Expression of solidarity with the Duwamish Tribe in their struggle for tribal recognition

When Víctor Caal Tzuy from ACODET came to the U.S. last year on NISGUA's "Rivers for Life" tour, he met with Ken Workman, Duwamish Tribal Council Member and direct descendent of Chief Si'ahl. Both men shared common experiences as indigenous people, fighting for their communities and the health of their rivers in the face of displacement. While Víctor described the devastating effects the proposed Xalalá Dam would have on his community, Ken reflected on the ongoing injustices committed against the Duwamish Tribe as they struggle to obtain the rights and recognition due to them under the Point Elliot Treaty. 

On July 2, 2015, the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied Federal Tribal Recognition to the Duwamish Tribe. 

ACODET and NISGUA condemn this decision, and call on President Obama and other related authorities to immediate restore recognition to the Duwamish people. We are grateful for the warm welcome the Duwamish Tribal Council and the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center gave to ACODET and NISGUA during our 2014 tour, and we continue to stand with them in their struggle for recognition and self-determination.

Please read the full letter below and considering adding your name. Send to bridget[at]nisgua.org and we will ensure its delivery to the appropriate authorities and Duwamish Longhouse.

Víctor Caal Tzuy and Ken Workman meet on the 2014
"Rivers for Life" speaking tour. Photo credit: NISGUA

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16 September, 2015

To Whom It May Concern:

On behalf of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), we write to express our support to the Duwamish Tribe in their ongoing struggle to obtain the rights and recognition due to them under the Point Elliott Treaty, signed by Chief Si’ahl. NISGUA is a grassroots organization that builds ties between North America and Guatemala, supporting human rights advocates, survivors of genocide, and indigenous communities defending their rights to life and territory. As such, we feel driven to condemn the July, 2, 2015 decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to deny Federal Tribal Recognition to the Duwamish Tribe.

In August of last year, we had the immense privilege to be received by tribal representatives at the Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural Center in Seattle, along with Víctor Caal Tzuy, a Maya Q’eqchi’ leader of the Association of Communities for Development, Defense of Territory and Natural Resources (ACODET). On his U.S. tour, entitled “Rivers for Life: Cultural Resistance to the Xalalá” dam, Víctor spoke about the threats posed to his community by a proposed hydroelectric project, which the Guatemalan government has attempted to impose without prior, informed consent from local indigenous communities.

At the Duwamish Longhouse, Víctor met Ken Workman, Duwamish Tribal Council Member and direct descendent of Chief Si’ahl. Víctor and Ken found common ground as indigenous people with shared legacies of river stewardship and common experiences of displacement from colonization. “Ken and I have much in common–we both live on the shores of rivers, and we will defend our rivers,” reflected Víctor. Ken drew connections between past suffering of the Duwamish people and the current situation facing Q'eqchi' communities opposing the Xalalá Dam. “The potential effects on culture and environment that Victor describes are exactly what occurred here in Seattle 100 years ago."

In his conversation with Víctor Caal Tuzy, Tribal Council Member Workman described the historical injustices perpetrated against the Duwamish people, including the draining of the Black River, the channeling of the Duwamish River, the burning of Duwamish Longhouses by settlers, city ordinances banning indigenous people from living within Seattle city limits, and many others. At the time, we hoped that the Duwamish Tribe might soon win a small measure of reparation by finally achieving Federal Tribal Recognition. Instead, the Obama Administration and its representatives in the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are perpetuating the long legacy of colonial injustice faced by the Duwamish.

We call on President Obama, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Kevin Washburn, and the U.S. Congress to immediately act to restore Federal Tribal Recognition to the Duwamish.

We thank the Duwamish Tribal Council and the Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural Center for welcoming Víctor Caal Tzuy of ACODET and members of NISGUA on their territory.

In heartfelt solidarity with the Duwamish Tribe in their struggle for justice,

NISGUA
ACODET

Victory for communities threatened by the Xalalá dam: Contract for feasibility studies canceled

NISGUA's 2014 Rivers for Life speaking tour featured ACODET, an association made up of more than 50 communities whose livelihoods and culture are threatened by the possible construction of the Xalalá dam. During the tour we mobilized our grassroots base to stand in solidarity with impacted communities by calling for the cancellation of the geological feasibility study - a necessary precursor to the dam's construction. The granting of the feasibility study to Brazilian company Intertechne Consultores S.A. was fraught with anomalies and a lack of consultation with indigenous communities.  

We are excited to report that earlier this month, the National Electrification Institute (INDE) announced that the contract was terminated in December 2014! This explains why the Xalalá project, declared a national priority by President Otto Perez Molina in 2012, was publicly removed from the national agenda at the same time. It remains unclear why INDE took months to announce that the contract had been revoked. 

