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

Accompanier Perspectives: Ixcán

Since the mid-1990s, members of the NISGUA network have provided a physical international presence to threatened human rights defenders and communities in the Ixcán.

We invite you to read the following reflection piece from one of our current accompaniers, Kayla Myers, about the violence of the past and the ongoing imposition of megadevelopment projects in the area. For more information about accompaniment, please read "The Power of Presence."

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The river Chixoy, which runs from the south of Guatemala all the way up into Mexico, is the life that runs through both the geography of the region and the continued struggles that define our work there. The Cobán-Ixcán region is in the extreme north of Guatemala next to the Mexican border. Cobán is the municipality located on the East side of the river Chixoy. Uspantán. On the West side of the river and in the extreme Northern region is the Ixcán, which is where we will also be working. Surrounding these municipalities are many smaller communities connected often only by foot-trails through the jungle, pickups and small buses, or boats along the Chixoy. 

Many communities in this region were victimized by the Guatemalan military during the armed conflict. For example, in 1982, a pueblo in the north of the Ixcán suffered the largest massacre in the history of Guatemala. On March 14th of that year the army arrived in this pueblo corralling the people into the town marketplace with gunfire, and on the 15th the army burned the Evangelical Church with people trapped inside. On that day, 324 Guatemalans were mass murdered. This history is not a forgotten page, this particular massacre only occurred 33 years ago, and its repercussions still echo into the present and future of this region.

Burial of massacre victims in the Ixcán region, 1996.
Photo credit: S. José Rio Negro, © A. Huet,
Center for Independent Media 

The reason given for the massacre was that the towns-people "supported the guerrilla movement." This was often the reason given during the time of internal armed conflict, a reason masking genocidal and economic motives. It was considered a genocide as Mayan villages were targeted and 84% of those killed or disappeared during the conflict were Indigenous Mayan Peoples. Economic motives are seen in the fact that the government planned the Xalalá hydroelectric project, a dam that will stop the Chixoy river and be used to generate electricity, in the 1970's. Their plan was inhibited, in party, by the presence of communities along the river. The project was paused during the time of massacres and re-vamped in 2004 as a top national priority. After the conflict, the survivors in Cobán-Ixcán were vulnerable from the loss of family, community and land and this vulnerability is now being exploited to gain access to their land and the Chixoy River for the benefit of multi-national companies and the elite class of Guatemala.

Yet, hydroelectric projects do mean clean energy and development in a place isolated and beneath the shadow of extreme poverty. Several questions arise:

"Question:" Why don't they want clean energy and development?
"Response:" If the Xalalá dam is built, over 50 communities around the Chixoy River will be either flooded or completely deprived access to water.

"Q:" What about relocation and compensation?
"R:" The Xalalá dam would be the second largest project in Guatemala next to the Chixoy hydroelectric project built in the 1980s. Those forcibly evicted from their homes and land at that time are still awaiting compensation.

"Q:" What about the trickle down affect of development projects, won't they benefit in the long run?
"R:" The Xalalá project will create energy to be exported, not to be used locally. Those who benefit will be the elite who partner with international companies.

These questions are usually the first to arrive in the minds of people from the Global North, but the implications of damming this river go far deeper than questions of logistics and money.

The Indigenous Mayan peoples are the majority of the population in Guatemala with a culture and tradition alive as the river. The languages spoken in Cobán-Ixcán are principally Q’eqchi, Quiche’, Mam, and Spanish. The Mayan Cosmovision, or view of the world, emphasizes real connection to the Earth and the resources that are life for the Mayan peoples. The river is life, a life under threat.

Indigenous Communities say NO to the Xalalá Hydroelectric
project. Photo credit: NISGUA

There has been no justice for the communities that survived massacres in this region during the armed conflict, instead there is continued tension and re-traumatization. This does not mean that they have given up, on the contrary, the tide for justice in Cobán-Ixcán flows strong. As an example, here is a time-line of their struggle against the Xalalá hydroelectric project:

• 2007 and 2010 – good-faith community consultations are held in Ixcán and Uspantán respectively. Over 18,000 community members, 90% of the population in the region, said NO to the project in these organized votes.

• 2008 - the community consultations, which are legal under International Laws of which Guatemala is a signatory, were ignored by the government and INDE started the project and began looking for investors.

• 2008-2013 – the Xalalá hydroelectric project is stalled by lack of investors due in part to the awareness raised by communities.

• November 2013 - a contract was signed by the Brazilian Company Intertechne Consultores SA to carry out the feasibility studies necessary for dam construction.

• April 2014 - the communities filed a injunction against contract in the Constitutional Court of Guatemala for illegality and irregularities.

• December 2014 – the National Electrification Institute (INDE) cancels the contract with Intertechne and declares that Xalalá is no longer a top national priority. The Constitutional Court has yet to give their decision on the legality of the contract and the people are suspicious of INDE's change in tactics.

INDE has been using any tactic available to weaken the resistance of the local peoples to the project. They attempt to buy out local leaders, seize land in any way they can, start community strife to divide peoples, and offer much needed resources only in return for support of the project. They are even suspected of flying helicopters over these post-conflict communities to scare them into submission.

That is a part of the complex history of this region of Guatemala, so how does that translate to our work? As international human rights accompaniers in this region, my partner and I will provide moral support and a dissuasive presence to the communities and individuals who survived massacres as well as support individuals and organizations struggling against the Xalalá hydroelectric project.

