
violence and police violence arepart of that intention, then
yes, it seems that the state'stheory of criminal behavior
really doesn't have any outwardbounds, right?
Steve Taylor (30:20):
So what is the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights?
Anthony Enriquez (30:24):
The Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights is an independentbody in the Western Hemisphere
that's part of an organizationcalled the Organization of
American States.
It was really set up as across-national cooperation
(30:46):
mechanism for countries withinthe Western Hemisphere to
coordinate essential policiesthat would help them function
better for their mutualprosperity.
The Organization of AmericanStates actually got together in
(31:06):
the late 1940s to pass theworld's first general
declaration of human rights.
So this was before, forinstance, the International
Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights that was passed by the UN
.
Many people say that theInternational Covenant on Civil
(31:27):
and Political Rights issomething like a bill of rights
that we have in the USConstitution for the world.
But the American Declarationwas actually first, actually
preceded that and really seededit in important ways.
It was really the firstinternational human rights
instrument to say people don'thave rights just by virtue of
(31:51):
the fact that they're a citizenof the state.
They have rights by virtue ofthe fact that they're people,
that they're human beings, andthere are certain human rights
that every state is obligated torespect.
And so the Inter-AmericanCommission for Human Rights was
(32:12):
set up about a decade or soafter that to really examine
charges and allegations of humanrights violations by states
that are participating in theOrganization of American States.
You have to remember the contextthat these organizations were
birthed in was one in whichthere were many non-democratic
(32:35):
regimes that were in charge ofcountries across the Americas,
where there were really crediblestories of military juntas
disappearing people, oftorturing people, of genocides
of indigenous peoples, and sothis was the commission was
(33:00):
really playing an essential rolein trying to build public
pressure to put a stop to thesethings.
Today, the Inter-AmericanCommission is composed of seven
independent experts fromcountries across the Americas
who receive petitions andallegations of human rights
(33:23):
abuses that have been carriedout by countries that are
members of the Organization ofAmerican States, who evaluate
them and really decide what didor did not happen and can then
suggest to states of measuresthat a state can take to bring
(33:45):
human rights abusers toaccountability or to provide
some type of redress for victimsof human rights abuses.
Steve Taylor (33:55):
So tell us about the petition that has been filed
, and I guess maybe it would beright to say in Tortiquita's
behalf, or in the behalf ofthese forest defenders and
others who are being prosecutedunder this overly broad
terrorist rubric.
Anthony Enriquez (34:15):
So our petition really is narrowly
focused on Tortuguita and onTortuguita's mother and on the
violation of their human rights.
That being said, that violationoccurred within the context of
suppression of political speech,suppression of civic space, and
(34:37):
that includes the prosecutionof Tortuguita's fellow
protesters and land offenders.
So the story of what'shappening to them really plays
an essential part inunderstanding how and why
Tortuita's human rights wereviolated.
But our petition presents thisstory within the larger context
(34:59):
of the movement to stop Cop Cityand within the larger context
of protests against racializedkillings by police in the United
States that have occurred since2020.
The protest that is, of course,the killings much predate that
date, and our petition reallylays out the ways in which
(35:25):
Georgia authorities and federalauthorities have violated the
human rights of Tortuguita andof Tortuguita's mother.
Some of those violationsinclude the right to life
Obviously, when the state killssomeone, that's a violation of
their right to life.
But they also include humanrights like violation of the
(35:50):
right to special protection forhuman rights defenders, which is
a human right that theinter-american commission and
the inter-american court havefound is part of the American
Declaration of Human Rights.
They include the right to truthin investigation of human
(36:12):
rights abuses.
They also include the right todignity for survivors of victims
survivors or victims of humanrights abuses or of their family
as well, Because when we talkabout the way that the state has
tried to malign Tortuguita'smemory, that's inflicting an
(36:34):
ongoing human rights abuseagainst their mother, against
their family, people who caredeeply about Tortuguita and who
now have to face all of thequestioning and the
recrimination and the insultsthat people in their life are
telling them about their brother, their child, their family
(36:59):
member.
There's also an aspect thattalks about the fact that the
state of Georgia tried tointroduce Tortuguita.
In their tent was a diary thattalked about all of the ways in
(37:29):
which they were fighting forracial justice, for
environmental justice, and thestate of Georgia, after killing
Tortuguita, took that diarywithout a warrant and then
entered it into evidence to saythis is evidence of a criminal
conspiracy to violentlyoverthrow the Georgia government
(37:54):
.
And our petition talks abouthow the state has really used
torture to obtain evidence andthen introduce it into a
criminal proceeding.
That's a human right that can'tbe violated is the protection
against torture.
(38:14):
And so statements that areobtained through torture in this
case through killing that arethen later used to prosecute
other people.
