San Miguel Ixtahuacan is Waking Up

Guatemala City, Guatemala.
May 22nd, 2009.
Issue: Mining / Land Tenure / Indigenous Rights


Canadian mining giant Goldcorp held its annual shareholder’s meeting on Friday, May 22nd, in Vancouver’s financial district. Simultaneously, hundreds of community members from San Miguel Ixtahuacan, where Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine operates, marched through the streets of Guatemala City so as to protest the corporation’s activities in the Guatemalan highlands.

(For background information on the Marlin Mine and the conflictive relationship with the communities of Sipakapa and San Miguel Ixtahuacan in San Marcos, Guatemala, please follow this link).


The march’s gathering point was the Obelisco, a traffic circle located in the heart of Guatemala City’s financial district. From here, the first stop would be the Euro Plaza Building in Zone 14 where the headquarters for Goldcorp’s local subsidiary, Montana Exploradora, are located.


The day before the march, a press conference was held where “community leaders accused Montana Exploradora of carrying out a fear campaign in their local villages using threats and land usurpation so as to coerce local residents to sell their lands.” (1)


“We are rural peasants, not criminals!”


“The movement, made up almost in its entirety by indigenous local Mam Mayans, reiterated their intention to pursue a peaceful dialogue so as to bring to a close Montana’s mining activities in the region. As of now, three people have died due to the toxic contamination in the local water sources and other natural resources.” (2)






“Water should not be sold, but rather protected!”




“Local leaders assured that during its initial operations, the mining company undervalued local property, created local divisions, and took away the home of approximately 600 families in San Miguel Ixtahuacan. Currently, the company continues its strategy of usurpation, coercion, and community fragmentation, which is why it is indispensable that relevant authorities become involved.” (3)


“We share the people’s future and present. Montana Exploradora of Guatemala, a Goldcorp Inc. company. Development is what's valuable.”


“We demand justice and condemnation for Montana/Goldcorp”




“No to Mining. What will be of my future?”


“Drop by drop, water dries up!”






Once at the luxurious Euro Plaza building, leaders from San Miguel Ixtahuacan weren’t able to dialogue with representatives from Montana Exploradora. Nevertheless, they were able to present a document to members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which also holds its office in the same building.


“We do not want mining! Montana out now!”




Gregoria Crisanta Perez, one of the 8 women accused by Goldcorp of sabotaging their electric supply (read more about the case here), declares: “We demand our rights because we do not want to be killed by the mining company. We ask the government to please listen to our demands, as we are the legitimate owners of the territories. We are indigenous people, we were born there, and we should die there. But our death should be decided by God, not by the mining company.”




“No to Mining. Yes to Life. San Miguel Ixt.”


Patrocinia Mejia Perez (right), another local leader, is also accused by Goldcorp of sabotage.


“National Day Dignifying the Victims of Open-Pit Mining. Yes to Life!”




After protesting for over an hour in front of the Euro Plaza building as well as marching through Guatemala City’s financial and restaurant district, the demonstrators arrived to the Canadian Embassy.




The Canadian Embassy welcomed a four-person delegation in order to hear the protestors’ demands. Javier de Leon (left) from the Association for the Integral Development of San Miguel (ADISMI) led the delegation. Afterwards, he commented: “Ambassador Leann McKechnie’s discourse is inconsistent as she promises that Canadian companies will respect human rights. However, the mining industry, by nature, violates such rights.”


A few meters down the road from the Canadian Embassy, one of the many Goldcorp billboards that can be found in Guatemala City read: “We invest in the dreams of a developing country.”


Some residents of San Miguel Ixtahuacan identified the billboard and felt it was inappropriate due to the damage they have suffered from the mine’s presence in their communities. Gradually, protestors began tearing little pieces as an expression of discontent with the mining company that has incited grave social conflicts.


Dozens of people suddenly charged the billboard euphorically in a festive mood. As can be seen in the image, Police patrols observed the entire sequence, which was carried out in utmost respect for nearby cars and other private property next to Goldcorp’s billboard.


After a few minutes, the crowd managed to tear down the billboard completely. This was later taken to San Miguel Ixtahuacan so as to show other community members. The final plan was to burn the torn billboard near the mine.


The march ended with visits to the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office, Congress, and the Presidential Palace.


Gregoria Crisanta Perez declares: “We are here because today, in Canada, Goldcorp shareholders are dividing up their earnings. Meanwhile, here in Guatemala, the people from San Miguel remain in poverty. But now, finally, San Miguel Ixtahuacan is waking up.”

For more information:
English: info@rightsaction.org
Spanish: Javier de León (ADISMI): nimjavier@gmail.com


Versión en español aquí.


1 CERIGUA. “Montana Exploradora inicia con estrategia de coacción y usurpación de tierras”. Jueves 21 de Mayo, 2009. Guatemala.
(http://cerigua.info/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10072&Itemid=1)
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.

Rosenberg Video Unleashes Political Crisis and Deepens Social Division

Guatemala City, Guatemala.
May 13th, 2009.
Issue: Impunity / Justice / Society

The release of a posthumous video by recently murdered lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg has unleashed the worst political crisis in the current administration. Last Monday, May 11th and one day after Rosenberg’s assassination, a video began circulating in which Rosenberg himself states: “If you are watching this, it is because I was murdered by President Alvaro Colom.” His wife and two close aids, which were major campaign contributors, are also mentioned by name. A great uncertainty over what will happen next, in addition to extreme tension due to the unbearable wave of violence, have gripped the capital city.

As a result of the crisis, two very different protests were carried out in the central park of Guatemala City. The first gathering brought thousands of demonstrators who angrily demand justice for Rosenberg’s death in addition to a resolution for the out-of-control violence in which Guatemalan society lives today. This first group, composed primarily by residents from the wealthier sectors, also demands the immediate resignation of President Colom.

“Guatemalan Unity! Together for Peace”


“I am Rodrigo. We want Justice”


“We demand Justice”


“Wanted for Murder. Reward: Justice”


“No more Fear. No more Violence. No more Blood. No more Silence. No More!”


“Murderers. We demand incarceration.”

