Accompanier Perspectives: Huehuetenango

Dear Family and Friends,

Thanks to those of you who’ve responded to my recent call for action in solidarity with political prisoners in Huehuetenango and for financial support in NISGUA’s successful May Match campaign! Those of you who’ve signed in support of the release of Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velasquez will have your voices heard in the coming weeks as NISGUA’s partners in Madrid coordinate the presentation of the petition to Guatemalan embassies in North American and Europe.

It has been a while since I’ve reached out to you all with more substantive updates and reflections on my work as a human rights accompanier in Guatemala, but I’ve been thinking of you. Firstly, with the (bittersweet) excitement of knowing that I’ll be seeing many of you soon as I conclude my six-month contract this week and start to make my way back north. And secondly, with curiosity and hope in the histories converging in the current moment in both the U.S. and Guatemala that have provoked diverse forms of protest and commentary in response to the specific violences of institutionalized racism and corruption. 

Throughout the unfolding of what many are calling a “black spring” in the United States, I have been doing my best to stay well-informed and vocal from afar, but have learned that while social media helps me keep my anger current, it also affirms distance and lends itself to feelings of powerlessness. For this reason, I am especially looking forward to opportunities for shared, in-real-life reflection (and action) with those of you who’ve been directly engaging (as listeners, as actors) in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Even from where I stand in Guatemala, it is clear that the questions we need to ask ourselves are difficult, the answers complex, and the stakes as high as they have always been.

Right now in Guatemala, the same is true. This spring, in the largest wave of popular protests since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996, the population has demanded the resignation of public figures (including the president) believed to be linked to the crime syndicate “La Linea,” which compromised customs revenue by waiving import tariffs in exchange for bribes. The protests (connected by their shared usage of #RenunciaYa or #StepDownAlready) have led to the resignation of the vice-president last month (which analysts have also linked to the influence of the U.S. embassy and American economic interests) and have energized similar investigations aimed at undermining impunity. In a country where an indigenous majority experiences some of the deepest poverty in the region and where the current regime frequently cites a deficit for the deplorable conditions of its education and health systems, it is not surprising that the abuse of public funds has been met with unrest. 

#BlackLivesMatter and #RenunicaYa have emerged from distinct contexts and reflect varied objectives, but they have something important in common: a dawning recognition that the creation of a just present requires deep and critical engagement with the past. Beyond expressing just rage in response to specific instances of extreme police violence, #BlackLivesMatter protests address the pervasive reality of institutionalized anti-black racism as a direct legacy of African slavery in North America. Similarly, the diverse perspectives represented in #RenunciaYa question the meaning of democracy and peace since the signing of the Peace Accords and reflect a shared acknowledgement that today, as they have long been, terror and impunity are the rule in Guatemala, while justice is the illusive exception. 

So, what does all of this have to do with human rights accompaniment? 

While the theft of public funds by La Linea may seem petty in comparison to the genocidal violence exercised by the state against poor and indigenous Guatemalans for decades (and centuries), the scandal is emblematic of the institutional precarity that permits human rights abuses to thrive in Guatemala. Weak courts, racist police, and highly corruptible public officials are easily utilized by transnational companies to repress movements that challenge their extractive, exploitative logic. In the midst of #RenunciaYa’s unfolding, three more leaders of the resistance to hydroelectric development in Huehuetenango have been incarcerated, and over a dozen more have had warrants issued for their arrest. The most recent arrests bring the total number of political prisoners in the north of Huehuetenango to 9, with every organization that I’ve accompanied experiencing the threat of the incarceration of its leaders. 

While criminalization has intensified in my time as an accompanier (six new prisoners in six months), it is not a new phenomenon in Huehuetenango. In May 2012, five years after the people of Santa Cruz Barillas had unanimously refused the presence of extractive mega-projects in their territory in a consulta comunitaria, an activist who had vocally opposed the installation of two hydroelectric dams on the Cambalam River was murdered by the company’s private security. In the days following his murder, anticipating impunity, the people of Barillas rose up to demand justice for his death. The state responded with a state of siege, militarizing the city and its outlying villages, suspending civil liberties, and making massive arrests alleging destruction of company property and threats to its employees. For survivors of the internal armed conflict, the presence of the military was traumatizing; many took refuge in the forest, convinced that the war had started again, and some still suffer effects of post-traumatic stress. 

While military intervention in Barillas sought to terrorize a public in unrest, the justice system has sent clear messages about its take on the value of rural Guatemalan life and transnational private property. The employees of Hidro Santa Cruz who murdered Andrés Francisco Miguel have yet to be successfully sentenced three years after his death, while community leaders have spent months and years in pretrial detention accusations based on their leadership, and not in their proved participation in criminal activity. Often, it has taken years to close their cases even after they have been released for lack of proof or faulty investigations. 

In my last update, I introduced criminalization as a strategy for repressing and neutralizing social movements. In simple terms, criminalization literally makes activist leadership a crime. In the cases I’ve witnessed in my time as an accompanier, leaders have been charged as the intellectual authors of spontaneous protests that have demanded justice and accountability for state sanctioned violence. But many have actually played mediating roles in conflictive situations, attempting to minimize the risks that protesters take in expressing their desire for justice while maximizing the possibilities for dialogue. But the character of their participation is not of interest to prosecutors; their mere presence has made them the subject of criminal investigations. In some cases, being present isn’t even requisite for being charged.

