Ten human rights organisations recently released a joint statement condemning police brutality in El Estor. Read the pronouncement below. You can read the above condemnation on the website of GHRC, here, GHRC – Condemnation. You can read more about the… Read More ›
Environment
“It pains me to tell you that the image of Canada is severely damaged”
Damning testimony in a new book reveals the horrific record of Canadian mining companies in Guatemala. Joan Baxter has written in the Canadian publication, Halifax Examiner, about a new book, Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala,… Read More ›
The Indigenous Leader Targeted for Protecting His People’s Land
The case of Bernardo Caal Xol is featured on this video from VICE as part of the Amnesty International campaign ‘Write For Rights’. “Why am I in jail? For denouncing what they are doing to the rivers, defending what little… Read More ›
Guatemala Cracks Down on Q’eqchi’ Resistance in El Estor
In the latest episode of a lengthy saga of repression and resistance, Maya communities demanding to be consulted about a foreign-owned nickel mine in their territories now live under a state of siege. Vaclav Masek writes in NACLA on the… Read More ›
Where Impunity Reigns: Nickel Mining in El Estor, Guatemala
James Rodríguez wrote an article for Latin American Perspectives on El Estor, looking at the history of the mine, including the history of state violence against those that live in the Q’eqchi’ Mayan territory. The violence goes back to at… Read More ›
Guatemala: Peaceful resistance to illegal mining under siege
A Joint Statement was released in response to the state of siege and the violence of state actors against the peaceful demonstrations being held in El Estor. Errors in translation are mine. JOINT STATEMENT – THE OBSERVATORY / UDEFEGUA /… Read More ›
Violence Against Q’eqchi’ Community In El Estor
The above statement was released by UDEFEGUA in response to the violence carried out by state forces against the Q’eqchi’ population in El Estor protesting against the open-pit Fénix nickel mine owned by Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN). My translation… Read More ›
“It’s not tiring for us to be here”: Anti-mining resistance in Guatemala
Avispa Midia published a piece on a non-violent, anti-mining resistance encampment situated in El Estor. The camp is looking to highlight violence being carried out against the local Q’eqchi’ people and has garnered support from other indigenous groups in Guatemala…. Read More ›
The struggle for water, forests, land and the defence of the collective does not end with criminalisation
ACOGUATE has published a piece about the struggle of the Maya Ch’orti’ people in the face of continuous attacks, both physical and legal, the latter especially through the criminalisation of activists in defence of land and water. For defending water,… Read More ›
Guatemala: The Violence Against CODECA Should Cease
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OMCT-FIDH) and UDEFEGUA released a denunciation following the assassination of Ramón López Jiménez, a community leader with CODECA – ‘Committee for Campesino Development’ (El Comité de Desarrollo Campesino) With the murder… Read More ›