Communities in Peaceful Resistance of “La Puya” meet with the President of the Republic

Jun 12, 2013

Today, representatives of the communities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc participated in a reunion called by the President of the Republic, Otto Pérez Molina. The meeting was scheduled for 10:30 in the Presidential House. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Erick Archila, the Interior Minister, Mauricio López Bonilla and representatives of the American company, Kappes, Cassiday and Associates also participated. Community members asked that the mining representatives leave, as the conversation was with the government, not the company.

The meeting with successful in the sense that the communities were able to share with the President their reasons for firmly maintaining their resistance to the mine.

 

Some of the communities’ concerns include:

1. In their municipalities, the presence of naturally occurring arsenic is eight times higher than international standards, and any mining will raise those levels further still.

2. The Environmental Impact Study presented by the mine had many problems. It even mentioned the possible displacement of communities, which is unacceptable. In addition, it doesn’t cover all of the risks that the mining activity could present to the health of the communities.

3. Currently, the municipalities are facing water shortages. They are on the edge of the dry corridor, and as an agricultural region, they depend on this resource.

4. There was no prior information or consultation with the communities, even though Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization requires the consultation of indigenous peoples about projects which will affect them.

5. The actions of the company toward the population have been disrespectful and illegal: verbal and written threats, flyers with slanderous messages, provocations, and aggression, etc. The subsidiary, Servicios Mineros de Centroamérica is facing judicial processes for threats made against journalists.

For his part, the President took into consideration the concerns put forth by the communities and proposed that a new environmental impact study be carried out. The topic has not been exhausted, and  meetings between the government and the communities will continue.

Even though this is a positive step, the communities are clear that they still say NO to the mine. As one leader, Yolanda Oquelí said “You don’t negotiate with life, you defend it.” The resistance in La Puya continues.

La resistencia pacífica de La Puya en reunión con el Presidente de la República

12 de junio de 2013

El día de hoy, representantes de las comunidades de San José del Golfo y San Pedro Ayampuc, participaron en una reunión convocada por el Presidente de la República Otto Pérez Molina. La cita fue a las 10:30, en Casa Presidencial, participaron también el ministro de energía y minas Erick Archila, el ministro de Gobernación Mauricio López Bonilla, así como representantes del la empresa estadounidense Kappes, Cassiday & Associates. Los comunitarios pidieron el retiro de los representantes de la mina, debido a que la conversación era con el gobierno de Guatemala y no con la empresa.

La reunión fue exitosa en el sentido de que las comunidades pudieron compartir con el Presidente sus razones por mantenerse firmes en su resistencia a la mina.

 Algunas de las preocupaciones de las comunidades incluyen:

1. Que en sus municipios la presencia del arsénico de forma natural está 8 veces por encima de los estándares internacionales, ante lo cual cualquier trabajo minero incrementaría esos niveles.
2. El Estudio de Impacto Ambiental, presentando por la minera presenta muchas deficiencias. Se menciona incluso de un posible desplazamiento de las comunidades, lo que consideran como algo inaceptable. Por aparte, no advierte acerca de todos los riesgos que la actividad minera representaría para la salud de las comunidades.
3. Actualmente sus municipios ya presentan niveles de escases de agua, están al borde del corredor seco y siendo una región agrícola dependen de este recurso.
4. No hubo información ni consulta previa a las comunidades y en el Convenio 169 de la OIT se establece que la consulta a los pueblos indígenas sobre proyectos que les afecten deben ser previamente consultados con ellos.
5. El actuar de la empresa hacia la población ha sido irrespetuosa e ilegal: amenazas verbales, escritas, volantes con mensajes difamatorios, provocaciones y agresiones, etc. Incluso su subsidiaria, Servicios Mineros de Centroamérica, enfrenta un proceso jurídico por amenazas en contra de periodistas.

Por su parte, el Presidente tomó en consideración las preocupaciones planteadas por las comunidades y propuso la realización de un nuevo estudio de impacto ambiental. El tema no está agotado y se continuará con las reuniones entre gobierno y las comunidades.

Aunque este sea un paso positivo, las comunidades están claras en decir NO a la minería. Como dice la lideresa Yolanda Oqueli: “la vida no se negocia, se defiende”. La resistencia en La Puya continúa.