Three of several of the organizations we partner with are:

1. AJR- the Association for Justice and Reconciliation- created by Guatemalan survivors and refugees to bring cases from the armed conflict to trial

2. ACODET - the Association of Communities for the Development of the Defense of Land and Natural Resources - communities in the area organized to resist the Xalalá hydroelectric project

3. Puentes de Paz- Bridges of Peace- they work in the region on several community support projects

They say that this region is the region of walking. From community to community we pack along our belongings and our notebooks, ready to listen to the voices of these powerful defenders and survivors, ready to share information globally to break the ugly silence and isolation in which oppression and violence thrive. I am so ready to learn from the undercurrent of strength that has sustained these people in their struggle, a struggle for the preservation of life, land, and water. In a world being drained of our human connection to nature, this is a struggle we all face together. The implications of their work and survival will be felt through Guatemala and through our global struggle for natural resources and human rights.

Thank you for reading this reflection, for taking time on your path to connect with me and with the people of Guatemala. Please check out www.nisgua.org for updates.

In Solidarity,

Kayla Myers

ACOGUATE turns 15!

This year, ACOGUATE honors 15 years providing a physical international presence to threatened Guatemalan human rights defenders as they work towards social justice and transformation. 

In 2000, NISGUA joined international accompaniment organizations from Canada and Austria to form ACOGUATE, drawing from experiences accompanying refugee communities during their return to Guatemala from Mexico in the mid 1990s. Since that time, committees from seven other European countries - including France, Sweden, Germany, Spain, England, Denmark and Switzerland - have joined the coalition. While the initial request for accompaniment came from the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) as they launched the legal cases against former military for committing genocide and crimes against humanity during the internal armed conflict, ACOGUATE's mandate has expanded over the past 15 years to include other cases of truth and justice, labor rights and the defense of land, life, and territory. 

Since ACOGUATE's inception, more than 600 international volunteers have dedicated anywhere from 3 months to two years to this project and have returned home to continue to ensure that Guatemalan voices speaking out against human rights violations do not go unheard.

Read NISGUA's reflections on how accompaniment has changed over the years.

ACOGUATE's report, "Enduring bonds: Although we part ways, we walk together" was published to commemorate the anniversary. In the report's introduction, the founding coordinators of the project remark: 

"Celebrating 15 years is two sides of the same coin: on the one side, we value the efforts of many volunteers from different parts of the world who continue to be involved in the project; on the flipside, we are witnessing continued insecurity at the level of the state, which should be guaranteeing the rights of its citizens without exception. In spite of advances in truth, justice and defense of life in Guatemala, extreme poverty continues alongside violence, racism and the exploitation of natural resources without the free, prior and informed consent of communities."

Víctor Sales of the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango (ADH)
calls for continued solidarity. Photo credit: Jhonathan F. Goméz

Their comments were echoed by many of the people who attended the publication launch, including several people and organizations that we accompany.

Anselmo Roldán, the current president of the AJR and former NISGUA speaking tour participant spoke about his experiences with accompaniment:

"I remember the beginnings of international accompaniment, when agreements were made between the refugee-led Permanent Commissions and the government. At the time, accompaniment was the eyes for Guatemala as we once again reintegrated into our normal lives and continued our fight for justice. We must recognize this important work - a type of accompaniment that is up close and personal, near to us, that each accompanier plays a role in our struggle. They are our compañeros. They help us denounce what is happening - not only the crimes of the past but the current reality as well. 

Thank you. I am grateful to the international accompaniment that is present today and continues to act in solidarity with Guatemala."

AJR President Anselmo Roldán speaks about the importance of ongoing
accompaniment.  Photo credit: Jhonathan F. Goméz

Online copies of ACOGUATE's publication are expected soon.

Interview with members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation on the genocide retrial and suspension of proceedings

NISGUA sat down with several members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) to ask them how they feel about the genocide retrial and the events of January 5th, when lead Judge Jeannette Valdés was recused from hearing the case and the retrial was suspended. The departure of Judge Valdés means that the trial is suspended with no clear time frame for when the recusal issue will be resolved, leaving the process for justice for genocide once again in legal limbo.

How does the AJR feel about having to repeat the genocide trial despite the fact that a sentence was already given? What does the 2013 sentence mean for survivors?

Anselmo Roldán, AJR President: The AJR's search for justice has been tireless, and one that has taken place over many years. We have made many sacrifices in the name of demanding access to justice in Guatemala. And finally, after so many years, a verdict was reached after we - the victims - told the truth. The sentence was very encouraging and fell in line with all of the investigations that were done, the expert testimonies that were given, and with the recommendations made by the Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH).

For a long time, we stayed silent. It was like having a knot in our throats. We couldn't say anything. But when the trial happened, all of the witnesses told the truth. They talked about the reality they had lived, testifying to what happened during the armed conflict. Any weakness [in the process] rests with the institutions responsible for complying with justice. The failure is there. We know that we told the truth. 

There is already a sentence and for us, it means a lot. We've been put through a lot of run-around, not only by a judicial system that is not doing its job, but by the Guatemalan state. The political position is clear: they will not guarantee our [the survivors and witnesses] lives. They don’t guarantee us anything. They put our lives, the victims’ lives, in danger. But we still uphold the sentence and will continue to keep it alive until another court hears what we suffered and hears us tell the truth. We are ready to repeat the trial again, like we anticipated doing [on January 5th]. 

Julia Cortez, AJR former president and current spokesperson: The sentence doesn't bring back our loved ones, but at least it meant justice for the military high command who killed our loved ones. The trial already took place, but now we have to repeat it. The judges don't see the pain and the profound sadness of the survivors. A verdict was already given and so it is unfortunate that we have to return to trial again.

Juventino Caal, AJR member: This system has made a mockery of us by forcing us to return to this process again just because it doesn't want to ratify what has already been achieved. We are being excluded and obviously, don't feel triumphant, but we have to speak out against all of the corruption and impunity that exists in this country. We know that in Guatemala genocide took place. The whole world knows it, but the truth has been denied. But we haven't lost hope that we will win this process in the name of justice. This search for justice doesn't only benefit the victims and families but also benefits the youth and future generations that are still to come.

