In response to the events at El Estor, the above statement was released jointly, yesterday, by Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (ARSN), Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS-RES), Human Rights Defenders Project, Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC), Guatemalanetz Bern, Protection International… Read More ›
Resource Extraction
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 ›
Guatemala’s growing palm oil industry fuels Indigenous land fight
Sandra Cuffe writes in Al Jazeera about the ongoing land struggles in Guatemala primarily focusing on palm oil production, its destructive legacies, and Indigenous resistance. Anibal Agurtia blows into the conch shell tied to a red string around his hand,… 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 ›
GHRC Updates: State Accountability – Laguna Larga, and the Massacre at La Cumbre de Alaska
The Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) has recently posted a couple of updates we wanted to share. The first is on the situation at Laguna Larga, and the second on the massacre at La Cumbre de Alaska, which took place… 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 ›
Guatemala’s Indigenous Communities Are Still Fighting for Their Rights
Jeff Abbott writes a column in The Progressive, The Other Americans, and this is from his latest piece. September 15 marks 200 years since the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica gained independence from… Read More ›
Guatemala’s National Strike Demands Structural Change
Giovanni Batz writes in NACLA about the latest protests in Guatemala which build on years of popular struggle and which deepen demands for a plurinational state. In the last decade, national protests throughout Guatemala have symbolized a growing anger and… Read More ›
GHRC – Human Rights Update
GHRC recently published (3rd Sep ’21) its latest Human Rights Update. 2021 on Track to Be Worst Year for Human Rights Defenders in 20 Years According to the Unit for Protection of Human Rights Defenders of Guatemala (UDEFEGUA), in the… Read More ›