Simultaneously, dozens of buses brought hundreds of organized people to show their support for President Colom in front of the Presidential Palace. These governmental sympathizers come primarily from low-income shantytowns, known as asentamientos, within the outskirts of Guatemala City. During a live CNN interview on Tuesday the 12th, President Colom admitted his UNE party had strong presence and support in such areas. These demonstrators claim that Colom’s government is victim of a movement seeking political instability. Despite the tensions among the groups, no violent confrontations occurred.

“Mr. President, the People are with you. Zone 21.”

“We would like to thank the government and his wife for the help they bring to the asentamientos.”

Part 1 of the posthumous video by attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg (with English subtitles).



Part 2 of the posthumous video by attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg (with English subtitles).


Versión en español aquí.

HIJOS: Public Poster Campaigns

Guatemala City, Guatemala.
May 6, 2009.
Issues: Historic Memory / Post-war / Justice

Next June, ten years will have passed since the HIJOS Collective exploded onto Guatemalan society (HIJOS means “children” in Spanish and it is an acronym for: Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice, against Forgetfulness and Silence). Through public art, conscience-seeking events and political demonstrations, HIJOS has been seeking truth, justice and the continuance of historical memory with relation to the crimes against humanity committed by the Guatemalan State during its 36-year civil war.

Among its many activities, HIJOS periodically carries out poster campaigns in open spaces, particularly in Guatemala City.

The photographs and texts from HIJOS’ postings rarely fail to capture the attention of passerbyers.

Wendy Mendez (right), one of HIJOS’ founding members, shares with us the reasons behind such activities as well as HIJOS’ mission and overall motivation:

Today, March 8th, celebrated worldwide as International Women’s Day, also marks 25 years since my mother, Luz Haydee Mendez, was abducted, tortured, and disappeared by the G2 military intelligence agency. This was Guatemala City in 1984. I can’t help but feel a wide range of emotions. Some are anger and uncertainty, but above all hope prevails as I continue my path in search of justice for her and all the women disappeared and massacred.

Justice is a word that we have come to know due to its absence in our lives. It is not fair that my mother, along with many other mothers, was forcibly abducted and disappeared. It is not fair that in our families, as in many other Guatemalan households, a massive void remains where instead there should be a person who can be infinitely trusted in.

It is not fair that those who carried out such crimes remain free. It is not fair that those who ordered the atrocities now occupy political decision-making and influential power posts in our government and society.

It is not fair that my three-year old son has to grow up without a grandmother. It is not fair that my old lady never knew what it was like to be a grandma. It is not fair that 25 years have gone by since that tragic day and I still feel deep sorrow, fear, anguish, frustration, and many other emotions that I do not know what to call.

Today we live within a socio-political context where our authorities use the faces, names and memory of our fallen in order to cover up the forced evictions and repression carried out against peasant farmers who protect our natural resources. A context where our authorities don’t turn in the military campaign archives that support the genocide cases as they have been ordered to do. A context where our authorities mock war survivors and their communities, as they do not recognize the authenticity of repressive documents such as the Military Diary. The light at the end of the justice tunnel is a hard one to see.

Several have been the activities that our collective has spearheaded while seeking dignity for the memory of our men, women, and children who were victims of state terrorism. We have carried out demonstrations in front of judicial courts and homes of those responsible for genocide, marched through streets and avenues, denounced and displayed our historic memory on public murals, rescued testimonies about the lives and struggles of former guerrillas.

Yet, something we have not been able to feel in flesh has been a longed-for JUSTICE.

The 25th anniversary of the forced disappearance of Luz Haydee Mendez calls for a reflection on justice and how to achieve it. This is the basis for our commemorative public poster campaign.

Guatemala of the New Resistance, March 8, 2009.
FOR ALL THOSE WHO WERE DISAPPEARED
NEITHER FORGET, NOR FORGIVE.

“No more Military Impunity”

“Memory, Truth and Justice”


Versión en español aquí.

Scorched Earth: The Rio Negro Massacre at Pak'oxom

Rio Negro Hamlet and Chixoy Reservoir. Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala.
March 12-14, 2009.
Issues: Genocide / Post-War / Hydroelectric Projects

On January 1976, General Kjell Laugerud, former President of Guatemala, signed the first loan accord with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) for the construction of the Pueblo Viejo-Quixal hydroelectric plant (1977-1983). Such project included the “flooding of the Chixoy River basin and much of its valley. The newly erected reservoir would directly affect and forcibly disappear 23 villages or localities (affecting around 3,445 residents), 45 archaeological sites, numerous crop areas and natural resources.” Known today as the Chixoy Reservoir, the artificial lake measures approximately 50 KM in length and reaches up to 50 meters in depth. (1)

“During the years of the military dictatorships, various administration and management positions in government-run offices were held by military personnel: the main directors of the National Electrification Institute (INDE in Spanish) and Departmental Governor posts are some examples.” The INDE was directly in charge of the construction and management of the Pueblo Viejo-Quixal hydroelectric plant. (2)

The Achi Mayan community of Panima’ (or Rio Negro), in the municipality of Rabinal, was one of the 23 communities directly affected by the creation of the Chixoy Reservoir. Under the INDE’s resettlement plan, Rio Negro would be the first village to move to the model township of Pacux, in the outskirts of the departmental capital city of Rabinal. Nevertheless, the residents of Rio Negro opposed the overall project and forced resettlement, as their opinion was never taken into account. “Due to the local community’s resistance against the plan, the INDE called in the military to make sure the forced resettlement occurred.” (3)

“The INDE tried to evict the residents of Rio Negro under highly unfavorable conditions for the local villagers. This conflict, principal worry for local indigenous peoples of Rabinal organized within the Committee for Peasant Union (CUC in Spanish) – among which the entire Rio Negro village was included – was solved via a series of massacres that nearly eradicated the entire village.” (4)

For more information regarding the series of massacres and post-war processes dealing with the Rio Negro case, please read the previous photo-essay from MiMundo.org: The Chixoy Hydro-electrical Plant and Genocide in Rio Negro.

