William de Jesus Gutierrez
William de Jesus Gutierrez is the president of La Asociación de Pescadores Artesanales y Mineros de Puerto Valdivia (Association of Fishermen and Miners) in the municipality of Valdivia. He was chosen by Movimiento Rios Vivos to lead the Technical Committee of the Hidroituango proyect, which aims to produce a technical report on the stability of the project. William de Jesus Gutierrez has been denouncing the link between the armed conflict and the construction of Hidroituango dam for years.
HRDs in Colombia work in a violent and unsafe environment. They are subjected to threats, intimidation, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, physical assaults, torture, killings, illegal searches of their homes and offices and stigmatisation as a result of their activities in defence of human rights. The perpetrators of these abuses are frequently paramilitary groups, many of whom have links to the government or security services, or armed opposition groups. The continued frequent and severe threats and attacks against HRDs around the country contradict government claims of paramilitary demobilisation.