If we aren't able to convict the [intellectual] author of genocide in this country, we run the risk of repeating our history. We want to ensure that we never again experience the war we lived through.

How do you feel about what happened in the courtroom on January 5th?

Anselmo Roldán: In the morning, it seemed that the judges wanted to act impartially and in favor of justice instead of one group or the other. But in the end that changed. First, the judge said she was going to find the recusal [put forward by the defense] without merit, but afterwards, she ruled in favor. It's possible the court received threats. We don't know. 

We see the show that General Rios Montt put on, acting as though he were gravely ill, as a well-planned strategy. When the trial opened a year ago, he was very strong. It was only after he was convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison that he started to show weakness. We don't believe that he became that sick, but instead that it is a lie meant to confuse the people of Guatemala and the international community. 

Do you have a message for the international community? 

Anselmo Roldán: Guatemala has the responsibility to comply with all of the international agreements that it is a signatory to especially as it relates to access to justice and the genocide case. We know that Guatemala won't comply with these laws without pressure from international institutions and embassies. We call on the international community to pressure the Guatemalan government to comply with these agreements.

Juventino Caal: I am very thankful for international accompaniment so that people realize we are not alone. I hope that there is more presence, more accompaniment, to observe this process. We are going to show the world that it is not only Guatemala bringing forward this process, but that many other countries are present as well. This support gives us an advantage. 

Julia Cortez: Accompaniment [of survivors] is always important because that is the only way we will know that we are supported. We continue to ask for more support and accompaniment.

Ixil communities of Nebaj express opposition to US-led extraction in their territory

"Historically, we have never received the support of the state or the government for our development, which is why it seems fair that we be able to take advantage of our own natural resources in order to improve the living conditions of our people according to our own vision of development." 

Letter from communities of Nebaj to US-owned Double Crown Resources Inc.

In May 2014, US-owned natural resource exploration and development company, Double Crown Resources, Inc., bought the exclusive rights to all barite production from the Bilojom II mine site located near Salquil Grande, Vicalamá and Tzalbal, three Maya Ixil communities in the municipality of Santa Maria Nebaj. Despite having already presented their formal opposition to the imposition of large-scale projects on their territory to the Guatemalan Congress in 2010, plans to ramp up the extraction of barite, a non-metalic mineral used primarily for petroleum and natural gas drilling and extraction processes, continue.

In response, representatives from the affected communities submitted letters to Guatemalan and international authorities in which they reject the extraction of barite on their communally owned lands and demand respect for the right to consultation and self-determination.

Community representatives meet with the Guatemala Human Rights Ombudsman. Photo NISGUA

NISGUA joined the communities in submitting our own letter to Double Crown Resources (en español aquí) expressing our concern regarding the imposition of mining projects without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous population. Likewise, we are concerned by the participation of a US-owned company in the ongoing usurpation and exploitation of Ixil lands and peoples given the history of genocide and forced displacement in the region during the internal armed conflict.

While clandestine extraction of barite from the region known as Corralcub has been occurring illegally since the early 1990s, the involvement of Double Crown Resources, through their relationship with the Mexico-based Geominas de Guatemala S.A., indicates a concerning turning point for the imposition of large-scale extractive projects in the department of Quiché. Double Crown Resources plans to export an estimated 10 thousand metric tons of what they consider to be extremely high-quality barite to their soon-to-be completed processing plant in New Orleans, LA.

Widespread community opposition is focused on concerns regarding the impact on local water sources. During a previous phase of barite extraction beginning in 2003, Geominas utilized dynamite to remove the mineral, causing massive destruction of the natural environment that local communities depend on. Communities explain the impacts stating, "As a result of the constant explosions, the springs from Vijolom II that served the community of Salquil Grande dried up, and thousands of people in the surrounding  communities were left without drinking water."

In their letter, communities also call into question the legality of the mining licenses given that the land in question is communal property of the ejido of the municipality of Santa Maria Nebaj. "This land is the property, not only of the municipality of Nebaj, but also of each and every citizen of the municipality. This is to say that the land is communally owned and managed by the indigenous farming communities and is protected under the communal system by the communities and peoples, as well as by their municipal authorities."

NISGUA has provided on-the-ground human rights accompaniment to communities, witnesses and survivors in the municipality of Nebaj since 2001 when the legal case for genocide and crimes against humanity against former general Efraín Ríos Montt was filed. In May 2014, the witnesses and survivors of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation along with their legal team, achieved what many believed was impossible – Ríos Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Over the years, we have heard stories from our partners in Nebaj about how the violence of the 1980s sought to eliminate their families and communities through massacres, extra-judicial executions and forced displacement. We have also heard about the ways in which that violent past has continued into the present – how the current attempts to remove the indigenous Ixil population from their ancestral, communal lands ring as alarming echoes of the past. 

Certainly the tactics have changed – communities are not attacked with tanks and bombs, but rather by an army of multi-national development firms that threaten their communities with the very same displacement and loss of culture. The opposition to Bilojom II mine is just one of many examples throughout Guatemala in which indigenous communities, in the midst of healing and seeking justice for the deep wounds of the armed conflict, have stood up in defense of their land, livelihoods and culture.

Retired military officials arraigned for atrocities at Sepur Zarco military base

Ex-colonel Esteelmer Reyes Girón and ex-military commissioner Heriberto Valdéz Asij were arraigned and ordered to pre-trial detention on June 23 by Tribunal "B" of the High Risk Crimes Court. The two will remain in prison while they await trial on charges of assassination, forced disappearance, and crimes against humanity.

