Guatemala: Indigenous and Rural Communities March to Defend Their Land
Guatemala: Indigenous and Rural Communities March to Defend Their Land
Posted 29 March 2012 14:44 GMT
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/03/29/guatemala-indigenous-and-rural-communities-march-to-defend-their-land/
Thousands of Guatemalan indigenous people and campesinos (countrymen) participated in a nine-day march to defend their lands, protest forced relocations, and call attention to other issues affecting rural communities. Cultural Survival explains:
Elimination of agrarian debt imposed by the state on farmers; a just redistribution of land, allowing farmers at least a terrain to provide subsistence crops.
Termination of forced relocations, in particular the ongoing problem in the Polochic Vally, Alta Verapaz, where hundreds of families were violently evicted from their homes to make way for African palm and sugar plantations in March of 2011.
End to persecution and criminalization of Indigenous people fighting for their rights, including the 8 Indigenous women of San Miguel Ixtahuacán who have orders for capture for speaking out against the Marlin Mine.
More .....
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Guatemala: indigenous protesters march on the capital
Submitted by Weekly News Update on Tue, 04/03/2012 - 00:54.
Some 1,500 indigenous campesinos arrived in Guatemala City on March 27 after an eight-day, 214-kilometer walk from Cobán, Alta Verapaz department, to promote their demands for land, debt cancellation and a halt to mining operations. Supporters joined them as they approached the capital, and the number of marchers eventually swelled to about 10,000, forming a line that stretched for 6 km. The protesters announced that they would stay encamped in the central Plaza de la Constitución until their main demands were met.
The campesinos presented the government a total of 68 demands, some addressed to the court system, some to the Congress and some to the executive. One major focus was on providing land and aid for the 600 families that were violently evicted from their settlements in the Polochic Valley a year ealier, in March 2011. Another demand was for the cancellation of some $100 million that campesinos owe to the government for loans they have used to acquire land; the campesinos say the most of the land offered was not suitable for farming and didn't produce enough to pay off the debt. Additional demands included the release of dozens of detained campesino leaders, and passage of Law 4084 (Integral Rural Development) and Law 4087 (Community Communication Media).
This was the first major campesino and indigenous protest that President Otto Pérez Molina has had to deal with since he took office on Jan. 14 amid accusations that he committed human rights violations against indigenous communities in the 1980s. He and Vice President Roxana Baldetti surprised the marchers by going to meet them on the highway on March 23 with an offer to negotiate and a request for them to end the march. The protesters continued with the march, but the government began the negotiating process with them soon after they reached Guatemala City.
The march was organized by the Campesino Unity Committee (CUC), one of the country's main campesino organizations. Vicente Menchú, the father of 1992 Nobel peace prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum, was a cofounder of the group, which was formed in the 1970s. (Adital, Brazil, March 26, from TeleSUR, March 28; AFP, March 27, via Univision)
http://www.ww4report.com/node/10953
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Published: Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2012 / Updated: Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2012 05:49 PM
Guatemala farmers protest against land expulsions
The Associated Press
GUATEMALA CITY --
Thousands of indigenous farmers have finished an eight-day march to Guatemala's capital to protest government-backed land seizures by large landowners.
A government spokesman says President Otto Perez Molina will meet with the protesters Tuesday afternoon.
The protesters say they want a halt to small farmers being driven off land in favor of sugar plantations, mines and oil projects.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said this month that Guatemalan police acting on government orders have expelled hundreds of Indian families from their land.
More, with photos:
http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/27/3852372/guatemala-farmers-protest-against.html#storylink=cpy
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Guatemala City – An estimated 10,000 indigenous people marched on Monday in the Guatemalan capital after they walked more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) to demand a government settlement of a conflict over land.
Tired and sweating, with bags slung over their shoulders and waving red pennants, the thousands of Indians and peasants, who were joined by social organizations, students and labor unions, marched through the historic downtown area before meeting with President Otto Perez Molina.
The director of the Committee for Peasant Unity who called the march that set out March 19 from the northern city of Coban, Daniel Pascual, told Efe that the Indians “are pretty tired now, but in hopes” of finding an satisfactory answer to their demands.
A number of women carrying toddlers on their backs and with their feet cracked from walking so far, Efe observed, were visibly exhausted.
More:
http://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/10000-indigenous-protestors-march-on-guatemala-capital/#more-781