INDE announced that the revocation of the $4.9 million contract with Intertechne S.A. for the Xalalá geological feasibility studies was due to the company's failure to fulfill the requirements. MEM and INDE also reported that they will request Intertechne to return the $1.4 million advance given for the project, which was double the percentage companies are typically given as an advance for similar work. 

As a result of this scandal, and others that have rocked the government since April, high-level officials from the National Electrification Institutes (INDE), the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) and the Ministry of the Environment (MARN) have been forced to resign. Erik Archila, former head of MEM was part of the mass resignation of cabinet members on May 15th, and is also facing multiple allegations of corruption in other cases related to the granting of illegal contracts. 

The communities threatened by the Xalalá dam have taken action to denounce the lack of transparency and illegality of the agreement signed with Intertechne in November 2013 ever since learning about the contract in January 2014. At the request of communities, the General Comptroller's Office (CGC) carried out a hearing with the Congressional Integrity Commission in April 2014 to present the numerous irregularities and allegations of corruption in this and other license granting processes. In June 2014, ancestral authorities from the region presented an injunction against INDE for irregularities and the lack of consultation with communities. 

“By canceling the geological studies contract [for the Xalalá dam project], INDE is attempting to distance itself from the illegal acts committed by signing the contract with the Brazilian company Intertechne Consultores S.A., possibly to cover up corruption, justify costs already incurred and evade penal prosecution of those responsible.” Press release from communities threatened by the Xalalá dam, May 4, 2015 

Today we can celebrate this victory while continuing to demand investigation into contracts that benefit transnational companies at the expense of local peoples and blatantly disregard legitimate community decision-making processes that have rejected these types of megaprojects.

A report-back on NISGUA’s Rivers for Life Delegation

When Víctor Caal Tzuy came to the U.S. last fall to speak about indigenous peoples’ fight for self-determination in Guatemala, he ended many of his presentations by inviting people to his home to see for themselves how and why more than 50 communities have united in opposition to the Xalalá hydroelectric dam.

Last month, NISGUA responded to that invitation by organizing a 10-day delegation to northern Guatemala to visit the communities threatened by the mega-dam.

The trip was composed of three main areas: 

• Directly meeting and building relationships with the communities impacted by the project
• Deepening our analysis of the historical and current contexts of state violence through presentations from various organizations and human rights experts 
• Taking lead from our partners in order to carry out advocacy meetings and developing our understanding of the role of international solidarity

Meeting with communities

After a short orientation in Guatemala City, we began the two-day journey to the northern lowlands of the department of Quiché to meet with the communities that would be affected by the large-scale hydroelectric project and to visit the proposed construction site.

The delegation spent three days in Copal’ AA La Esperanza, a returned refugee community of about 130 families who were displaced in the 1980s by the violence orchestrated by the Guatemala state during the country's internal armed conflict. These same families would again be displaced by the construction of the dam. Accompanied by leaders from Copal’AA, the delegation traveled up river to visit Victor's community, Las Margaritas Copón – home to Maya Q’eqchi’ families for hundreds of years and the site of the proposed dam.

We walked with families through their subsistence crops, which blended seamlessly with the surrounding subtropical forests. We smelled the richness of the earth and listened to the powerful currents of its turquoise blue waters. We gained nourishment from hand-made tortillas accompanied by beans, squash, fruits, and root vegetables, all of which came directly from the fertile plots of land where families grow nearly everything they consume. Community leaders and elders welcomed us and shared with us these experiences – experiences that made terribly tangible the enormity of the destruction and loss that would be inflicted with the construction of the dam.

We met with students, community spokespeople, ancestral authorities and other representatives who came from nearly a dozen other affected communities that form part of the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Territory and Natural Resources (ACODET). In meetings translated at times between three languages – Spanish, Maya Q’eqchi, and English – community members explained the depth of connection they hold with the land and their model of consensus-based, community-wide decision making processes used to determine all projects undertaken in the communities.

During these meetings, representatives explained that the government has strategically withheld basic services as punishment for their organizing against the Xalalá Dam, likening this intentional abandonment and coercion to structural state-sponsored violence. Community members denounced the egregious and ongoing efforts of the National Electrification Institute (INDE) to illegally condition future government services on the acceptance of the Xalalá Dam, falsely promising rural expansion of electricity to their homes, road improvements and supplies for local medical clinics only if communities agree to the dam’s construction.