The Massacre at Pak’oxom

“We never thought they would massacre the women and children. Never!” (5)

“On March 13, 1982, around six in the morning, 12 members of the army along with 15 Civil Auto-Defense Patrolmen (PAC) from Xococ, arrived at the community of Rio Negro. House by house they asked for the men, but they were hiding in the woods due to fear of being rounded and killed [as many had been a month earlier]. The intruders gathered and forced the population to walk three kilometers uphill. Once at the Pacoxom peak… they proceeded to torture and kill the unarmed victims. Some were hung from the trees, others killed with machetes, while the rest were shot... The testimonies coincide in the number of victims: 177 people (70 women and 107 children), all civil and unarmed community members of Rio Negro.” (6)

Twenty-seven years after the massacre, Rio Negro survivors and current residents, family members and others in solidarity, came together to commemorate the tragedy and mourn the victims at the top of Pak’oxom peak.

The long and difficult walk resembled the one forcibly made by the 177 victims nearly three decades earlier.

Catholic believers in attendance emulated a Via Crucis during their ascent to Pak’oxom, stopping in key points where some victims had been tortured, murdered, or even where a few survivors managed to hide and escape.

Carlos Chen Osorio, who lost his wife and two toddler daughters in the massacre, leads the row during the Via Crucis. Originally from Rio Negro, Chen Osorio is co-founder of the Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of the Violence Maya Achi (ADIVIMA), as well as director and main negotiator for the Coordination of Affected Communities by the Chixoy Hydro-electric Plant (COCAHICH).

Sunset from Pak’oxom.

“The term ‘massacre’ derives from the French word for “mass killing”. Nevertheless, in Latin America, it acquires a political connotation as it denotes premeditation, advantageous circumstances and excess in cruelty with which the mass murders are carried out… The terms massacre or mass killing are both included within the concept of genocide, which is itself defined as a ‘massive annihilation, partial or total, of a national, ethnic or religious group.’” (7)

“Beginning halfway through 1981 and throughout 1982, the Guatemalan Army carried out numerous military operations… The objective of these was to eradicate the guerrilla army’s support base in the rural area, which was made up mostly of civilians. Within this context we cite a famous quote from former Chinese Prime Minister Mao Zedong: ‘take away the water from the fish’. Such metaphor implies that the guerrilla forces needed the civilian population just like fish need water… Within this logic, the Guatemalan Army carried out in Rabinal numerous collective killings against a mostly indigenous and unarmed civil population so as to indirectly eliminate the guerrillas.” (8)

“During the many years of State-induced violence, a turning point occurred when the distinction between selective repression against community leaders or particular individual and general violence against the entire civilian population was no longer made. Right before this transitional period, men would usually no longer live in their communities. They would hide or camp in nearby forests while women and children remained at home in the villages.” (9)

“This second wave of massive scale repression, when numerous massacres occurred, was carried out with complete disregard for any form of life in the communities. The large majority of victims were women, children and senior citizens. In addition, local people were not only massacred, but all trace of life was completely destroyed as goods and animals were stolen and homes were burned down. In this manner, possible survivors had no place to return and were forced to flee and hide in the forest or mountainsides [for months or years at a time].” (10)

“This type of strategy is what has come to be known as the Scorched Earth Policy and was a central part of the ‘Ceniza 81’ [Ash 81] and ‘Victoria 82’ [Victory 82] military campaigns. Some examples include the massacres of Rio Negro at Pak’oxom, Agua Fria, Los Encuentros, Plan de Sanchez, Rancho Bejuco, Xococ, and numerous more mass killings carried out against the civilian population in hiding.” (11)

“In Rio Negro, the conflicts between the local civilian population and the INDE were the focal problem in a series of events; a sort of detonator which was used to accuse the entire village of being part of the guerrilla forces and therefore legitimizing the massacres… However, none of these facts justify, neither legally nor morally, such atrocious violations of human rights and, much less, them being massacred.” (12)

“The blood from those fallen demands punishment for the assassins. The sun can not be blocked with just one finger.”

Julian Sanchez Chen (right), a Rio Negro survivor, retells his testimony to a group of students from the Nueva Esperanza School in Rabinal (founded by Jesus Tecu Osorio, a survivor from the Pak’oxom massacre). Mr. Sanchez Chen, who lost his wife and two daughters at Pak’oxom, came back to Rio Negro so as to reestablish the community along with his cousin Sebastian Iboy Osorio and Mario Chen Rojas on May 18th, 1991. For nearly a decade (1982-1991), the village of Rio Negro was wiped out of the map.

“We can’t live in Rabinal – some get used to life there, others don’t. Those of us who cannot find a way to live there have come back to our birthplace. We want to live like our parents and forefathers taught us. In Rabinal we must pay electricity and water (which hardly ever works anyhow). We can’t take firewood from the forest either because there is no communal land. Landholders accuse us of being thieves when we take some branches for firewood. That is why we came back. We never got used to living in the Pacux settlement that the INDE set up for us. The land plots in Pacux are too small, unlike the ones we had here in Rio Negro.” (13)

Recently, in Pacux, the phenomenon of youth gangs, or maras, has increased in alarming rates. Sanchez Chen explains: “The maras are developing in Pacux due in part to the economic necessities of the residents, but also because many youth grew up as orphans due to the war-time violence. No one taught them how to earn a living or go through life. In town they learn bad things and so they join the maras.” A wave of gang-related murders has caused an exodus from the urban area of Rabinal towards more rural areas.

Monsignor Rodolfo Valenzuela (left), Archbishop of the Verapaces, and Father Timoteo from Rabinal, accompanied the commemoration all through March 13th. The morning of the 14th, before heading downhill towards the village, they offered a catholic mass inside the mass grave where over 150 human remains were exhumed.

The Rio Negro Community in 2009

Today, the rural hamlet of Panima’ (or Rio Negro) is made up of 13 families who reside in a much higher ground than the original settlement, as this latter one is now under water. Life is hard due to the arid climate and the community’s isolation. There are no roads and only two ways to get there. By foot, the town of Rabinal is 8 hours away. Yet one can also arrive by ways of a 6 KM boat ride from the Pueblo Viejo dam. The high cost of fuel, however, is extremely high for the residents of Rio Negro as most of them live mostly only from subsistence farming.

