Shortly after Bernardo Arévalo was inaugurated as President, Roman Gressier wrote a piece in El Faro English on the resistance led by Indigenous peoples in ensuring that the will of the people was carried out so that the inauguration took place in the face of challenges by the ‘pacto de corruptos’. Democracy is on unsteady ground in Guatemala for as long as elite corruption is allowed to stain the lives of Guatemalans. It is up to Arévalo to follow through with his pledges as regards Indigenous peoples in Guatemala.
On Sunday, January 14, as the first rays of sun sweep away the darkness from the steps of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, some two hundred people in a circle look to the east to give thanks for the new day. In the middle is a large clay bowl full of ocote and copal woods, surrounded by a wide ring of thin candles, flowers, breads, and thick tobacco cigars. A group of Mayan spiritual guides feeds the flames with aguardiente or more candles. Sporadic fireworks shake the multitude from their trance.
Hours remain until Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration as president of Guatemala — a day that, due to months of political tension, seemed far from guaranteed. The symbolic epicenter of Indigenous resistance against an attempted coup d’état led by the Attorney General is observing a ritual that marks the close of a cycle. While in October thousands blockaded roads throughout the country to defend Arévalo’s victory, here they set up a line of open-air tarp protest tents, at once boisterous, indignant, occasionally festive. After the roadblocks fizzled out, the camp in front of the Public Prosecutor’s Office stayed there, its heart beating.
“This ceremony is to thank the Creator for 105 days of resistance, because we have taken this first step toward democracy,” says Feliciana Herrera Ceto, the First Coordinating Mayor of the Ixil Mayan town of Nebaj, her voice reverent, unhurried, as she gazes at the bonfire.
Some two-dozen Ixil authorities traveled to the capital early Wednesday morning. Over the last few days, and especially over the last few hours, thousands made a pilgrimage from all corners of Guatemala to celebrate and defend the transfer of power. Before the sun rose, Achi Mayan representatives from Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, also made their way to the city. A diverse swath of Mayan ethnicities —among them Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel, and K’iche’— awaited the Ixil at five in the morning at the Public Prosecutor’s Office, while some still slept under a tent or on the sidewalks, almost always with nothing but a thin blanket on the pavement. Now, long lines have assembled for breakfast or hot atol, prepared and served by volunteers.
You can read the full piece, with links and photos, here, The Indigenous Resistance Puts Its Doubts and Hopes in Arévalo’s Hands.
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Presidential Elections, Racism
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
Post comments here