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Felipe Arreaga
As I mentioned, Wibke and Alejandro kept Susanna and I quite busy. Our first day after arriving, we made a
trip to the jail to visit a local farmer who had been wrongfully accused of a murder. He has been thrown
in jail without any kind of trial. The significance of this for me is that he happens to be a local farmer
who has organized his community to protect their forests from local and international timber interests.
These companies seem to have a knack for teaming up with the local government (If $$$ is involved, the
politicos are all for it) and clearing land that isn't even for sale or misleading people into selling
it. To top it off, they do not even invest in the resources to reforest.
In many cases, it is companies like Boise Cascade that have an interest in the cheap and dirty. They
actually have been blackballed / listed and have had trouble finding interested parties to work with
because they have left such a mess.
In this case, however, a local timber trader, Nino Bautista had enough of these pesky forest defenders
and decided to accuse their leader, Felipe Arreaga, of killing his son 6 years ago. Notwithstanding
the fact that Felipe couldn't have done this because he was in a village six hours away from the place
where the homicide took place, receiving treatment for a back injury that prevented him from walking,
but he wasn't even given a fair trial. There was no evidence, nothing to accuse him with. They just picked
him up and threw him in jail.
Now, I know you have heard these kinds of stories before and you wonder what the real story is. I can
only say that being right there and visiting this man in jail made it very real for me. So, as you sit
there, reading this on your computer, in a nice comfy chair, maybe with a cup of Joe (hopefully organic)
and a window nearby, Felipe Arreaga sits in a cell made for 6 with 15 other men, pissing on each other
and unable to move. His back is killing him. All of this for trying to protect what he knows is not his,
not anybody's. He knows it needs to stay there and cannot be removed only to quench the unending desire
for money brought on by greed. It needs to stay for our own well being, for our protection, for our future.
Take a look at your surroundings. Is your wood sustainably harvested? I know the wood in my house isn't.
Does the paper in your printer have some percent of recycled content? I know it is hard to get 100%
recycled paper, I have been trying. Please think about these things and if you'd like, take the extra
step and CLICK HERE to read, and hopefully sign, a petition for
Feilpe's
release.
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