Guate: Genocide trial starts then stops; State of Siege near US/Canadian mine continues (Graphics)

[Catherina]

Guatemala: Genocide trial starts then stops; State of Siege near US/Canadian mine continues

Xeni Jardin at 8:06 am Tue, May 7, 2013


Photo: James Rodriguez, a US-Mexican documentary photographer based in Guatemala since 2006, traveled to the State of Siege zone to document the conditions last week in Jalapa and Santa Rosa Guatemala.

...

I am publishing this post from inside the courtroom, which was less than half full today—there was much confusion over the last 48 hours about whether the trial could be suspended entirely. Rios Montt and Rodriguez Sanchez showed up this morning without attorney Garcia Gudiel, who literally called in sick. Judge Yassmin Barrios briefly responseded to an array of recent court rulings, said "There is no annulment of the trial," then suspended the trial for the day. She indicated to Rios Montt that if Gudiel remains unavailable, he may call back his previous defense team, who walked out of the courtroom in protest on Apr 19.

No one is entirely sure what will happen tomorrow.



Just before court opened this morning, around 8:20am, Rios Montt walked over to the prosecution stand and greeted the attorneys and human rights organizations gathered at the table. He exchanged cordialities. It was a weird moment. Not sure what the significance was, if anything beyond what it appeared to be.

Meanwhile, four primarily campesino and indigenous communities to the east of Guatemala's capital continue to live under a state of siege. The zone that has been occupied by thousands of Guatemalan Army troops and policemen since last week is near the US/Canadian-owned mining firm Tahoe Resources' El Escobal mine, also known as the San Rafael silver mine. After months of peaceful protests, a series of violent clashes left a number of locals wounded, and one police officer killed.




A march organized by indigenous and campesino groups is planned for this morning, in front of the Guatemalan Congress building (flyer above).

Tomorrow, the PBS NewsHour report I produced on the genocide trial with Miles O'Brien will air. Please do tune in.

...

http://boingboing.net/2013/05/07/guatemala-genocide-trial-star.html

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As Xeni put it so well "Basically if you want to understand what's going on with this case, don't ask a lawyer. Hire a psychic. No one knows what's up."

No one's fooled either by the President's insistence that the Martial Law is because they're looking for drug cartels when their own announcements clearly give them away


(Police looking for the leaders of the Xinca Parliament. Their arrest (detention) is non-negotiable) says Minister of the Interior

[Catherina]

1. Indigenous leaders gathering inside Congress 2 demand end to state of siege

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 2h

Guatemala: indigenous leaders gathering inside Congress to demand end to state of siege in Santa Rosa & Jalapa.






Guatemala: Indigenous leaders from around country gather to demand end to State of Siege. Signing demand for congress




Rep of Autoridades Ancestrales Consejo Nacional. “We suffered enough under Army. We are the enemy in their war."




Ixil community also represented here. Inside Congress, indigenous groups demanding end to State of Siege.




Autoridades Indigenas Ancestrales, Indigenous leaders of 48 cantones of Totinicapan, Ixiles: “End State of Siege.”

[Catherina]

2. Document Indigenous Groups from around country presented to Guatemalan Congress

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 2h

Inside Guatemalan Congress with reps of indigenous groups from around country. Have copy of document they are presenting. Will tweet.


Page 1: Guatemalan indigenous groups demanding end to State of Siege. Presenting this to Congress momentarily.

Page 1


Page 2


Page 3


Page 4


Page 5


Page 6

[Catherina]

3. "Following the example of our ancestors, we will fight... the dark lords of destruction"

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 2h

My God. I just realized what the final page of the document says. Wow.


“Following the example of our ancestors, we will fight for our lives against the forces of Xibalba” (dark lords of destruction in Popol Wuj)


Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 2h

Wow. Wow. Wow.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Exactly! I'm sure he didn't make that statement lightly, either. Wow, for sure. n/t

[Catherina]

4. Central Mayan authorities throughout country are present

Indigenous gathering opens inside Guatemalan Congress. Central Mayan authorities throughout country are here.

[Catherina]

5. read their demand aloud in Congress: “End the State of Siege in our pueblos.”

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni

Maya, Xinka, Garifuna groups read their demand aloud in Congress: “End the State of Siege in our pueblos.”




Just outside the room where indigenous leaders vowed to fight Xibalba.

[Catherina]

6. Congress considering proposal to end State of Siege. Lots of yelling.

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 1h

Dipurado Amilcar Pop. (K'ekchi) Brother of Alvaro Pop






- Congress now considering proposal by indigenous leaders to end State of Siege.

