Just Earth!
Guatemala
"We hope for greater support to live as human beings. The rights of each and every one of us should not be violated; because we have an identity as people, we have that right. I also hope that this is recorded in a document so that the authorities take notice of the issue and human rights are respected."A survivor from the hamlet (Case 6009),
Aldea Jolomar, Huehuetenango, 1993.
A survivor from the hamlet (Case 2176),
Aldea Salquil, Nebaj, Quiche, 1980.
Miguel Angel Asturias, Guatemala's Nobel Laureate for Literature. (1)
The dirty war: A legacy of genocide against Indigenous peoples
Over the years, the Indigenous peoples of Guatemala have learned to expect very little from their government and judicial system. The justice system is corrupt; proceedings are rarely conducted in indigenous languages; furthermore, proceedings are unnecessarily lengthy and subject to obstruction and manipulation, and indigenous persons rarely have the resources to employ lawyers, to file various legal papers, or to make court appearances. In addition, those who seek justice are often victimized themselves. As a result, a climate of impunity continues to prevail in Guatemala for most human rights violations, including those perpetrated during the civil conflict, which lasted over a period of more than 30 years.
 A prayer is offered prior to the beginning of an exhumation at the site of a clandestine cemetery in the mountains near the village of Belen. Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala, 2000. (© Jonathan Moller) |
Those especially vulnerable to human rights abuses are Guatemala’s poor and Indigenous peoples whose very existence have been threatened by deliberate and systematic repression from Guatemalan military forces and the economic interests of large landowners. Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples account for approximately 43 percent of the population, according to official sources; estimates by Mayan scholars range up to 60 percent.(2) Backed by powerful state officials, activities by large landowners, such as unauthorized logging and ranching, and the extraction of natural resources such as oil and nickel, are denying Indigenous peoples the rights to their lands and threatening their environment. Efforts by the Indigenous communities to defend their rights have been met with further human rights abuses, including intimidation, threats, ‘disappearances,’ and extrajudicial execution of members and leaders of their communities.
The stage for Guatemala’s troubles was set in the post-Colonial era when the country’s elite minority established an authoritarian government. The newly constituted government was clearly racist in its practices and policies, and sought to promote the economic and political interests of the elite minority at the expense of the nation’s poor and excluded majority, the Indigenous Mayan population.(3) In fact, the systematic discrimination against the Mayans and those who spoke out on their behalf by the State and the judicial system has continued throughout Guatemala’s history and characterizes its society today.
In the early 1960s a bloody civil conflict began that ultimately claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 Guatemalans. The conflict between the Guatemalan military and the armed opposition was characterized by numerous human rights abuses that included large-scale massacres, ‘disappearances,’ and the cultural destruction of Indigenous communities through displacement. While no segment of the Guatemalan society was unaffected by the conflict, the vast majority of the victims were unarmed Mayan villagers. Indigenous women suffered from rape and sexual abuse by the army, cases which have been vastly under-reported. Male populations of entire Indigenous communities were forced to serve as civil patrols, putting them on the front line as shields for the army and forcing them to commit human rights violations. In fact, over 80 percent of the victims of human rights abuses during the civil war were Mayan. Even more disturbing is the fact that according to the Commission for Historical Clarification (Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, CEH), the Guatemalan state itself was responsible for over 90 percent of abuses committed during the conflict. The CEH itself concluded that the Guatemalan army and its civil patrols had been responsible for genocide in four specific areas of the country.
The CEH report, “Memory of Silence,” concluded that the state’s violent stance stemmed from its “internal enemy” policy, intrinsic to the National Security Doctrine which grouped all opponents of the state under one banner, and was used to justify the massacres carried out against the Mayan populations.(4) Moreover, documented atrocities such as mass killings, rapes, kidnappings, and forced relocations were left uninvestigated and unpunished by a biased judiciary, reinforcing impunity, and the discrimination felt by the Mayan people. Those who spoke out against the injustice were labeled enemies of the state, and became vulnerable to harsh state retaliation. The armed conflict was finally brought to an end with the signing of the Peace Accords in December 1996 by representatives of the Guatemalan government, and the Guatemala National Revolutionary Unity (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, URNG). Following the Peace Accords, the CEH began its work in 1997. Formed under the auspices of the United Nations, the CEH’s goal was to clarify with objectivity, equity and impartiality the human rights violations and acts of violence connected to the armed conflict.