Agricultural products grown for subsistence consumption include corn, beans, chili peppers, tomatoes, and traditional herbs such as macuy and chipilin. Red meat is extremely rare, but locals do consume fish and chicken occasionally. All other basic products such as salt, sugar, coffee, onions, soap and clothing must be brought from Rabinal. Hence, the locals organize joint visits to the departmental capital once a month or if lucky, every two weeks.

“We are not blind, so we won’t ask for things for free. But we do want the INDE to stand by its original stance and fulfill the promises it made decades ago. For some time now they have been benefiting from their hydroelectric construction. Before they offered us good homes; all we have today are flimsy board structures as our shelter. We are asking them for reparations as well as completely new living structures. After the violence they have never come back to check on us.” (14)

“I use the metaphor of a tree to describe what happened to us. We were like a solid tree that was well planted when the INDE unearthed us by force from our place of birth and transplanted us somewhere else. They took us out of Rio Negro and planted us in Pacux, Rabinal. Over there, our roots never really grounded themselves. And now they want to pull us out of Rabinal and send us to Alta Verapaz [where a possible land lot is being proposed as part of a reparations package]. Why don’t the government and the INDE really think about such issues? We want the INDE to come make our homes here, in Rio Negro, where they truly caused us harm.” (15)

The Rio Negro Ruj Ib’ooy Historic and Educational Center

Thanks to the financial and technical help from the German Cooperation Agency, the Rio Negro Historic and Educational Center has been built in the community.

The center, managed by and for the community, provides top-level infrastructure and technology for workshops and conferences, audiovisual material and literature related to the history of the place, cultural, historic and ecological trails, as well as guided excursions as requested by the visitors.

A memorial hall commemorates Rio Negro’s victims during the period recalled as La Violencia (The Violence) in the 1980’s.

The center also offers overnight accommodations for large groups and individuals. A full-equipped kitchen and several bathrooms are also available. Solar panels provide electricity since, ironically but predictably, the community has no electric wiring available. The surroundings are also perfect for camping and two tents can be borrowed from the center.

Julian Sanchez Chen summarizes the community’s collective feelings: “Thank God for foreigners and outsiders who have helped us with the Educational Center, the speedboat, with the school, because the Guatemalan Government has not given us anything, not even a development project… We hope that little by little the community will grow back to be as large as it once was before la violencia.”

For more information on the Rio Negro Historic and Educational Center:
www.rio-negro.info/che / che@rio-negro.info
+ (502) 5357-8506, 7938-8721

Having not learned from policies doomed to failure, the INDE still focuses on permanently displacing and damaging mostly indigenous communities in favor of large-scale hydroelectric projects. Two clear examples are the planned Usumacinta set of dams (in the border with Mexico) and the Xalala project. This latter one, along the same Chixoy River but in the Ixcan region, will directly affect 17 communities that have already expressed their unanimous discord via a community consultation (or plebiscite) on April 2007. (16)

For detailed information on the impact and current state of hydroelectric plants in Guatemala, please read the following edition of El Observador (in Spanish only).

For more information on ADIVIMA and COCAHICH:
English: Heidi McKinnon, hmckinnon@advocacynet.org
Spanish: Carlos Chen, cocahich@gmail.com
Juan de Dios García, adivima@yahoo.com


MiMundo.org related photo essays click here:
Versión en español aquí.


1 Martínez, Horacio. “La cuenca media del río Chixoy: Dos décadas después”. In XVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2002 (edited by J.P. Laporte, B. Arroyo, H. Escobedo & H. Mejía. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala. P. 844.
(www.asociaciontikal.com/pdf/73.02%20-%20Horacio%20Martinez%20-%20en%20PDF.pdf)
2 Equipo de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (EAFG). Las Masacres en Rabinal: Estudio Histórico Antropológico de las Masacres de Plan de Sánchez, Chichupac y Río Negro. Guatemala, 1997. P. 91.
3 Ibid. P. 101.
4 Fernandez, J.M. El Comité de Unidad Campesina: Origen y Desarrollo. Book 2, CERCA, Guatemala, 1988. P. 29.
5 Oj K’aslik / Estamos Vivos: Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica de Rabinal (1944-1996). Published by Museo Comunitario Rabinal Achi. Rabinal, Guatemala. Julio 2003. P. 162.
6 Informe de la Comisión de Esclarecimiento Histórico (CEH). Anexo I: Casos Ilustrativos, Tomo I. Caso Ilustrativo No. 10: “Masacre y eliminación de la comunidad de Río Negro”. PP. 49-50.
7 Op. Cit. EAFG. P. 170-1.
8 Op. Cit. Oj K’aslik. PP. 160-1.
9 Ibid. PP. 162-3.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Op. Cit. EAFG. P. 232
13 Interview with Julián Sánchez Chen. March 14th, 2009, in Pak’oxom, Río Negro, Rabinal, Guatemala.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 El Observador. Año 3, No. 16. Diciembre 2008/Enero 2009. Guatemala.
(http://aselobs.org/design/content-upload/elobservador16.pdf)

The Great Kawinal: A City Submerged

Intersection of the Calá River and Chixoy Reservoir. Border of Cubulco, Baja Verapaz, and Chicamán, Quiché; Guatemala.

March 13th, 2009.
Issues: Historical Memory / Hydroelectric Dams

The Great City of Kawinal (also spelled Cauinal) was an important Mayan political and religious center that emerged in the 12th Century. The locality, however, had been continually populated since the Mayan Middle Pre-Classic period, that is, since 700 years before Christ. During the Mayan Late Post-classic period (1100-1524 A.D.), the City of Kawinal was considered the largest and most important civic center until the arrival of the Spanish. (1)

Kawinal is located along the “midsection of the Chixoy River basin [and] it was dominated during the Late Classic and Early Post-Classic periods by a multiethnic conglomerate of Poqomes, Q’eqchíes, as well as [other Mayan] groups who immigrated from the Gulf of Mexico coast by travelling upriver through the Usumacinta-Salinas-Chixoy river network.” (2)

Kawinal is seemingly the first site where the so-called Plaza Verapaz architectural pattern was experimented, and its importance has been compared with the great Mayan metropolises of Yucatán: Chichen Itzá and Mayapan. (3)

This diagram illustrates how the Calá River separates structural groups A and B from group C. (4)

This second diagram shows the Plaza Verapaz structure in more detail (identified as Group A in the previous diagram). Along the center of the diagram, from left to right, are: the central pyramid, a small round altar, a secondary central temple, and a ball game court. (5)


The ball game court as seen from the secondary central temple of Group A.