Estelmer Reyes Girón and Heriberto Valdéz Asij in court on June 23.
Photo: CPR-Urbana

The accusations stem from acts ostensibly committed between 1982 and 1983, when Reyes served as colonel of the military base Sepur Zarco, located in eastern Guatemalan department of Izabal, with Valdez as his subordinate. Reyes is accused of the assassination of Dominga Coc and her two daughters, whose remains were exhumed and identified by specialists with the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation. Valdez is accused of forcibly disappearing a group of campesinos in 1982, who were at the time involved in a prolonged struggle to obtain legal titles for their lands.

The two are additionally accused of holding at least 15 Q'eqchí women as sexual slaves in the military base between 1982 and 1988. The women were enslaved after their husbands were forcibly disappeared, and held hostage in the military base for at least 6 months.

In September 2012, these 15 women presented their testimony to the court in anticipation of the upcoming trial. The women, concerned for their personal security, wore scarves over their heads to protect their identities as they recounted their stories.

In September 2012 15 women presented their testimony to a Guatemalan court.
Photo: Sandra Sebastián

According to the Commission for Historical Clarification, sexual violence was a "widespread and systematic practice by state agents as part of the counterinsurgency strategy" during Guatemala's 36-year long internal armed conflict. The women of the Sepur Zarco case set global precedent when the trial opened, as the first time the crime of sexual slavery as a crime against humanity was tried in a national court.

Judge Miguel Ángel Alvez reads his order sentencing Valdéz and Reyes to await trail in prison. (En español)

After the court presented its order, the ex-military officials were immediately brought to the Mariscal Zavala Prison. The two men will remain imprisoned until the commencement of their trial, which is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of October.

NISGUA, through the Guatemalan Accompaniment and ACOGUATE, has accompanied the Sepur Zarco case since 2012.

Red del Proyecto de Acompañamiento de NISGUA denuncia intento de expulsar observadores internacionales

Toma acción inmediata para expresar su apoyo para el acompañamiento internacional en derechos humanos y los defensores de derechos humanos en Guatemala!

Favor de remitir la siguiente carta a las autoridades guatemaltecas y estadounidenses hoy! Descarga la carta aquí y mandarla con un mensaje personalizado a los embajadas, consulados y autoridades guatemaltecas. Se puede encontrar la lista de contactos aquí. También, favor de mandar la carta a sus representantes elegidos y no olvide pedirles seguimiento y una respuesta.

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Estimado Sr. Julio Ligorría Carballido, Embajadador de Guatemala en los Estados Unidos,

Los abajo firmantes miembros de la Red en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Guatemala (NISGUA) estamos preocupados con respecto a la decisión del gobierno de Guatemala de cancelar los permisos de residencia temporal de dos acompañantes internacionales representando Brigadas de Paz Internacional (PBI). La medida fue el resultado de dos resoluciones emitidos el 1 de julio del 2014 por el Ministerio del Interior y la Dirección de Servicios Migratorios. Las resoluciones no declararon las razones o los eventos que indujeron a la revocación de las visas, ni proveyeron evidencia para justificar la decisión.  Diez días después de emitir las resoluciones, y el mismo día en que los voluntarios estaban requeridos salir del país, el Ministro del Interior Mauricio López Bonilla informó a PBI que la revocación de los permisos fue anulado y que los acompañantes serán permitidos quedarse en el país. 

Denunciamos el intento socavar el acompañamiento y la observación internacional, esfuerzos implementados por PBI a petición de individuales, comunidades, y organizaciones bajo amenaza por el trabajo que realizan. Expresamos nuestra preocupación grave sobre la persecución de observadores  internacionales quienes proveen el acompañamiento de protección a defensores de derechos humanos y el uso de esta estrategia como medio de perjudicar la seguridad de defensores de derechos humanos en Guatemala. Reiteramos nuestra solidaridad con PBI Guatemala, una organización hermana que realiza un trabajo impecable en defensa de los derechos humanos. 

Por más de treinta anos, NISGUA y el Proyecto de Acompañamiento Internacional en Guatemala han jugado un papel importante en la creación y protección de espacios políticos para que los Guatemaltecos puedan defender sus derechos civiles, políticos, económicos, sociales, culturales, medioambientales, e indígenas. Voluntarios de NISGUA, como los de PBI, proveen observación imparcial, no-intervencionista y no-violenta en la cual los defensores de derechos humanos dependen para llevar a cabo su trabajo afrontando amenazas y ataques, reales y potenciales, en contra de los  derechos humanos. Este trabajo es reconocido en la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho y el Deber de los Individuos, los Grupos y las Instituciones de Promover y Proteger los Derechos Humanos y las Libertades Fundamentales Universalmente Reconocidos, la cual subraya el papel fundamental de la cooperación internacional para contribuir a la protección de los derechos humanos.

Solicitamos que usted exige al Presidente Otto Pérez Molina, el Ministerio del Interior y la Dirección de Servicios Migratorios que respectan los derechos de los guatemaltecos de llevar a cabo su trabajo en defensa de los derechos humanos y de solicitar la presencia de acompañamiento y observación internacional cuando ese trabajo está en riesgo. También pedimos que usted exige a la Dirección de Servicios Migratorios una aclaración sobre el proceso apresurado e irregular por el cual inicialmente se cancelaron los permisos. Finalmente, solicitamos que usted exige al Estado de Guatemala y sus instituciones correspondientes de cumplir con su obligación de proteger los defensores de derechos humanos, reconociendo que ellos tienen un papel fundamental a la construcción de una democracia participativa con respecto por el estado de derecho. Esperamos su respuesta y gracias por adelantado por su consideración de las solicitudes antedichas.