- Debate taking place over indigenous proposal to end state of siege.

- One by one, diputados in Guatemalan Congress are taking the mic to argue for or against lifting the state of siege. Lots of yelling.

- Orlando Joaquin Blanco Lapola diputado for District of Guatemala argues for lifting the state of siege: it was decreed for corrupt purposes

- When congressmen here talk too long, someone cuts their mic. Then some people laugh at them. Because most of diputados are yelling & upset.

- Diputado Amilcar de Jesus Pop Ac (K'ekchi) arguing now why state of siege should be lifted: was implemented undemocratically.

- There's a lot of screaming going on today inside Guatemalan Congress, in debate to lift Siege. Don't know if it's like this all the time.

- The yelling, plosives making mic periodically go BOOM, & mic cutting make this session of Guatemalan Congress seem like a huge rap battle.

- Rolando Torres Marroquin, diputado Lista Nacional argues to lift: “Siege protects corporate interests, not those of Guatemalan people.”

- Xinka Parliament holding press conference while Conference debates Siege ratification.





LIVESTREAM: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/marcha-indigena-campesina-popular
(no audio)

[Catherina]

7. Indigenous leaders trying to enter congress. 'VIVA LA RESISTENCIA VIVA LA REVOLUCION"

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni

- Indigenous leaders trying to enter congress. Denied entrance. Chanting QUEREMOS ENTRAR and VIVA LA RESISTENCIA VIVA LA REVOLUCION

- SI SE PUEDE

- indigenous leaders push past guards en masse

- NO TO THE STATE OF SIEGE the indigenous leaders shout in unison. Interrupting Congress. We are crushed into tiny hall. Trying to enter.

- KICK THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR PUEBLOS

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJr3TcJCcAEkOpO

[limpyhobbler]

8. This is utterly fascinating.

Wish I had time to really follow the story in detail.

[Catherina]

15. I think so too

When I saw the calls they were sending out to indigenous people around the world and the response they've been getting, I realized this is serious.

Indian Law Resource Center in the US responded too (for all the good a letter to the US Congress will do but still, it's support)

Center calls on U.S. Secretary of State for help

All the Indigenous groups are uniting to fight back. I have no idea where this is going to go.

[Catherina]

9. have forcibly occupied Congress - NO TO THE STATE OF SIEGE - UNITED AGAINST MILITARISM

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 15minutes ago

NO TO THE STATE OF SIEGE they are chanting. MAYA XINKA GARIFUNA UNITED AGAINST MILITARISM they shout now.

- Chanting: VIVA LA RESISTENCIA DE LOS PUEBLOS! VIVA!…NO AL ESTADO DE SITIO!…NO A LA REPRESSION!

- THIS IS OUR HOUSE! and NO MORE GENOCIDE, they chant now. WE DEMAND TO MEET WITH CONGRESS, TRAITORS OF THE PUEBLOS



- Doors opening. SI SE PUEDE they chant marching into Congress.

- We are marching in to Congress floor now with indigenous leadership.

- The indigenous leadership has occupied the Guatemalan congress.

- NO AL ESTADO DE SITIO! The indigenous leaders chant with congressmen who support. Xinka, Maya, Garifuna occupying.



- NO AL ESTADO DE SITIO they chant. Congress reconvenes. Indigenous have taken over. Screaming NO AL MILITARISMO. JUSTICIA! JUSTICIA!

- police sirens

- Indigenous leaders have forcibly occupied Congress of Guatemala to demand end to State of Siege.

[Catherina]

10. Gov issued arrest warrants, declared terrorists earlier

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 10minutes ago

- Groups present include Xinka Parliament, an indigenous group inside state of siege. Gov issued arrest warrants, declared terrorists earlier.


- JUSTICIA! JUSTICIA! they chant. NO AL ESTADO DE SITIO! Indigenous leaders occupying congress. Security swarming

[Catherina]

11. YOU’RE COWARDS! CLOWNS! They’re shouting at individual congressmen.

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 6minutes ago



- YOU’RE COWARDS! CLOWNS! LOOK AT THESE CLOWNS! They’re shouting at individual congressmen.





- “We are not delinquents or narcos. This is psychological war against our people. Lift the illegal state of siege now”




- “They haven’t captured a single narco. They have only captured peaceful protesters against exploitation of our earth”

[Judi Lynn]

19. Exactly! These images are so intense, so good. Hope they'll have a vast audience. n/t

[Catherina]

12. “This isn’t a ‘state of siege’ - This is a state of war against our people.”