ACODET representatives and communities have also suffered more overt forms of violence. There have been 19 cases of defamation and 12 incidents of intimidation related to their resistance to the dam. Community members explained the ways in which INDE has deliberately misinformed communities in order to create divisions amongst them, while systematically excluding communities from participating in making the decisions that impact their territory.

Throughout our time in the communities, members of the delegation were inspired by the high level of organization and intentionally-held unity within and between communities in resistance to the dam and were moved to action by the calls for international solidarity – to continue to listen, to bring these stories back to North America, and to take action to dismantle the systems that attempt to take away the self-determination of all of our communities.

"The love we have for our land gives life to our struggle." (Community representative from Copal'AA)

"The government talks about electricity and development but they don't take into account our view of development - living from the land." (Representative of ACODET)

A sampling of the crop varieties grown in Copal'AA. Photo credit: NISGUA

In Copal'AA, a sign reads: No to the Xalalá dam! Rivers for life with
dignity. Without electricity, we can live. Without water, we can't.
Photo credit: NISGUA

"Though we may not have many resources for our struggle, we have our words, our ideas, our thoughts, that we use to defend our land.” (Representative of ACODET)

“I am taking away a new perspective on the struggles of the people of Guatemala…. I can talk about what institutions are using negative (to say the least) practices and what communities are doing to resist and organize… I am also coming home with a new perspective on my consumption in the form of food, water, and other goods and services that I don’t need.” (Delegation participant)

The delegation and members of ACODET stand on the proposed
site for the Xalalá dam. Photo credit: NISGUA

Click here for more photos from the delegation.

Deepening the contextual analysis

Both before and after the delegation’s visit to the communities, organizations such as the People’s Council of Tzututlan and independent journalists from the Center for Independent Media met with the delegates to provide a deeper analysis of how the Xalalá dam fits within a larger, interlinked system of mega-development projects, designed and negotiated by state and corporate interests.

We visited the House of Memory, an interactive museum created by the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) as well as the National Police Archives, to better understand the historical context of state violence and repression, the Guatemala people’s resilience, and the ongoing social movements to seek justice, to honor collective memory, and to end impunity. Through those visits, we saw how the legacy of that violence continues on in the repressive tactics of the government that currently target communities working in defense of culture, life and territory.

Those tactics became very present throughout the ten days of the delegation, as participants heard the news of arrests and violent attacks against leaders of the resistance to the Hidro Santa Cruz dam in Barillas, Huehuetenango and other hydroelectric projects in the country. In a very real contextualization of the human rights abuses in the country, delegates had the chance to converse with the family and friends of political prisoners that have been captured for organizing community referenda and defending their territory.

Delegates also had the chance to learn about the positive projects that communities are employing as alternatives to the state’s dominant model of development. Madre Selva, an environmental justice collective based in Guatemala City, met with the delegation to give examples of communities that have successfully undertaken sustainable, small-scale electrification projects to bring energy to their homes, and where popular education techniques have been successful in supporting self-sufficiency and sustainability in rural communities.

Following the calls for advocacy

Resourced with the conversations and experiences with communities and human rights organizations, the delegation joined ACODET in meeting with the Inter-American Development Bank to raise concerns about bank funding being used to condition rural electricity expansion upon acceptance of the dam. Delegates also met with the U.S. Embassy in order to underscore NISGUA’s accompaniment in the region and highlight increasing concerns about the safety of those standing up in defense of the right to consultation and self-determination.

In their first advocacy meeting, the delegation and two members of ACODET spoke with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The IDB has proposed funding to bring rural electrification to communities in the departments of Alta Verapaz and Quiché, amongst others, and is awaiting approval from the Guatemalan Congress. While the funding is not dependent on the construction of the Xalalá dam, community members denounce that representatives from INDE are acting as the gatekeepers to rural electrification, intentionally misinforming communities and conditioning access to electricity on their acceptance of the Xalalá dam. The bank claimed to be unaware of INDE's actions and agreed to follow up, sharing information directly with communities. 

During the meting with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) the delegation:

• Facilitated a conversation directly between ACODET representatives and the bank in order to highlight the potential of INDE mishandling the $60 million in IDB funding destined for rural electrification.
• Provided specific examples of INDE conditioning social programs and deliberately misinforming communities regarding IDB funded rural electrification plans

As international observers from the U.S. and Canada, two countries that hold 34% of the voting power at the IDB, the NISGUA delegation demonstrated international concern for the violation of the rights of ACODET communities and further discussed what mechanisms exist to prevent human rights violations from occurring during the implementation of IDB projects.

