COSTA RICA: Attacks against environmental defenders

In 2020, Costa Rica’s Indigenous people faced a series of attacks for defending their lands. In February, Jerhy Rivera, an Indigenous leader who had defended his community’s land, was killed by an armed group of land invaders. He had previously been subject to violence and been granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. That same month another Indigenous leader was shot in the leg, and then his attacker was quickly set free. People protested outside the presidential house to demand justice, but the violence continued.