Una Kelly writes on the RTÉ website about the struggle of Indigenous Q’eqchi Maya in their opposition to multi-national resource extraction in eastern Guatemala.
Indigenous Mayans in Guatemala have called for a halt on multinational companies coming to their communities and extracting resources.
As more of their people are being deported from the US under the Trump administration, they have said they will particularly resist US companies in their area.
The community has said they are in a battle with big corporations for their ancestral lands.
Chinebal Palestina, a remote settlement of Q’eqchi Mayans in eastern Guatemala, is surrounded by palm oil plantations.
When visitors arrive, the people perform a Mayan-Christian traditional ceremony. A circle of burning candles is surrounded by flowers. The community’s spiritual leader fans a legal document over the flames to bless it.
This piece of paper is precious to them. They said it proves they are entitled to stay here, on their ancestral lands.
You can read the full piece with photos here, Mayans in Guatemala call on multinational companies to stay away.
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Environment, Guatemala, Human Rights, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Land, Racism, Resource Extraction, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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