While these official spaces are incredibly important in advocating for the rights to consultation and self-determination, perhaps more impactful are the advocacy opportunities in our communities back home. Delegates had the chance to discuss and support each other in creating plans to raise awareness and advocate for action and change in their home networks in North America. Plans for educational house parties, report-backs, art exhibitions, and article-writing all sprung into place on the delegation’s last day together.

“Participating in this delegation has been one of the most important and impactful experiences for me! Visiting the spaces and communities, meeting specific actors, experiencing things I’ve previously only read about in an embodied and sensory way has been a turning point in my personal engagement. I feel so inspired and energized to continue this work and to maintain and deepen these relationships.” (Delegation participant)

NISGUA invites everyone in our base to continue to reflect on the knowledge and inspiration we have gained from these relationships with Guatemalan human rights defenders and activists. We also encourage you to reflect on the ways to incite change and to create alternatives to the dominant globalized model that results in the exploitation, displacement and destruction of our communities and our lands.

The Q'eqchi' and the Duwamish

This article was originally published in Spanish, online at elsalmon.org

By Alejandro Echeverría
October 13, 2014 

Indigenous leaders Víctor Caal Tzuy and Ken Workman

Ken Workman is a Seattle native who despite his tall stature, has characteristics that evoke his famous 19th century ancestor - the indigenous Chief of Seattle (Si'ahl) - who gave this city, which lies in the state of Washington on the Pacific coast of the northern United States, its name. Standing before a large audience at the Duwamish headquarters  (the indigenous group to which he belongs), he speaks about his people and his struggle while alternating between the languages of Lushootseed and English. Beside him, Víctor Caal Tzuy, a Q’eqchi' representative of Las Margaritas Copón, listens attentively while he readies himself to speak about his own struggle 4,500 kilometers to the south.

Ken speaks about the agreement his tribe made in the 19th century with the American colonists, in which they ceded their territory under imminent invasion and in exchange for money, the rights to inhabit the land, and to hunt and fish on it. They weren't given an indigenous reservation like many other tribes who had the fortune of living in more remote areas unlike the geographically strategic city of Seattle. The Duwamish are not a recognized tribe. Many of them have been displaced, integrated into other tribes and lost their customs and cultural unity. Ken talked about current attempts to revive the Duwamish culture from the oral tradition that remains. “You have come at a good moment,” he says while looking at Víctor. 

“Ma sa sa’ laach’ool?” greets Victor in Q'eqchi' with a smile and a wave, after which he speaks in Spanish about the impacts that the construction of the Xalalá hydroelectric dam would have on surrounding communities in the Quiché and Alta Verapaz. In response to these impacts, they organized the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources (ACODET) in order to preserve their communities and consequently  their culture. 

The dam's construction would directly affect 13,000 people living in the 50 communities that would be displaced, and indirectly affect another 18,000 people living in an additional 44 communities. If forced to reach an agreement with INDE, they would be displaced and have to integrate into other communities – a scenario that is all-too familiar. It is impossible to ignore the parallels with Ken's history from almost 150 years ago, parallels that were brought to light on the “Rivers for Life” tour organized by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).

In Washington, what was once the Duwamish River or Black River is now dry because it was transformed into a channel. In a surprising and sad coincidence, another river of the same name in Guatemala – the Rio Negro (“Black River”) – is in danger of suffering irreparable changes to the ecosystem and to the communities that depend on it. The communities in the area are organized, brave and made up of intelligent people who are concerned about local development -  a concept that is not necessarily aligned with what we in the capital city perceive as “progress,”. And that's good; why not? Self-determination is important. “In my river, the fishing is good and everyone is welcome except those who want to come to flood our communities,” said Victor, ending his presentation with a slide showing a picture of a child holding up a fish almost as tall as him.

While having coffee in the reception area of a local Seattle radio station where Víctor had given an interview, I learned about the local rules they have established for the proper management of hunting, fishing and the use of natural resources. These policies are much more reasonable than anything someone from Guatemala City with their smart phone in hand could find on Google. He talked a lot about the impact on the flora and fauna, and on the environment, the incomplete environmental studies, the fact that it is important to continue to generate electricity for the city – oh, the progress! - the many pros and cons, all of which come from a perspective that is so city-focused, but not at all cosmopolitan. In fact, there is little talk at all about the cultural impact.

Even though I already knew about the issues surrounding Xalalá and the history of the Duwamish separately, I never saw them side by side. It opened my eyes. There are communities in Guatemala, like those surrounding the Chixoy hydroelectric dam, that have gone through the same things as the Duwamish. We are in a unique context here, if we can only learn how to listen and decide to learn from history.