View of the central pyramid and two Group C structures visible in the background on the other side of the river.

Temples in Group C.

Residents of nearby villages cross the Calá River from the Group B whereabouts.

Financed by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), “the construction of the Pueblo Viejo-Quixal hydroelectric project (1977-1983) caused a radical transformation in the Chixoy River basin, which entailed the flooding of approximately 50 km of the lower part of the valley, as well as the disappearance of 23 villages or localities, 45 archaeological sites, cultivation areas and natural resources.” (6)

The financial and governmental institutions involved in the creation of the Pueblo Viejo-Quixal hydroelectric dam commissioned an archaeological rescue study “as complete as possible” to a French archaeological mission. Of the 45 archaeological sites that would become submerged under the massive Chixoy Reservoir, only Kawinal was considered for rescue. However, “it implied a very high cost. Unfortunately, none of the suggested proposals became a reality and so, as always, the Guatemalan cultural patrimony had to settle with however much could be rescued.” (7)

As in most of the country, the Chixoy River basin goes through two main seasons. The first, known as winter, is rainy and goes from May through November. The second, called summer, is dry and occurs between May and November. It is during this last season when the water level in the reservoir lowers considerably, as this image taken in March 2009 shows.

Flooded by the artificial reservoir for over six months of each year, the Great City of Kawinal reappears during the Guatemalan summer.

Only the top part of the central pyramid remains visible all year long. Nevertheless, under water, erosion has occurred at an accelerated pace causing permanent losses and severe structural damages.

In his study, “The Chixoy Mid-river Basin: Two Decades Later”, Horacio Martínez comments: “I believe it is a pity that the great archaeological site of Cauinal had to end up in the conditions that it is currently under. The fact that the Mexican and Guatemalan governments are once again considering the possibility of building a hydroelectric dam in the Usumacinta River calls for reflection, not only among the archaeological community. Are we about to face another Chixoy?” (9)


Related photo-essays, click here.
Versión en español aquí.


1 Van Akkeren, Ruud.
(http://www.che.rabinal.info/sitios_kawinal.html).
2 Ibid.
3 Arnauld, Marie-Charlotte. “Relaciones interregionales en el área Maya durante el Postclásico en base a datos arquitectónicos”. In X Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1996 (edited by J.P. Laporte and H. Escobedo). Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala. P. 125.
(www.asociaciontikal.com/pdf/11.96_-_Arnauld.pdf).
4 Arnauld. Op. Cit. P. 129 (Originally published by Alain Ichon).
5 Arnauld. Op. Cit. P. 132 (Originally published by Alain Ichon).
6 Martínez, Horacio. “La cuenca media del río Chixoy: Dos décadas después”. In XVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2002 (edited by J.P. Laporte, B. Arroyo, H. Escobedo y H. Mejía. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala. P. 847.
(www.asociaciontikal.com/pdf/73.02%20-%20Horacio%20Martinez%20-%20en%20PDF.pdf)
7 Ibid PP. 846-7.
8 Ibid. P. 840.
9 Ibid. P. 848.

Mining Resistance Continues in El Estor: Barrio La Union

Barrio La Union. El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala.
February 15, 2009.
Part I of II.
Issues: Mining / Landless / Resistance

“The lack of access to land continues to be one of the main causes of poverty and high infant mortality rates due to malnourishment. It has also been one of the main historical, and current, causes of violence.” (1)

On January 8th and 9th, 2007, the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN) ordered the eviction of hundreds of Q’eqchi’ Mayan families from five communities in the municipalities of El Estor, Izabal and Panzos, Alta Verapaz. Nearly 650 members from a combined National Police-Army force carried out the massive evictions in a violent matter while committing numerous irregularities that undoubtedly favored the mining company. CGN claims the disputed landholdings as its property.

For more information regarding the evictions and other related events documenting conflict in El Estor and Panzos caused by metal mining activities, please refer to previous photo essays by MiMundo.org by following this link.

One of the communities evicted in January 2007 is Barrio La Union, officially registered as Finca La Esmeralda. CGN, local subsidiary of Canadian mining company HudBay, claims to be the legitimate owner of the landholding – call it La Union or La Esmeralda. Nevertheless, local residents claim the landholding as part of their ancestral rights. The large plot of land was given practically for free to the mining company in the 1960s by the military dictators of the time. A local leader states that, as a result, “no on can say ‘it is mine’”. (2)

Two years after the violent evictions, residents of Barrio La Union continue their pacific resistance by living on the fields of La Esperanza, which remained barren for many years. The community members, accused by CGN to be squatters, proudly display how their struggle and resistance is slowly giving way to a thriving rural village.

There are still numerous challenges to be met such as the installation of basic services (water and electricity), economic development projects, and above all, an agreement with CGN so as to obtain the landholding’s legal titles. Nevertheless, it is remarkable how the nearly 400 families living in La Union (a local leader’s estimate) have managed to survive thanks to their commendable determination, organization, mutual cooperation and arduous work ethic.

Alfredo Cus, one of the local leaders, comments: “The mining company only came to harm us. The land belongs to us because we are one hundred percent Guatemalan. We were born here and we are never going to leave this land. We live here and we will die here. We are one hundred percent people from El Estor, hence Canadians cannot come here to boss us around. They claim the company is responsible, that it is here to help us and to bring development to the municipality of El Estor. This is a complete lie, totally false. Here, there is no work for us.”

Sixty-five year old Jesusa Juarez Ixtecoc proudly displays a framed poster featuring a photograph of her resisting the destruction of her home during the eviction of January 8, 2007. Juarez Ixtecoc points to the poster and states: “Here I am. I endured all of that. Here is the photo: Me telling them no to disassemble my home. That same evening, we returned around 3 AM. I was the first to enter the grounds again. [To the company], I am like a tick on a cow’s behind. Here I am! I want the company to help us. What is the company thinking? What are they doing?”