- On February 25, 1998, the CEH released its recommendations, which included measures to:
- Remember and dignify the victims of the bloody civil war. It called on the President of Guatemala, its Congress and military leaders with had direct involvement in the atrocities to assume responsibility for the human rights violations committed by the Army and state security forces, and dignify and honor the victims by restoring their good names. It also called for the designation of a day of commemoration of the victims of the violence, and construction of national monuments and public parks to honor the memories of the victims. It further called on the government to create communal cemeteries in accordance with the forms of Mayan collective memory, and asked that sacred Mayan sites violated during the armed conflict be reclaimed and their importance highlighted in accordance with the wishes of the affected communities.
- Compensate the victims. It recommended that the Guatemalan government establish a National Reparation Program for the victims, and their relatives, of human rights violations and acts of violence connected to the armed confrontation.
- Foster a culture of mutual respect and observance of human rights through mass public education.
- Ensure political participation of Indigenous peoples, the elimination of racism and the subordination of Indigenous peoples.
Since the end of the armed conflict in 1996, then-President Alvaro Arzú, and current President Alfonso Portillo have both promised to fulfill the government’s commitments to the Peace Accords and to end discrimination and impunity. However, progress has been slow and the Guatemalan government has largely ignored most provisions of the Peace Accords. Furthermore, the lack of political will on the part of Guatemalan institutions, particularly the judiciary, to act on the recommendations of the CEH, has contributed to alarming new abuses, including many directed against Mayans and those trying to end the culture of impunity in the country.
Challenging oil interests, defending Indigenous rights
As Central America’s only oil producer, Guatemala is looking to boost its oil production to develop infrastructure and increase government revenues. This includes drilling for oil in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Northern El Petén, which is home to more than 3,000 species of plants and half of all the country’s animal species.(5) The Reserve was created by the Guatemalan Congress in 1990, the same year the National Environmental Commission (Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente, CONAMA) was established. The Reserve has also been recognized by the United Nations as an area of global importance. Activities within the reserve were to be governed by a “Master Plan” approved in March 1992 by the National Council of Protected Areas (Consejo Nacional de Áreas Protegidas, CONAP), the government agency responsible for administering the reserve and the Laguna del Tigre National Park. However, oil exploration had begun in the area before it was recognized as a national park, and these activities continued after 1992, despite new regulations prohibiting oil exploration in the area. US-based Texaco (now known as Chevron Texaco) began prospecting for oil in the reserve in the late 1970s and built the first roads into its wetlands. In 1985, Basic Petroleum signed a contract with the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines to exploit oil on the reserve. The company expanded Texaco’s road and used it to transport oil from its production site in the Laguna del Tigre to its mini-refinery in La Libertad, and to its plant facilities in Raxrujá, Alta Verapáz.
In 1992, the Guatemalan government approved additional contracts with Basic Petroleum for oil exploration on 1,172,350 acres, most of which lies within the boundaries of Laguna del Tigre Park. The deal was approved over CONAP’s objection on grounds that the contract was illegal and violates the human rights of the area’s Indigenous peoples. Community leaders of El Carmelita and Uaxactún in El Petén are concerned that oil drilling by Basic Petroleum will contaminate their local waters and poison the flora and fauna of the wetlands. They have petitioned government authorities to defend their rights to information about the impacts of oil exploration in the area.
CONAP officials have paid dearly for their criticism of Basic Petroleum’s projects in Laguna del Tigre Park. On February 2000, Erwin Haroldo Ochoa López, a legal advisor for CONAP, and his administrative assistant Julio Armando Vásquez Ramírez, were shot dead in Puerto Barrios, Izabal. Prior to his assassination, Ochoa had received repeated death threats, alleged to have been instigated by military authorities with holdings in Basic Petroleum. Ochoa was investigating the illegal activities allegedly being carried out by Basic Resources Oil Company in the protected Laguna del Tigre Reserve and National Park. Because of these threats, Ochoa was transferred out of El Petén to Izabal, where he criticized illegal logging activities being carried out to construct landing strips for drug trafficking involving local officials. Investigations into the double murder have progressed at a very slow pace, and claims have been made regarding a police cover-up. However, a break in the case may have occurred in May 2002 when the gunman hired to kill a local journalist, Jorge Mynor Alegría, turned out to be the same man allegedly hired to murder the two CONAP employees in February 2000.
