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Guatemala: We Are All Barillas- Stop a Dam on Our Sacred River!

On May 1, 2012, a community leader in Guatemala was killed by security guards of a Spanish hydroelectric company. Riots broke out. In response, President Molina declared martial law and army tanks descended into Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango. Heavily armed military lined the streets of the Q’anjob’al Maya town, seeking and detaining community leaders who were outspoken against the dam.
On March 2nd, 2016 they assassinated our sister Berta Cáceres. They thought they would get rid not just of her as a leader recognized throughout Latin America and around the world, but also would end a struggle, a political project, that they would destroy the organization of which she was both founder and daughter, COPINH (the Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras).

 

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, is conducting an official country visit to the United States of America from 22 February to March 3, 2017. As part of this visit, the Special Rapporteur will attend a series of regional consultations to examine the situation of indigenous peoples in the United States as it relates to energy development. The dates of these consultations and their host institutions are as follows:

We have serious challenges ahead as the Trump administration threatens the core values we hold dear.  I, like many, am outraged and deeply concerned about the recent presidential memoranda and executive orders that give momentum to detrimental social policies, the Keystone XL and Dakota access pipeline, an expedited environmental review process with disregard for environmental degradation and climate change. Moreover, ultimately the lack of a social justice and humanitarian conscience on display in these early days of the administration's sweeping changes.

On January 20, 2017, while the United States watched the swearing in of one its most controversial and oppressive presidents ever elected, the Maya people of Southern Belize  swore in new leadership under their traditional governance system, recognized under both Maya cultural authority and the State of Belize.  The alcaldes were elected in a peaceful process by 39 villages.  Cultural Survival congratulates the new leaders, including Mr.

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