The poster, which serves as the main decoration in Mrs. Juarez’ tiny wooden living quarters, was produced by the Peasant and Indigenous National Coordination (CONIC) and it features a photograph from MiMundo.org.

During the January 2007 evictions, Concepcion Kim Tiul couldn’t control the desperation of seeing her home dismantled and vocalized her anger towards those carrying out the eviction. Her rampant display of frustration was captured by Canadian documentary filmmaker Steven Schnoor’s camera and featured in the now famous short video documenting the evictions (please watch the film at the end of the photo essay or follow this link in YouTube). Former ambassador to Guatemala Kenneth Cook accused Concepcion Kim Tiul of being a paid actress (for more information regarding the case against Kenneth Cook, please follow this link).

Standing in her kitchen, Kim Tiul comments: “The company has caused many problems besides the evictions. They say I was paid to act in the video. But this is not so. Necessity has forced us to be here, on this land. And this is our land! It is not the company’s! In addition, the company is threatening me. The company wants to kill me. Why? That is what I want to ask the President of Canada. Have him investigate! I am simply in this struggle because I want a little piece of land where I can live with my children.”

“We want them over there in Canada to help us, to say that this land belongs to us. There is no way they are driving us out of here. Only if the company kills me, then yes, I will leave. But my children will remain and they will keep this plot of land.”

After the January 2007 evictions, community members suffered numerous harassments throughout the year. 2008 transpired in relative peace and it was also the year when CGN announced the sale of Finca La Esmeralda and other disputed landholdings. Nevertheless, local leaders inform us that as of February 2009, CGN has set exorbitant prices for the plots – nearly double to what land is valued in the region. Undoubtedly, this is being analyzed as a strategy to appease local residents while continuing to postpone real negotiations indefinitely.

“We need a place to work during the day, to sleep at night, to be with our children. Today, well, we do not have economic resources to obtain a piece of land. The only work we have is fishing, cultivation of corn, beans, and other subsistence crops. This is the reason we have come to this place. Not to seek wealth, but because we are in extreme poverty.” (3)

“They treat us like animals. I hope they can become a bit more thoughtful and they realize the situation we are in. Have them come visit us! Here we need running water, drains, and paved roads – development for the town of El Estor! Fine if they do their mining, but no more evictions. This is why we did not back down after the evictions. We came back that same night since the people of El Estor are united. This is why our community is called La Union. And united we will continue until we achieve our goal: the land.” (4)



The January 2007 evictions video produced by Steven Schnoor with photography from MiMundo.org. Currently, Steven Schnoor is involved in a legal case against former Canadian ambassador to Guatemala, Kenneth Cook, for defamation and other issues.

Cook initiated a campaign of disinformation, advising people that Schnoor's video is a sham -- that the woman featured in the video was a paid actress whom Schnoor hired to "perform" in this manner, and that photographs from MiMundo.org were not actually from the evictions but from the internal armed conflict which officially ended in 1996.

Versión en español aquí.


1 Filóchofo. ¡Tierra, Tierra, Tierra…! Clamor, Lucha y Resistencia Campesina. Guatemala, 2008. P. 174.
2 Interview with Haroldo Cucul Cucul. Barrio La Unión, El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala. Feb. 18, 2008.
3 Op. Cit. Haroldo Cucul Cucul.
4 Ibid

Mining in San Miguel Ixtahuacán: Conflict and Criminalization

San Miguel Ixtahuacán. San Marcos, Guatemala.
November 30, 2008.
Issues: Mining / Criminalization / Society


“Experts often consider open-pit mining to be the most destructive industrial activity in terms of environmental depletion, social and cultural impact… In San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa, San Marcos, intensive mineral exploitation has already left its mark. Local residents from Agel, Nueva Esperanza and San Jose Ixcaniche remember fondly a gorgeous mountain, famed for its diversity, where one could find various species of birds and butterflies. Today, the only thing left of that place is an enormous crater with contaminated rubble.” (1)


“The town of San Miguel Ixtahuacán is no longer the same since the miners arrived. [Montana Exploradora’s] Marlin Mine I has been the local’s apple of discord for the past five years. It has created extreme tension between those who support the project and those who reject it. Serious rifts have been caused even within families.” (2)


Towards the end of 2008, in an attempt to improve its image at the national level, Goldcorp (Montana Exploradora’s Canadian-run parent company) has launched an intense propaganda campaign by strategically posting billboards throughout Guatemala City and along principal highways. In this image a gigantic billboard, located just meters outside the main exit of La Aurora international airport, reads: “Development = work = better quality of life. For us at Goldcorp, development is what counts.”


“There are a few who do believe progress has been made. But these people are those who have benefitted with a steady job or from an indirect job generated by [the mining] industry.” (3)

“Nevertheless, during the actual phase of exploitation, [the Marlin Mine] only generates about 300 jobs [for the local people]. They work as truck drivers, cooks in the employee mess hall or in road maintenance.” (4)


Delfino Tema, municipal mayor of Sipakapa, explains: “[The mining company] said that nothing negative was going to occur, only progress was to come. But today, the local people are realizing it has been quite the opposite.” (5)

In Agel, Irma Leticia Mendez had been living in her home for 13 years when suddenly, in 2006, the walls began to crack: “The company says the fissures are due to the corn grinder I have. But it is due to the explosions.”


Local organizations have reported over 100 homes with structural damage due to the detonations carried out by Montana in their effort to separate rock material and dig tunnels. Throughout these years, Montana has continually denied any responsibility for the damage to the local’s homes. Hence, as a result, the cracked-walls issue has pitted dozens of disgruntled locals against the mine and the few who support it. (6)


Throughout the world, communities adjacent to open-pit metal mines suffer a number of the same problems: water shortage, contamination of rivers and underground water reservoirs, respiratory ailments due to the increased dust, deforestation, and contamination of crops and livestock. “When there is agricultural production near a mine, nearby plants and crops absorb the cyanide and heavy metals, which pose a great threat to human health.” (7)


“There is also social contamination occurring in our communities,” explains a local resident of Agel who wishes to remain anonymous. “Our own people rise up against us. Those who defend the company have even threatened to kill us. Many strange things have happened since the mine opened. We do not want any more of this.”