The repressive impact of incarcerating leaders is made more effective by the issuing of arrest warrants against entire organizations and communities. While an arrest warrant does not guarantee an arrest, the threat of arrest may be even more debilitating to the capacity of movements to demand justice. The most recent arrests have been made in the capital, where leaders have traveled between 8 and 13 hours to attend hearings for their peers or file police reports against violent public officials. An arrest in the capital, as opposed to in rural Huehuetenago, sends a strong message: Leaving home means increasing risk of arrest, and the police knows when you leave home.

What’s more, these arrests have been highly public and visible to movements based in other regions, where the impact of criminalization is felt as well. Where I work in Huehuetenango, the impacts are palpable: Those with warrants live in fear of arrest and must navigate the need to limit their movement and participation as movement becomes more necessary than ever. The families of those incarcerated adapt to long, frequent, and expensive trips to capital cities to visit their loved ones, while living the consequences of a lost income, all while movements require their collaboration to build broad support for political prisoners. For indigenous campesinos especially, navigating legal spaces and processes is an uphill battle, and language barriers and ethnic discrimination often mean total exclusion. On the periphery, some still talk about seeking refuge. 

These are the kinds of conditions of abuse and threat that make human rights accompaniment a necessary and valued solidarity strategy in Guatemala, especially in Huehuetenango. As criminalization intensifies, the people I accompany have asked that we maintain our presence in the region and expand it into new spaces — to court rooms and prisons, and in activities where potentially criminalized activists risk arrest. More than anything, this has meant that my team and I have been present to observe the legal processes starting at the moment of incarceration, and that we’ve heightened our attention to factors of security that threaten the capacity of the people we accompany to live, work, and organize for their communities safely. 

In this context, it is clear that international accompaniment alone does not wield sufficient dissuasive power to prevent the unjust imprisonment of activists. Rather, as our presence continues to be felt and valued by the people who request it, we must think of ways in which accompaniment can support a variety of strategies for reducing harm while working to undermine exploitation and abuse.

On my last day as an accompanier, I observed the first hearing for the case of three leaders from Barillas who were arrested almost exactly three months before. The outcome of the hearing wasn’t positive; the judge denied the defense’s request to revise the charges in consideration of various irregularities in the investigation, and it remained unclear how long they’d have to wait for their next hearing. But as we left the courtroom, things got worse: another community leader who’d traveled from Barillas in support of his three compañeros was presented with a photocopy of a warrant for his arrest. Nearly two hours passed before he was presented with a legal version of the warrant, and we accompanied him as he was handcuffed and taken to the basement holding cells to await his arraignment. 

As I observed his entrance into the jail, I heard my name being called from a nearby cell, “Don Davíd! Aquí! Don Davíd”! The three men who’d had the hearing earlier that day were waiting to be transferred back to their long-term cell assignment in a nearby prison. They called me over to ask me questions about the arrest of their compañero, to advocate for the safest placement possible for him in the prison where’d they’d been held previously in Huehuetenango, and reached their hands up out of the dark cell to touch mine through the narrow bars. They smiled as I said goodbye.

While I reciprocated the joy of seeing them, the feeling was hard to sustain. I’ve never seen places so ugly and hopeless, so unapologetically violent, as the prisons where I’ve made visits in the last six months. It isn’t possible to witness the horror of mass incarceration without feeling some level of powerlessness and rage, without feeling exasperation with common sense notions of justice that rationalize such contempt for human life. I’ve been holding these feelings for several months now, perhaps longer, and I think those feelings are important, but I am so grateful for those smiling hands in the darkness reminding me that joy is necessary in survival.

There are lots of ways that I will remember my work as an accompanier, and there are many ways in which I intend to continue in its spirit in other contexts. I'll be transitioning back to my "normal" life in the next few weeks, but I feel more aware than ever that while working as a human rights accompanier has been a unique experience in my life, the ongoing work of shared survival is everyone's. That work didn't start six months ago and it doesn't end now. 

As always, thanks for sticking with me throughout my experience. 

In Solidarity,

David

Community leader from Huehuetenango testifies at the World Bank

Last month, Cecilia Mérida testified at the World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. about the damage being inflicted by the Bank's financing of the Cambalam hydroelectric dam in the municipality of Barillas, Huehuetenango. She testified to the strategies of criminalization being employed by the Guatemalan government and the dam's Spanish owner - Hidro Santa Cruz - in an attempt to silence local opposition. She spoke first hand about the impacts on families and communities when leaders are illegally detained and imprisoned for months, or even years on end.

The World Bank continues to be a major funder of resource extraction companies around the world, loaning hundreds of millions of dollars each year to companies working in the global South who are unable to guarantee that these investments are not contributing to human rights violations. A recent investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed the hypocrisy of the World Bank's motto to "do no harm." The investigation showed that mega-development projects financed by the World Bank have pushed at least 3.4 million people out of their homes around the world. The tragic situation in Santa Cruz Barillas is an example of this systemic problem: the Inter-American Infrastructure Finance Corporation (CIFI), a US-based private sector lender funded in part by the World Bank, loaned Hidro Santa Cruz more than $8 million for the construction of dam.

