Like some environmental activists, nurse and anthropologist Isela González risks her life every day.

“Once, outside a trial, someone approached me and threatened me with death for helping indigenous communities,” recalls González, who is the executive director of the pro-indigenous nongovernmental organization Alianza Sierra Madre. “With these killings, they want to put terror not only into the indigenous communities but to [those that help] as well.”

The lives of countless peaceful protesters are jeopardized each year in land and environmental disputes, and a new study says more than 200 people were killed last year. That makes 2017 the deadliest year yet.

“It affects me morally and physically,” González says. “But at the same time, the desire for justice and reparations for