Forced disappearances and murders of community members who oppose the industrial project are among these so-called “strange things”. “On June 15, 2007, the decapitated body of Pedro Miguel Cinto, an elderly man who lived in front of the mine’s entrance was found by a child pasturing sheep… He and his family had been active against the mine.” (8)

Maria Sebastiana Perez holds a photo of his son, Byron Lionel Bamaca Perez, who disappeared in May 2007 along with her brother-in-law, Marco Tulio Rodriguez. Both men worked as cooks for the mine and disappeared while sent on an errand for the company. “My husband worked for Montana, but he was fired,” explains Mrs. Perez. “So when my son went to ask them [to rehire his father], company workers took him to Quiche… And he never came back. I want the company to leave. They have done enough harm to us.”


“On January 10, 2007, [28 local leaders] approached Montana/Goldcorp’s local offices hoping to open up a dialogue to resolve several of the negative impacts the company’s operations has caused: damages to homes, environmental and water contamination. Local leaders also hoped to renegotiate the pitiful prices the company paid indigenous locals for their land, when 600 families were coerced and forced to sell all of their land to the company. The mine currently extracts massive quantities of gold valued at millions of dollars from these former private lots.” (9)


Following the attempt to dialogue with Montana’s directors, an altercation followed between protesters and the company’s private security forces. The squabble broke off the dialogue and gave way to massive protests in which an estimated 600 community members blocked off all access roads to the Mine for over ten days. (10) Montana Exploradora reacted by pressing legal charges against seven local leaders, accusing them of minor injuries, threats, coercion, and instigation to delinquency (all of which carry jail sentences in Guatemala). (11)

The trial of the so-called “Goldcorp 7” ended in December 2007, with five of the accused absolved due to lack of evidence. Meanwhile, Fernando Perez and Francisco Bamaca were condemned to house arrest for 2 years and a hefty fine. Their case is currently under appeal. (12)


Francisco Bamaca worked four years for Montana Exploradora in its community relations program and later in the industrial security division. Despite assuring us that he did not participate in the January 10th protest, Francisco Bamaca was one of the seven accused. A month later, in February 2007, National Civil Police (PNC) members, soldiers, and a few masked men (presumably members of Montana’s private security corps), stormed into Mr. Bamaca’s home before dawn and proceeded to terrorize and beat members of his family.

“I worry about my family’s future and the wellbeing of my community. But [Montana Exploradora] did not want me to reveal their real intentions,” expresses Francisco Bamaca. “I was very concerned about the tunnels they are digging under the hills and they didn’t want me to say anything. Just because I didn’t agree, they fired, harassed, and prosecuted me.”


“The Marlin Mine in Guatemala, which hopes to produce 250,000 ounces of gold and 4 million ounces of silver annually during its lifetime, has faced continual protests since its inception in 2004.” (13)

Furthermore, “it is widely believed that through this type of judicial processes, the company hopes to criminalize and weaken anti-mining social movements in San Miguel Ixtahuacán while it expands its mining activities in the area.” (14)


The Power Lines Issue and the Eight Women of Agel

Such strategy of criminalizing local resistance leaders has once again been applied this year in San Miguel Ixtahuacán. The trial of the so-called “Goldcorp 7” left deep wounds among the actors involved: the mining company, local community members who support it, and those who oppose its presence. New protests have sprouted and still the company follows its antagonistic patterns by pressing legal charges against the indigenous resistance. Those suffering the consequences now are eight Mayan women who have orders of arrest against them for having cut off the company’s electric supply in June of this year. (15)


In 2005, Montana Exploradora installed high-voltage electric power lines over three communities adjacent to the mine. In some cases, contracts were signed with local people to install and keep the poles within their private property areas. Several local residents, however, have complained about the company’s failure to respect such contracts, or the fact that Montana never even asked some of them for permission before setting up the electric infrastructure. (16)


“The posts that support the high-voltage power lines are about to fall on several homes,” an obviously worrisome situation. In addition, “high-voltage electric power lines have a negative effect on human and animal health due to the radiation they emit, which is also a problem for local families,” declares Javier De Leon, a member of the Association for the Integral Development of San Miguel Ixtahuacán (ADISMI). (17)


Nevertheless, the main problem arising from the power lines dispute has to do with the violations of private property. “The company did not ask me for permission. They simply put them there,” states Gregoria Crisanta Perez, resident of Agel. Goldcorp claims they have a lease agreement with Mrs. Perez since 2004 that allows them to keep the poles in her property. Yet Tim Miller, Goldcorp’s Vice-President of operations in Central and South America, admits he does not know whether Gregoria Perez indeed signed the contract: “I cannot really say exactly who signed it.” (18)


On June 10, 2008, Mrs. Perez provoked a short circuit on the electric lines which hang above her home, causing a power failure which interrupted the mine’s operations. Soon after, “about 150 residents of several communities from the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, San Marcos, declared themselves in a permanent state of alert as a way to protest the Marlin Project’s continuing activities” and to provide support for Mrs. Perez. (19)


Three days later, “representatives from the mine arrived along with 35 national police officers and private security guards from the company… As the gathered women did not allow engineers to enter the property, the security forces began to violently threaten the women and children with tear gas. The local women continued their resistance and created a human chain that the police was not able to break.” (20)


“Perez, a mother of six, said she will not negotiate with the company until they agree to compensate all local families for the damages they have caused.” Montana Exploradora’s response to the protest was similar to how it reacted after the January 2007 altercation: Eight arrest warrants were issued against local women from Agel, including Gregoria Crisanta Perez. (21)


Maria Catalina Perez Hernandez, one of the eight women with detention orders, states: “We are deeply saddened by the mining company’s lies. We are even afraid to walk down our streets due to the problems the mine has brought. A deep division has gripped our community.”