Click here to read more about the struggle to defend territory in the department of Huehuetenango, and the leaders who have been criminalized while speaking out against hydroelectric dams being imposed without their consent. 

Below is Cecilia's statement before the World Bank. To read the original statement in Spanish, click here.

Cecilia Mérida: Statement before the World Bank

I am Cecilia Mérida. I come from the department of Huehuetenango in Guatemala, from the municipality of Santa Cruz Barillas, which is where the Spanish company Hidralia Ecoener has been operating without consent since 2008. Their goal is to construct a hydroelectric dam on the Cambalan River, situated on the periphery of the urban center of the municipality. This company has received financing that flows from the World Bank to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and its Inter-American Infrastructure Finance Corporation (CIFI).

I come in the name of each person affected by this hydroelectric project, to answer many of the questions put forward by OXFAM. What are the consequences for the people who are affected by the projects financed with money that comes from so far away?

Hidralia Ecoener, registered in Guatemala as Hidro Santa Cruz, Sociedad Anónima, insisted on the development of this project despite the fact that in 2007, the people of Barillas held a community consultation to protect their natural resources, under the framework of the Collective Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The company hired local people as technicians gaining political control over community organizing. In November 2009, the company pressed charges against eight community leaders, among who was my life partner - Rubén Herrera - along with Pablo Antonio Pablo and Saúl Mendez. Thus began the practice of charging community leaders in the municipality with crimes of breaking and entering, coercion, threats, aggravated arson, activity against the security of the nation, detention, kidnapping, and terrorism.

This led to the beginning of the social conflict in the municipality, and the permanent violation of the human rights of the population. What transpired were incidents of intimidation, persecution and criminalization against all of those who spoke out against the interests of Hidro Santa Cruz. In 2011, Rúben Herrera was forced to leave the municipality, abandoning his work providing social support to youth.

Towards the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, social tension worsened to such a level that the Guatemalan government declared a State of Siege in the municipality of Santa Cruz Barillas, repressing the opposition to the hydroelectric project and allowing Hidro Santa Cruz to continue its operations. On May 1, 2012, campesino leader Andrés Francisco Miguel was killed during an assassination attempt against Pablo Antonio Pablo, who was left seriously injured in the attack. One year later, company private security guards who participated in this armed attack, were absolved of all crimes by the Guatemalan justice system.

Based on what transpired on May 1, 2012, 17 community leaders were illegally detained, including Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez. Nine were unjustly imprisoned for nine months, and were never found guilty of any crime. On March 15, 2013, Rubén Herrera was arrested at the request of Hidro Santa Cruz. After spending three months in prison, he finally had all charges dropped on February 26, 2014, after a judge ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to keep the investigation open.

In August 2013, Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez were arrested again, and accused of murder, feminicide and lynching. Those of us who are at their defense are convinced that this case was brought forward by employees of Hidro Santa Cruz as a part of their strategy to criminalize community leadership. After a flawed trial, they were convicted of 33 years in prison. Today, they are going through a Special Appeals process.

In September 2013, another community member, Mynor López was illegally arrested. At the end of the month, the Guatemalan Army and National Civil Police practically launched a military offensive against the civilian population of Santa Cruz Barillas, the likes of which have never been seen before in this municipality - not even during the armed conflict.

In February 2015, three more community leaders were detained and illegally imprisoned. Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan and Arturo Pablo (Pablo Antonio Pablo's son). They, like all of the others previously mentioned, believed that the presence of Hidro Santa Cruz seriously impacts the natural, environmental and cultural aspects of the municipality.

After seven years of persecution, the ways the Spanish company Hidro Santa Cruz operates provide some answers to the questions posed by OXFAM's recent report. What are the human costs of the loans, given the social and environmental safeguards are not working? The human costs are extremely high and very harmful. They translate into persecution, killings, imprisonment, and criminalization. During this time, the communities have not seen any benefits. Instead, they have gone from living in tranquility to living in a state of fear and terror. Our human potential and energy has not been dedicated towards local development from our own perspectives and aspirations, but instead, has been spent defending ourselves against the abuses of Hidro Santa Cruz.

The human costs [of these loans for mega-development projects] translate into the suffering of families, wives, sons and daughters, into illnesses and precariousness. We are prevented from being with our husbands. Instead, we spend our lives and the little we have traveling to the prison that is located more than 400 kilometers away. In this conflict, every community member [incarcerated] is innocent. We are the people who are suffering the consequences of bank loans that are thought to be "producing development." The pain and suffering for us "is the human face of these projects." Day to day, we live out these tangible consequences, in addition to being (as OXFAM's report indicates) "the most poor and vulnerable people of the developing countries."

We, too, have questions. Who is going to pay for all of the costs that we have had to suffer from "development," for a project that we never asked for in our community? Is it the World Bank? The International Finance Corporation? The CIFI? Or is it Hidro Santa Cruz that is going to pay for all of the economic, social and organizational harms they have caused in our community? Who will return to the families all the years taken from the men who have been incarcerated? We know that no one will give back to us those who have been killed.

