A roundtable has been established by the government of Guatemala to dialogue towards an agreement that would allow for the installation of a hydroelectric dam on the Cambalam river in the town of Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango.
The company has offered an annual investment of Q1 million, roughly $128,000 US dollars, to finance development projects in the municipality. On October 19th the town council made a counteroffer to Hydro Santa Cruz, asking for an annual donation of Q10 million, along with three main demands: that the company provide continual maintenance of roads in the area, that they provide due compensation to the family of the deceased Andrés Francisco Miguel, who was shot and killed by the company’s security forces just before riots broke out the night of May 1st 2012, and that they revoke the charges pressed against the then community leaders who continue to be held in prison under a process that lawyers consider to be in violation of the right to due process. “The concept of innocent until proven guilty has been absolutely obliterated in this case” reported defense lawyer Carlos Bezares.
The mayor of Barillas was optimistic about the offer, and rumors spread that an agreement was to be signed at the end of October. But the 20 day period stipulated by the town council for negotiation has expired, and the company, along with the mayor, have been silent.
Some community members feel that the Q10 million is not enough, and are calling for half of the company’s profits, calculated to be Q83 million per year, to be returned to the community. “We are putting forth the earth and the water; they put forth the knowledge and the investment” argued resident Adalberto Villatoro.
Alvaro Ramazzini, the bishiop appointed by the Catholic Church to Huehuetenango, has called for community consultation to measure the community’s acceptance of the dam along these new stipulations.
Suspicion of the negotiations have grown after the appointment of the retired military captain Juan Roberto Garrido Pérez as director of Hydro Santa Cruz’ social department and leader of negotiations. Garrido was identified as having ties to organized crime by the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, a UN mandated body set up to investigate and prosecute serious crime in Guatemala. Garrido was linked to a plot by a drug cartel to spy on Guatemala’s ex president Alvaro Colom. Because of these ties, he has been refused entry to the United States.
Carmelia Mérida is the wife of the men who has been imprisoned over the past 5 months crimes during the riots of May 1st. She said that Garrido threatened her and the other wives that if they didn’t accept his offer to provide a lawyer to defend their husbands, “they would never get out of jail.” Carmelia has spent five months fighting to feed and clothe her four children while her husband has been in jail. She cannot afford to make the 16-hour trip to visit him.
Join our campaign to urge the release of the community leaders imprisoned unjustly in Guatemala and urge the State and Hydro Santa Cruz to respect the Q’anjob’al Maya community’s right to free, prior and informed consent before any project that affects them.