No justice for the poor and the vulnerable
Throughout Guatemala, Indigenous peoples have experienced widespread human rights abuses, while impunity continues to protect those responsible. Here we focus on one case study: the situation in El Estor, in the department of Izabal. The El Estor situation illustrates how little the poor and politically marginalized can expect from the Guatemalan justice system, especially when they are Indigenous peoples and live in remote areas where powerful interests collude to protect lucrative illegal activities. In El Estor, large landowners, security forces, and local government officials involved in mining and logging interests have long threatened the local Q’eqchi’ Indian population and those that defend Q’eqchi’ interests.
Refined nickel mining in Guatemala began in 1971 by Canada’s International Nickel Company Ltd (INCO), and the Hanna Mining Company. INCO’s operations in Guatemala proceeded through Exploraciones y Explotaciones Mineras Izabal, S.A. (EXMIBAL), a Guatemalan company in which INCO has a 70% share. In August 1965, the government of Guatemala granted EXMIBAL a 40-year strip mining concession to an area of 150 square miles, which was renewable for an additional 20 years. EXMIBAL was reportedly instrumental in the drafting of the mining code, which led to the concession. The company was later granted three additional smaller concessions. The mining plant is located in the town of El Estor on the shores of Lake Izabal, which is in the northeastern part of the country. The company closed operations in 1982 following the drop in international nickel prices. Also, EXMIBAL like most businesses had been adversely affected by the political crisis in Guatemala, with 1982 being the height of the genocidal violence against Indigenous peoples, under the regime of General Efraín Ríos Montt.
The close proximity of EXMIBAL’s nickel plant to an impoverished Indigenous population and its control of thousands of acres of abandoned land is a constant source of conflict with local people. EXMIBAL’s security personnel and Guatemalan soldiers guard the mothballed infrastructure. Despite a company policy that allows for the gathering of fallen branches and trees, there are reports that in practice the security personnel have prohibited campesinos from collecting wood needed for cooking or building needs. Local campesinos also face restricted use of the road built through the property, which provides access to farmlands and numerous Q’eqchi’ Indigenous communities located in the hills beyond EXMIBAL’s plant. By restricting access to this road, EXMIBAL is making it difficult for Indigenous peoples, who have relatives and lands in more than one community, to access their livelihood and to freely associate. EXMIBAL has reportedly allowed powerful local landowners to transport illegally logged-old growth forest out through the company’s road while repeatedly confiscating wood cut by local campesinos, even when the logging itself may have taken place on the campesinos’ lands or other lands not owned by EXMIBAL. In rural Guatemala, where the majority of the population lack access to electricity, nearly all rural families cut firewood to survive.
El Estor activists have been protesting the negative impact of EXMIBAL’s activities on the community since the late 1970’s, and at great cost. Critics of these practices have been assassinated while others have been “disappeared.” Local activist Carlos Coc Rax, leader of the Association for the Development of the Maya Q’eqchi’ People of El Estor who worked on behalf of 10 indigenous communities facing intrusion by local landowners, was “disappeared” in April 21, 1999 after organizing his community of Santa Rosa to denounce illegal logging in the area. Carlos had received numerous threats by a local landowner before he was ‘disappeared’ on his return from Guatemala City where he had been negotiating on behalf of several indigenous communities. Authorities made no attempt to investigate his disappearance, and efforts by Carlos’ son to press for investigation were met with more threats from the landowner and his family. In October of 1999 the landowner was finally arrested; however, once again Carlos’ family was pressured and forced to withdraw charges.
Other defenders of Indigenous peoples’ rights have been subjected to intimidation and threats as well. Former Catholic priest, Father Daniel Vogt, who has worked with El Estor Indigenous groups on and off for years, in the 1990s was placed under surveillance by Guatemalan military intelligence, and charged with being a guerrilla sympathizer. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission twice issued “precautionary measures” to protect him, but the threats against him and other members of the parish continued after the precautionary measures were issued.
