After spending over two months in prison under charges of terrorism, Rubén Herrera, community leader and outspoken activist against the Hydro Santa Cruz dam in Barillas, Huehuetenango, was released on Thursday May 30th due to a lack of evidence to the charges against him.
On Monday, May 20, 2013, Anselmo Xunic (Kaqchikel Maya), Guatemala Community Radio Program Manager for Cultural Survival and longtime Indigenous community radio activist, meet with James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples during the 12th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. The meeting with Rapporteur Anaya was a long-awaited opportunity for Xunic and the community radio movement to put a face on their struggle at the international level.
On Monday, May 20, just ten days after the historic conviction of ex-dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala has thrown out the ruling.
On May 1, 2013, Otto Perez Molina, Guatemalan President and former general during the country’s 36-year armed conflict, declared a 30-day State of Siege in four municipalities surrounding the El Escobal Silver Mining Project, run by Canadian mining giants’ Tahoe Resources. The State of Siege suspended basic constitutional rights, prohibiting public assembly and peaceful protests, allowing unwarranted searches, and giving power to authorities to detain individuals at their whim.
On the anniversary of the death of Andres Fransisco Miguel, community leader of Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango, the people of Huehuetenango and neigboring areas in Guatemala came together in protest May 1st. They denounced the disrepect of their right as Indigenous Peoples to be consutled on development projects, by the State of Guatemala and foreign companies like Spanish dam company Hidralia Energia.
It has been two weeks since the passing of community radio founder and social and environmental activist, Daniel Pedro Mateo. Our team at Cultural Survival, as well as members of community radio stations in our network, have been deeply saddened by this loss. As well, many stations worry about similar repercussions in the future, feeling that the political climate is not safe for social activists or community leaders at this time.
On May 25, 2013, more than 25 community radio station volunteers from Cultural Survival’s radio network across Guatemala gathered for a workshop in the Mujb’ab’l Yol training center in San Mateo, Quetzaltenango. The focus of the workshop was on Indigenous People’s Rights.
On April 19, Judge Jassmin Barrios declared that the hearing in the trial charging Efraín Ríos Montt with genocide will be temporarily suspended while the Constitutional Court addresses the annulment of the trial by Judge Patricia Flores.
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On April 16, 2013, the body of Qanjob’al community activist Daniel Pedro Mateo was found murdered in Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. He had been kidnapped for 12 days and his body showed signs of torture.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
