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Land, environmental activist killings surge in Guatemala: report
Global Witness finds Guatemala experienced sharpest increase in number of land, environmental defenders murders in 2018.
Guatemalans protest against President Jimmy Morales and demand justice for the murders of those killed while defending the right to land and natural resources [Edwin Bercian/EPA] Guatemalans protest against President Jimmy Morales and demand justice for the murders of those killed while defending the right to land and natural resources [Edwin Bercian/EPA]
Jorge Juc left the house before sunrise last Thursday. While he tended his cornfield in eastern Guatemala, the 77-year-old indigenous Maya Q'eqchi' community leader was killed in a machete attack.
Juc was president of the village chapter of the Campesino Development Committee (CODECA), a national indigenous-led social movement organisation working for land rights, a plurinational state, energy nationalisation and other issues.
Four CODECA-affiliated community leaders have been killed this month alone, all in the municipality of Livingston, in the Izabal department. Izabal is home to mining operations, oil palm plantations and decades of Maya Q'eqchi' community displacement.
Isidro Perez and Melesio Ramirez were killed July 5 when more than a dozen armed men opened fire on participants in a land rights action. Julio Ramirez was shot multiple times on July 12 and died the next day.
More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/land-environmental-activist-killings-surge-guatemala-report-190729202602098.html