News Update: May 31-June 12

OAS 43^rd General Assembly

The Organization of American States had its 43^rd General Assembly in Antigua, Guatemala. In attendance were 28 chancellors and 500 representatives from member countries, as well as 80 permanent observing countries. The main topic of discussion was drugs, though there were no major developments or changes in policy.

Pérez Molina and Kerry’s Bilateral Meeting

US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Otto Pérez Molina met and discussed the United States’ migration reform and the situation of Guatemalans in the United States.  Molina expressed many worries; for example, how to stop deportations of Guatemalan migrants and that Guatemala should be involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Ontario Securities Commission Is Investigating Tahoe Resources

Tahoe Resources, a Canadian mining company, is being investigated by the Ontario Securities Commission in relation to the six people shot outside of the Escobal mines on April 27. It is reported that six of Tahoe’s employees have been implicated in the crime based on phone taps from the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor’s Office. As heard in court, Tahoe’s security director, Alberto Rotondo, ordered the murders of the protestors. The Justice and Corporate Accountability Project asked the Ontario Securities Commission to investigate Tahoe Resources claiming that the mining company had downplayed and hidden what their workers had done.

GHRC Target of Hate for Commemorating Victims of Genocide

On Saturday, we at GHRC had the pleasure of taking part in a powerful art installation in Washington, DC. After three years of preparation, the organization One Million Bones blanketed a section of the National Mall with bones made of various materials to bring attention to genocide committed around the world. The organizers of One Million Bones had extended a special invitation to GHRC and the Guatemala community to take part and commemorate Guatemala’s genocide victims.

GHRC staff, interns and volunteers, joined thousands of others in laying out the bones. Our group took the opportunity to read the names of the victims in the Ixil Triangle included in the charges against former generals Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez.

We posted a photo of the event on our Facebook page on Saturday afternoon, and were shocked to see the response. Our wall was covered by an energetic debate about genocide in Guatemala. It was heartwarming to see all the comments in support of justice for victims, but sad to see that there were also many comments full of hate, anger, and denial of the crimes committed against Guatemala’s indigenous people.

Unfortunately, many of the people who posted on our wall are the same people who have been spreading the same messages of hate and denial in the Guatemalan media and organizing protests in support of those who committed atrocities.

The courageous genocide survivors, along with their lawyers, the judges, and the organizations who support justice, have been victim to this type of attack constantly since the Ríos Montt trial began. The messages in the media in Guatemala are not just slander. They are threats of violence. For example, Ricardo Méndez Ruiz, founder of the Foundation Against Terrorism, who posted on our wall, said in an interview with Guatemalan TV station Guatevision that the civil society leaders pushing for justice could be assassinated. In his post on GHRC’s facebook page, he called us a “terrorist organization.”

We don’t want to hide this debate going on in Guatemalan society, but we adamantly condemn the use of defamation, threats and messages of hate. We would love to see our page covered with messages of support for justice and for the victims and survivors of genocide. Can you add your voice

Vigil Against Impunity, Antigua Guatemala, Jun 4, 2013

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The City of Antigua Guatemala, was recently host to the 43^rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). In attendance were 28 Foreign Ministers and Secretaries of State, as well as other diplomats and representatives of the Guatemalan government.

At the same time that the General Assembly was being inaugurated, the VigilAgainst Impunity was taking place in Antigua’s Central Park. Human rights activists from Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Brasil, Canada, and Guatemala gathered to remember the victims of Guatemala’s internal armed conflict. The participants made clear their disapproval of the Constitutional Court’s annulment of the sentence in the genocide case against General Efrain Rios Montt, an act which denies justice to the Maya Ixil victims and survivors.

The activists voiced their solidarity with the men and women who survived the genocide, and who valiantly testified in the courtroom during the trial. “Your struggle is our struggle. The judgment against the dictator Rios Montt was also a triumph for justice in all of Latin America,” stated one of the participants.

Women’s organizations highlighted the strength and courage of the Ixil women who were victims of sexual violence during the conflict, and who gave their powerful and heartbreaking testimonies during the trial. They are an example for all the women who suffered under the dictatorships that devastated Latin America.

The vigil was illuminated by the memory of each one of the disappeared. The music of young artists, poems, and words of solidarity filled the park by Antigua’s cathedral.