Two more human rights defenders from Huehuetenango imprisoned for opposing megaprojects

Since 2011, communities in northern Huehuetenango have organized more than 50 peaceful protests and dozens of community referenda in which they have actively expressed their opposition to the expansion of hydroelectric dams and other megaprojects in their territories.

This demonstration of community strength and self-determination has been met with violence, state repression, criminalization, and re-militarization. Currently, there are seven community activists unjustly imprisoned for their opposition to these projects.

Most recently, on March 24, Rigoberto Juárez and Domingo Baltazar, two Q'anjob'al community leaders with the Plurinational Government of the Q'anjob'al, Chuj, Akateko, Popti' and Mestizo Peoples ("Gobierno Plurinacional") were arrested in Guatemala City. Juárez and Baltazar have joined thousands of others in speaking out against the imposition of hydroelectric dams in their territory despite community consultations rejecting them.

They were arrested on 16 charges including threats, coercion and illegal detention stemming from events that took place in 2013. After having many of their rights to due process violated, including the right to a preliminary hearing within 24 hours of arrest, a judge released them on bail. However, as they were leaving the courthouse, both men were re-arrested on new charges of abduction, kidnapping and inciting crime for events that took place on January 23, 2015. To this date, they remain in prison with no scheduled date for their first hearing - adding to the growing list of violations of speedy due process that have already occurred. 

Rigoberto Juárez awaits his preliminary hearing from a jail cell in
Guatemala City.  Photo credit: J. Abbott

The arrests of Rigoberto Juárez and Domingo Baltazar follow a pattern of criminalization of leaders who have been active in the movements to protect territory against the many threats of resource extraction and other mega-development projects in Guatemala. Leaders continue to face outlandish legal charges – occasionally for events in which they were not even present - in an effort to silence their voices and organizing capacities. As a result, movements are being forced to use much-needed resources to provide legal support to these leaders instead of using them to further strengthen the struggle in defense of life.

In a statement released after the most recent arrests, the Human Rights Convergence - a group of Guatemalan organizations working for social justice and an end to state and corporate impunity - points to a series of other incidences of criminalization that have taken place just in relation to hydroelectric projects in northern Huehuetenango, amongst which are:

• Rubén Herrera, director of the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango (ADH): charged with kidnapping and terrorism related to events that transpired before the government implemented a state of siege in Barillas, in April 2012. After spending months in prison, he was absolved of all charges for lack of proof. Like him, 30 others have had to go through legal processes only to be absolved at the time of formal accusation. 

• Rogelio Velásquez and Saúl Méndez, community leaders from Barillas: convicted of the murder of a man and woman in their community. In the verdict reached against them in December of last year, in which both men were sentenced to 33 years in prison, the judge argued, "We cannot prove how the woman was killed. But since they [Saúl and Rogelio] are community leaders, they are responsible." This illegal verdict seeks to hold the human rights defenders legally responsible for the activities that occur in their communities. 

• Sotero Adalberto Villatoro, Francisco Juan Francisco and Arturo Pablo, community leaders from Barillas: indicted in February 2015 for a kidnapping allegedly committed during 2012, even after the Public Prosecutor asked that the charges be dropped for lack of proof. Not only were they indicted on charges, but also ordered to a prison in zone 18 of Guatemala City, taking them out of their community. The judge soon after withdrew from the bench, leaving those indicted without a trial judge to oversee their case and as a result, no date to appeal the indictment.

In addition to these cases and many more in which leaders have been criminalized for their roles within the movements for the defense of life and territory, at least two leaders have been murdered. Daniel Pedro Mateo, an active member within the ADH and a prominent defender of the 2007 community consultation in Barillas, was kidnapped and murdered in April, 2013. On March 27, 2015, the body of Pascual Pablo Francisco was found. He had been missing for three days, and was another prominent figure in the defense of life in Barillas.

In contrast to the disproportionate amount of charges laid against community leaders, the majority of cases of murder, assaults or threats against human rights defenders have failed to advance in the court system and remain in impunity.

In the department of Huehuetenango alone, communities are facing the expansion of the "Northern Corridor/Franja Transversal del Norte" (a mega-highway set to cut across the northern part of Guatemala), three hydroeletric dams (Cambalam of Hidro Santa Cruz in Barillas, Hidro San Luis of CM5 in Santa Eulalia and Ixquisis of the PDH, S.A., in San Mateo Ixtatán) and other possible mineral extraction in the area. In Huehuetenango, 28 of the 32 municipalities have held referenda in which communities have soundly rejected the presence of hydroelectric dams. Despite this clear message, the government continues to push these projects forward and to grant new licenses.

Given this reality, the Human Rights Convergence has called on the Guatemalan government and judicial system to respect due process and immediately halt the criminalization of community leaders. In a statement released in March, the Convergence urged the government to stop granting licenses for hydroelectric dams in the regions, and called on the companies who are already operating in the area to listen to and respect the decisions made by impacted communities.