Atentamente,

Red en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Guatemala / NISGUA y la red del Proyecto de Acompañamiento Internacional en Guatemala:
Guatemala Accompaniment Project Council, USA
Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project, MI
Kickapoo Guatemala Accompaniment Project, WI
Lakes Area Group Organizing for Guatemala (LAGOS), MN
Needham Congregational Church/Guatemala Partnership, MA
New Hampshire-Vermont Guatemala Accompaniment Project, NH-VT
Santa Elena Project of Accompaniment, OH
Task Force on the Americas, CA
Wyoming Guatemala Accompaniment Project, WY
Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington-Partners for Arlington and Guatemala, VA

CC:

Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Guatemala
Oficial de Asuntos Políticos Norman Galimba
GalimbaN@state.gov
Consulados guatemaltecos en los EE.UU.
Dirección de Servicios Migratorios de Guatemala
Director Manual Vicente Roca Menéndez
direccion@migracion.gob.gt
Presidente de la República de Guatemala
Otto Pérez Molina
informacion@secretariaprivada.gob.gt
ottoperezmolina@guatemala.gob.gt
Ministerio de Gobernación de Guatemala
Mauricio López Bonilla
fdeleon@mingob.gob.gt

NISGUA's Accompaniment Project network denounces attempted expulsion of international observers

Take immediate action to express your support for international human rights accompaniment and human rights defenders in Guatemala!

Please forward the below letter to Guatemalan and US authorities today! Download the letter here and forward it with a personal note to embassies, consulates and Guatemalan officials. The contact list can be found here. Additionally, please consider sending the letter to your elected representative and make sure to follow up and request a response.

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Dear Mr. Julio Ligorría Carballido, Guatemalan Ambassador to the United States,

The below signed members of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) write with deep concern regarding the decision of the Guatemalan government to cancel the temporary residence permits of two international accompaniers representing Peace Brigades International (PBI). The measure was the result of two resolutions issued on July 1, 2014 by Guatemala's Ministry of the Interior and Office of Migration Services. The resolutions did not state the reasons or events that led to the visa revocation, nor did they provide evidence to justify the decision. Ten days after the resolutions were issued, and on the same day the volunteers were required to leave the country, the Minister of the Interior Mauricio López Bonilla informed PBI that the revocations had been annulled and the accompaniers would be allowed to remain in the country.

We denounce the attempt to undermine international accompaniment and observation, efforts implemented by PBI at the request of individuals, communities, and organizations under threat. We express our grave concern about the targeting of international observers who provide human rights protective accompaniment and the use of these strategies as a means of undermining the security of human rights defenders in Guatemala. We reiterate our solidarity with PBI Guatemala, a sister organization carrying out impeccable work in defense of human rights.

For more than thirty years, NISGUA and the Guatemala Accompaniment Project have played a vital role in creating and protecting political space for Guatemalans to defend civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, and indigenous rights. NISGUA volunteers, like those from PBI, provide the non-partisan, non-interventionist and non-violent observation that human rights defenders depend on to carry out their work in the face of actual and potential human rights threats and attacks. This work is recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which underscores the fundamental role of international cooperation in contributing to the protection of human rights. 

We request that you call on President Otto Pérez Molina, the Ministry of the Interior and the Office of Migration Services to respect the right of Guatemalans to carry out their work in defense of human rights and to request the presence of international accompaniment and observation when that work is at risk. We also ask that you demand clarification from the Office of Migration Services for the hasty and irregular process by which the permits were initially revoked. Finally, we ask that you call on the state of Guatemala and its corresponding institutions to uphold their obligation to protect human rights defenders, recognizing the critical role they play in the construction of a participatory democracy with respect for the rule of law. 

We look forward to your response and thank you in advance for your consideration of the above requests. 

Sincerely, 

Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala/NISGUA and the Guatemala Accompaniment Project network:

Guatemala Accompaniment Project Council, USA

Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project, MI

Kickapoo Guatemala Accompaniment Project, WI

Lakes Area Group Organizing for Guatemala (LAGOS), MN

Needham Congregational Church/Guatemala Partnership, MA

New Hampshire-Vermont Guatemala Accompaniment Project, NH-VT

Santa Elena Project of Accompaniment, OH

Task Force on the Americas, CA

Wyoming Guatemala Accompaniment Project, WY

Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington-Partners for Arlington and Guatemala, VA 

CC:

United States Embassy in Guatemala

Political Affairs Officer Norman Galimba

GalimbaN@state.gov

Guatemalan Consulates in the United States

Guatemala Office of Migration Services

Director Manual Vicente Roca Menéndez

direccion@migracion.gob.gt

President of the Republic of Guatemala

Otto Pérez Molina

informacion@secretariaprivada.gob.gt
ottoperezmolina@guatemala.gob.gt

Guatemalan Ministry of the Interior

Mauricio López Bonilla

fdeleon@mingob.gob.gt

Guatemalan organizations respond to the expulsion of two volunteers with Peace Brigades International (PBI)

On July 1, 2014, Guatemalan officials revoked the temporary residence permits of two human rights accompaniers with Peace Brigades International. In response to their expulsion, the Convergence for Human Rights (Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos), a network of Guatemalan social, environmental, human rights, feminist, campesino and territorial defense organizations released the following statement. Spanish version here.

WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEFEND OUR RIGHTS

The below-signed social, environmental, human rights, feminist, campesino and territorial defense organizations demand our right to defend human rights and count on solidarity accompaniment in doing so.

At the beginning of this month, two volunteers from Peace Brigades International (PBI) were ordered by Guatemalan migration authorities to leave the country. The notification was sent to both of the observers, but failed to include a description of the acts being applied to the articles of migration law that would imply their obligatory exit from the country.

