NISGUA: Sacapulas, El Quiché, celebrates community referendum

Members of the Coordinadora de Comunidades de Sacapulas en Resistencia y en Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y el Medio Ambiente (Coordinating Committee of the Communities of Sacpulas in Resistance and in Defense of Natural Resources and the Environment), the body which organized the referendum, unfold banners in the central plaza of Sacapulas. Graham Hunt

On May 20, 2011, in the fifth community referendum carried out in the department of El Quiché, 28,209 women, men and youth in the municipality of Sacapulas raised their voice* to pronounce a resounding NO to the entry into the municipality of national and transnational companies seeking to exploit mineral and hydraulic resources. 59.09% of the population took part in the historic decision, with women making up the majority of the adult vote and youth nearly 47% of the total. At the national level, to date, more than 660,000 Guatemalans have rejected the imposition of megaprojects in their territories via more than 60 community referenda.

*All the links in this report lead to http://consultasacapulas.tk3.net/, the official page of the referendum. Among other information, the page features a video, in Spanish and K'iché, documenting the process that led to the referendum, as well as the official, public information regarding area megaprojects that was provided to the communities of Sacapulas.

Members of the Coordinadora de Comunidades de Sacapulas and volunteers put together the stage that will be occupied by the organizers of the referendum in the central plaza of Sacapulas. Graham Hunt

Members of the Coordinadora de Comunidades de Sacapulas prepare the vehicles that will carry national and international observers to the different communities of the municipality. Graham Hunt

The process of awareness-raising that culminated in the community referendum was led by the Coordinadora de Comunidades de Sacapulas en Resistencia y en Defensa de los Recursos Naturales y Medio Ambiente (Coordinating Committee of the Communities of Sacapulas in Resistance and in Defense of Natural Resources and the Environment), a representative body made of of delegates from each microregion in the municipality. The Coordinadora was founded in response to the generalized popular concern that came into being with the popular knowledge, via public and official information from government ministries, of the existence of five mining licenses on lands belonging to the municipality, as well as mining and hydroelectric projects in neighboring municipalities likely to affect the population of Sacapulas. These megaprojects were approved without the free, prior informed consent of area communities.

Images from the assembly carried out on April 9, 2011, in which the communities collectively decided to celebrate a referendum in the municipality of Sacapulas. Graham Hunt

The Coordinadora having taken charge of sharing with the population the public information regarding the projects being developed over their communities, microregional assemblies were carried out throughout the municipality in which the population was consulted as to how to proceed in the face of the threat to their well-being. In each sector the decision was made to elevate the discussion to a forum involving all the communities and, in this way, in a universal assembly held on April 9, 2011, the communities of Sacapulas decided to submit the issue of extractive megaprojects in the municipality to a public referendum.

As in the rest of the municipality, the population of the village of Tzununul expressed a round rejection of the extractive activities of national and transnational companies in the municipality. Graham Hunt

In a municipal accord emitted following a public session celebrated on April 11, 2011 (see the bottom section of the page), the honorable Municipal Council of Sacapulas, presided by the Municipal Mayor, Professor Pedro Pú Tojín, taking into account that "[a]ccording to copies of documents in our sight today, presented by members of the Coordinator of communities in resistance in defense of natural resources and the natural environment of the Municipality of Sacapulas, it is evident that on various dates the Office of the General Director for Mining of the Ministry of Energy and Mines received for processing requests for mining exploration and exploitation licenses in the territorial circumscription of Sacapulas; likewise, we have knowledge that on the part of the I.N.D.E. (National Institute for Electrification) there are plans for the construction of a hydroelectric plant known as "Serchil" over the banks of the Black River, which runs through our municipality," agreed to "back the process of consultation of all the communities of the municipality of Sacapulas of the Quiché department." Likewise, in the accord, the Municipal Council makes it known "[t]hat the Municipality, with the support of the Auxilliary Mayors of all the communities of Sacapulas, on the second of December of the year two-thousand nine and on the eighth of December two thousand ten, presented two declarations against mining activities."

In the referendum of Sacapulas, each segment of the population participated: women . . .
Graham Hunt

. . . men, . . .
Graham Hunt

. . . and youth.
Graham Hunt

Graham Hunt

Residents of the urban center of Sacapulas congregate to emit their vote. The banner reads "Water and land for the Peoples, not for the companies."
Graham Hunt

Just as in the communities, the residents of the urban center expressed a round NO to the imposition of extractive projects in their territory. Graham Hunt

Residents of the urban center sign the official register in which their votes are recorded.
Graham Hunt

The Municipal Mayor, Professor Pu Tojín, speaks to the gathered public.
Graham Hunt

The parish priest of Sacapulas imparts words of congratulation and encouragement to the public. "This has nothing to do with ideological, political questions," he declared, "this has been born--has flowered--from discernment, it has flowered from the right to organize and to defend that which God, our Lord, has given to each People, each family."

Graham Hunt