It states, "The government of Otto Pérez Molina is using this violence to protect personal and corporate interests. The censorship and attacks - including assassinations - of journalists and other grassroots media is only one example. Indigenous communities who carry out referenda are met with racism and repression by government authorities and from company employees seeking to expand into their territories."

To read the full statement made by the Human Rights Convergence in Spanish, click here.

Human rights defenders from Barillas convicted despite irregularities in proceedings

An excerpt from a press release issued by the Guatemalan Unit for the 

Protection of Human Rights Defenders (UDEFEGUA):

"On Thursday, November 13, the trial court judge in Villa Nueva sent Oscar Morales, a leader in the resistance movement in San Rafael las Flores, to trial for allegedly threatening the manager of the mining company, Minera San Rafael, S.A., subsidiary of Canadian company Tahoe Resources. During the evidentiary hearing, the judge revealed his partiality when he indicted the human rights defender without a proper investigation. The judge is now sending the case to trial without a clear investigation and despite the fact that the Public Prosecutor's office has stated that they do not have enough evidence to accuse the defendant. In sending the case to trial, it has become clear that the judge is prioritizing private interests that are represented by lawyers of the third-party plaintiff. The trial against Oscar Morales opens on December 29.

On November 14, Saúl Aurelio Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez, water rights defenders from Barillas, Huehuetenango, were convicted by a Sentencing Tribunal in Huehuetenango for conspiracy to commit murder. The two human rights defenders were illegally detained on May 2, 2012 during a state of siege imposed by the government of Guatemala. After a lengthy process, they were released and declared innocent. However, while en-route with their lawyer for the final hearing on this case, they were arrested by the police outside the Guatemala City court house for the murder and femicide of two people who were lynched in Barillas in 2010.

Both the legal process itself and the verdict against the human rights defenders were plagued with irregularities. The verdict was reached without proving the individual responsibility of the accused, violating one of the core guarantees of the judicial system that states that individuals cannot be brought to trial for the actions of others. Both cases demonstrate how private interests trump justice, leading to the political persecution of social leaders and human rights defenders."

Link to original press release in Spanish can be found here.

Other statements from Guatemala:

"They accuse me of something I did not commit. My intention has always been to defend the rights of nature." (Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz)

"I am someone of few material resources. I have fought for the rights of Mother Nature and for defending natural resources, I am now in prison." (Antonio Rogelio Velásquez)

"Together with their communities, [Saúl and Rogelio] expressed their opposition to the construction of the hydroelectric Hidro Santa Cruz. This struggle has meant repression and criminalization for them, their families and their communities by the Guatemalan state who, far from working for the wellbeing of the citizens of the country, protect the interests of transnational companies such as Ecoener Hidralia and its extractive projects in northern Huehuetenango. All of this threatens the lives of communities and the natural resources of the Guatemalan people." (Statement from the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango)

"It is clear that the case of Rogelio and Saúl corresponds to a strategy of terror that seeks to weaken community resistance and paralyze social movements in defense of territory. This [goal] wasn't achieved because those of us who defend life and territory remain united.” (Statement from the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango)

Link to original statements in Spanish can be found here.

ADH denounces World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank

The Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango in Defense of Territory and for the Autonomy and Free Determination of the People – ADH – informs the national and international community:


During 1981, 1982, 1983, the Guatemalan Army massacred the Achí communities that lived on the banks of the Chixoy River; 444 people, including youth, children, men and women were executed. The justification of the massacre was the existence of an internal armed conflict, but in reality, they carried out this strategy in order to clean the zone and implant the construction of the Chixoy hydro-electric project. The National Electrification Institute – INDE – was responsible for the execution of this project, having received a loan from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank for almost 1 billion dollars. In 2012, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights condemned the State of Guatemala for the massacres of Rio Negro and called for fulfillment of the reparations to the victims' family members for the damages caused, including the expropriation of land, crops, animals, identity and culture.

On January 17, 2014, after a 32-year community struggle, the Congress and President of the United States made a declaration demanding that the State of Guatemala and Otto Pérez Molina should pay the $154,000,000 in damages to the victims. The response of “ Mr. President “ was immediate: “To give these communities $154,000,000, is like saying that we are going to privilege these communities and leave others out.”  “Mr. President” this is a historic debt owed by the Guatemalan State to the victims of the massacres and the civilized world. The communities of Río Negro continue living in extreme poverty and in inhumane conditions. Your response, “Mr. President”, is irresponsible and aberrant.

Today, February 7, 2014, the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango – ADH – and the people of Santa Cruz Barillas, demand that the military government of Otto Pérez Molina respond responsibly and quickly to resolve once and for all the conflict in Barillas. 31 years later, the same methods are being repeated by Hidralia-Hidro Santa Cruz. It is time to end the conflict created by the Spanish company in its attempt to implant two hydro-electric projects in the Q’am’balam River. The conflict has gone on for five years and has resulted in the persecution, intimidation, and co-opting of community leaders. There have been assassinations, imprisonment; there is fear and terror. “Mr. President,” it is necessary to stop these companies.

