Tag Archives: Guatemala

“We Are Defending Life:” The Criminalization of Environmental and Indigenous Rights Activists in Guatemala

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On March 24, Rigoberto Juárez, a respected community leader and coordinator for the Plural-national government of the town and municipality of Santa Eulalia in northern Huehuetenango Department, was arrested in Guatemala City, Guatemala as he walked down 6th avenue in the historic center of the city.
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In Guatemala, Indigenous Communities Prevail Against Monsanto

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Late in the afternoon of September 4, after nearly 10 days of protests by a coalition of labor, indigenous rights groups and farmers, the indigenous peoples and campesinos of Guatemala won are rare victory. Under the pressure of massive mobilizations, the Guatemala legislature repealed Decree 19-2014, commonly referred to as the “Monsanto Law,” which would have given the transnational chemical and seed producer a foot hold into the country’s seed market.
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Guatemala: Mobilizing Against “Monsanto Law”

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The Plant Varieties Protection Bill passed in the night by the Guatemalan Congress in June during the World Cup distractions is facing resistance from farming communities and Indigenous Peoples from the Central American country, who warn about the risks of the regulation in terms of biodiversity and food sovereignty.

The bill–also known as the “Monsanto Law” because of the GM seed and agrotoxic multinational company’s involvement in its promotion in several Latin American countries–was appealed before the Guatemalan Constitutional Court, while different mobilizations were planned both in the capital of the country and in other departments on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014.

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Violent Eviction of La Puya, Guatemala Peaceful Mining Resistance

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After two years and two months of   peacefully blocking  the entrance to U.S.-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) El Tambor gold mine, local residents of San Jose del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc were violently evicted by Guatemalan Police forces in order to introduce heavy machinery inside the industrial site. Led by the local women, members of the La Puya resistance prayed and sang until they were faced with tear gas. Numerous locals were injured and detained.
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Goldcorp Mining in Guatemala: Water Deprivation and Militarized Expansion

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On January 14, 2014, Guatemalan President, and former general Otto Perez Molina, ordered troops to the Mayan municipality of Sipakapa, department of San Marcos, in western Guatemala. The armed forces arrived on behalf of Goldcorp Inc. that is trying to illegally expand its “Marlin” mine into Sipakapan territory.
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Después del genocidio, resurge el movimiento indígena en Guatemala

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Para detener el avance de las empresas transnacionales en Guatemala se organizan las consultas en las comunidades, porque cuentan que así se combate al sufrimiento. A 30 años del genocidio, ocurrido en la década de los ochentas, los indígenas piensan que con las transnacionales “viene el K’ax (sufrimiento), el momento de llorar, de huir, de ser perseguidos”, explica en entrevista con Desinformémonos Domingo Hernández Ixcoy, líder maya y participante en la guerrilla durante el conflicto armado. Y están decididos a rechazarlo.

Para impedir que venga de nuevo el sufrimiento, los indígenas realizaron más de 70 consultas en los territorios donde pretende imponer proyectos de minería, de monocultivos o de hidroeléctricas.

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