On the morning of September 28, 2013, a military helicopter hovered over the Q’anjobal community of Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango. Mynor Lopez, a community leader in the resistance against the Hidro Santa Cruz hydroelectric project was captured and taken into custody by the police.
The Q’anjobal community, tired of the repeated abuse, violence, and capture of their community leaders, erupted in protests across the department of Huehuetenango in northeastern Guatemala.
The government responded by sending in hundreds of police and soldiers to break up the protests using tear gas launched from army helicopters as well as live rounds fired by security forces. Alfredo Baltazar Pedro, of the Social Movement of Santa Eulalia, reported that by midnight that night, protests had mounted in the communities of San Juan, San Mateo, San Pedro Soloma. In Pett, a village outside of Santa Eulalia, tear gas was launched at a group of protestors. Women were beaten by soldiers, and many injuries were reported by local social organizations.
In Santa Cruz Barillas, a soldier was killed in the clashes. The government publicly blamed protesters for his death, however there is evidence that his injuries were self-inflicted while attempting to fire a tear gas canister, according to the Guatemala Human Rights Commission.
Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, Minster of the Interior, announced that 15 arrest warrants remain in effect community leaders in Barillas, although communities count as many as 24. Since the company has moved into over a dozen community members have been arrested for their resistance to the dam on their sacred Q’an Balam river, several of them held in prison for up to eight months before being released because of a lack of evidence against them.
A delegation organized by the International Commission of Jurists visited Mynor in jail and report that he shows evidence of physical violence, even torture, reported the Guatemala Human Rights Commission.
Negotiations
Over the past month, Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina has proposed roundtable negotiations on the implementation on hydroelectric projects in northern Huehuetenango.
On October 8, 2013 Perez Molina met with community members in discussions, but no agreements were reached. Saturnino Figueroa, leader from San Juan Ixcoy and member of the Q’anjobal movement, summarized the meeting, “Our community feels like we’re being laughed at. We haven’t been taken into account as Indigenous Peoples and the problems were diluted by side issues that are not fundamental. The government has manipulated this process. We don’t have a real answer to our demands, he explained to the Prensa Libre.
Last month, Perez Molina announced to the national press that he would be holding negotiations. When he arrived on September 19, 2013 in his first visit to the community in over a year, discussions behind closed doors, with a pre-selected group of participants un-representative of the social movement. More than 5,000 community members gathered in the central park that day waiting for the president to address their concerns, but instead, he exited the meeting straight into his helicopter and flew away without a word. This type of “negotiation” does not reflect the values embedded in the right of Free, Prior, Informed Consent. In fact, since 2007, when the community held their first consulta a town-wide vote in which tens of thousands voted against mining and hydroelectric projects, the community has requested that their positions on development models for their community be taken into account by authorities. In the past five years they have submitted dozens of declarations, petitions, denouncements, and official requests for meetings to local and national governments and have been ignored.
In a press release, the Chuj, Q’anjobal and Mam communities explained,
“We are deeply concerned with the systematic violation of our fundamental rights at the implementation of hydroelectric projects in our territories without the consent of our communities, ignoring the results of our community consultations that we have exercised since 2006. Meanwhile, the governments and the local authorities have been accomplices of the foreign companies in the repression, legal persecution, and intimidation that our communities have suffered since the illegal authorization of licenses for hydroelectric projects. These projects forcefully impose the privatization of our rivers. It is sad and shameful how governments and their institutions have become political operatives for foreign companies, maliciously promoting spaces of dialogue while denying the participation of our communities who have been directly affected...
We demand that Otto Perez Molina administration cancel all licenses for hydroelectric, mining, and, mega projects; the respect for our forms of self-organization decision making, and self-determination, our land rights, our right to sustainable development as original peoples, which are rights recognized by national as well as international laws.”
Please show your solidarity with Indigenous protestors of Huehuetenango by letting them know they are not alone. We must make sure Guatemalan officials know that they are under our watch. Send the following tweets to demand action from Guatemalan officials:
English:
@ottoperezmolina We denounce the use military force or martial law in repression of pacific protest in Huehue #Guatemala #Weareallbarillas
@mlopezbonilla Guarantee the protection, well-being and the #humanrights of citizens of Huehue #Guatemala #Weareallbarillas
@pncguatemala We urge you desist all acts of violence against protestors in Huehue #Guatemala and the immediate withdrawal of troops to avoid further conflict. #Weareallbarillas
@GuatemalaGob You must respect the #humanrights in Huehue #Guatemala. Cease all violence against peaceful protestors. #Weareallbarillas
@PDHGt Please visit Huehue #Guatemala to monitor the situation and well being of detainees #Weareallbarillas
Spanish:
@ottoperezmolina Decimos no al uso del ejército o un estado de sitio para reprimir a protestas pacificas y legitimas en Huehue #Guatemala
@mlopezbonilla Garantice la protección, bienestar y los#derechoshumanos de los ciudadanos en Huehue #Guatemala
@pncguatemala Insisto que dejen de usar la violencia en Huehue #Guatemala y que se retiren del lugar para evitar más conflictos
@GuatemalaGob Respeten los #derechoshumanos en Huehue #Guatemala. Cese la violencia contra las manifestaciones pacificas.
@PDHGt Pedimos que hagan una visita a Huehue #Guatemala para monitorear la situación y la integridad de los detenidos
