Requires Flash
Guatemala: Land of Injustice?
Overview | Nueva
Linda farm | Chitocán farm | Maria
Lourdes farm | Santa Inés | Soledad
Sayaxut | Trece Aguas | Press
Release | Full
Report
ACT
NOW!
Overview
Since President Óscar Berger came to office in January 2004, thousands of rural families in Guatemala have been evicted from their homes. Most of them had been occupying land to protest against violations of their labour rights or were living on land where ownership was disputed. During many evictions, security forces used excessive force, resulting in beatings and other ill-treatment, the destruction of homes and property, and, in some cases, killings. The evictions have also been marked by inadequate provision of basic safeguards, including alternative housing and food. In some cases, those being evicted also resorted to violence, resulting in deaths and injuries on both sides.
After over 30 years of internal armed conflict, the 1996 Peace Accords that formally ended the conflict included key commitments from the government on land issues. They provided a comprehensive framework for resolving agrarian disputes and addressing the underlying causes of rural poverty, inequality in the distribution of land and the exclusion of Mayan peoples from the political process. If implemented, the Peace Accords would have constituted a significant contribution to the resolution of agrarian disputes.
However, Amnesty International (AI) believes that little progress has been made. On coming to power, President Berger symbolically relaunched the Peace Accords. More than two years into his administration, the provisions aimed at addressing the underlying causes of agrarian disputes are yet to be implemented. Deference by government authorities to the demands of landowners and impunity for human rights violations in the context of agrarian disputes has exacerbated an already desperate situation.
In the case of labour protection, for example, the Peace Accords state that the government will "ensure that labour legislation is effectively applied in rural areas" and will pay "urgent attention to the abuses to which rural migrant workers, casual workers and day labourers are victim." In 2003, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples noted that, in Guatemala, basic rules relating to pay, security of employment or working conditions for rural workers fell short of international standards. He added that the situation had not improved since before the internal armed conflict.
Learn more: Researcher Sebastian Elgueta explains AI’s main concerns
regarding Guatemalan land rights. »
Learn more: Juan Tzib talks about how the current Guatemalan laws affect
campesinos (rural workers). »
Learn more: Ingrid Urizar talks about the difficulties campesinos face
accessing the courts. »
Learn more: Daniel Pascual talks about the current government’s
policy of evictions. »
Nueva Linda farm
In September 2003, Héctor Reyes, a union leader and administrator on the Nueva Linda farm, went missing in mysterious circumstances near the port of Champerico, Retalhuleu, in South West Guatemala. The farm owner and the head of the farm’s security were subsequently identified by the police as the main suspects. The following month, some 200 campesinos from the Nueva Linda farm and the surrounding area occupied the farm to protest against the lack of investigations into the suspected abduction.
Eight months later, on 31 August 2004, they were forcibly evicted. A number of police and campesinos were killed, including three minors. Thirty months after the abduction of Héctor Reyes, his fate and the circumstances in which he went missing are still unknown.
Learn more: Ramiro Segundo Castillo talks about the eviction. »
Chitocán farm
On 5 May 2004, 52 Q’eqchi indigenous families, who had lived and worked picking coffee on the Chitocán farm for several generations, were forcibly evicted from their homes. For two years, the families had occupied part of the Chitocán farm in the municipality of Cobán, Alta Verapaz, in an effort to pressure their employers to pay them many years worth of their labour entitlements -- annual bonuses, paid holidays and redundancy payment.
Learn more: Ramiro Segundo Castillo talks about the eviction. »
Maria Lourdes farm
In 1992, the trade union of workers at Maria Lourdes Farm began to claim the proper minimum wage and labour entitlements. Despite court judgments in their favour, they had still not received their outstanding wages by 2003. They occupied the farm to bring pressure to bear on the farm owner. Their lawyers were subsequently charged with "threats and coercion" and community members were arrested for usurpation, intimidated and threatened by security guards employed by the farm owner. Their crops and property were destroyed. They were forcefully evicted in March 2004 and their houses were destroyed.
In July 2004, a man thought to be one of the security guards raped the 15-year-old daughter of one of the community's trade unionists. In her testimony to the Ministerio Publico (Public Prosecutor's Office) and the Procuradoria de los Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Procurator), the girl identified the man who kept watch as she was raped as the Manager of the Maria Lourdes Plantation from his clothing and behaviour, who is alleged to have offered a reward to any of the plantation's security guards who raped a female associated with the union.
In October 2004, the workers were finally given an area of land worth approximately half of what they were originally owed. The community consider this a success by Guatemalan standards.
Learn more: The girl's grandmother talks about the rape. »
Learn more: Ingrid Urizar explains how AI’s work helped on Maria
Lourdes farm. »
Santa Inés
Eight Q’eqchi and Mam indigenous families who form the Santa Inés community in Alta Verapaz are facing another eviction. They have already been evicted twice from their homes -- in November 2002 and July 2005 -- after claiming the right to live on what they believe to be vacant land. A local landowner, however, has also laid claim to the land, a claim that three local government agencies have found to be flawed. Members of the community who have been most active in challenging the eviction have received death threats and attempts on their lives.
Soledad Sayaxut
On 27 April 2004, 60 police officers evicted some 30 indigenous Q’eqchi families who make up the Soledad Sayaxut community, located in the municipality of San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz. The community has lived on what it believes is vacant land for several generations, communally working the land. Neighbouring landowners, however, have also declared themselves owners of the same land. An eviction order was issued and the families were evicted from their homes, despite the failure of the alleged landowners to confirm their ownership and significant flaws in their claims.
The 60 police officers arrived at 9am and actual notice of the pending eviction was given at that moment. Police officers are reported to have used chainsaws to destroy the community’s houses and then men thought to have been hired by the landowner burned the remains. Maize reserves, clothes, kitchen utensils, fertilizer and fumigating equipment were lost; the community was only able to save the chickens and pigs. Crops of cardamom, beans, plantain, coffee and tomatoes were also destroyed by a tractor provided by the neighbouring landowner.
Trece Aguas
In May 2004, 90 Q’eqchi indigenous families were violently evicted from their homes in the Trece Aguas farm. They were all born on the farm, as were many of their parents and grandparents, and were employed to work the land. The majority of those evicted now live in abject poverty in nearby towns. With no land to grow crops, the community depend on food handouts from the local church, local municipal governments and surrounding communities.
On 19 May 2004, between 500 and 700 police officers and some 50 of the Trece Aguas farm’s private security guards evicted 90 families from the Trece Aguas farm. No prior notification was given. Witnesses say that seven former workers were wounded, including 85-year-old Marcos Choc Choc, who later died from an injury to his head sustained during the eviction. Two police officers were also reported to have been wounded.
Another former worker, Eric Cucul Caal, bears scars on his face and hand from when the police targeted tear gas canisters at members of the community. They watched as their houses, including their belongings and reserves of maize, were set alight. Their crops of chillies, pumpkins and cardamom were also destroyed.