Cultural Survival joins PAYXAIL YAJAWKONOB' CHUJ, AKATEKO, Q'ANJOB'AL, POPTI' (the traditional government of the Chuj, Akateko, Q’anjob’al, and Popti’ Nations) as well as the International Maya League and El Consejo de la Nación Maya Mam in condemning the most recent act of violence against Indigenous environmental defenders in Huehuetenango, Guatemala related to hydroelectric project by Promocciones de Desarrollo Hídrico S.A. (PDH) in Yich K’isis in San Mateo Ixtatán.
According to Prensa Comunitaria, on January 17, 2017, Sebastián Alonzo Juan (age 72) was killed during manifestations in Yich K’isis, San Mateo Ixtatán, Huehuetenango. “While the population manifested peacefully, according to the population and witnesses, the National Civil Police and private guard of the company began to shoot ... There were also soldiers present in this place. Since morning hours, people had been manifesting in several areas in northern Huehuetenango and there was a concentration of the population who went to the location of the facilities of the company, PDH. Among the demonstration were people who were in favor of the company according to witnesses. When the mobilization had ended and people were returning home, unidentified people burned objects that ended with machinery on fire. In the demonstration were minors, women and seniors. Mr. Sebastían Alonzo Juan was lying 10 meters from the Rio Negro, one of the rivers to be used for the hydroelectric project, located 100 meters from the construction where the dam is going to be built. In the midst of these shots were correspondents of Radio Sembrador, Telesur and Prensa Comunitaria.”
PDH has had a violent history in the community of San Mateo and has ignored the results of the community’s self-organized 2009 consultation in which they rejected any future transnational development projects on their land. The company has ties to the same Spanish development company behind the long disputed Hidro Santa Cruz hydroelectric project in neighboring Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango, which recently cancelled their contract as a result of losing financing from development banks.
We join the PAYXAIL YAJAWKONOB' CHUJ, AKATEKO, Q'ANJOB'AL, POPTI', International Maya League, and El Consejo de la Nacion Maya Mam in demanding:
- The State of Guatemala and Promocciones de Desarrollo Hídrico S.A. immediately stop all violence against Indigenous peoples who are protecting their water, lands, environment and resources.
- An immediate and thorough investigation of the murder of Sebastian Alonzo Juan is conducted.
- Guatemala comply with their commitment to the ILO Convention No. 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- That the international community speak out against this tragedy and the injustices that are inflicted on the Maya and other Indigenous Peoples affected by development projects.