In a misleading affirmation, the head of the Ministry of the Interior, retired coronal Héctor Mauricio López Bonilla, affirmed having seen videos in which the PBI observers appear throwing rocks at members of the National Civil Police (PNC). The action would have taken place during the violent eviction of the peaceful resistance at La Puya, which was carried out with an abuse of power and violence by the security forces under the command of the Minister [of the Interior]. Nevertheless, in the cancellation notice of their temporary residence permits, these acts are not explained; the same acts which, as it has been indicated, are false.

The actions perpetrated by the authorities of  the Ministry of the Interior, including violently repressing the peaceful resistance -to the extreme of handcuffing a national observer from the Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit (UDEFEGUA)-, and later, harassing the international observers in solidarity, violates the right to defend rights. While the Political Constitution of the Republic requires the government to respect and protect defenders of human rights, the rights to liberty of association, reunion, protest and expression are limited. Likewise, [we see] the installation of politics of xenophobia, which is  typical of authoritarian regimes and dictatorial enemies of democracy.

For these motives, the below-signed persons and organizations:

1.   Demand that the Government of the Republic, in particular the President and migration authorities, revoke the international accompaniers' expulsion order and guarantee the completion of their humanitarian mission.

2.   Demand that the Public Ministry carry out the swift investigation of the denouncements of abuses of power committed by the security forces, civil and military, including the prosecution of the public servants who committed them. Additionally, we demand the immediate cease of the baseless persecution of defenders of human rights, regardless of nationality.

3.   Demand that the head of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (PDH) take effective action to support and accompany defenders of human rights and we urge him to end the  complicit relation with the government authorities responsible for abuses and arbitrary actions. The constitutional authority of the office cannot be limited by particular interests or commitments of any kind.

4.   Urge the United Nations, in particular the Office of the High Commission of Human Rights (OACNUDH) to report on the violations committed by the State of Guatemala with regard to its commitment to human rights; the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (ACNUR), to help and accompany the international public servants, who are the victims of the political xenophobia of the Guatemalan state. [We urge] To the International Committee of the Red Cross, to maintain a presence in zones of territorial conflict and to protect the communities threatened by the voracious  action of the extractive industry. Additionally, [we urge] the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland that in compliance with their decrees regarding defenders of human rights, they take action aimed at protecting all human right defenders, both foreign and national, who work in Guatemala.

5.   Invite the international community to not abandon the Guatemalan people who once again feel repression and political prosecution for simply defending their rights.

6.   Convoke all of Guatemalan society to defend their rights to life, to territory, and to defend the right to defend rights, supporting  social and human rights movements in their fight for a democracy with equality and social justice.

FOR THE RESPECT OF RIGHTS AND THE LIBERTIES AND GUARANTEES THAT PROTECT US

NO MORE XENOPHOBIC POLICIES AND POLITICAL PERSECUTION

ENOUGH OF THE THREATENING OF OUR RIGHT TO ORGANIZE AND THE LIBERTY OF EXPRESSION

ENOUGH PERSECUTION FOR DEFENDING OUR RIGHTS  

Guatemala, July 6, 2014

Human Rights Convergence

Centro de Análisis Forense y Ciencias Aplicadas (CAFCA); Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH); Centro de Acción Legal Ambiental y Social (CALAS); Centro Internacional para Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos (CIIDH); Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosial (ECAP); Asociación El Refugio de la Niñez; Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala (ICCPG);Oficina de Derechos Humanos de Arzobispado de Guatemala (ODHAG); Seguridad en Democracia (SEDEM); Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos (UDEFEGUA); Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG)

Alliance against Criminalization

AMISMAXAJ; Asociación Kaji' B'atz; CCNUEVODIA; ILUGUA; Puente de Paz; OASIS

Organizaciones guatemaltecas responden a la expulsión de dos voluntarios con Brigadas Internacionales de Paz (PBI)

El 1 de julio del 2014, autoridades de la Dirección General de Migración de Guatemala cancelaron la residencia temporal a dos acompañantes internacionales de derechos humanos con Brigadas Internacionales de Paz (PBI).  La Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos, un red de organizaciones Guatemaltecos sociales, ambientales, de derechos humanos, feministas, campesinas y de defensa territorial, respondió a la expulsión, publicando la declaración siguiente. Versíon en ingles aquí.

TENEMOS DERECHO A DEFENDER DERECHOS

Las organizaciones sociales, ambientales, de derechos humanos, feministas, campesinas y de defensa territorial abajo firmantes, reclamos nuestro derecho a defender derechos humanos y contar para ello con el acompañamiento solidario.

Al inicio de este mes, una voluntaria y un voluntario de las Brigadas de Paz Internacionales (PBI), fueron conminados por autoridades de migración en Guatemala a abandonar el país. La notificación fue remitida a ambos observadores, sin que el texto en cuestión expresara los hechos según los cuales se les aplicaban artículos de la ley de migración que implicaban su salida obligada del país.

En un falaz afirmación, el titular del Ministerio de Gobernación (Mingob), teniente coronel retirado Héctor Mauricio López Bonilla, aseveró haber visto videos en los cuales se aprecia a los observadores de PBI lanzando piedras a elementos de la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC). Acción que habría tenido lugar durante el desalojo violento a la resistencia pacifica en La Puya, perpetrado con abuso de poder y violencia, por las fuerzas de seguridad bajo el mando el mando del Ministro. Sin embargo, en la nota de cancelación de las residencia temporal de ambos, no se exponen tales hechos, mismos que, como se ha indicado, son falsos.

