Javier Valdez was an award-winning Mexican journalist at Ríodoce in Culiacán, Sinaloa. For years he bravely covered the issue of drug trafficking, and for that he was murdered.

Javier Valdez Profile

Watch: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom Award 2011 speech in full.

If you would like to explore other profiles on our dedicated website - assassination.globalinitiative.net. Please help us mark the death anniversaries by using the hashtag #AssassinationWitness

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Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Born and bred in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Marielle Franco was a passionate politician - fighting against rampant police violence in the favelas she called home.

Marielle represented communities who are often marginalized from politics, threatening the established system. For that she was likely killed.

Marielle Franco Profile

If you would like to explore other profiles on our dedicated website - assassination.globalinitiative.net. Please help us mark the death anniversaries by using the hashtag #AssassinationWitness

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Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

It's an election year in Mexico and according to the government at least 64 Mexican politicians have been murdered in the past six months. Yet this phenomenon is not exclusive to Mexico - In Italy, 134 politicians were killed between 1974 and 2014. In Colombia, in 2019, seven political candidates were murdered. And in Uganda, 54 people were murdered in November 2020 during an election campaign.

The assassination of politicians by organized crime needs greater attention – these murders have a series impact of politics, corruption, and communities across the world.

Presenter: Siria Gastelum Felix, the Emmy Award-winning Journalist and Director of the Resilience Fund at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Speakers:

Gemma Dipoppa, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Political Science at Stanford University.

Antônio Sampaio, Senior Analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Co-Founder & Chief Research Officer at Noria Research / PhD Sorbonne University and member of the GI Network of Experts

Featured Profile: Marielle Franco

Help keep their stories alive – by going to our website – assassination.globalinitiative.net, subscribe to our newsletter and this podcast series. Help us remember the death anniversaries, using our hashtag #AssassinationWitness.

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In this episode, we will be hearing about how the illegal wildlife trade, which is worth billions of dollars annually, is driven by demand in Asia and serviced by well-organized transnational criminal networks. But we will also hear about the dangers, threats and sometime murders that conservationist and environmental defenders suffer at the hands of these same criminal networks.

Presenter: Ana Paula Oliveira, Analyst at the Global Initiaitive Against Transnational Organized Crime

Guest: Mary Rice, the Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

Profiles mentioned: Wayne Lotter

Reading: Out of Africa: How West and Central Africa have become the epicentre of ivory and pangolin scale trafficking to Asia (EIA Report)

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Thousands of Elephants are killed each year in Africa by poachers. The thin red line between these animals and extinction is the scores of brave men and women who risk their lives to protect them.

One of those brave individuals was a South African called Wayne Lotter – a conservationist and the co-founder of the PAMS Foundation. This is his story.

Wayne Lotter's profile.

If you would like to explore other profiles on our dedicated website - assassination.globalinitiative.net. Please help us mark the death anniversaries by using the hashtag #AssassinationWitness

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Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. It was hoped, would usher in a new age where the fundamental rights of every individual are universally protected.

To protect and respect those rights such as freedom of expression, protection of the environment, gender equality and women’s rights, human rights defenders play a crucial role. But because they defend these fundamental rights, they are also a constant threat of abuse, violence and even murder.

Presenter: Siria Gastelum Felix, the Emmy Award-winning Journalist and Director of the Resilience Fund at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Speakers:

Michelle Foley, Memorial Project Coordinator, Front Line Defenders

Juan Pappier, Americas Researcher, Human Rights Watch

Maureen Meyer, the Vice President for Programs and Director for Mexico and Migrant Rights at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Featured Profile: Edwin Dagua

Help keep their stories alive – by going to our website – assassination.globalinitiative.net, subscribe to our newsletter and this podcast series. Help us remember the death anniversaries, using our hashtag #AssassinationWitness.

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In this special episode of Faces of Assassination, Ana Paula speaks to international human rights lawyer and scholar Roxanna Altholz.

Roxanna was part of the international investigation into the murder of the indigenous environmentalist campaigner, Berta Cáceres in Honduras in 2016.

Presenter: Ana Paula Oliveira, Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Profile discussed: Berta Cáceres

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Edwin Gregorio Dagua Ipia was just 28 when he was gunned down in the afternoon in the Huellas indigenous reserve in the Cauca region of south-west Colombia. Dagua was killed by FARC dissidents for speaking out against armed groups, coca cultivation and illegal mining.

Dagua was the 25th indigenous leader to be killed in 2018.

Edwin Gregorio Dagua Ipia profile.

If you would like to explore other profiles you can download a free e-book here. Please help us mark the death anniversaries by using the hashtag #AssassinationWitness

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Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime