(Read the following background or skip to the bottom for sample letters in English and Spanish)
My reaction upon first meeting Herculano Luc was similar to that of so many others who have met him. It became immediately clear that he was an articulate leader who was not afraid to speak truth to power. If the government of Guatemala supported its own people, he could play a key role in changing the fact that the majority of Mayan children are undernourished. Instead, he is seen as a threat for being an intelligent Mayan man working in support of the people. For this reason he has been targeted by the government, which last week issued an arrest warrant against him for supposedly organizing his community to invade and steal the land they live on – even though they did not invade it but in fact have lived their for generations.
While repression against Mayan leaders is increasingly common in Guatemala, there is something that makes this arrest warrant unusual and gives me the hope that if you take a few minutes to take the below action we might help cancel the arrest warrant. The reason is that two major institutions of the Guatemalan government, CONAP (National Council of Protected Areas) and INAB (Forest Service of Guatemala), have recognized the community´s historic right to their land. In fact Herculano was in Guatemala City negotiating with government representatives the same day that the arrest order went out.
Herculano Luc was born in and continues to live in the small community of Michbilrixpu, north of Coban, Guatemala. The community was located outside of the Lake Lechua National Park until the 1990s when the state amplified the size of the park and annexed the community. While the Guatemalan Constitution requires the government to find another property for the community before evicting them, they did not do this. Instead they sent police to violently evict families from the community on numerous occasions. For example on May 22, 2004, over 150 police entered the community and destroyed houses and crops. They used machetes to destroy basic tin roofs to render them forever unusable. They burned the community´s harvest of nearly 2,000 pounds of dried beans. They cut down acres of cardamom. Because the community is a difficult four hour walk from the nearest road, it was easy for them to return to their land. They had to start over each time they did, but they had no other place to go.
Finally the government ceased the evictions, recognized the community´s right to exist, and entered negotiations with the community to find a new territory. In November the government took community leaders to see a nearby vacant estate that they were considering offering the community. Last Thursday they met with community leaders in Guatemala City to continue negotiations.
That´s why last week´s arrest warrant came as such a surprise. Some have suggested it is evidence of the ineptitude of the Guatemalan government and the fact that the PGN (Attorney General) and MP (similar to the FBI), which issued the arrest warrant, are not in contact with CONAP and INAB. Much more likely Herculano is simply being targeted as part of the government`s systematic repression against Mayan leaders.
There is an opportunity here for us to call out the government for its hypocrisy and perhaps force them to cancel the arrest warrant. Leaders in Guatemala are organizing in defense of Herculano, and international pressure will give this struggle a boost. Last night Herculano called me, fighting back tears, and asking how he is going to feed his children. Herculano Luc should be supported as a dynamic leader who can create an alternative Guatemala where all people have enough to eat and all cultures are respected. He should not be hiding in a remote village away from home, wondering how his children are.
Please take a few minutes to send the below letter to Guatemalan authorities. You can send it as is or, better yet, make it more personal. It is very easy and we have seen this strategy work in the past.
Send to: licsaullopez@hotmail.com,nslopez@mp.gob.gt
Asunto: Orden de captura para Herculano Luc debe ser retirado
Estimado Licenciado Lopez,
Me he enterado que la semana pasada se instituyó una orden de captura en contra del ciudadano guatemalteco Herculano Luc en relación al conflicto de tierras de la comunidad de Michibilrixpu, municipalidad de Cobán, departamento de Alta Verapaz. Según mi propio conocimiento del caso y del señor Luc considero que este hecho es un error grave y le solicito respetuosamente que investigue y que retire la orden.
El señor Luc ha trabajado durante años en busca de una solución al conflicto de tierras en su comunidad. Como resultado de su trabajo, la comunidad está actualmente negociando con CONAP y INAB para buscar nuevos terrenos en donde pueda vivir la comunidad. Las familias de Michbilrixpu llevan generaciones en sus terrenos actuales pero estos terrenos fueron anexados como parte de la expansión del parque nacional Laguna La Chua. Por cumplir con su deber de ubicarlos en otros terrenos antes de desalojarlos, el gobierno nacional está negociando con la comunidad.
No se debe permitir la hipocresía del gobierno que de un lado reconoce los derechos del pueblo para existir y negociar una solución, y de otro lado los califica como "invasores" y emite orden de captura en contra de uno de sus líderes. ¿Será que el MP y la PGN no comunican con los del CONAP y INAB? Herculano Luc no es un criminal, el es un hombre quien trabaja para mejorar la vida de su pueblo. ¿Acaso eso es la meta del MP y PGN?
Voy a mantenerme al día con este caso y espero que Ud. pueda trabajar para corregir esta equivocación seria lo más pronto posible.
Atentamente,
Please take a few minutes to send the below letter to Guatemalan authorities. You can send it as is or, better yet, make it more personal. It is very easy and we have seen this strategy work in the past.
Send to: licsaullopez@hotmail.com,nslopez@mp.gob.gt
Subject: Arrest warrant against Herculano Luc needs to be cancelled
Dear Licensiado Lopez,
It has come to my attention that last week an arrest warrant was ordered against Herculano Luc in relation to the land conflict of the community Michbilrixpu of Coban. I consider this arrest warrant to be a grave error and ask that you work to immediately have it canceled.
Luc has worked hard for years to bring a solution to the land conflict in his community. As a result of his work, the community is negotiating with CONAP and INAB to find a new terrain for community members to live in. The families living in Michbilrixpu had resided there for decades before the government expanded the Lake Lechua National Park. The government is required to find them other land to live in before evicting them, and that is why the community is in negotiation with the government.
It is completely unacceptable and hypocritical that the government of Guatemala on the one hand recognizes the community´s right to exist and negotiates an end to the land conflict with them and on the other hand issues an arrest warrant against one of its leaders as an ¨invader.¨ Does the MP and PGN communicate with CONAP and INAB? Herculano Luc is not a criminal, he is a man who is working to improve the quality of life for people in his community. Shouldn’t this also be the goal of the MP and PGN?
I will be closely monitoring this case and hope that you will work to correct this horrible mistake as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
lunes, 14 de diciembre de 2009
martes, 27 de octubre de 2009
Juana Sanchez
Juana Sanchez was a survivor. Originally from Nebaj, she was forced to flee her community when the army began to impliment the US-backed ¨scorched earth policy¨ in the early 1980s. Refusing to leave the country, she went to Chajul and joined a CPR, or Community of Populations in Resistance. As part of the mobile community she often slept in caves and tunnels dug in the earth to stay safe from bombing raids. She was always ready to carry her few possesions on her back when the army came too close to the community.
She survived the massacres but was left in abject poverty because of the massive theft of land by the military. After the final Peace Accords were signed in 1996, she would frequently travel with her children to the south coast to work on sugar cane and other plantations for a minimal salary. She took a leadership role in organizing Maya Ixil families to demand the government recompensate them for their losses during the war. After years of being ignored by the government, she joined hundreds of other leaders and occupied part of a military base in Nebaj on June 30, 2006. The date had great significance - it was both the government`s ¨Army Day¨ and it was the day before CAFTA (a devastating free trade agreement with the United States) took effect. Juana helped the community stay organized (for more information on the community check http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/30dejunio.htm), planted corn on her small plot and started sending her kids to school.
Juana could not survive forever. Recently, unknown assailants murdered her. No arrests have been made, and community leaders expect that the military was behind the attack. Juana`s five children were left orphaned.
Seventeen year old Juan suddenly finds himself acting as father of four. He has found a job working as a brick layer for a small wage. He is determined to continue his studies. Because he has spent most of his short life escaping poverty and violence he has the additional challenge of only being in 6th grade. The community has found a small apartment for the children to stay at for free in Nebaj. But the community is extremely poor and not able to help with other needs of the family. For this reason we are asking for donations to help the family. To send a donation, write a check out to ¨UPAVIM Community Development Foundation¨ and send it to Upavim, c/o Laurie Levinger, 28 McKenna Rd, Norwich, VT 05055. Write ¨martyrs¨ in the memo line so that we make sure the funds go to the family of Juana and to support other children of recently murdered community leaders in Guatemala.
Seventeen year old Juan suddenly finds himself acting as father of four. He has found a job working as a brick layer for a small wage. He is determined to continue his studies. Because he has spent most of his short life escaping poverty and violence he has the additional challenge of only being in 6th grade. The community has found a small apartment for the children to stay at for free in Nebaj. But the community is extremely poor and not able to help with other needs of the family. For this reason we are asking for donations to help the family. To send a donation, write a check out to ¨UPAVIM Community Development Foundation¨ and send it to Upavim, c/o Laurie Levinger, 28 McKenna Rd, Norwich, VT 05055. Write ¨martyrs¨ in the memo line so that we make sure the funds go to the family of Juana and to support other children of recently murdered community leaders in Guatemala.
viernes, 23 de octubre de 2009
October 20 marked the 65th anniversary of Guatemala`s 1944 revolution. Organized peasants, students and workers used various nonviolent tactics to overthrow Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico. Known as ¨the Hitler of Central America,¨ Ubico was a key ally of the US government. He gave the United Fruit Company (which later divided into several companies, primarily Chiquita Banana) huge tracks of land, a monopoly on the country`s rail system, and control over Guatemala`s Pacific and Atlantic ports. He also enacted ¨the Fire Law,¨ making it legal for European descendants to murder Mayans without needing to prove motive. Perhaps the action that most garnered support from the US was the enactment of a new forced labor system in which all Mayans needed to carry an identification card with them proving that they had worked over 150 days for pay on plantations. If they hadn`t, they would be forced to do hard labor clearing and building roads through the country`s forests and mountains to make it easier for the elite to rob natural resources.
The revolution of 1944 had the potential of building a new model for governance. The newly elected government outlawed numerous forms of discrimination, enacted minimum wage and labor conditions laws, and provided land to hundreds of thousands of landless peasants. This was far too much for the US government to allow in a country that had basically been viewed by politicians and major stockholders as a giant plantation. After numerous attempts by the CIA to overthrow the government, President Eisenhower authorized the bombing of the capitol city in 1954. The government quickly collapsed, and the US named a military junta to take its place. Minimum wage laws were scrapped, land was taken back from peasants, voting rights were severed and the majority of accomplishments of the 10 years of democracy (or 10 Years of Spring as they are known in Guatemala) were reversed. The CIA gave the new government a list of tens of thousands of Guatemalans to be ¨neutralized,¨ the School of the Americas (soaw.org) began arming and training the Guatemalan military to torture and kill its own people, and to this day the country has not been able to break free from the grip of the US-backed military.
Meanwhile in the countryside...
I went to plant corn with leaders from the community Papalja. I had only been to the community one other time and it was a brief stop on the way to a hearing in the nearby municipal center of La Tinta. I left with a good impression of the leadership of the community and beauty of the area, so I was very happy when the Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC) asked that one of our upcoming delegations visit Papalja.
Papalja is located in a valley in eastern Guatemala, just north of Lake Izabal. Multinational corporations are targeting this region to clear cut forests and plant African Palm to be used for biodiesel to fuel cars in the US and other wealthy nations. With the help of the government, they are violently evicting Maya Qeqchi communities that have been in the area for generations. Papalja has the rare distinction of possessing a government-recognized title to their land.
After a prayer for the success of the harvest, we began planting as a group. Community members have private plots, but many work them collectively. Each day they work on a different person`s plot. It was a bittersweet experience for me. I love this manner of sharing work, but my mind kept going back to the last time I participated in a collective corn planting. It was also in the department of Izabal in eastern Guatemala, in the community Suiche III (http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/suicheiii.htm). The government did not fully recognize Suiche III`s land title. Soon a group of police and private security from the neighboring African Palm plantation came threatening to destroy the corn we had just planted. When I started flashing pictures, their attitude changed somewhat. They said that they really didn`t want to destroy the crops, and that they were going to be nice and wait to get a court order. Months earlier the palm corporation had agreed to recognize the community`s existence, but apparently greed had gotten the better of them. The security personnel asked for Vitelio Mendez, a community leader at Suiche III. Another member of the community raised his hand and said ¨I am Vitelio Mendez.¨ It was an impressive show of solidarity. But the next time I visited the community, Vitelio Mendez was dead. He had been shot by the palm plantation`s private security.
We took a break to snack on some tomales made of corn and beans. Community members know they are in a minority for having won recognition from the government of their right to their own land. But this hardly makes them wealthy. Each family has a plot of three acres, enough for their most basic necessities and that`s about it. They had lots of questions about my experience growing fruits and vegetables in the US. When they asked how much land my parents have, I was more than a little embarrassed. ¨Over 200 acres...¨ I said, and tried to change the topic.
We went back to Federico`s house and ate a hardy meal. We had worked his plot so he was feeding us, as is the custom. The people of Papalja are not starving. They are not wealthy... but they have gone nearly 10 years without being violently removed from their homes. This has allowed them to build sustainability.
The majority of Mayan children in Guatemala are malnourished. They are not malnourished because Mayan people are uncivilized, backwards or unintelligent. They are not malnourished because, as many politicians in the US like to claim, they are simply going through the same growing pains that the US went through on the way to development. The majority of Mayan children are malnourished because the US government is arming and training thugs to kill, torture, terrorize and rob from Mayan communities.
This year Papalja opened a new ¨basico¨ school, for the first time giving children access to 7th grade. The community is very proud of this achievement, although numerous challenges remain in their struggle to continue the program and expand it to 9th grade. In the majority of communities that I visit, the cost of attending 7th grade and beyond is prohibitive. (To donate to our education fund, make a check out to ¨UPAVIM Community Development Fund¨ and send it to UPAVIM, c/o Laurie Levinger, 28 McKenna Rd, Norwich, VT 05055. Be sure to write ¨education¨ in the memo section of the check. 100% of funds will be used for school construction, scholarships and purchase of school materials)
The leadership committee of Papalja approved our idea of visiting the community for several days in January. We worked out a draft schedule for the days, focusing on social, cultural and political exchanges between solidarity delegation participants and members of the community. There will be workshops on the importance of organizing, organic agriculture, the School of the Americas and other topics. Workshops will be in Qeqchi, Spanish and English and we will have basic Qeqchi and English language classes. Participants will be able to stay with families in the community or in the school house. If you or someone you know is interested in participating, visit http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/delegations.htm or email info@guatemalasolidarityproject.org for more info or an application.
The revolution of 1944 had the potential of building a new model for governance. The newly elected government outlawed numerous forms of discrimination, enacted minimum wage and labor conditions laws, and provided land to hundreds of thousands of landless peasants. This was far too much for the US government to allow in a country that had basically been viewed by politicians and major stockholders as a giant plantation. After numerous attempts by the CIA to overthrow the government, President Eisenhower authorized the bombing of the capitol city in 1954. The government quickly collapsed, and the US named a military junta to take its place. Minimum wage laws were scrapped, land was taken back from peasants, voting rights were severed and the majority of accomplishments of the 10 years of democracy (or 10 Years of Spring as they are known in Guatemala) were reversed. The CIA gave the new government a list of tens of thousands of Guatemalans to be ¨neutralized,¨ the School of the Americas (soaw.org) began arming and training the Guatemalan military to torture and kill its own people, and to this day the country has not been able to break free from the grip of the US-backed military.
Meanwhile in the countryside...
I went to plant corn with leaders from the community Papalja. I had only been to the community one other time and it was a brief stop on the way to a hearing in the nearby municipal center of La Tinta. I left with a good impression of the leadership of the community and beauty of the area, so I was very happy when the Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC) asked that one of our upcoming delegations visit Papalja.
Papalja is located in a valley in eastern Guatemala, just north of Lake Izabal. Multinational corporations are targeting this region to clear cut forests and plant African Palm to be used for biodiesel to fuel cars in the US and other wealthy nations. With the help of the government, they are violently evicting Maya Qeqchi communities that have been in the area for generations. Papalja has the rare distinction of possessing a government-recognized title to their land.
After a prayer for the success of the harvest, we began planting as a group. Community members have private plots, but many work them collectively. Each day they work on a different person`s plot. It was a bittersweet experience for me. I love this manner of sharing work, but my mind kept going back to the last time I participated in a collective corn planting. It was also in the department of Izabal in eastern Guatemala, in the community Suiche III (http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/suicheiii.htm). The government did not fully recognize Suiche III`s land title. Soon a group of police and private security from the neighboring African Palm plantation came threatening to destroy the corn we had just planted. When I started flashing pictures, their attitude changed somewhat. They said that they really didn`t want to destroy the crops, and that they were going to be nice and wait to get a court order. Months earlier the palm corporation had agreed to recognize the community`s existence, but apparently greed had gotten the better of them. The security personnel asked for Vitelio Mendez, a community leader at Suiche III. Another member of the community raised his hand and said ¨I am Vitelio Mendez.¨ It was an impressive show of solidarity. But the next time I visited the community, Vitelio Mendez was dead. He had been shot by the palm plantation`s private security.
We took a break to snack on some tomales made of corn and beans. Community members know they are in a minority for having won recognition from the government of their right to their own land. But this hardly makes them wealthy. Each family has a plot of three acres, enough for their most basic necessities and that`s about it. They had lots of questions about my experience growing fruits and vegetables in the US. When they asked how much land my parents have, I was more than a little embarrassed. ¨Over 200 acres...¨ I said, and tried to change the topic.
We went back to Federico`s house and ate a hardy meal. We had worked his plot so he was feeding us, as is the custom. The people of Papalja are not starving. They are not wealthy... but they have gone nearly 10 years without being violently removed from their homes. This has allowed them to build sustainability.The majority of Mayan children in Guatemala are malnourished. They are not malnourished because Mayan people are uncivilized, backwards or unintelligent. They are not malnourished because, as many politicians in the US like to claim, they are simply going through the same growing pains that the US went through on the way to development. The majority of Mayan children are malnourished because the US government is arming and training thugs to kill, torture, terrorize and rob from Mayan communities.
This year Papalja opened a new ¨basico¨ school, for the first time giving children access to 7th grade. The community is very proud of this achievement, although numerous challenges remain in their struggle to continue the program and expand it to 9th grade. In the majority of communities that I visit, the cost of attending 7th grade and beyond is prohibitive. (To donate to our education fund, make a check out to ¨UPAVIM Community Development Fund¨ and send it to UPAVIM, c/o Laurie Levinger, 28 McKenna Rd, Norwich, VT 05055. Be sure to write ¨education¨ in the memo section of the check. 100% of funds will be used for school construction, scholarships and purchase of school materials)
The leadership committee of Papalja approved our idea of visiting the community for several days in January. We worked out a draft schedule for the days, focusing on social, cultural and political exchanges between solidarity delegation participants and members of the community. There will be workshops on the importance of organizing, organic agriculture, the School of the Americas and other topics. Workshops will be in Qeqchi, Spanish and English and we will have basic Qeqchi and English language classes. Participants will be able to stay with families in the community or in the school house. If you or someone you know is interested in participating, visit http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/delegations.htm or email info@guatemalasolidarityproject.org for more info or an application.
viernes, 16 de octubre de 2009
President Refuses to Free Ramiro Choc; Conceeds to Some Peasant Demands
Waiting in line at one of the charrasco stands (delicious grilled meat ... sorry to my vegan friends) at the central park in Coban, north eastern Guatemala, I overheard an interesting conversation.
¨The government will never release Ramiro Choc,¨ said one of the people in line.
¨You´re right,¨ another responded. ¨They know he will unite the people in defense of their families and human rights. The businesses won´t be able to steal their lands.¨
Their words proved prophetic during yesterday´s meeting between peasant leaders and President Alvaro Colom. Colom agreed to meet with them after the Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC) blocked 14 major roadways throughout the country on Monday, demanding that the government take action on eight issues (see previous blog entry).
Colom was unequivocal in his refusal to support the release of Choc. He also refused to remove from the country corporations which are blatantly violating human rights.
Using classic excuses, Colom said the corporations are bringing much needed jobs to the country. As if violently evicting thousands of people from their homes, polluting their rivers and clear cutting their forests, and then giving a few dozen of them jobs could honestly be called ¨development.¨
CUC did successfully push the President to move forward on some issues. The military will withdraw from the property of Cementos Progreso in San Juan Sacatepequez, where they have been acting as private mercenaries and terrorists for the corporation. Local leaders who have organized against the theft and environmental destruction that the factory brings have faced false imprisonment, torture and assassination. The President´s decision to withdraw troops from the private property is a victory for the movement, but he announced the soldiers will remain at another location in the town.
The President also announced that he will bow down to the demand to cooperate with CICIG (the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala) in investigations into clandestine armed groups which are targeting indigenous and peasant community leaders. A follow-up meeting was planned between CUC and representatives of the President on December 10 to continue negotiations.
CUC is not willing to accept such limited cooperation from the government. ¨We made the government tremble when we brought our force to the streets on Monday,¨ said CUC National Committee member Daniel Pascual. ¨We will do it again if they don´t side with the people over the multinational corporations.¨
¨The government will never release Ramiro Choc,¨ said one of the people in line.
¨You´re right,¨ another responded. ¨They know he will unite the people in defense of their families and human rights. The businesses won´t be able to steal their lands.¨
Their words proved prophetic during yesterday´s meeting between peasant leaders and President Alvaro Colom. Colom agreed to meet with them after the Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC) blocked 14 major roadways throughout the country on Monday, demanding that the government take action on eight issues (see previous blog entry).
Colom was unequivocal in his refusal to support the release of Choc. He also refused to remove from the country corporations which are blatantly violating human rights.
Using classic excuses, Colom said the corporations are bringing much needed jobs to the country. As if violently evicting thousands of people from their homes, polluting their rivers and clear cutting their forests, and then giving a few dozen of them jobs could honestly be called ¨development.¨
CUC did successfully push the President to move forward on some issues. The military will withdraw from the property of Cementos Progreso in San Juan Sacatepequez, where they have been acting as private mercenaries and terrorists for the corporation. Local leaders who have organized against the theft and environmental destruction that the factory brings have faced false imprisonment, torture and assassination. The President´s decision to withdraw troops from the private property is a victory for the movement, but he announced the soldiers will remain at another location in the town.
The President also announced that he will bow down to the demand to cooperate with CICIG (the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala) in investigations into clandestine armed groups which are targeting indigenous and peasant community leaders. A follow-up meeting was planned between CUC and representatives of the President on December 10 to continue negotiations.
CUC is not willing to accept such limited cooperation from the government. ¨We made the government tremble when we brought our force to the streets on Monday,¨ said CUC National Committee member Daniel Pascual. ¨We will do it again if they don´t side with the people over the multinational corporations.¨
miércoles, 14 de octubre de 2009
Results of Road Blocks in Guatemala
As I walked down the dirt road with hundreds of community leaders toward the post-action meeting spot, it began to rain. I found myself walking with a group of four people. Three were leaders from nearby Cubilguitz (see www.guatemalasolidarityproject.com/cubilguitz.htm for partial information on the community). The other was Hermelindo Cux Choc, a member of the Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC) National Committee. We had just blocked the intersection for 10 hours, one of 14 roadblocks around the country that reminded the multinational corporations and Guatemalan government that the peasant majority has the power to shut them down. Yet it was hard to call the day a success after one nonviolent protestor had been shot dead and two others were hospitalized.
The rain intensified and Hermelindo and I made light of the fact we were about to get drenched and had no other clothes.
¨I don´t even have rubber boots!¨ he said and flashed his big grin. Then he pointed to one of the protestors from Cubilguitz. ¨Look! Only one of us has rubber boots on, there is only one real peasant among us!¨ The mud splashed up his leg as we picked up the pace.
I was at the last CUC national assembly in May 2007 when countless leaders from Mayan Qeqchi communities rose to their feet to nominate Hermelindo to the CUC National Committee. He won and became the youngest member of one of the most powerful leadership bodies in the country.
¨They killed one of our comrades today,¨ Hermelindo said to me as we neared the meeting spot. ¨He was from San Juan. He was organizing against the cement factory. He was one of us. I can´t express how it feels, how much it hurts, that they have again killed someone so close.¨
As one of the protest slogans, ¨To Great Repression: Greater Organization,¨ suggests, Hermelindo is at the forefront of a growing movement throughout the country to resist the escalating violence and theft of multinational corporations attempting to loot all of Guatemala.
The corporations have the potential to destroy the rainforests, contaminate all of the rivers and mountains, cause the extinction of countless species, subject millions of Guatemalans to modern slavery, torture and kill leaders of the resistance, and shatter Mayan culture. The movement has the potential to put the land into the hands of the peasants, save the rivers, forests and animals of Guatemala, keep millions of children from suffering chronic malnutrition, defend Mayan culture, and build a sustainable alternative way of life. The roadblock was a step in the right direction. Below is a summary of the outcomes of the roadblock.
WHY ROADBLOCKS?
In a word? Effective. The US and Guatemalan governments are focused on helping corporations steal gold, nickel, uranium, bananas, coffee, hydroelectric power and other riches of the country`s vast human and natural resources. Blocking roads immediately pauses much of this theft and cuts into corporate profit margins.
Road blocks are also high risk actions. Monday was not the first time a CUC leader has been killed at a roadblock. But CUC has the ability to turn out thousands of people throughout the country, blocking major roadways in the capitol, northern mountains, Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean coasts, and at the borders with Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras.
CUC`s indigenous and peasant leaders have refused to respond with guns to the assassinations and tortures they are facing. Instead they demand that the US and Guatemalan governments and corporations act in a civilized way.
WHY OCTOBER 12?
In this case there are two reasons. For those of us ¨educated¨ in the US, it is Columbus Day. In Guatemala and the United States there is a celebration of ¨Christopher Columbus´ discovery of America.¨ For CUC and many others it is a day to mark 517 years of indigenous resistance against imperialism.
The other significance of the date is from the July 14 actions. CUC blocked major highways on this date as well, forcing President Alvaro Colom to agree to take action on eight issues within 90 days. The deadline has passed and the President did not do as promised.
WHAT ARE CUC´S DEMANDS?
CUC has demanded the government take action on eight issues:
1. Integral Agrarian Reform
CUC has a well developed proposal for redistributing land in a just way, including returning land to indigenous and ladino (people of European and mixed ancestry) peasants with technical support. In the 1996 Peace Accords that ended nearly four decades of violence, the government agreed to give landless peasants access to land. With support from the US, this ¨help¨ came in the form of ¨capitalist development¨ in which a limited number of families were offered land if they accepted loans they would probably never be able to pay back. Corporations were able to take full advantage of the ¨market opportunity,¨ and inequality and hunger increased. CUC has the audacity to want to redistribute the land and place families and the environment over corporate profits.
2. Cancel mining concessions
The Guatemalan government has concessioned massive areas of land to corporations, giving them the right to the minerals underneath peasant communities and large biodiverse forests and mountains. The government has placed corporate profits over the survival of families, entire species, unique biodiverse regions, and the planet itself. Large expansions of forests are being clearcut, water basins are decreasing rapidly and oil is extracted to run cars in wealthy nations. CUC is demanding an immediate halt to this destruction.
3. Remove various corporations
Several particular corporations, such as the Guatemala Nickel Company (subsidiary of a Canadian nickel company), Montana Corporation and Gold Corp, have acted in an especially repulsive manner. They have killed and tortured community leaders who organized against their exploitation, and CUC demands that they leave.
4. End repression against indigenous communities and leaders
The government has helped orchestrate a wave of repression in the countryside to help corporations steal from indigenous communities. CUC is demanding an immediate end to the assassinations, tortures and terrorism.
5. Investigate and punish those responsible for the assassinations of community leaders
No one has been punished for the numerous murders of community leaders. In some cases there were many witnesses, such as in the murder and mutilation of leader Alfredo Ich. In other cases the government itself has admitted partial guilt, such as the government report declaring that leader Mario Caal Bolom was tortured and murdered by police. But the government has refused to hold anyone responsible for these and numerous other murders of community leaders.
6. Release community leaders from San Juan Sacatepequez and Izabal who are being held as political prisoners
Over one hundred leaders from San Juan have been arrested for organizing against the construction of a cement factory that would pollute their air, water and land. Dozens of them are suing the government for having tortured them while in custody.
Numerous leaders in the department of Izabal have also been arrested for demanding that their rights be respected. Most prominent among them is organizer Ramiro Choc, who has spent nearly two years in prison.
7. Remove the military base from San Juan Sacatepequez
The government has used the military to terrorize the population of San Juan from opposing the cement factory. In violation of the Peace Accords, the military fills the streets and enforces curfews. The military must leave San Juan and respect its civilian population.
8. Have CICIG investigate private and armed groups which have participated in violent evictions of communities and repression of community leaders
CICIG, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, is a recently formed United Nations agency investigating clandestine armed groups and their connections to the Guatemalan government. The government is using these armed groups to repress and evict indigenous and peasant communities in order to steal their land. A recent example comes from Sunday, September 27. Department of Izabal Governor Luz Maribel Ramos Peña visited the community of Barrio La Union and illegally told residents that they must leave their homes. They refused to leave and instead told her that she is not the ruler of the land and although she is Governor she too must follow the law. A few hours later a private security force entered the community, shooting at children and adults, gravely injuring numerous residents and killing community leader Alfredo Ich.
WHAT WAS THE FINAL OUTCOME OF THE ROADBLOCK?
CUC removed the barricades in the early afternoon when representatives of the President agreed to meet and negotiate with a delegation of CUC leaders in the Presidential Building. But when the negotiations didn`t go well, the group declared that they would go on hunger strike and occupy the building indefinitely. Thousands of supporters gathered outside as CUC threatened more roadblocks. Finally at 11:40pm, the government agreed to take action on CUC´s demands and that President Colom would meet with CUC leaders this Thursday to work out details. CUC promised to suspend future roadblocks but added that they would not oppose roadblocks being considered in opposition to the visit of Colombian President, who recently signed an agreement to build US military bases throughout Colombia.
The rain intensified and Hermelindo and I made light of the fact we were about to get drenched and had no other clothes.
¨I don´t even have rubber boots!¨ he said and flashed his big grin. Then he pointed to one of the protestors from Cubilguitz. ¨Look! Only one of us has rubber boots on, there is only one real peasant among us!¨ The mud splashed up his leg as we picked up the pace.
I was at the last CUC national assembly in May 2007 when countless leaders from Mayan Qeqchi communities rose to their feet to nominate Hermelindo to the CUC National Committee. He won and became the youngest member of one of the most powerful leadership bodies in the country.
¨They killed one of our comrades today,¨ Hermelindo said to me as we neared the meeting spot. ¨He was from San Juan. He was organizing against the cement factory. He was one of us. I can´t express how it feels, how much it hurts, that they have again killed someone so close.¨
As one of the protest slogans, ¨To Great Repression: Greater Organization,¨ suggests, Hermelindo is at the forefront of a growing movement throughout the country to resist the escalating violence and theft of multinational corporations attempting to loot all of Guatemala.
The corporations have the potential to destroy the rainforests, contaminate all of the rivers and mountains, cause the extinction of countless species, subject millions of Guatemalans to modern slavery, torture and kill leaders of the resistance, and shatter Mayan culture. The movement has the potential to put the land into the hands of the peasants, save the rivers, forests and animals of Guatemala, keep millions of children from suffering chronic malnutrition, defend Mayan culture, and build a sustainable alternative way of life. The roadblock was a step in the right direction. Below is a summary of the outcomes of the roadblock.
WHY ROADBLOCKS?
In a word? Effective. The US and Guatemalan governments are focused on helping corporations steal gold, nickel, uranium, bananas, coffee, hydroelectric power and other riches of the country`s vast human and natural resources. Blocking roads immediately pauses much of this theft and cuts into corporate profit margins.
Road blocks are also high risk actions. Monday was not the first time a CUC leader has been killed at a roadblock. But CUC has the ability to turn out thousands of people throughout the country, blocking major roadways in the capitol, northern mountains, Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean coasts, and at the borders with Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras.
CUC`s indigenous and peasant leaders have refused to respond with guns to the assassinations and tortures they are facing. Instead they demand that the US and Guatemalan governments and corporations act in a civilized way.
WHY OCTOBER 12?
In this case there are two reasons. For those of us ¨educated¨ in the US, it is Columbus Day. In Guatemala and the United States there is a celebration of ¨Christopher Columbus´ discovery of America.¨ For CUC and many others it is a day to mark 517 years of indigenous resistance against imperialism.
The other significance of the date is from the July 14 actions. CUC blocked major highways on this date as well, forcing President Alvaro Colom to agree to take action on eight issues within 90 days. The deadline has passed and the President did not do as promised.
WHAT ARE CUC´S DEMANDS?
CUC has demanded the government take action on eight issues:
1. Integral Agrarian Reform
CUC has a well developed proposal for redistributing land in a just way, including returning land to indigenous and ladino (people of European and mixed ancestry) peasants with technical support. In the 1996 Peace Accords that ended nearly four decades of violence, the government agreed to give landless peasants access to land. With support from the US, this ¨help¨ came in the form of ¨capitalist development¨ in which a limited number of families were offered land if they accepted loans they would probably never be able to pay back. Corporations were able to take full advantage of the ¨market opportunity,¨ and inequality and hunger increased. CUC has the audacity to want to redistribute the land and place families and the environment over corporate profits.
2. Cancel mining concessions
The Guatemalan government has concessioned massive areas of land to corporations, giving them the right to the minerals underneath peasant communities and large biodiverse forests and mountains. The government has placed corporate profits over the survival of families, entire species, unique biodiverse regions, and the planet itself. Large expansions of forests are being clearcut, water basins are decreasing rapidly and oil is extracted to run cars in wealthy nations. CUC is demanding an immediate halt to this destruction.
3. Remove various corporations
Several particular corporations, such as the Guatemala Nickel Company (subsidiary of a Canadian nickel company), Montana Corporation and Gold Corp, have acted in an especially repulsive manner. They have killed and tortured community leaders who organized against their exploitation, and CUC demands that they leave.
4. End repression against indigenous communities and leaders
The government has helped orchestrate a wave of repression in the countryside to help corporations steal from indigenous communities. CUC is demanding an immediate end to the assassinations, tortures and terrorism.
5. Investigate and punish those responsible for the assassinations of community leaders
No one has been punished for the numerous murders of community leaders. In some cases there were many witnesses, such as in the murder and mutilation of leader Alfredo Ich. In other cases the government itself has admitted partial guilt, such as the government report declaring that leader Mario Caal Bolom was tortured and murdered by police. But the government has refused to hold anyone responsible for these and numerous other murders of community leaders.
6. Release community leaders from San Juan Sacatepequez and Izabal who are being held as political prisoners
Over one hundred leaders from San Juan have been arrested for organizing against the construction of a cement factory that would pollute their air, water and land. Dozens of them are suing the government for having tortured them while in custody.
Numerous leaders in the department of Izabal have also been arrested for demanding that their rights be respected. Most prominent among them is organizer Ramiro Choc, who has spent nearly two years in prison.
7. Remove the military base from San Juan Sacatepequez
The government has used the military to terrorize the population of San Juan from opposing the cement factory. In violation of the Peace Accords, the military fills the streets and enforces curfews. The military must leave San Juan and respect its civilian population.
8. Have CICIG investigate private and armed groups which have participated in violent evictions of communities and repression of community leaders
CICIG, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, is a recently formed United Nations agency investigating clandestine armed groups and their connections to the Guatemalan government. The government is using these armed groups to repress and evict indigenous and peasant communities in order to steal their land. A recent example comes from Sunday, September 27. Department of Izabal Governor Luz Maribel Ramos Peña visited the community of Barrio La Union and illegally told residents that they must leave their homes. They refused to leave and instead told her that she is not the ruler of the land and although she is Governor she too must follow the law. A few hours later a private security force entered the community, shooting at children and adults, gravely injuring numerous residents and killing community leader Alfredo Ich.
WHAT WAS THE FINAL OUTCOME OF THE ROADBLOCK?
CUC removed the barricades in the early afternoon when representatives of the President agreed to meet and negotiate with a delegation of CUC leaders in the Presidential Building. But when the negotiations didn`t go well, the group declared that they would go on hunger strike and occupy the building indefinitely. Thousands of supporters gathered outside as CUC threatened more roadblocks. Finally at 11:40pm, the government agreed to take action on CUC´s demands and that President Colom would meet with CUC leaders this Thursday to work out details. CUC promised to suspend future roadblocks but added that they would not oppose roadblocks being considered in opposition to the visit of Colombian President, who recently signed an agreement to build US military bases throughout Colombia.
lunes, 12 de octubre de 2009
Another Attempted Massacre in Guatemala as Thousands Block Roads on 517th Anniversary of Colombus´ Invasion
Another Attempted Massacre in Guatemala as Thousands Block Roads on 517th Anniversary of Colombus´ Invasion
October 12, 2009
For the third time in two weeks, peasant leaders affiliated with the Committee of Peasant Unity in Guatemala were targets of an attempted massacre. The attacks have left two dead and dozens injured by bullet wounds, including young children. Several people remain hospitalized in critical condition. Private security forces with close connections to the government are suspected to be responsable for all the attacks, but no arrests have been made.
Read more about today´s roadblocks at the GSP blog:
TAKE ACTION:
Send an email to Nery Morales, Guatemala Ministry of Interior Spokesman: neryberto8@yahoo.com
Sample message:
Dear Mr. Morales,
My name is _________ and I live in ___________. I am extremely concerned about the continued attacks against community leaders in Guatemala associated with the Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC). I ask that a thorough and immediate investigation be conducted to punish the intellectual authors of these crimes as soon as possible. I believe that if these crimes remain in impunity it will be a sign that the Guatemalan government is giving a green light to parellel forces to attack leaders associated with CUC. I will continue to follow the situation.
Sincerely,
___________________
I arrived at the Cubil roadblock at about 5:30 am, later than I had hoped to. CUC had sealed off this intersection in northern Guatemala at 4am, one of five major roads in the country that were being blocked in protest of the Government´s support of multinational corporations in the face of rising poverty and violence in peasant communities.
¨This October 12, date in which we commemorate the begining of the indigenous resistance to the European invasion, we mobilize to denounce that the invaders of always are now coming in the name of multinational corporations... they are invading our communities to take our riches. Mining copanies destroy our forests and our mountains... Oil spills destroy our water sources so that corporations can bring black gold to move machines and cars in wealthy countries...¨ read part of their press release.
CUC set up a series of blockades, primarily rocks and tree stumps. In the above photo, the sign reads ¨Community Rio Cristalino, CUC, Present in the Struggle for the Mother Earth.¨ Last month over 500 police and soldiers invaded the community, destroying houses and crops and telling residents to leave.
By 9:00 the message came that CUC leaders had been shot at at a roadblack near the capital. In Cubil CUC decided to spread the word person to person instead of over the microphone so as to not cause a sudden panick. ¨We need to stay in groups, no one should go astray from the rest for any reason. We must remain vigilant,¨ was the message.
I had the opportunity to hear national CUC leader Hermelindo Cux Choc speak for the first time(in background in above photo), which was a great experience. Although he mostly spoke in Qeqchi, it was powerful to see the crowd become silent as they listened intently to his words. At one point he switched to Spanish. ¨I am a leader and I will always be a leader. I am not going to let these acts of intimidation make me back down. I will be a leader until the day I die.¨
I will post updates later this week.
October 12, 2009
For the third time in two weeks, peasant leaders affiliated with the Committee of Peasant Unity in Guatemala were targets of an attempted massacre. The attacks have left two dead and dozens injured by bullet wounds, including young children. Several people remain hospitalized in critical condition. Private security forces with close connections to the government are suspected to be responsable for all the attacks, but no arrests have been made.
Read more about today´s roadblocks at the GSP blog:
TAKE ACTION:
Send an email to Nery Morales, Guatemala Ministry of Interior Spokesman: neryberto8@yahoo.com
Sample message:
Dear Mr. Morales,
My name is _________ and I live in ___________. I am extremely concerned about the continued attacks against community leaders in Guatemala associated with the Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC). I ask that a thorough and immediate investigation be conducted to punish the intellectual authors of these crimes as soon as possible. I believe that if these crimes remain in impunity it will be a sign that the Guatemalan government is giving a green light to parellel forces to attack leaders associated with CUC. I will continue to follow the situation.
Sincerely,
___________________
I arrived at the Cubil roadblock at about 5:30 am, later than I had hoped to. CUC had sealed off this intersection in northern Guatemala at 4am, one of five major roads in the country that were being blocked in protest of the Government´s support of multinational corporations in the face of rising poverty and violence in peasant communities.
¨This October 12, date in which we commemorate the begining of the indigenous resistance to the European invasion, we mobilize to denounce that the invaders of always are now coming in the name of multinational corporations... they are invading our communities to take our riches. Mining copanies destroy our forests and our mountains... Oil spills destroy our water sources so that corporations can bring black gold to move machines and cars in wealthy countries...¨ read part of their press release.
CUC set up a series of blockades, primarily rocks and tree stumps. In the above photo, the sign reads ¨Community Rio Cristalino, CUC, Present in the Struggle for the Mother Earth.¨ Last month over 500 police and soldiers invaded the community, destroying houses and crops and telling residents to leave.
By 9:00 the message came that CUC leaders had been shot at at a roadblack near the capital. In Cubil CUC decided to spread the word person to person instead of over the microphone so as to not cause a sudden panick. ¨We need to stay in groups, no one should go astray from the rest for any reason. We must remain vigilant,¨ was the message.
I had the opportunity to hear national CUC leader Hermelindo Cux Choc speak for the first time(in background in above photo), which was a great experience. Although he mostly spoke in Qeqchi, it was powerful to see the crowd become silent as they listened intently to his words. At one point he switched to Spanish. ¨I am a leader and I will always be a leader. I am not going to let these acts of intimidation make me back down. I will be a leader until the day I die.¨
I will post updates later this week.
jueves, 8 de octubre de 2009
Visiting Ramiro Choc
Within minutes of entering the cell block 12 visiting area in Guatemala City´s Zone 18 Prison, it became obvious to me why Ramiro Choc continues to be incarcerated as the country´s most well known political prisoner. He radiates solidarity – kindness – love – to a degree that clearly makes him a threat to those who want to rob land from the country´s majority. He immediately reminded me of Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Fr. Jerry Zawada as perhaps the only other people who have given me this feeling. He has a rare combination of intense passion, intelligence, and an advanced ideology while at the same time speaking with great eloquence, forcefully yet respectfully and accessibly, all the while maintaining a seemingly constant meditative state. Every single prisoner and every single visitor who passed respectfully said hello to him and I could sense the compassion in his voice as he wished well to the children fighting back tears as they ended their visits with their incarcerated fathers. Let there be no doubt – spending nearly two years in prison has not lessened Ramiro Choc´s resolve to unite the poor and working class majority in resistance to those who would silence, kill and steal from them.
Ramiro was very glad to see me as he had not had the opportunity to communicate to the world his thoughts after the murder of his brother in law last weekend by security forces of a nickel corporation in the El Estor region of Guatemala. He was quick to find me a chair and a drink.
¨Do you drink soda?¨ he asked me. ¨Most of the people who visit me never drink soda because of how unhealthy it is. They tell me, ´Ramiro, why do you drink soda, you don´t understand.´ But I do understand, I´m just captured by the vice,¨ he said with a smile.
Ramiro found some papers and was eager to begin his letter to the world. ¨How much time do you have?¨ he asked me. ¨I would like you to put this on the internet for the world to see.¨ After repeatedly expressing his concern not to bore me, he put his pen the paper. His expression turned to concentration as his thoughts passed through the ink. I fought the urge to ask him about any of the numerous stories I had heard about his organizing and instead let him write.
After writing a couple pages he put the pen down and sat back in his chair. He looked at me.
¨My parents were colonos,¨ he said. Colonos is the word used for Mayan peasants who live and work on plantations. ¨They were never paid. They worked on the plantation in exchange for being able to live there. My grandparents weren´t allowed to leave. My father couldn´t read or write, and because of his extreme poverty he wasn´t able to develop an ideology. One day he decided to leave the plantation and move to the town. My Mother was worried because we only knew the countryside. But finally we decided to move. I was very young, but I remember helping carry our few possessions on my back.¨
¨My father learned carpentry, but at that time there wasn´t much carpentry work. So he learned brick laying. He learned to make canoes that could carry thousands of pounds. He became very sought after. Within 5 years he learned to read and write. One day the owner of the plantation we had left saw us in town. I was still very young. ´What are you bitches doing?´ he said. ´You are the son of a bitch,´ my father replied. ´You are the one who steals from and exploits the Maya.¨
Ramiro leaned back in his chair. He looked to the sky and smiled as he thought of his father. Then his smile turned to a frown. ¨My father still doesn´t know that my sister´s husband was killed. He is working in Belize and we haven´t been able to reach him. I am worried because it has been a difficult time for our family. First I was imprisoned, then a close family friend was killed. Now my brother in law has been murdered.¨ His gaze returned to the sky. Then he looked back at me and asked if I knew his children. I explained how I had seen two young kids holding a sign that read ´Free My Daddy´ at a protest in support of him last year.
¨These were my eldest children, Rozul and Hati. Elizabeth always either takes them out and leaves my youngest, or takes my youngest and leaves them. My oldest son is Rozul. This is our word in Qeqchi for a type of tree that is so strong that even putting a chainsaw to it will only result in sparks. But this tree is disappearing because of the greed of corporations. My daughter´s name is Hati. She is the middle of my three children. Hati is the Garifuna word for moon (Garifuna are descendants of slaves from West Africa and indigenous peoples in the Caribbean. They have a distinct language and culture and live primarily in Central America). Some Garifuna communities had asked me to work with them so we could be united. We gave her this name to honor this time. My youngest son is Hab, our word for rain, the rain that doesn´t fall like it used to. It either doesn´t fall, or when it does it is very destructive.¨
¨Hab hardly ever slept, and when he didn´t grow out of this we became worried. We consulted a Mayan Priest. He asked some questions and took some things to his altar. Soon he came to me. ´I examined your nahual (name of the animal spirit protector which each person has) and the position of the universe when you were born. I was very surprised. You don´t have to worry about your son. Watch carefully and you will see – when you sleep, he sleeps. When you are awake, he is awake.´ I started closely observing this. I found out that it was true. Sometimes when I was working far away, I would call Elizabeth as soon as I woke up. ´Hab also just woke up,´ she would always tell me. To this day I only sleep three or four hours at night, apparently my youngest son is the same.¨ Clearly enjoying talking about his children, he looked back down at his paper. ¨Well, I should get back to work.¨
Ramiro has been in prison for nearly two years, during which time countless actions have been taken nationally and internationally to demand his freedom. During his first year in prison, Ramiro was placed in the hole. He could not use the phone or leave for recreation. There was no toilet, and he had to ask to go out and use the bathroom. Sometimes he was allowed to, sometimes he had to defecate in his own small space.
¨This was a very difficult time. Many people are severely damaged psychologically while in the hole,¨ he told me. ¨But I was not. I thought of Fidel Castro in prison. I thought of Nelson Mandela in prison. I knew that I wasn´t defeated.¨
During this time organized peasants took strong actions in his defense. On one occasion a group kidnapped 29 police officers, demanding his freedom in exchange for that of the police. The press accused Ramiro of coordinating this and other actions from his prison cell. A member of the President´s cabinet visited Ramiro and asked him to tell the group to free the police, and promised to free Ramiro within three days if he did so.
¨I told him that I had nothing to do with the police being kidnapped, how could I if you have me in the hole and won´t let me use the phone. I told him I refused to tell the peasants to back off, because my detention was completely illegal.¨
Finally Ramiro agreed to intervene and de-escalate the situation. He wasn´t surprised when the government declined to release him anyway. But after increasing national and international pressure, he was released from the hole.
¨I left the hole very sick. It was difficult to recover – I wasn’t eating much since they had tried to poison me. One day I was talking to another prisoner who was writing to his girlfriend. He said his girlfriend didn´t like his letters. ´Let me see your paper,´ I said. I took his paper and wrote a poem. Later he told me how much she liked the poem, and asked for another. ´I will pay you Ramiro, please.´ Before long I was getting seven or eight requests a day to write poems, and that was how I was able to make money and buy my own things and regain my health.¨
I was admiring a vine that had filled a large section of the wall surrounding us, and Ramiro told me that he had planted it, as well as several other plants in the area. Soon we took a break to eat lunch.
¨We are trying to defend our culture, but it is under great threat. The scientists and businessmen have told us how to raise our animals. And in the villages close to the municipalities, the people have followed their advice. They feed animals what they are told to. They say feed this animal this and that animal that and you can butcher it after this long. And the animals are ready a few weeks earlier. But in the further off villages, where the cars haven´t reached, they feed the animals naturally. It may take a few more weeks, but when they are ready it is much more healthy.¨
¨I will give you a more concrete example,¨ Ramiro continued as we ate. ¨I have a friend Antonio. He is a grandfather. When he was going to start a family he went to his father and said he would need to cut down two trees to build a house. His father looked for the trees, and then asked permission to cut them from the earth, the wind, the fire and the water. Then before cutting the trees he told them ´I´m sorry. I promise to collect your seeds and plant them.´ Recently Antonio´s grandson started a family. I am friends with him, but he cuts trees the European way. He tells his wife ´Grab the chainsaw, I´m going to cut this shit down.´¨
¨I was at the University once, and the Professor asked a Mayan student to talk about the four colors of corn. But the student said ´There are no four colors of corn, in my town we just paint the corn if we want to display the colors.´ We are losing our culture. In my town our cosmovision tells us to very carefully select what corn to use for seed. There is a very intentional process of selecting, picking and storing these seeds. Everything has its significance. There are always elders in each community who have the four colors of corn. Even if I only have white corn, I can go to them to get other seeds. But now this way of life is under attack. Transgenic corn is being pushed on us, and if it reaches the more isolated villages our way of life is in danger of disappearing.¨
In Barrio La Union, the village where Ramiro´s brother in law was killed six days ago, it is hard to imagine how the Maya cosmovision could survive. The nickel company has already stolen most of the land. The roughly 120 families living in the community have tiny lots not large enough to even feed a fraction of the family. There is hardly any work in the area. Many men travel for work to the far off Peten, home of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, the largest rain forest in Central America and one of the most biodiverse places on earth. There they earn a few dollars a day picking corn or raising cattle for wealthy landowners who have clearcut large tracks of the forest. It is estimated that 45% of the Maya Biosphere Reserve has been deforested.
Visiting hours are about to end and I get up to leave. As Ramiro accompanies me toward the exit of his cell block, I ask him about the challenge many communities face in advancing their economies while at the same time resisting the loss of their culture, and in particular the use of synthetic agricultural chemicals. He smiles and points at the vine growing on the wall.
¨You see where the vine has no leaves? A week ago ants started eating it. Roberto tried using chemicals, but we have stopped using those, haven’t we Roberto?¨ he said as he laughed and patted a prisoner sitting nearby on the knee. ¨Roberto told me that he used chemicals and killed many of the ants, but they came back. There were countless ants coming in from below the door. I taught Roberto how to mix garlic, pepper and some other herbs to keep the ants away. And the ants have not returned. But I didn´t kill them. And they didn´t kill me. We must all learn to live together in harmony. People, animals, plants, we must all learn to share this world together. And you must leave before they lock you in with us!¨ He laughed and gave me a hug. I left the cell block and climbed the concrete steps to the prison exit. I passed through the gates and walked by a tank and group of soldiers standing guard. I followed the crowd to a shady spot where families waited for the bus, children crying inconsolably after leaving their fathers behind in the prison.
(When I asked Ramiro what I could bring him the next time I visited, he asked me to bring food. During the visit he also mentioned that he was unable to talk with his family regularly because he didn´t have money for the phone cards required by the prison. If you would like to help buy these items for Ramiro, make a check out to ¨UPAVIM Community Development Fund¨and send it to: UPAVIM; C/O Laurie Levenger; 28 McKenna Rd; Norwich, VT, 05055)
The following is the letter which Ramiro wrote and asked me to distribute via the internet. Thanks to Greg Norman (goyonorman@yahoo.com) for the translation.
Ramiro Choc
Sector #12
Correctional Facility for Men, Zone 18
Guatemala City, Guatemala, Central America
I am Ramiro Choc, kidnapped by the government of Guatemala since February 14, 2008, through today and until who knows when they free me, but what is certain is that I am suffering the worst tortures that they can do to me; upon sending this message in blood to the indigenous and the oppressed, to the organizations loyal to the dignity of an oppressed people, committed and resolute in their convictions for the defense of the indigenous territories of Guatemala and Latin America. A message in blood for all the men and women owners who refuse to bargain the legitimate rights of our oppressed brother ladinos and the indigenous who are in the total recovery and reclamation of the rights which belong to them historically, especially the recovery of the mother earth and with that the defense of indigenous territory.
Today, October 3 of the year 2009 (second year of the government of the National Unity Party) I am taking advantage of the visit of Palmer Legare to the prison where the government has me kidnapped, so that he can do me the big favor of posting this on the Internet where it can be read.
The message in blood sent by the government to those of us who fight constantly and loyally to which I refer is the attempt that my family suffered in El Estor, Izabal; the government that offers support for the bloody actions of the national and foreign multimillionaires and in this case the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN -- Compañía Guatemalteca de Niquel) which with the total support of the state and the media murdered the husband of my sister Angelina Choc. When I say that the government supports these oppressions by powerful people from Guatemala and foreigners who achieve the support of high ranking public officials who trample and prostitute the dignity of our Guatemalan people. I also state that the communication media are involved because they give a panorama of the news which is totally accommodated to the interests of the powerful class.
For example, on September 27, 2009, the government represented by its governor, (Luz Maribel Ramos Peña), without the order of the appropriate judge, as it was not even a weekday, without recognizing the historical antecedents of the residents previously mentioned, and, above all, as the representative of the current president (Alvaro Colom Caballeros) perpetrated a cruel forced expulsion of humble, defenseless farmers who are the legitimate owners of lands that CGN wants and has tried to rob from them with the support of the high ranking officials of the government. Soon after they took advantage of the moment to vilely murder Adolfo Ich Chaman, husband of my older sister Angelica Choc, and as I have said the media quickly twisted the facts around to shield the government, that is to protect the Governor so that her presence would not be discovered and to free the multimillionaires of the blood stains caused by the humble, legitimate owners of those lands. The media published that gang members entered to ransack the National Civil Police Station, and that a group of farmers went to the military base to recover a set of fishing equipment, and that it was an attempt at forced expulsion on CGN lands, and that in each of these three crime scenes died Adolfo Ich (my wife's husband), that is that Adolfo died three times (one time in each of the three scenarios described by the media.). Later they present the panorama of the event in such a way that the humble farmers are seen as a organization that provokes and causes destruction. But what I want to share with you is so painful as these tortures go directly to my family. People from the security forces called Adolfo and said that they wanted to dialogue with them, when he got near to them they told him that he was the leader of the peasants, they shot him and that wasn't enough for them, they took him to the CGN building and having him there they cut him into pieces with a machete. They took him to that place so that later they could say that Adolfo had entered into CGN and that justified their bloody acts, the material author is the security personnel of the CGN, led by Mynor Padilla who works as their boss, his son also saw everything, he was accompanying his father, he saw and heard what Mynor Padilla did with Adolfo Ich, and now the CGN is publishing information that nothing happened, that its personnel wasn't there and doesn't have anything to do with it, that they are promoting dialogue, peace and harmony, that is the way that they shield themselves behind the protection the government offers them. The same thing has happened in my case, as I was accused by the government, the media (the Prensa Libre in an exaggerated manner) and the wealthy land invader Silvia Ileana Lemus Solorzano de Castellan, who all created of me a personality so negative and destructive in the eyes of society. They said that in my region I am a cancer on society, that I travel with 15 bodyguards well equipped with luxury vehicles, that I have two yachts, that I assault police stations, that I form groups of 300 to 500 families to invade into protected areas in 4 different states and I have them well equipped with the arms that I get from the assaults on the police stations, that I assault the wealthy landowners -- this is what the government made up against me, including the Public Ministry, the environmental groups (CONAP, CHOCON, MACHALAS, FUNDAECO, Ak´ tenamit), landowners that enjoy the authorization, protection and backing of the Guatemalan government.
I sent my right of response to those media and it was never published, where I asked for specific details, for example if they accused me of forming groups of 300 to 500 families in four states, that they specify places, villages, towns. Or if I am giving them weapons that I robbed from police stations, how many stations did I need to assault to well equip 300 to 500 families in four states? I am indigenous with scarce resources so at what time in Guatemala has an indigenous person travelled with 15 well equipped bodyguards, in luxury vehicles and with two yachts? The cheapest yacht is not less than half a million quetzals, and I have two? And my luxury autos and the salary of 15 bodyguards? I hope that logic can be used to understand the terrifying dimension of what the government has invented and to what end. My only crime is being an intelligent indigenous person who is lied about in this way. The director of CONAP (National Council for Protected Areas of Guatemala) published in the media that I make a living from conflicts, that I kidnapped him twice and that for all of these I lies I demanded that they explain to me when it happened and why was this never known about before, as it seems like it should have been important news.
Six soldiers participated in my kidnapping, those who were on the (Litegua) bus saw everything, they found in my bag a book, my agenda and the Holy Bible. I told them that this was my weapon because they all asked me where did I have the weapons. I went before the judge five days later. They told me that CONAP had asked for the arrest warrant. At the time of my kidnapping they wanted to execute me as we arrived close to Entre Rios, they left the highway and took me out into a field that was totally isolated, what saved me was that in the moment when they kidnapped me I was able to make a phone call and I showed this to them, then they received a phone call and they returned back to the highway where they told me they'll take me to the Judge in Puerto Barrios. On the way as they drove they received another call and he said that he knows a hidden place in Santo Tomas de Castilla and they took me there, with my hands tied behind my back and around 5:00 pm they are getting frustrated and the District Attorney from the Public Ministry (Jose Eduardo Cabrera) arrives and yells at them asking them why they didn't execute me, and they told him "Chief it's that the boss ordered us to bring him here because he made a phone call while we were getting him down from the Litegua bus." He got mad and entered where I was and he yelled at me "invader son of a bitch" and while he was there they got another call and then Jose Eduardo Cabrera said "well boys we have to take the legal route -- we failed."
Six months later I had an audience where I was in the custody of more than 400 police, 300 soldiers, bound hand and foot and they didn't give me any type of resolution. During the debate nothing of the crimes was proven but they still sentenced me to 8 years in prison. As I have said it is a warning from the powerful class and the government...to keep bearing their torture while they have me kidnapped. But I am nothing like what the media and the government have negatively portrayed me to be.
I AM INNOCENT
THE GOVERNMENT MURDERED MY COLLEAGUE LEADER MARIO CAAL BOLOM
THE GOVERNMENT ORDERED THE MURDER OF MY SISTER ANGELICA CHOC'S HUSBAND
THE GOVERNMENT HAS ME KIDNAPPED
History will be the judge
Truth will punish
Justice will condemn.
Ramiro Choc
Full Member of the Peasant Encounter
Livingston, Izabal
Guatemala C.A.
Ramiro was very glad to see me as he had not had the opportunity to communicate to the world his thoughts after the murder of his brother in law last weekend by security forces of a nickel corporation in the El Estor region of Guatemala. He was quick to find me a chair and a drink.
¨Do you drink soda?¨ he asked me. ¨Most of the people who visit me never drink soda because of how unhealthy it is. They tell me, ´Ramiro, why do you drink soda, you don´t understand.´ But I do understand, I´m just captured by the vice,¨ he said with a smile.
Ramiro found some papers and was eager to begin his letter to the world. ¨How much time do you have?¨ he asked me. ¨I would like you to put this on the internet for the world to see.¨ After repeatedly expressing his concern not to bore me, he put his pen the paper. His expression turned to concentration as his thoughts passed through the ink. I fought the urge to ask him about any of the numerous stories I had heard about his organizing and instead let him write.
After writing a couple pages he put the pen down and sat back in his chair. He looked at me.
¨My parents were colonos,¨ he said. Colonos is the word used for Mayan peasants who live and work on plantations. ¨They were never paid. They worked on the plantation in exchange for being able to live there. My grandparents weren´t allowed to leave. My father couldn´t read or write, and because of his extreme poverty he wasn´t able to develop an ideology. One day he decided to leave the plantation and move to the town. My Mother was worried because we only knew the countryside. But finally we decided to move. I was very young, but I remember helping carry our few possessions on my back.¨
¨My father learned carpentry, but at that time there wasn´t much carpentry work. So he learned brick laying. He learned to make canoes that could carry thousands of pounds. He became very sought after. Within 5 years he learned to read and write. One day the owner of the plantation we had left saw us in town. I was still very young. ´What are you bitches doing?´ he said. ´You are the son of a bitch,´ my father replied. ´You are the one who steals from and exploits the Maya.¨
Ramiro leaned back in his chair. He looked to the sky and smiled as he thought of his father. Then his smile turned to a frown. ¨My father still doesn´t know that my sister´s husband was killed. He is working in Belize and we haven´t been able to reach him. I am worried because it has been a difficult time for our family. First I was imprisoned, then a close family friend was killed. Now my brother in law has been murdered.¨ His gaze returned to the sky. Then he looked back at me and asked if I knew his children. I explained how I had seen two young kids holding a sign that read ´Free My Daddy´ at a protest in support of him last year.
¨These were my eldest children, Rozul and Hati. Elizabeth always either takes them out and leaves my youngest, or takes my youngest and leaves them. My oldest son is Rozul. This is our word in Qeqchi for a type of tree that is so strong that even putting a chainsaw to it will only result in sparks. But this tree is disappearing because of the greed of corporations. My daughter´s name is Hati. She is the middle of my three children. Hati is the Garifuna word for moon (Garifuna are descendants of slaves from West Africa and indigenous peoples in the Caribbean. They have a distinct language and culture and live primarily in Central America). Some Garifuna communities had asked me to work with them so we could be united. We gave her this name to honor this time. My youngest son is Hab, our word for rain, the rain that doesn´t fall like it used to. It either doesn´t fall, or when it does it is very destructive.¨
¨Hab hardly ever slept, and when he didn´t grow out of this we became worried. We consulted a Mayan Priest. He asked some questions and took some things to his altar. Soon he came to me. ´I examined your nahual (name of the animal spirit protector which each person has) and the position of the universe when you were born. I was very surprised. You don´t have to worry about your son. Watch carefully and you will see – when you sleep, he sleeps. When you are awake, he is awake.´ I started closely observing this. I found out that it was true. Sometimes when I was working far away, I would call Elizabeth as soon as I woke up. ´Hab also just woke up,´ she would always tell me. To this day I only sleep three or four hours at night, apparently my youngest son is the same.¨ Clearly enjoying talking about his children, he looked back down at his paper. ¨Well, I should get back to work.¨
Ramiro has been in prison for nearly two years, during which time countless actions have been taken nationally and internationally to demand his freedom. During his first year in prison, Ramiro was placed in the hole. He could not use the phone or leave for recreation. There was no toilet, and he had to ask to go out and use the bathroom. Sometimes he was allowed to, sometimes he had to defecate in his own small space.
¨This was a very difficult time. Many people are severely damaged psychologically while in the hole,¨ he told me. ¨But I was not. I thought of Fidel Castro in prison. I thought of Nelson Mandela in prison. I knew that I wasn´t defeated.¨
During this time organized peasants took strong actions in his defense. On one occasion a group kidnapped 29 police officers, demanding his freedom in exchange for that of the police. The press accused Ramiro of coordinating this and other actions from his prison cell. A member of the President´s cabinet visited Ramiro and asked him to tell the group to free the police, and promised to free Ramiro within three days if he did so.
¨I told him that I had nothing to do with the police being kidnapped, how could I if you have me in the hole and won´t let me use the phone. I told him I refused to tell the peasants to back off, because my detention was completely illegal.¨
Finally Ramiro agreed to intervene and de-escalate the situation. He wasn´t surprised when the government declined to release him anyway. But after increasing national and international pressure, he was released from the hole.
¨I left the hole very sick. It was difficult to recover – I wasn’t eating much since they had tried to poison me. One day I was talking to another prisoner who was writing to his girlfriend. He said his girlfriend didn´t like his letters. ´Let me see your paper,´ I said. I took his paper and wrote a poem. Later he told me how much she liked the poem, and asked for another. ´I will pay you Ramiro, please.´ Before long I was getting seven or eight requests a day to write poems, and that was how I was able to make money and buy my own things and regain my health.¨
I was admiring a vine that had filled a large section of the wall surrounding us, and Ramiro told me that he had planted it, as well as several other plants in the area. Soon we took a break to eat lunch.
¨We are trying to defend our culture, but it is under great threat. The scientists and businessmen have told us how to raise our animals. And in the villages close to the municipalities, the people have followed their advice. They feed animals what they are told to. They say feed this animal this and that animal that and you can butcher it after this long. And the animals are ready a few weeks earlier. But in the further off villages, where the cars haven´t reached, they feed the animals naturally. It may take a few more weeks, but when they are ready it is much more healthy.¨
¨I will give you a more concrete example,¨ Ramiro continued as we ate. ¨I have a friend Antonio. He is a grandfather. When he was going to start a family he went to his father and said he would need to cut down two trees to build a house. His father looked for the trees, and then asked permission to cut them from the earth, the wind, the fire and the water. Then before cutting the trees he told them ´I´m sorry. I promise to collect your seeds and plant them.´ Recently Antonio´s grandson started a family. I am friends with him, but he cuts trees the European way. He tells his wife ´Grab the chainsaw, I´m going to cut this shit down.´¨
¨I was at the University once, and the Professor asked a Mayan student to talk about the four colors of corn. But the student said ´There are no four colors of corn, in my town we just paint the corn if we want to display the colors.´ We are losing our culture. In my town our cosmovision tells us to very carefully select what corn to use for seed. There is a very intentional process of selecting, picking and storing these seeds. Everything has its significance. There are always elders in each community who have the four colors of corn. Even if I only have white corn, I can go to them to get other seeds. But now this way of life is under attack. Transgenic corn is being pushed on us, and if it reaches the more isolated villages our way of life is in danger of disappearing.¨
In Barrio La Union, the village where Ramiro´s brother in law was killed six days ago, it is hard to imagine how the Maya cosmovision could survive. The nickel company has already stolen most of the land. The roughly 120 families living in the community have tiny lots not large enough to even feed a fraction of the family. There is hardly any work in the area. Many men travel for work to the far off Peten, home of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, the largest rain forest in Central America and one of the most biodiverse places on earth. There they earn a few dollars a day picking corn or raising cattle for wealthy landowners who have clearcut large tracks of the forest. It is estimated that 45% of the Maya Biosphere Reserve has been deforested.
Visiting hours are about to end and I get up to leave. As Ramiro accompanies me toward the exit of his cell block, I ask him about the challenge many communities face in advancing their economies while at the same time resisting the loss of their culture, and in particular the use of synthetic agricultural chemicals. He smiles and points at the vine growing on the wall.
¨You see where the vine has no leaves? A week ago ants started eating it. Roberto tried using chemicals, but we have stopped using those, haven’t we Roberto?¨ he said as he laughed and patted a prisoner sitting nearby on the knee. ¨Roberto told me that he used chemicals and killed many of the ants, but they came back. There were countless ants coming in from below the door. I taught Roberto how to mix garlic, pepper and some other herbs to keep the ants away. And the ants have not returned. But I didn´t kill them. And they didn´t kill me. We must all learn to live together in harmony. People, animals, plants, we must all learn to share this world together. And you must leave before they lock you in with us!¨ He laughed and gave me a hug. I left the cell block and climbed the concrete steps to the prison exit. I passed through the gates and walked by a tank and group of soldiers standing guard. I followed the crowd to a shady spot where families waited for the bus, children crying inconsolably after leaving their fathers behind in the prison.
(When I asked Ramiro what I could bring him the next time I visited, he asked me to bring food. During the visit he also mentioned that he was unable to talk with his family regularly because he didn´t have money for the phone cards required by the prison. If you would like to help buy these items for Ramiro, make a check out to ¨UPAVIM Community Development Fund¨and send it to: UPAVIM; C/O Laurie Levenger; 28 McKenna Rd; Norwich, VT, 05055)
The following is the letter which Ramiro wrote and asked me to distribute via the internet. Thanks to Greg Norman (goyonorman@yahoo.com) for the translation.
Ramiro Choc
Sector #12
Correctional Facility for Men, Zone 18
Guatemala City, Guatemala, Central America
I am Ramiro Choc, kidnapped by the government of Guatemala since February 14, 2008, through today and until who knows when they free me, but what is certain is that I am suffering the worst tortures that they can do to me; upon sending this message in blood to the indigenous and the oppressed, to the organizations loyal to the dignity of an oppressed people, committed and resolute in their convictions for the defense of the indigenous territories of Guatemala and Latin America. A message in blood for all the men and women owners who refuse to bargain the legitimate rights of our oppressed brother ladinos and the indigenous who are in the total recovery and reclamation of the rights which belong to them historically, especially the recovery of the mother earth and with that the defense of indigenous territory.
Today, October 3 of the year 2009 (second year of the government of the National Unity Party) I am taking advantage of the visit of Palmer Legare to the prison where the government has me kidnapped, so that he can do me the big favor of posting this on the Internet where it can be read.
The message in blood sent by the government to those of us who fight constantly and loyally to which I refer is the attempt that my family suffered in El Estor, Izabal; the government that offers support for the bloody actions of the national and foreign multimillionaires and in this case the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN -- Compañía Guatemalteca de Niquel) which with the total support of the state and the media murdered the husband of my sister Angelina Choc. When I say that the government supports these oppressions by powerful people from Guatemala and foreigners who achieve the support of high ranking public officials who trample and prostitute the dignity of our Guatemalan people. I also state that the communication media are involved because they give a panorama of the news which is totally accommodated to the interests of the powerful class.
For example, on September 27, 2009, the government represented by its governor, (Luz Maribel Ramos Peña), without the order of the appropriate judge, as it was not even a weekday, without recognizing the historical antecedents of the residents previously mentioned, and, above all, as the representative of the current president (Alvaro Colom Caballeros) perpetrated a cruel forced expulsion of humble, defenseless farmers who are the legitimate owners of lands that CGN wants and has tried to rob from them with the support of the high ranking officials of the government. Soon after they took advantage of the moment to vilely murder Adolfo Ich Chaman, husband of my older sister Angelica Choc, and as I have said the media quickly twisted the facts around to shield the government, that is to protect the Governor so that her presence would not be discovered and to free the multimillionaires of the blood stains caused by the humble, legitimate owners of those lands. The media published that gang members entered to ransack the National Civil Police Station, and that a group of farmers went to the military base to recover a set of fishing equipment, and that it was an attempt at forced expulsion on CGN lands, and that in each of these three crime scenes died Adolfo Ich (my wife's husband), that is that Adolfo died three times (one time in each of the three scenarios described by the media.). Later they present the panorama of the event in such a way that the humble farmers are seen as a organization that provokes and causes destruction. But what I want to share with you is so painful as these tortures go directly to my family. People from the security forces called Adolfo and said that they wanted to dialogue with them, when he got near to them they told him that he was the leader of the peasants, they shot him and that wasn't enough for them, they took him to the CGN building and having him there they cut him into pieces with a machete. They took him to that place so that later they could say that Adolfo had entered into CGN and that justified their bloody acts, the material author is the security personnel of the CGN, led by Mynor Padilla who works as their boss, his son also saw everything, he was accompanying his father, he saw and heard what Mynor Padilla did with Adolfo Ich, and now the CGN is publishing information that nothing happened, that its personnel wasn't there and doesn't have anything to do with it, that they are promoting dialogue, peace and harmony, that is the way that they shield themselves behind the protection the government offers them. The same thing has happened in my case, as I was accused by the government, the media (the Prensa Libre in an exaggerated manner) and the wealthy land invader Silvia Ileana Lemus Solorzano de Castellan, who all created of me a personality so negative and destructive in the eyes of society. They said that in my region I am a cancer on society, that I travel with 15 bodyguards well equipped with luxury vehicles, that I have two yachts, that I assault police stations, that I form groups of 300 to 500 families to invade into protected areas in 4 different states and I have them well equipped with the arms that I get from the assaults on the police stations, that I assault the wealthy landowners -- this is what the government made up against me, including the Public Ministry, the environmental groups (CONAP, CHOCON, MACHALAS, FUNDAECO, Ak´ tenamit), landowners that enjoy the authorization, protection and backing of the Guatemalan government.
I sent my right of response to those media and it was never published, where I asked for specific details, for example if they accused me of forming groups of 300 to 500 families in four states, that they specify places, villages, towns. Or if I am giving them weapons that I robbed from police stations, how many stations did I need to assault to well equip 300 to 500 families in four states? I am indigenous with scarce resources so at what time in Guatemala has an indigenous person travelled with 15 well equipped bodyguards, in luxury vehicles and with two yachts? The cheapest yacht is not less than half a million quetzals, and I have two? And my luxury autos and the salary of 15 bodyguards? I hope that logic can be used to understand the terrifying dimension of what the government has invented and to what end. My only crime is being an intelligent indigenous person who is lied about in this way. The director of CONAP (National Council for Protected Areas of Guatemala) published in the media that I make a living from conflicts, that I kidnapped him twice and that for all of these I lies I demanded that they explain to me when it happened and why was this never known about before, as it seems like it should have been important news.
Six soldiers participated in my kidnapping, those who were on the (Litegua) bus saw everything, they found in my bag a book, my agenda and the Holy Bible. I told them that this was my weapon because they all asked me where did I have the weapons. I went before the judge five days later. They told me that CONAP had asked for the arrest warrant. At the time of my kidnapping they wanted to execute me as we arrived close to Entre Rios, they left the highway and took me out into a field that was totally isolated, what saved me was that in the moment when they kidnapped me I was able to make a phone call and I showed this to them, then they received a phone call and they returned back to the highway where they told me they'll take me to the Judge in Puerto Barrios. On the way as they drove they received another call and he said that he knows a hidden place in Santo Tomas de Castilla and they took me there, with my hands tied behind my back and around 5:00 pm they are getting frustrated and the District Attorney from the Public Ministry (Jose Eduardo Cabrera) arrives and yells at them asking them why they didn't execute me, and they told him "Chief it's that the boss ordered us to bring him here because he made a phone call while we were getting him down from the Litegua bus." He got mad and entered where I was and he yelled at me "invader son of a bitch" and while he was there they got another call and then Jose Eduardo Cabrera said "well boys we have to take the legal route -- we failed."
Six months later I had an audience where I was in the custody of more than 400 police, 300 soldiers, bound hand and foot and they didn't give me any type of resolution. During the debate nothing of the crimes was proven but they still sentenced me to 8 years in prison. As I have said it is a warning from the powerful class and the government...to keep bearing their torture while they have me kidnapped. But I am nothing like what the media and the government have negatively portrayed me to be.
I AM INNOCENT
THE GOVERNMENT MURDERED MY COLLEAGUE LEADER MARIO CAAL BOLOM
THE GOVERNMENT ORDERED THE MURDER OF MY SISTER ANGELICA CHOC'S HUSBAND
THE GOVERNMENT HAS ME KIDNAPPED
History will be the judge
Truth will punish
Justice will condemn.
Ramiro Choc
Full Member of the Peasant Encounter
Livingston, Izabal
Guatemala C.A.
jueves, 1 de octubre de 2009
Guatemalan Peasant Leaders Demand: NO Remilitarization
In a press conference today, indigenous and peasant leaders denounced the remilitarization of the country. The press conference had originally been called in response to the Guatemalan government’s announcement that it will reopen the military base in the Ixcan in northern Guatemala. The base had been closed in 2004 as part of the requirements of the Peace Accords which ended Guatemala’s four-decades long civil war. In its place a hospital was created, the only such institution serving the municipality of over 150 villages and approximately 100,000 people. The space also included an extension of the University of San Carlos. Now the government has ordered the space to be transitioned back into a military base.
“We know the function of the military,” said Rena Caba, former Vice Mayor of the municipality. “They are not coming here to help the families in the Ixcan. They are coming here to help multinational corporations steal natural resources from the indigenous communities in the region. We remember well the massacres – over 100 were committed in this municipality alone in the 1980s. Thousands of us had to flee to Mexico or hide in the mountains. If the government wants to help the people, build more schools and health centers. But that is not what the intention is here.” The government recently announced that the construction of the Franja Transversal del Norte – a giant highway that will cut through the region – will begin by the end of the year. The government is also redoubling its efforts to find finances for the construction of the Represa Xalala, a hydroelectric dam which would flood dozens of communities. In a referendum in April of 2007, 90% of voters in the municipality voted against the construction of the dam. The government declared that they would ignore the vote, but the downturn in the global economy made finding investors difficult. Now the government believes they could be close to making an agreement with multinational corporations to construct the damn. (for more on local communties’ struggle against the damn, see http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/xalala.htm)
“The (Guatemalan President) Colom administration says that they have an economic development plan for the Ixcan,” said Caba at the press conference. “But they haven’t informed us of it. We have developed an economic plan by working closely with the communities and organizing them to make their own decisions about their lives and land. We do not want an economic plan imposed upon us, our land and our children.”
Leaders of organizations working in El Estor joined the press conference because of the attempted massacres on September 27 and 28 in this municipality of eastern Guatemala. Ruben Dominguez of Rights Action, in the photo above, fought back tears and finally had to cut his presentation short as he updated the status of those injured in the attacks. Alfredo Ical Ich remains hospitalized and may not survive the numerous bullet wounds he received. Pablo Vac was released from the hospital but lost his left eye and is not yet able to return to his village because of his precarious condition. Over a dozen others are recovering from bullet wounds.
Mario Godinez, director of the Association for the Promotion and Development of the Community (CEIBA), denounced the collaboration between the government of Guatemala, the Guatemalan Nickel Company (a multinational corporation whose primary shareholders live in North America), and narcotraffickers.
“When the communities file complaints about crimes committed by security forces of the nickel company, the government does nothing,” said Godinez. “But when the nickel company complains, there is an immediate reaction. Communities have been violently forced off their lands. Their crops have been destroyed. This needs to stop immediately.”
“We demand that the state hold those responsible for this attack accountable,” demanded Izabel Solis, pictured above. “Especially the person who executed Alfredo Ich with a shot to the head at close range.” Ich, a teacher and President of his community’s Community Development Council, was murdered in front of numerous witnesses by security personnel of the nickel company.
Ich was severely slashed by a machete, shot in the head, and then other security personnel shot his body as it lay on the ground. Two days earlier, the same chief of security had threatened to fire any members of the security force who didn’t shoot at unarmed community members during an attempt to steal the community’s lands. Ich was trying to help children escape the violence on the day that he was murdered.
Mario Godinez, director of the Association for the Promotion and Development of the Community (CEIBA), denounced the collaboration between the government of Guatemala, the Guatemalan Nickel Company (a multinational corporation whose primary shareholders live in North America), and narcotraffickers.
“When the communities file complaints about crimes committed by security forces of the nickel company, the government does nothing,” said Godinez. “But when the nickel company complains, there is an immediate reaction. Communities have been violently forced off their lands. Their crops have been destroyed. This needs to stop immediately.”
“We demand that the state hold those responsible for this attack accountable,” demanded Izabel Solis, pictured above. “Especially the person who executed Alfredo Ich with a shot to the head at close range.” Ich, a teacher and President of his community’s Community Development Council, was murdered in front of numerous witnesses by security personnel of the nickel company.
Ich was severely slashed by a machete, shot in the head, and then other security personnel shot his body as it lay on the ground. Two days earlier, the same chief of security had threatened to fire any members of the security force who didn’t shoot at unarmed community members during an attempt to steal the community’s lands. Ich was trying to help children escape the violence on the day that he was murdered.
Officials from the government of Canada, which owns a large share in the Guatemalan Nickel Company, announced that the Qeqchi communities organizing to keep their historic lands are actually a small number of people, maybe a few dozen, who have invaded the land, and that the majority of people in the area support the Guatemalan Nickel Company. The thousands of people who braved the wave of violence and attended Ich’s funeral would argue otherwise.
Daniel Pascual (above in a photo from a demonstration last year) of the Committee for Peasant Unity ended the conference with a powerful condemnation of and call to action against the increasingly repressive government of Guatemala.
“We want to denounce and directly accuse the Guatemalan state for elaborating and executing a plan of repression,” he said to the several dozen leaders, activists and press who had gathered for the event. “We view this as a plan of repression in that is a mechanism or method of imposition of the interests of petroleum, hydroelectric, mining, cattle, narcotraffick and other big business interests.”
“This is a plan authored and executed by the government,” he continued. “Over the past year and a half, peasant leaders and their children have been systematically murdered. There are more than 100 new military bases being proposed. We are talking about large scale remilitarization that will cover areas being targeted by corporations in the departments of Izabal, Alta and Baja Verapaz, Quiche, San Marcos, Peten, and beyond.”
“There is a plan between international and national corporations, the government and narcotraffickers which includes assassinations, extra-judicial executions, illegal detention, torture, constant threats, numerous injuries. We are not talking about a few isolated incidents we're talking about a large scale escalation of repression against communities which are organizing in defense of their territories.”
“We want to denounce and directly accuse the Guatemalan state for elaborating and executing a plan of repression,” he said to the several dozen leaders, activists and press who had gathered for the event. “We view this as a plan of repression in that is a mechanism or method of imposition of the interests of petroleum, hydroelectric, mining, cattle, narcotraffick and other big business interests.”
“This is a plan authored and executed by the government,” he continued. “Over the past year and a half, peasant leaders and their children have been systematically murdered. There are more than 100 new military bases being proposed. We are talking about large scale remilitarization that will cover areas being targeted by corporations in the departments of Izabal, Alta and Baja Verapaz, Quiche, San Marcos, Peten, and beyond.”
“There is a plan between international and national corporations, the government and narcotraffickers which includes assassinations, extra-judicial executions, illegal detention, torture, constant threats, numerous injuries. We are not talking about a few isolated incidents we're talking about a large scale escalation of repression against communities which are organizing in defense of their territories.”
miércoles, 30 de septiembre de 2009
URGENT ACTION NEEDED: NO MORE MASSACRES OF QEQCHI LEADERS IN GUATEMALA
Please take action to pressure the Guatemalan government to investigate recent violence against Qeqchi leaders in the El Estor region of Guatemala. Alfredo Ich Xamam (above left) was murdered on Sunday. Haroldo Cucul (above left) and at least 20 others received bullet wounds after two separate attacks against leaders in the region who had been resisting efforts by transnational nickel and biofuel companies to rob their lands.
Mourners say goodbye to Alfredo Ich XamamPlease email the Guatemalan Government Ministry today at neryberto8@yahoo.com - also if you speak Spanish visit http://www.mp.gob.gt/contactenos.html to send email to the Public Ministry. Below is a sample email. (for an excellent photo essay about Alfredo Ich Xamam and the struggle of his community, Barrio La Union, see http://www.mimundo-jamesrodriguez.blogspot.com/ )
To the Government of Guatemala,
My name is ___________ and I am writing to you from ____________. I am extremely concerned about recent attacks against community leaders from El Estor. On September 27 and September 28, armed men attacked leaders who have been organizing in support of indigenous communities' right to their land. I am worried that such attacks will continue if immediate action is not taken to find the intellectual authors of these attacks. Please support an immediate investigation into this violence so that it doesn't happen again. The Government of Guatemala has a history of favoring the interests of the wealthy against those of the indigenous majority. I hope that those times have changed and these attacks will not be allowed to continue with impunity. I will continue to monitor the situation.
Sincerely,
________________
martes, 29 de septiembre de 2009
Day 1 in Guatemala: Attack Against Qeqchi Leaders
I am back in Guatemala after a year long hiatus, the longest time I've gone without being in the country since 2001. Im staying at the Casa CPR (Communities of Populations in Resistance) Primavera of Ixcan house in Guatemala City. The story of Primavera will have to wait for another day (or for if you're really curious you can check out http://guatemalasolidarityproject.org/primavera.htm for more info).
It didn't take long to encounter repression against leaders in the Maya community. I went to visit an old friend and fellow organizer Ruben Dominguez who is working for Rights Action (www.rightsaction.org). Rights Action has been working closely with Qeqchi Maya communities in El Estor, a region in eastern Guatemala. These communities are facing an ongoing assault by mining and biofuel corporations which are trying to remove the communities from their ancestral lands so that the corporations can make even greater profit. The corporations have paid off judges to have combined police and army squads forcefully evict communities, often using large amounts of tear gas, burning houses and destroying crops.
This morning a group of leaders from these communities were traveling to a nearbye city to attend meetings about the environmental destruction being caused by the communities. At approximately 2:00am the group was ambushed by men with M-16s and assault rifles. They managed to escape, but only after suffering serious injuries. Raul Caal Coc, who works for Rights Action, was shot in the neck. He is still hospitalized but is in stable condition. Alfredo Ical Ich of the community Barrio Revolucion, was shot in the shoulder and back upper leg. The bullet that hit his leg passed into his stomach and has not been able to be removed - he remains in critical condition. Pablo Vac, also of Barrio Revolucion, was shot in the face and has lost an eye. He is currently being transferred to the Guatemala City hospital and I will interview him in the morning IF he is able.
It didn't take long to encounter repression against leaders in the Maya community. I went to visit an old friend and fellow organizer Ruben Dominguez who is working for Rights Action (www.rightsaction.org). Rights Action has been working closely with Qeqchi Maya communities in El Estor, a region in eastern Guatemala. These communities are facing an ongoing assault by mining and biofuel corporations which are trying to remove the communities from their ancestral lands so that the corporations can make even greater profit. The corporations have paid off judges to have combined police and army squads forcefully evict communities, often using large amounts of tear gas, burning houses and destroying crops.
This morning a group of leaders from these communities were traveling to a nearbye city to attend meetings about the environmental destruction being caused by the communities. At approximately 2:00am the group was ambushed by men with M-16s and assault rifles. They managed to escape, but only after suffering serious injuries. Raul Caal Coc, who works for Rights Action, was shot in the neck. He is still hospitalized but is in stable condition. Alfredo Ical Ich of the community Barrio Revolucion, was shot in the shoulder and back upper leg. The bullet that hit his leg passed into his stomach and has not been able to be removed - he remains in critical condition. Pablo Vac, also of Barrio Revolucion, was shot in the face and has lost an eye. He is currently being transferred to the Guatemala City hospital and I will interview him in the morning IF he is able.
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