As recently as January 2003, environmental activists working to prevent the resumption of mining in El Estor by Chesbar Resources Inc, of Canada received telephone threats. Eloida Mejía, an El Estor environmental activist reportedly received one of such calls. Eloida Mejía says that the caller warned her that she would not be able to continue living in El Estor if she continued to oppose new mining projects, specifically that of Chesbar. Guatemalan authorities have yet to conduct an investigation into these alleged threats. While EXMIBAL is still contemplating what to do with its mothballed facilities, the Guatemalan government in 2000 granted mining exploration concession rights to Chesbar. The company, through its Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera Mayamerica, holds the exploration license to the Buena Vista nickel-mining project near El Estor. The project has been shrouded in secrecy since the Guatemalan government has never publicly disclosed any information about this exploration concession. It does not appear that the local Indigenous peoples have been consulted about the possible impact of these two projects on their communities, in direct violation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.
INCO has stated that it believes that the conduct of EXMIBAL and its staff has been appropriate and ethically responsible. The company has also expressed interest in resuming nickel mining in El Estor under appropriate market conditions. INCO recently signed an agreement with Geostar Metals, Inc. of Vancouver, BC on February 23, 2003, whereby Geostar will acquire the EXMIBAL concessions over a 42-month period. EXMIBAL’s representatives reportedly explained that the new mining process will entail the opening of 8 to 10 new mines in the areas under concession, thus affecting directly over 20 indigenous communities. Geostar has reportedly acquired the necessary financing to develop project infrastructure without prior consultation with affected local communities.
Amnesty International has urged INCO to take steps to ensure that EXMIBAL implements international standards with respect to the rights of Indigenous peoples, including ILO Convention 169, and manages the lands in conformity with those obligations. Amnesty International has also urged INCO to ensure that EXMIBAL adopts measures, which will guard against the possibility of human rights abuses being committed on these lands or in connection with the use of the lands. Those recommendations apply equally to the reported plans of Geostar and Chesbar.
Intimidation of Indigenous leaders and those who work on their behalf continues
The harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and Indigenous rights activists have intensified over the past few years. On July 12, 2000, Jose Alfredo Quino and María Elena Mejía, the director and secretary of an organization working for indigenous rights, were murdered, leading to concerns for the safety of other members of organizations working for the social welfare of Indigenous communities. In late June 2001, former members of the civil patrols, in three separate incidents, attacked largely Indigenous communities in the central highlands, attempting to murder one community leader and killing another, Domingo Us Quixan. In July 2001, after many threats and other acts of intimidation against the community of Cuarto Pueblo, Anselmo Roldán, President of the community’s Association for Justice and Reconciliation (ASR) had an attempt made on his life, related to ASR’s lawsuit against government officials for genocide against Indigenous communities during the early 1980s.
Starting in late January 2002, Legal Advisor Ovidio Paz Bal began receiving telephoned death threats, related to his work with the organization Indigenous Defense (Defensoría Indígena), which promotes the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples. On May 3, 2002, 21-yearold Domingo Yaxon Guarcax, member of the Young Mayan Movement (Movimiento de Jovenes Mayas, MOJOMAYAS), was abducted, interrogated and beaten unconscious in Guatemala City. Also in May 2002, Indigenous and human rights defenders Jesus Tecú Osorio, Carlos Chen Osorio, Pedrina Burrero López, and Juan de Dios García Xajil received escalating death threats, due to their work with a nongovernmental organization exhuming clandestine mass graves of the Maya-Achi people, killed during Guatemala's civil conflict. In October 2002, Indigenous lawyer Antonio Pop Caal disappeared from his home, his decapitated body was found two months later. In November 2002, Indigenous activist Erasmo Sánchez Lapop was killed, and other members of his community’s Development Committee were threatened, related to their activism on behalf of communal land rights. On December 12, 2002 Amílcar Méndez was fired upon and robbed by an unidentified gunman near his home in Mixco, Guatemala City. Méndez is the founder of one of Guatemala’s first human and indigenous rights organization, The Council of Ethnic Communities, Runujel Junam or “We Are All Equal” (El Consejo de Comunidades Etnicas Runujel Junam, CERJ).
On the night of September 6, 2002, Indigenous leader Manuel García de la Cruz was brutally tortured and killed by unknown assailants. García de la Cruz collaborated with National Coordination of Widows of Guatemalan (Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala, CONAVIGUA) to coordinate exhumations of mass graves, and he worked closely with the local Mayan priests to coordinate ceremonies for the exhumations and burials.