The sad and terrifying story of Chixoy is related to the current persecution in Barillas through international financial institutions. The World Bank and the Inter- American Development Bank are financing Hidro Santa Cruz through the Inter-American Corporation for Infrastructure Financing (CIFI), which in 2010 provided financing for the Canbalam hydroelectric dam. In 2008, CIFI received an $80,000,000 loan from the International Financial Corporation of the World Bank Group.  In 2001, CIFI received $10,000,000 from the Inter-American Investment Corporation of the Inter-American Development Bank. We believe that these investments are responsible for the human rights violations and the damages suffered by the communities of Barillas.

Mr. Otto Pérez Molina, do you want to continue protecting companies that act illegally? What do you and your government stand to gain? Will you continue to repress the Q’anjob’al and Mestizo communities of Santa Cruz Barillas? Or what are your plans for this region that has been abandoned by the state of Guatemala?

For all of the previous reasons, as the ADH we demand:

A: The end to persecution, repression and criminalization of community leaders.
B: That the Spanish company Hidralia-Hidro Santa Cruz be expelled from the country given the harm it has caused to the communities of Barillas.
C: That Hidralia-Hidro Santa Cruz pay material, physical, physiological and cultural damages to the victims.

We call on:

• International organizations and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights – IACDH to visit in order to investigate the damages caused by Hidralia-Hidro Santa Cruz and that they issue a public statement.
• The governments of Europe, Canada and Latin America to investigate and make a public statement against the improper use given to funds provided by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. 
• International solidarity organizations to denounce these acts and remain vigilant to the evolution of Otto Pérez Molina’s military government so that he upholds his responsibilities and that the persecution, repression and criminalization ends. 
• National organization to close our ranks in solidarity and unity of the People.

We demand liberty for our political prisoners.

The people of Barillas are not responsible for the violence; they are the object of a dark plan of repression and criminalization.

We are all Barillas
Life and Territory have no owner

Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango – ADH – February 7, 2014

Comunicado de la ADH en solidaridad con presos políticos de Barillas y el pueblo de Sipakapa

El 14 de enero, el pueblo de Sipakapa se manifestó en contra de la licencia minera, Los Chocoyos, autorizado a Goldcorp Inc. Al principio del mes, el Consejo Maya Sipakapense y el Consejo de los Pueblos del Occidente (CPO), denunciaron al Ministerio de Energía y Minas por autorizar la licencia de exploración minera a la empresa canadiense. 

En el siguiente comunicado, la Asamblea de Pueblos de Huehuetenango se solidariza con el pueblo de Sipakapa. La ADH también apoya a Saúl Méndez y Rogelio Velásquez, presos políticos y miembros de la resistencia al proyecto hidroeléctrico Cambalam en Santa Cruz Barillas.

Comunidades de Sipakapa se manifiestan en contra de Los Chocoyos, el 14 de enero. Foto: CPO

 Asamblea de pueblos de Huehuetenango, ADH
Pronunciamiento Público

La lucha de los pueblos en defensa de su territorio, ante la ofensiva transnacional y el modelo extractivista, son reflejo de las agresiones y el saqueo que en pleno siglo XXI da continuad al modelo neoliberal. En el Año 2005, aprendimos de la Consulta Comunitaria de Sipakapa una forma no violenta de defender nuestra tierra y nuestra vida. El pueblo sipakapense se manifestó y exigió respeto a la decisión comunitaria, hoy nuevamente se ha organizado y en forma pacífica exige el respeto a su consulta, así también manifiesta su descontento ante la nueva invasión a su territorio por la extensión de la explotación minera de la mina Marlín.

Las empresas no entienden y tampoco los gobiernos de turno que nuestras tierras no están en venta y que serán defendidas de diferentes maneras en el ayer, hoy y siempre; como lo está demostrando el pueblo de Sipakapa.

También, el día de hoy denunciamos la continuidad de la persecución y criminalización que las empresas transnacionales llevan a cabo con el respaldo del gobierno de Otto Pérez Molina en contra de nuestros líderes y lideresas. El caso de los compañeros Saúl Méndez y Rogelio Velásquez, líderes de la resistencia de Santa Cruz Barillas ante la imposición del proyecto hidroeléctrico español Hidro Santa Cruz, es un claro ejemplo de ello. Están siendo perseguidos usando las leyes guatemaltecas, con lo cual se pervierte el sentido de la justicia. Nosotros y sus familias afirmamos que es una persecución política.

Como Asamblea de Pueblos de Huehuetenango, denunciamos nacional e internacionalmente la invasión abierta y vulgar a nuestros territorios por empresas extranjeras al amparo de los gobiernos de turno, como lo demuestra nuevamente el caso de Sipakapa. Nos solidarizamos con las luchas y las reivindicaciones del pueblo sipakapense.

Nos solidarizamos con Rogelio Velásquez y Saúl Méndez, así como con sus familias y comunidades y exigimos su libertad. Nos solidarizamos con las comunidades y las organizaciones que defienden sus derechos, su vida y la Madre Tierra.

Al gobierno de Otto Pérez Molina, le exigimos el respeto a nuestras Consultas Comunitarias, a nuestras decisiones y a la Autonomía y libre determinación de los Pueblos.