Crisanta Hernandez, also a resident of Agel with a detention order, states: “We are very unhappy because we don’t know what to do. We are desperate and sad because we see that our homes are about to fall on top of us and we have nowhere to go… We don’t want the [mining] company to keep cheating our people and creating problems in our communities. They have issued arrest warrants against us just because we are defending our rights. We haven’t killed anyone. We are decent people.”


Patrocinia Mejia Perez, also from Agel and another one of the accused, comments: “I don’t know why the [mining] company comes here to harass us. Why do they come with their police? They should have talked to us. We do not carry guns or machetes, while the PNC officers are heavily armed. How is it possible that the company pits the police against us? Is that how they thank us for selling them our plots of land? They take away the gold, and now they put us in jail… If they had considered us, we wouldn’t have had to rise up. But they did not consider us. We don’t want any Canadians to come and boss us around in our own land! We are native Miguelenses!”


“Just as we cannot enter the mining company’s grounds, we do not want anyone entering our property,” states a community member from Agel. “If they decide to enter here, it will be their problem. We will no longer allow them to come and take [mineral] samples from our plots. I will beat them out [of my property] with a stick! I’m sorry, but I don’t want to see the mining company taking more gold from here because we have already seen the consequences. All it does is lead us to jail.”


“We are afraid to be put in jail, especially because of our children. There are other neighbors who want to harm us because the mining company gives them jobs or money. But it doesn’t matter. What we want is for [Montana Exploradora] to take away its posts, pay for the damages they have caused, and leave this place,” declares another community member from Agel.


“‘The State has revived its previous discourse (the idea of an ‘internal enemy’) against the political opposition, dissidents, and those who question the status quo’, asserts Claudia Samayoa, social movement activist and philosopher. According to Samayoa’s analysis, there is a clear distinction to the government’s reaction after 2004, when the anti-Free Trade Agreement protests and struggles for community control of natural resources (water, minerals, etc) took place.” (22)


“The repression apparatus, created to forcibly impose natural resource exploitation mega-projects, is once again active in San Marcos. Multinational corporations, the media, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the Guatemalan government under President Álvaro Colóm, carry out in cahoots a campaign of repression through the criminalization of the population. Livingston, San Juan Sacatepequez, Nueva Linda and other communities are vivid examples of the planned and systematic nature of these campaigns.” (23)


“Just as it occurred during the internal armed conflict, the criminalization of social and popular struggles is being felt once again in some communities that get organized,” states Wendy Méndez, a member of HIJOS (Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice, against Forgetfulness and Silence). “During the internal war, women’s and youth organizations, students, and members of the [Catholic] Church who stood up against the repression and the exclusionary government policies which result in poverty, were singled out as enemies. The construction of such a negative image of their struggles allowed for the genocide to occur. If the government, authorities, and business interests maintain such stance in relation to the peoples’ resistance movements, we run the risk of having history repeat itself.” (24)



Video produced by the Collectif Guatemala regarding this case.


For more information regarding Goldcorp’s mining activities in the Western Hemisphere, please download the following Rights Action booklet (in .pdf):
Investing in Conflict, Public Money Private Gain: Goldcorp in the Americas.


Versión en español aquí.


1 Ibañez, Jeovany. Mundo&Motor Magazine, from Prensa Libre. Guatemala.
http://www.mundoymotor.com/No132_0005_10_2008/mym_1089212103021.htm
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=159963
(informe_tpp_caso_goldcorp.doc)
7 Oxfam América. La Minería de Metales en Centroamérica: Dolor y Resistencia. San Salvador, El Salvador, 2008. P. 27.
8 Rights Action. Communiqué: “Urgent Action: Crackdown on Local Citizens Opposing Goldcorp's ‘Marlin’ Mine Escalates in San Marcos, Guatemala.” July 18, 2008.
http://breakingthesilencenet.blogspot.com/2008/07/urgent-actioncrackdown-on-local.html
9 Guatemala News and Information Bureau (GNIB). Communiqué: “Acción Urgente San Miguel Ixtahuacán: criminalización del movimiento social anti-minas”. Berkeley, California. November, 2007. http://www.albedrio.org/htm/otrosdocs/comunicados/gnib-002.htm
10 Comisión Pastoral Paz y Ecología (COPAE); Diocese of San Marcos. “Habitantes de San Miguel Ixtahuacán obstruyeron el paso a la mina Marlin.” El Roble Vigoroso, No. 6. San Marcos, Guatemala. January 25, 2007.
http://www.resistencia-mineria.org/espanol/?q=node/35
11 Op. Cit. GNIB.
12 COPAE. Communiqué: “Comunicado COPAE ante la condena de dos líderes comunitarios de San Miguel Ixtahuacán”. San Marcos, Guatemala. December 14, 2007.
http://www.noalamina.org/mineria-argentina-articulo997.html
13 http://www.noalamina.org/mineria-argentina-articulo1427.html
14 GNIB. Communiqué: “Acción Urgente San Miguel Ixtahuacán: criminalización del movimiento social anti-minas”. Berkeley, California. November, 2007.
http://www.albedrio.org/htm/otrosdocs/comunicados/gnib-002.htm
15 Op. Cit. Rights Action.
16 Ibid.
17 Flores, Ligia. “Pobladores llevan una semana en protesta pacífica. Resistencia contra minería en Ixtahuacán, San Marcos.” Diario La Hora. Guatemala, June 17, 2008.
http://www.lahora.com.gt/notas.php?key=32183&fch=2008-06-17
18 Law, Bill. “Unease over Guatemalan gold rush”. BBC. August 21, 2008.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7569810.stm
19 Op. Cit. Flores.
20 http://chiapas.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/memorial_de_denuncia_tpp.doc
21 http://www.noalamina.org/mineria-argentina-articulo1427.html
22 Cabanas, Andrés. “Criminalización de la lucha social en Guatemala”. Memorial de Guatemala No. 80. May 3, 2007. http://www.revistapueblos.org/spip.php?article577
23 Bloque Antiimperialista. Communiqué: “La rebeldía, una condición del pueblo de San Marcos.” Guatemala, August 2008. http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=158225
24 CERIGUA. “Vuelve la criminalización de la lucha social.” Guatemala. October 11, 2008.
http://cerigua.info/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4667&Itemid=31