Vigilia contra la Impunidad

Antigua Guatemala, 4 de Junio de 2013

En Antigua Guatemala se desarrolló en días pasados la 43 Asamblea General de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA). Asistieron los cancilleres de los países miembros, cuerpo diplomático acreditado en el país y ministros del Estado guatemalteco.

Mientras esta Asamblea se inauguraba, se desarrollaba la Vigilia contra la Impunidad en la plaza central de Antigua Guatemala, en ella se congregaron activistas de derechos humanos de México, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panamá, Costa Rica, Honduras, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia,  Brasil, Canadá y Guatemala, para recordar a las víctimas del conflicto armado interno en el país; para manifestar su rechazo a la resolución hecha por la Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC), que anula la sentencia por genocidio y deberes contra la humanidad, dictada en contra del general José Efraín Ríos Montt, con esta anulación se niega el derecho a Justicia a las víctimas del genocidio Ixil.

Cada uno de los activistas tomó la palabra, manifestando su solidaridad y haciendo un reconocimiento para todas las mujeres y hombres sobrevivientes, que valientemente presentaron sus testimonios ante el tribunal que conocio el caso. Un activista latinoamericano expresó: “Su lucha fue nuestra, la sentencia dictada contra el dictador Ríos Montt, fue también un triunfo para la Justicia en América Latina…”.

Así también, organizaciones de mujeres manifestaron que la  fuerza, la valentía de las mujeres víctimas de violencia sexual al dar sus desgarradores testimonios durante el juicio, son un ejemplo para muchas que también fueron víctimas durante las dictaduras que azotaron en Latinoamérica.

La vigilia estuvo iluminada con el recuerdo de cada uno de los desaparecidos. La música de jóvenes artistas, poemas y palabras de solidaridad se escucharon esa noche a un costado de la catedral de esa ciudad guatemalteca.

Civil Society Organizations Call for New Security Model, Demilitarization, Human Rights

(Antigua, June 6) More than 160 civil society organizations representing hundreds of thousands of citizens in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the United States, sent an open letter to the OAS General Assembly today calling for alternatives to the war on drugs that guarantee respect for human rights.

Our organizations have documented an alarming increase in violence and human rights violations. While we recognize that transnational crime and drug-trafficking play a role in this violence, we call on our governments to acknowledge that failed security policies that have militarized citizen security have only exacerbated the problem, and are directly contributing to increased human suffering in the region,” the letter states.

Guatemala Scholars Network statement about genocide trial

The Guatemala Scholars Network at the XXXI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association voted to express our solidarity and concern regarding the current judicial processes around Generals Efraín Ríos Montt and Rodriguez Sánchez. Founded in 1983, the GSN is a network of over 400 people representing over 100 academic, faith-based, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

On May 10, 2013, the Guatemalan tribunals found General Ríos Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. We urge that this verdict be honored and upheld. Reopening the process will only re-victimize witnesses. We express our concern for the safety of the witnesses, lawyers, and judges. As people who have worked for many years in Guatemala, including researching the histories of racism and exploitation, we affirm that these are the causes of the violence—not the recovery of truth.

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA

31 mayo 2013

La Red de Investigadores y Estudioso/as de Guatemala (Guatemala Scholars Network) en el XXXI Congreso Internacional de la Asociación de Estudios Latinoamericanos votó para expresar su solidaridad y preocupación sobre los procesos judiciales contra los Generales Efraín Ríos Montt y Rodríguez Sánchez.  Fundada en 1983, la Red es una asociación con mas de 400 personas que representan mas de 100 organizaciones académicas, religiosas y no gubernamentales (ONGs).

En mayo 10, 2013, los tribunales de Guatemala declararon al General Ríos Montt culpable de genocidio y crímenes contra la humanidad.  Demandamos que este veredicto sea respetado y cumplido.  Reabrir el proceso solamente re victimizará a los testigos.  Expresamos nuestra preocupación por la seguridad de los testigos, abogados y jueces.  Por tratarse de personas que hemos trabajado investigaciones sobre Guatemala, incluyendo el racismo, la violencia, y la  explotación, entendemos que estas son las historias que han producido hechos deplorables, y no la recuperación de la verdad.