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 1minute ago

“This isn’t a ‘state of siege’ the government declared. This is a state of war against our people.”

[Catherina]

13. A newborn died under the siege because mother was afraid to go to the hospital

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 1minute ago

“Army occupation affecting children. A newborn died under the siege because mother was afraid to go to the hospital.”

[Catherina]

14. “How many narcos live in thatch huts with dirt floors, and grow corn?...

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 56s

“How many narcos live in thatch huts with dirt floors, and grow corn? Narcos aren’t poor. And we are not narcos.”—indigenous protester.

[Judi Lynn]

20. How true, he has nailed them. That's the case everywhere they do this.

He has called them on their charade, the illusion they fly in order to steal the land and vaporize the people.

[Peace Patriot]

23. What a great statement by that Indigenous protester! Truth to power!

Bears repeating...

“How many narcos live in thatch huts with dirt floors, and grow corn? Narcos aren’t poor. And we are not narcos.”—indigenous protester.

How perfectly this sums up, in the simplest and clearest way possible, the truth about the corrupt, murderous, failed U.S. "war on drugs"--all those billions of dollars stolen from the poor here, and larded on military/ police profiteers, to brutalize the poor there!

It is unconscionable. And then the poor there are falsely demonized for the very crime that these corrupt militarists are themselves committing--drug trafficking!

I'll tell you, the real offense that these Indigenous farmers are committing is GROWING CORN--and doing so by traditional, organic methods, saving seed, protecting biological diversity and feeding their families and communities REAL FOOD. They dare to view the land as sacred. They dare to call out the crimes against nature daily committed by Canadian mining interests like the Tahoe corporation. The land is for sustenance, of body and spirit. It is not for distant greedbags to pollute and destroy!

It ain't just Tahoe and all the other mining monsters, and Exxon Mobil and Chevron and all the other oil monsters, and the CIA and its cocaine operations. It's Monsanto, Chiquita and all the Big Ag transglobals that want to grow corn for FUEL, that want to shove GMO shit at us for food, that want to kill off small farms, that want the PEASANTS CLEARED OFF THE LAND--as we saw in Colombia, FIVE MILLION peasant farmers brutally displaced BY THE U.S. "WAR ON DRUGS"!

This is what the "war on drugs" is all about--inventing the utterly deceptive language of war to turn Indigenous peasant farmers into "narcos" and "terrorists" and to equip local fascists with the the latest weaponry to brutalize and remove them, and to force them into cities to become an impoverished slave labor force with no rights and no ability to feed themselves.

This is U.S. "free trade for the rich"!

By God, it is a war! We see it at home against small marijuana farmers and medical dispensaries that are LEGAL in their states but persecuted by the Feds--their lives ruined, their property confiscated, long prison terms for MERE AGRICULTURE. It is disgusting. And this war has been going on for some time in Latin America, with a mountain of dead bodies and devastation of every kind everywhere it goes.

So simple and direct and to the point, exposing this evil:

“How many narcos live in thatch huts with dirt floors, and grow corn? Narcos aren’t poor. And we are not narcos.”—indigenous protester.

[Catherina]

16. Our Xinka Parliament leader isn't a terrorist. We don't answer to foreign interests

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni

- Our Xinka Parliament leader isn't a terrorist. We don't answer to foreign interests. We answer to indigenous people.




- “The Ixil people of Nebaj, Chajul, Cotzal are here to stand in solidarity with those under State of Siege.”


LMAO! They have totally taken over Congress lol.

[Judi Lynn]

21. Beautiful! n/t

[Catherina]

17. Congress stays firm in not voting on ratifying the state of siege or not

NISGUA ‏@NISGUA_Guate 24m

- Some 200 Totonicapan, Xinka & Ixil indigenous authorities awaited decision from Congress on state of siege to find out there was no vote.

- Congress stays firm in not voting on ratifying the state of siege or not. Indigenous authorities gather outside in press conference.

Yep, cowards. Clowns.

I can't follow the press conference. The Livestream keeps going down and there's no audio. I'm sure it's fiery

[Catherina]

22. The Indigenous groups have left the Congress

Xeni Jardin ‏@xeni 32minutes ago

The Indigenous groups have left the Congress. We interviewed some on their way out including Xinka Parliament

No other details. Damn.