Con la acción perpetrada por la autoridades del Mingob, primero reprimiendo violentamente una resistencia pacífica--al extremo de engrilletar a una verificadora nacional de la Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos Guatemala (UDEFEGUA)--, y luego, hostigando a las y los observadores internacionales solidarios, se vulnera el derecho a defender derechos. La Constitución Política de la República obliga al gobierno a respectar y proteger a los defensores de derechos humanos, sin embargo se coarta el derecho a a la libertad de asociación, reunión, manifestación y expresión, además de que se instala una política de xenofobia, típica de regímenes autoritarios y dictatoriales enemigos de la democracia.

Por tales motivos, las personas y organizaciones firmantes:

1.   Exigimos al Gobierno de la República, en particular a la Presidencia y autoridades de Migración, revocar la orden de expulsión de los acompañantes internaciones y otorgar las garantías para el cumplimiento de su misión humanitaria.

2.   Demandamos al Ministerio Publico, la pronto investigación de las denuncias de abusos de poder perpetrado por fuerzas de seguridad civiles y militares, así como el procesamiento de los funcionarios que los cometan. De igual forma, el cese inmediato de las persecuciones sin fundamento en contra de defensoras y defensores de derechos humanos, sean de la nacionalidad que sean.

3.   Requerimos del titular de la Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos (PDH) una acción efectiva de apoyo y acompañamiento a defensoras y defensores de derechos humanos y le exhortamos a que cese la relación complaciente con las autoridades de gobierno responsables de abusos y arbitrariedades. Su mandato constitucional no puede ser limitado por intereses particulares ni compromisos de índole alguna.

4.   Exhortamos al sistema de los Naciones Unidas, en particular a la Oficina de la Alta Comisionada de Derechos Humanos (OACNUDH) a informar sobre las violaciones del Estado de Guatemala a los compromisos en materia de Derechos Humanos; al Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para Refugiados (ACNUR), apoyar y acompañar a las y los cooperantes y funcionarios internacionales, víctimas de políticas xenófobas de estado guatemalteco. Al Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja, a tener presencia en las zonas de conflictividad territorial y proteger a las comunidades amenazadas por la voraz acción de la industria extractiva. Asimismo, a la Unión Europea, Noruega y Suiza que en cumplimiento de sus Directrices sobre Defensores de Derechos Humanos realicen acciones tendientes a la protección de todos los defensores de derechos humanos extranjeros y nacionales que trabajan en Guatemala.

5.   Invitamos a la comunidad internacional a no abandonar al pueblo de Guatemala que vuelve a sentir el paso acelerado de la represión y la persecución política del Estado por el simple hecho de defender derechos.

6.   Convocamos a la sociedad guatemalteca a defender su derecho a la vida, al territorio y a defender derechos, apoyando al movimiento social y de derechos humanos en su lucha por una democracia con equidad y justicia social.

POR EL RESPECTO A NUESTROS DERECHOS Y A LAS LIBERTADES Y GARANTÍAS QUE NOS PROTEGEN

NO MAS POLÍTICAS DE XENOFOBIA Y PERSECUCIÓN POLÍTICA

BASTA YA DE AMENAZAR NUESTRO DERECHO A LA ORGANIZACIÓN Y LA LIBERTAD DE EXPRESIÓN

BASTA YA DE PERSEGUIRNOS POR DEFENDERNOS

Guatemala, 6 de julio de 2014

Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos

Centro de Análisis Forense y Ciencias Aplicadas (CAFCA); Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH); Centro de Acción Legal Ambiental y Social (CALAS); Centro Internacional para Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos (CIIDH); Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosial (ECAP); Asociación El Refugio de la Niñez; Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala (ICCPG);Oficina de Derechos Humanos de Arzobispado de Guatemala (ODHAG); Seguridad en Democracia (SEDEM); Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos (UDEFEGUA); Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG)

Alianza contra la Criminalización

AMISMAXAJ; Asociación Kaji' B'atz; CCNUEVODIA; ILUGUA; Puente de Paz; OASIS

Statement from Peace Brigades International Guatemala in response to the cancellation of the residence permits of two volunteers

URGENT: Cancellation of temporary residence permits of two volunteers of PBI Guatemala

Peace Brigades International (PBI) Guatemala would like to bring attention to and share its grave concern following the cancellation of the temporary residence permits of two volunteers of the PBI Guatemala project working in the country. This measure was decided by the Sub-directorate for Foreign Citizen issues which is part of the Office of Migration Services (Dirección General de Migración, DGM) and the Ministry of Interior (Ministerio de Gobernación), in two resolutions dated 1st July, without stating the reasons or events that led to this decision. The resulting situation affects both individuals and their immigration status, as well as the work of international accompaniment and observation for the defence of human rights which PBI has carried out in Guatemala for over 30 years.

On July 1st 2014, two PBI volunteers, of Chilean and Spanish nationality, presented themselves at the Office of Migration Services, which had summoned them via written notice on 25th June (Received 26th June) to provide “information with regards to their temporal residency permits”. In the meeting, during which the legal representative of PBI Guatemala as well as a lawyer were present, the volunteers were informed that their temporal residency had been withdrawn and that they have 10 days to leave the country. However, the resolutions lack any reasoning on the basis of specific evidence to justify the decision and fail to refer to any actions of PBI or its volunteers.

PBI Guatemala has enjoyed legal status en Guatemala since 1995¹ and is duly registered and accredited by the public authorities, with legal representation and capacity to act within the framework of its mandate and mission. Each PBI volunteer initiates the process of application for temporary residence upon arrival in the country in compliance with immigration law. At all times, PBI and its volunteers in Guatemala act in accord with the legal framework. National authorities are regularly informed on our work both in Guatemala and outside the country.