Starting in February 2003, Juan Tiney and Rafael Chanchavac Cux, leaders of the National Indigenous and Peasant Coordination (Coordinadora Nacional Indígena y Campesina, CONIC) received constant threatening anonymous phone calls. On April 4, Chanchavac Cux’ 16-year-old son, Daniel Chanchavac Zet, was reportedly kidnapped from near his home; his whereabouts remain unknown. On April 5, 2003, the body of Mayan priest and human rights activist Diego Xon Salazar was found several days after he was kidnapped. Xon Salazar had repeatedly received death threats suggesting his killing was linked to land conflicts involving ex-civil patrollers, as well as his work as a Mayan priest.
The Indigenous peoples of Guatemala have not remained silent in the face of this increasing campaign of intimidation and harassment. Indigenous communities and their leaders are working together to affirm their rights. A group of Indigenous leaders from the northern and eastern parts of Guatemala met with Rodolfo Stavenhagen, UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Affairs, in El Estor in September 2002 to discuss issues of concern to Indigenous communities in the region. While Indigenous leaders have presented government or international representatives with their concerns many times, the El Estor meeting was the first time that El Estor’s Indigenous leaders presented a unified agenda on the issues of extractive industries such as oil and mining, rural development, and natural resource management.
This meeting led to a Congress of Indigenous leaders in El Estor on October 6-7, 2002, and the development of a plan of action and recommendations to the government. Indigenous leaders at the conference agreed that the key issue in the region is the exploitation of natural resources and the exclusion of Indigenous peoples from the development process. It recommended that the state adapt its development plans to include the concerns of Indigenous peoples, implement the Peace Accords, include Mayan education initiatives in the national budget, ensure participation of Indigenous peoples in the Council of Rural and Urban Development, and help strengthen Indigenous leadership.
Amnesty International is concerned that the harassment and intimidation of Indigenous peoples and human rights defenders is increasing in Guatemala. It has been said that those who do not learn from mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them; Guatemala’s failure to address problems of its recent history and bring past perpetrators to justice is contributing to current human rights abuses in the country. The prime targets of these recent human rights abuses are often Indigenous peoples and those who support them.
As noted above, the CEH made important recommendations related to the suffering of Indigenous peoples caused by the armed conflict. In addition, the Peace Accords cover many issues important to Indigenous peoples, in particular the 1995 Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous People, and the 1996 Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects and Agrarian Situation. The former reaffirms the identity of Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples; acknowledges the history of discrimination against them; and enumerates the cultural, social, economic, civil and political rights to which they are entitled. The latter pertains to participatory development, social development, agrarian reform and rural development, and again, many of its provisions are directly relevant to Indigenous peoples.
Thus, by failing to implement the Peace Accords and to act on the recommendations of the CEH, the Guatemalan government is reneging on two sets of commitments that together contain many important stipulations for the protection of the human rights of Indigenous peoples. As Guatemala struggles for justice, both at home and abroad, those in authority need to address what more can be done to end the culture of impunity, assure citizens of access to the full spectrum of human rights, and deliver on the promises of the Peace Accords.
Endnotes:
- All three quotes are from Guatemala: Never Again! REMHI Recovery of Historical Memory Project: The Official Report of the Human Rights Office, Archdiocese of Guatemala. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York. 1999.
- Guatemala: Memoria del Silencio (June 1999 edition); Ch. 1, p.267, “Composición Etnica de Guatemala.”
- Guatemala: Memory of Silence; Ch. 1, “Causes and Origins of the Armed Internal Conflict.”
- Guatemala: Memoria del Silencio (June 1999 edition); Ch. 4, p. 24.
- Witness for Peace, 1998. A Crude Awakening: The World Bank, US Policy and Oil in Guatemala. p. 3.
References:
Amnesty International. Guatemala’s Lethal Legacy: Past Impunity and Renewed Human Rights Violations.
“Guatemala: Memoria del Silencio, June 1999 Edition. CEH (Historical Clarification Commission), Guatemala.
“Guatemala Memory of Silence,” Prologue, and Conclusion.
“Guatemala: Guatemala’s Lethal Legacy: Past Impunity and Renewed Human Rights Violations,” Amnesty International AIDOC.
“Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala: A Community in Terror,” 18 April, 2002.
Guatemala: Never Again! REMHI Recovery of Historical Memory Project: The Official Report of the Human Rights Office, Archdiocese of Guatemala. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York. 1999.
A Crude Awakening: The World Bank, US Policy and Oil in Guatemala. Witness
for Peace 1998.