Exigimos la libertad de nuestros presos políticos
Por la autonomía y libre determinación de los pueblos
La Asamblea de Pueblos de Huehuetenango, ADH, miembro del CPO

Huehuetenango, 17 de enero de 2014

Communiqué denouncing recent repression in Northern Huehuetenango

On September 28, conflict erupted again in Northern Huehuetenango in response to the imposition of Spanish-owned Cambalam hydro-electric project in Santa Cruz Barillas. Despite ongoing criminalization and repression, community members continue to demand respect for the 2007 community consultation rejecting large-scale development projects in their territory.


During his September 3 visit to Barillas, President Otto Pérez Molina hailed hydro-electric projects as the future of development in the region and announced the establishment of a dialogue round table, supposedly to address ongoing community opposition to the projects. In the end, the promise of dialogue remained unfulfilled; the conversation did not take place, as the president failed to attend the meeting scheduled for September 19. While the public discourse has advocated for negotiation with communities, in practice, the government has consistently responded to popular opposition with militarization, repression and criminalization.

In the communique below, the Western Peoples' Council and the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango denounce this new wave of violence and militarization and call for international solidarity, the cancellation of licenses for controversial mega-projects and respect for community right to consultation.

We denounce before the international and national community: The current aggression against the Q'anjob'al, Akateko, Chuj and mestizo peoples in Northern Huehuetenango by the President and Commander of Chief of the national army, General Otto Fernando Pérez Molina, who in a recent press conference highlighted the importance of water, mineral, oil and forest resources.

These aggressions are part of a new process of transnational invasion, protected by the government in power, who take turns implementing projects of plunder in the name of false development. These actions are framed within a strategy of counterinsurgency and make us remember and relive the internal armed conflict of the 1980s during which the army orchestrated plans of aggression and violated civil society's fundamental human rights.

On September 28-30 of this year, the government used low flying helicopters, armored vehicles, army troops and National Civil Police (PNC) special forces units to terrorize the population. This strategy of invasion, which disproportionately uses police and military forces characteristic of a state of war, resulted in one civilian death and many injured.  This result is the unforgivable responsibility of the government.

This repressive and terrorist behavior attempts to paralyze communities' pacific and legitimate struggle in defense of territory. The licenses [for mega-projects] have been granted to companies in territories where we exist and live, and that we have been caring for during thousands of years. We will not allow our territories to be destroyed.

THEREFORE: We call on the international and national community to speak out and show solidarity with the people of Guatemala. We will remain vigilant and in permanent observation of the human and collective rights of the people, as attacks against the civilian population of Barillas continue.

WE DEMAND:
1. The government and its ministries respect the human and collective rights of the people, and that they stop lying to and confusing the national and international community.
2. The withdrawal of all army and PNC special forces troops in Northern Huehuetenango in order to guarantee the protection of human rights and not to serve transnational companies.
3. The cancellation of mining, hydroelectric, oil and other mega-project licenses that have been granted in Huehuetenango and which are responsible for undermining peace and liberty.
4. Respect for community consultations carried out   from 2006 to the present.

The Q'anjob'al, Chuj, Akateko and mestizo people have historically cared for territory for the benefit of everyone, including future generations. We only want to be treated as people and to be allowed to live freely in peace and harmony with Mother Nature.

Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango (ADH)
Members of the Western Peoples' Council (CPO)

Huehuetenango, September 30, 2013

Urgent Communique: Detention of Leaders from Santa Cruz Barillas

On Tuesday, August 27, Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz and Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López, community leaders opposed to the imposition of the Cambalam hydroelectric project, operated by Hidro Santa Cruz, property of Spanish company Hidralia S.A., were arrested outside of a Guatemala City courthouse. Saúl and Antonio had traveled to the capital from Santa Cruz Barillas for a hearing regarding the permanent closure of a previous legal process against them, for which they were arbitrarily detained in May 2012 and unjustly imprisoned for eight months.

Their detention is the continuation of the systematic persecution and criminalization of community leaders defending their right to consultation and self determination. Earlier this year we reported on the unjust detention and imprisonment of Rubén Herrera, another Barillas leader criminalized due to his opposition to the hydroelectric project. Thanks in part to your support, Rubén was released and his case was provisionally closed in May. Today NISGUA stands in solidarity with Saúl and Antonio, and join partner organizations and communities in demanding their immediate release!

Read the NISGUA translation of the urgent communique below. See the original Spanish version here.

TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC OPINION:

Despite repression and human rights violations, the Q'anjobal people of Santa Cruz Barillas have defended their territory through community consultations on the installation of a hydroelectric dam, property of the Spanish company Hidralia S.A.

However, the state does not respect community consultations. As a result, the community has lived through diverse moments of struggle, among those the murder of Barillas resident, Andrés Pedro Miguel, on May 1, 2012, the same day the local population generated a series of disturbances.

The next day, the following people were captured: Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López, Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz, Marcos Mateo Miguel, Ventura Juan, Amado Pedro Miguel, Pedro Nuñez, Joel Gaspar Mateo, Diego Juan Sebastián, Andrés León Andrés.