That's an ongoing human rightsviolation that Georgia
authorities are engaged in rightnow.
Steve Taylor (38:28):
So you filed the petition in April.
Has there been a response?
What's the likelihood of itbeing reviewed?
What's the status?
Anthony Enriquez (38:37):
The petition has been acknowledged by the
commission, meaning they'vereceived it and they've assigned
it a identification queue inthe number of petitions that are
before the commission.
You know the petition processitself can seem agonizingly slow
(38:58):
, especially for people who areseeking accountability now and
who have been denied it for along time.
It could take several yearsbefore the petition is brought
to a public hearing.
A public hearing would enableTortuguita's family, loved ones,
(39:19):
friends, co-protesters totestify in Tortuguita's favor,
and it would allow the UnitedStates and Georgia authorities
to also appear and to testifyabout their actions.
It's important to ask, in thecontext of these types of
(39:42):
petitions before theInter-American Commission,
inter-american Court or reallyany international court, I know
many people think does humanrights law make a difference?
What is it going to do?
It's not like an American courtwhere you can walk in and you
get an order for a judge andpeople are going to listen to it
and they have to follow thejudge's order Because at the end
(40:04):
of the day the Inter-AmericanCommission, you know are they
just going to give arecommendation and then?
it's just going to be ignoredlater.
I oftentimes, when I hear thesetypes of criticisms of
international human rightsmechanisms, I think you know
just because human rightsmechanisms I think you know,
(40:29):
just because robbery stillexists or murder still exists,
you know doesn't mean that wesay, oh well, the law is useless
, it never, there's no point init at all.
Right, and a lot of what thismovement before international
human rights mechanisms is is anattempt to really make the law
matter.
Law, at the end of the day, isan agreement that all of us say.
We want to follow these rules,we think these are rules that
(40:52):
should govern our community, andso we commit to mutually
respecting those rules.
That's part of what this isdoing.
Is really sending a message tothe state that you can't engage
in this type of behavior becausethe citizens of this country
(41:13):
are aware that it's a humanrights abuse.
And say no to it, though, isreally providing a public forum
for some type of accountabilityfor this family.
When someone's killed,especially by state violence,
you really have to ask yourselfdoes justice exist at all for
(41:42):
that?
There's really no bringing thatperson back, and even to throw
the perpetrator into a jail.
Certainly that's a measure ofaccountability, but not
everyone's going to be satisfiedwith that, with someone else's
suffering isn't necessarilygoing to eliminate my suffering,
and so what we're left with ismaking meaning out of a tragic
(42:02):
event that happened and that wecan't erase, and so a public
hearing is an opportunity forTortuguita's family to make some
meaning out of this reallytragic and senseless murder.
It's an opportunity for them tovindicate their family member's
(42:22):
life, to say that it had meaning, that it was important to help
spread their message ofnonviolence and environmental
defense and mutual aid and care,and so that's what we're really
trying to do with the petition.
Steve Taylor (42:38):
Well, Anthony, is there anything that I haven't
asked you that you would like toaddress?
Anthony Enriquez (42:42):
You know, I think that what's important for
people who are motivated andpassionate about these issues is
to not give in to fear, is toreally continue to speak out.
Right now in the country, weare seeing a wave of police
(43:05):
repression of people who arenonviolently expressing their
opinions on what they view to beimportant political issues.
Falls on in a debate on theissue at hand.
(43:29):
What's really important for allof us is that we have the
ability to peacefully expressourselves without fear of
violence from police.
I think it's really importantto interrogate narratives that
say camping in a forest isviolent, Occupying a campus lawn
(43:49):
is violent.
Even shattering a window isviolent.
When we talk about violence, wereally have to make sure that
there's a difference between theviolence that takes someone's
life, that causes someone injury, and the violence that makes
someone uncomfortable becausethey don't agree with what we're
saying or, you know, might begraffiti on the side of a
(44:16):
building, as many windows as youcan, but it is to say we really
have to be careful about how weuse the word violence and
question how the word violenceis being used against us and
really truly ask yourselves whois the source of the violence,
(44:39):
who is the source of theassaults, of the killing?
I think that's very importantfor your listeners to ask.
Steve Taylor (44:47):
Well, Anthony Yerriquez, thank you for joining
us on Breaking Green.
Anthony Enriquez (44:51):
Thank you, we appreciate the opportunity.
Steve Taylor (44:55):
You have been listening to Breaking Green a
Global Justice Ecology Projectpodcast.
To learn more about GlobalJustice Ecology Project, visit
globaljusticeecologyorg.
Breaking Green is made possibleby tax-deductible donations by
people like you.
Please help us lift up thevoices of those working to
(45:15):
protect forests, defend humanrights and expose false
solutions.
Simply text GIVE to 17-I-V-E to1716-257-4187.
That's 1716-257-4187.
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