Translation by NISGUA

Declaration from the V Gathering of the Latin American Network against Dams and for Rivers, Communities and Water (REDLAR)

Last week, NISGUA had the honor of participating in the fifth gathering of the Latin American Network against Dams and for Rivers, Communities and Water. Before arriving at the meeting site in Retalteco, Petén, NISGUA staff accompanied an 18 person international delegation visit to communities in the Ixcán region resisting the imposition of the Xalalá hydroelectric dam. If built, the dam would be the second largest in Guatemala and would directly impact approximately 14,000 people in 58 communities.

Despite widespread community opposition, the current government has made clear its intention to push the Xalalá project forward. Read more about community mobilization and ongoing peaceful resistance to the government’s announcement to re-open bidding on the dam project here.

Declaration from the V Gathering of the Latin American Network against Dams and for Rivers, Communities and Water (REDLAR)

From October 7 to 12, 2013, 537 delegates from dam affected communities from 14 Latin American countries joined together in the community of Retalteco in the municipality of Las Cruces, Petén, Guatemala for the V REDLAR gathering.

First, the international delegates visited communities threatened by the construction of dams in Huehuetenango, Ixcán, Purulhá and Petén.

During the gathering, delegates shared information, analyzed policies and interests behind the construction of dams and discussed strategies for joint actions. The reality of each country demonstrates the existence of an extremely aggressive policy that promotes the exploitation of natural resources and deepens the extractive model. This development model, which time and again requires more energy and minerals in order to satisfy market needs, puts the interests of the economic and political elite at odds with the well-being of the majority of the population.

Due to it’s ambition, this system encourages predatory consumption, which puts the lives of all human beings at risk and threatens the subsistence of the most poor and vulnerable communities, particularly affecting women and children. The companies and governments do not hesitate to use deceit and violence in order to appropriate our common goods. We are currently living through a new era in which original people are suffering the dispossession of their lands.
 
The common denominators between our Latin American countries are: alliances between governments and corporations resulting in a lack of information and consultation with communities; the dispossession and displacement of original and traditional peoples; noncompliance in the payment of reparations for damage caused by the construction of dams; relevant national legislation at the service of the interests of big companies; partiality of judicial systems; militarization of communities and regions that defend their territory; and the legal prosecution, kidnapping, torturing, and assassinations of human rights defenders.

Once again, we confirm that the grave social and environmental damages generated by dams negatively affect the land, food, homes, health, and other human rights of millions of peoples and nature. This alliance promotes mining and oil projects that appropriate, extract, contaminate and privatize water. The promise of development is no more than an illusion used to deceive communities.

Dams are part of a discourse that proposes false solutions. They are not clean energy, they are destructive and contaminate, they cause irreversible environmental and social impacts, alter the course of rivers, provoke massive displacements, land grabs, destruction of biodiversity and division of communities.

The increase in social conflicts is provoked by the imposition of government plans on communities without considering their free, prior and informed consent. REDLAR promotes the peoples' rights, defense of nature and social justice.

After six days of sharing our knowledge and experiences: 

• We reaffirm our commitment to continue to defend rivers and life and to resist the imposition of mega-projects.
• We propose the transformation of the current energy model into one that recognizes and respects ancestral knowledge, prioritizes peoples' needs before global market interests and in which energy is not thought of as a commodity, but instead as a fundamental right of the people, within a logic of responsible consumption and forms of respectful generation of the rights of Mother Earth.
• We demand that the countries of Latin American provide payment, reparations and integral compensation for damages caused to communities displaced by dams.
• We demand respect for the rights of communities where new dams construction is being planned based on parameters defined by international conventions that: protect human and indigenous rights; respect the right to say NO: and respect the results of community consultations, plebiscites and other forms of decision making. 
• We condemn the assassinations, kidnapping, tortures, repression, criminalization, and prosecution of communities and human rights defenders.
• We declare our special solidarity with our brothers and sisters of COPINH from Honduras, of Santa Cruz Barillas and Cobán, who are being criminalized for their struggle.

We will remain firm in our resistance and struggle in defense of sacred life, Mother Earth, rivers and water.
We will strengthen our networks and local, national and regional movements against dams and in defense of territory.
We will promote strategic alliances with other land and urban movements that fight for societies based on justice and dignity.

WATER, LAND AND ENERGY ARE NOT COMMODITIES
RIVERS FOR LIFE, NOT FOR DEATH
FREE RIVERS, FREE PEOPLE
WATER IS NOT FOR SALE, IT IS LOVED AND DEFENDED

LATIN AMERICAN NETWORK AGAINST DAMS AND FOR RIVERS, COMMUNITIES AND WATER -REDLAR-
Retalteco, Petén, Guatemala October 12, 2013