The nine leaders were illegally detained, an act that has been sufficiently proven in the press, as well as in an international complaint presented in Geneva to the working group on illegal detention, case number 46/2012, which called on the state to liberate the detained. The case also called for the  documentation of all the human rights abuses to which the detained were subjected. As a result the  Human Rights Ombudsman emitted the resolution Ref. Exp. Ord. Gua. 7245-2012/DCP. On January 9, the legal process was provisionally closed and the men were released from prison.

On August 27, the nine men were to appear in front of High Risk Crimes Court A to close the process. While entering the courthouse, Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz and Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López were detained by people dressed as civilians who identified themselves as agents of the Specialized Division for Criminal Investigation (DEIC) of the National Civil Police. The detained were moved outside of the courthouse and sent to the offices of the DEIC where they were photographed, supposedly for the press. However, these actions do not address the situation of their illegal detention.

This act forms part of a constant persecution against the leaders of the resistance in Barillas, Huehuetenango. At its heart, the persecution is the result of political opinions regarding development in the municipality where the population has opposed the extractive model imposed by the state and transnational companies.

WE DENOUNCE:

The capture of Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz and Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López on August 27, 2013 when they entered the High Risk Crimes Court A in order to conclude their legal process.

The human rights violations against the leaders of Barillas for their legitimate opposition to the installation of the hydroelectric project.

The granting by the Ministry of Energy and Mines of the license for the installation of the hydroelectric dam without the consent of communities that have the legitimate right to determine their own development.

WE DEMAND:

The immediate liberation of Saúl Aurelio Méndez and Antonio Rogelio Velásquez.

An end to the repression against the population of Barillas who are struggling to defend their territory.

The cancellation of the license granted to Hidro Santa Cruz S.A. for the repression that they have carried out against the communities.

COORDINATION AND NATIONAL CONVERGENCE MAYA WAQIB'KEJ

Guatemala, August 28, 2013

Comunicado urgente por detención a lideres de Santa Cruz Barillas

A LA OPINIÓN PÚBLICA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL MANIFESTAMOS:

El pueblo Q'anjobal de Santa Cruz Barillas a pesar de la represión y violación a sus derechos humanos a defendido su territorio a través de las consultas comunitarias ante la instalación de la hidroeléctrica propiedad de la empresa española Hidralia S.A.

No obstante el Estado no respeta la consulta comunitaria, y a raíz de ello han vivido diversos momentos de lucha, entre los cuales han pasado por el asesinato de uno de los pobladores de Barillas, Andrés Pedro Miguel el día 1 mayo del 2012 ese mismo día se dieron una serie de disturbios generados por la población.

Al día siguiente, fueron capturados: Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López, Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz, Marcos Mateo Miguel, Ventura Juan, Amado Pedro Miguel, Pedro Nuñez, Joel Gaspar Mateo, Diego Juan Sebastián, Andrés León Andrés.

Luego que los 9 líderes fueron detenidos ilegalmente, de lo cual ha quedado suficiente constancia en los medios de comunicación e incluso en una denuncia internacional en Ginebra ante el Grupo de trabajo de detenciones ilegales, opinión 46/2012 en la cual se instaba al Estado a liberar a los detenidos, asimismo se documentó todas las violaciones de Derechos Humanos de los que fueron objetos los detenidos, por lo que el Procurador de Derechos Humanos emitió su resolución Ref. Exp. Ord. Gua. 7245-2012/DCP. El pasado 09 de enero fueron dejados en libertad al clausurar el proceso.

Hoy se presentaron hoy ante el Juzgado de Mayor Riesgo A, para concluir el proceso, al ingresar a la torre de tribunales fueron detenidos dos de ellos: Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz y Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López, por personas vestidas de civil que se identificaron como agentes del DEIC de la Policía Nacional Civil, quienes los trasladaron fuera de la torre de tribunales y luego a las oficinas del DEIC, donde fueron fotografiados supuestamente por prensa. Pero a través de esta acción no lograron solventar su situación por su detención ilegal.

Este hecho se inscribe como una persecución constante en contra de los líderes de la resistencia de Barillas, Huehuetenango; siendo el fondo, una persecusión por sus opiniones políticas acerca del desarrollo en su municipio en la que la población se ha opuesto al modelo extractivo impuesto por el Estado y las empresas transnacionales.

DENUNCIAMOS:

La captura de los compañeros Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz y Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López. El día 27 de agosto de 2013 cuando ingresaban al tribunal de Mayor Riesgo A, para concluir el proceso.

Las violaciones a los derechos humanos de líderes y lideresas del pueblo de Barillas al oponerse legítimamente a la instalación de la hidroeléctrica.

El otorgamiento de la licencia por parte del Ministerio de Energía y Minas para la instalación de la hidroeléctrica sin el consentimiento de las comunidades que tienen el legítimo derecho a decidir por su desarrollo.

EXIGIMOS:

La inmediata liberación de los compañeros Saúl Aurelio Méndez y Antonio Rogelio Velásquez.

El cese de la represión en contra de la población Barrillense que lucha en defensa de su territorio.

La cancelación de la licencia otorgada a la empresa Hidro Santa Cruz S. A. por la represión que han ejercido en contra de las comunidades.

COORDINACIÓN Y CONVERGENCIA NACIONAL MAYA WAQIB´ KEJ

Guatemala, 28 de agosto de 2013