The two PBI volunteers to whom the resolutions refer, observed the violent eviction of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya on 23rd May. In June, PBI Guatemala issued an alert calling for attention to these events.² During the eviction, representatives of the Office of Migration Services were present but subsequently left without approaching the PBI observers, after police officers had checked their migration status by revising their identification documents, only to find them in order.
Over the following weeks, various articles with defamatory comments against foreigners and international organisations were published in Guatemalan media.

We are concerned that the cancellation of the temporary residence permits of two of our volunteers may be related to false information on the work of international observation during the eviction which was published by the media.

In the current context characterized by the closure of spaces for human rights defenders, we are also concerned that the above-mentioned resolutions undermines the possibilities of international accompaniment and observation which aims to protect spaces for non-violent conflict resolution and the promotion of human rights in Guatemala. The work carried out in the country by PBI responds to the request of social organizations and actors who have the right to defend their rights and to seek international accompaniment and observation, when they face threats and attacks due to this engagement.

<sup>1. [Issued March 10, 1995 by Ministerial Agreement 148-95, the Interior Ministry.]↩
2. [PBI, “Violent eviction of the Peaceful Resistence at “La Puya””]↩</sup>

Guatemala, 2.07.2014, http://www.pbi-guatemala.org/los-proyectos/pbi-guatemala/noticias/spanish-news-holder/?no_cache=1&L=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4297&cHash=690f733c81d4e14f6b39950008ec4cdd

NISGUA leads delegation with UUCA to Guatemala

 

UUCA delegates gather with NISGUA staff in Antigua.
All photos: David McTaggart

This past December, NISGUA organized and hosted a ten-day delegation with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (UUCA), home to NISGUA Sponsoring Community, Partners for Arlington and Guatemala (PAG). 
Twelve members of the UUCA congregation formed the delegation and traveled to Guatemala to see NISGUA's work up close and to hear directly from Guatemalan human rights defenders on the ground.

PAG combines strategic local action and advocacy in partnership with the Arlington immigrant community and supports and monitors human rights in Guatemala. PAG has supported over a dozen human rights accompaniers since becoming a NISGUA Sponsoring Community in 2006. In addition, PAG partners with the Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado to fundraise for the Guatemala Scholarship Program that benefits youth from families affected by the Maya Achí genocide.

The December delegation met with a total of 13 organizations, dozens of scholarship recipients as well as current NISGUA accompaniers.

One delegate reflected on her experience: "The biggest surprise of the trip was how much of a difference UUCA contributions have made both emotionally and politically…. We were brought to tears over and over as the people we met with greeted us with deep emotion."

 

UUCA delegates visited Guatemala City, Rabinal, San Rafael las Flores and Antigua.


After a short orientation in Guatemala City, the delegation started its journey of learning and exploration in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. In coordination with the Association for the Holistic Development of the Victims of the Violence, Maya Achí (ADIVIMA) who runs the Guatemala Scholarship Program, delegates met with PAG's scholarship recipients. Students had the opportunity to publicly address the delegates and share how PAG's support has helped them in completing their studies. The ADIVIMA scholarship program commits to supporting recipients through the duration of their studies and a number of recently graduated students proudly shared their accomplishment with the delegates. The next day, delegates traveled to scholarship recipients’ homes to see the conditions and distance that students have to traverse in order to study.


Delegates were moved to tears by the show of gratitude from the students. As one delegate described: "Our group responded profoundly to the emotion showed by the students of ADIVIMA and their families, and to their hope, grit and determination."

UUCA delegates trek to scholarship recipient's homes in Rabinal.

Seeing student's homes gave delegates a better sense of the journey they make to school.


UUCA delegates had the special opportunity to meet with a NISGUA accompanier working in the Rabinal region alongside Maya Achí genocide survivors and members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). Upon returning to Guatemala City, UUCA delegates were able to directly connect with the AJR and hear about their recent victory in the historic genocide trial, as well as reflections on what drives and inspires their ongoing struggle for justice. UUCA is no stranger to the work of the AJR, in fact, they recently opened their church and homes to AJR President Anselmo Roldán Aguilar during NISGUA's fall tour. Providing another opportunity to deepen their relationship, the dinner with the AJR was a true highlight of the delegation.


We further connected UUCA to other areas of NISGUA's work with a visit to communities impacted by Tahoe Resources' Escobal silver mine in San Rafael las Flores.  Delegates met with the Committee in Defense of Life and Peace, made up of community members living closest to the mine site. Community members took delegates to see the project, highlighting the proximity of the mine to crops, water sources and homes. Delegates were further immersed in the issue, with a visit to Santa Rosa de Lima to share with the Catholic Church organization, CODIDENA, responsible for organizing and promoting the community consultation process of 2011 and the ongoing peaceful resistance to the Escobal mine. UUCA and CODIDENA strongly connected through their shared sense of faith and commitment to justice.

Delegates observed the Escobal mine, owned by Tahoe Resources, in San Rafael las Flores.


In addition to  information gathering and relationship building, UUCA delegates took strategic action, meeting with the US embassy and making plans to follow-up on their observations post-delegation. The embassy visit gave delegates the opportunity to express concern around human rights issues revealed throughout the trip - increased militarization, rising repression against communities defending territory and the denial of justice in the genocide case. The meeting laid the groundwork for further sessions, action planning and continued monitoring of the human rights situation upon returning to Arlington.

All twelve delegates made personal commitments to share their experiences in Guatemala with their congregation and community. In fact, UUCA devoted time during its January 5 service for delegates to talk about their trip to Guatemala and share what the thousands of other members of the church could not see. Delegates returned to the US with a truly renewed commitment and inspiration to continue their support for justice in Guatemala.

NISGUA plans to begin outreach for a 2015 delegation later this year and will continue to support groups visiting Guatemala.