Emilie Teresa Smith: Bad old days in the Guatemalan highlands

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      By Emilie Teresa Smith

      Late afternoon and all night long last Thursday (October 4), rain washed the blood down into culverts along the Inter-American highway that snakes through the Guatemalan mountains. Eight Maya-K’iche’ community leaders, peasant farmers, and students were dead or dying, with 30 more injured—fired upon by government soldiers. The protesters had been occupying the road all day at the cold, high summit called Alaska concerned about three things: uncontrolled hikes in rates by the now-privatized electrical company, a total transformation in the educational process for new teachers (making it much harder for poor and rural students to graduate), and complete lack of consultation by the national government around proposed constitutional reforms—changes that would have a tremendous impact on community governance and control over their territories.

      Violence by government troops is nothing new in these lands, or to those on whom this violence has been inflicted—Guatemala’s majority Maya indigenous people. Our hemisphere’s greatest blood-shedding occurred in the 1980s when government troops fanned out and killed a quarter-million people. Memory of the war is still fresh—though often unspoken—in most people’s minds.

      And the causes of the war still mark the country: extreme poverty and marginalization of indigenous people, wildly unbalanced distribution of arable land, imposition from outside economic powers (there to squeeze a buck any-which-way out of these rich lands) from the original invaders, Spaniards out to get gold, then coffee barons of the 19th century, gringo banana barons of the 20th, and finally Canadian mining companies seeking gold—again—in the 21rst.

      When General Otto Perez Molina won the elections last year, and when he took office in January, no one really knew what to expect. How could it get any worse? More than 200 bus drivers a year getting killed, extortion on a grand scale, sky-rocketing drug violence, ever more women murdered—6,500 average dead a year. Perez Molina promised “Mano Dura”. An Iron Fist.

      The Iron Fist has arrived. The whole countryside—especially in zones of social conflict—has become a renewed military zone. Five new bases have been opened since January, ostensibly to fight drug crime, but much of the focus has been on controlling community protest—which focuses mainly on protection of indigenous territories from foreign mega-projects. The first large military action was in Cunen, in the war-scarred department of Quiché. Next, military bases were imposed on two high-conflict areas—Chajul, Quiché, and San Juan, Sacatepequez, where hydro-electric and cement factory projects have been sites of energetic community protest for years. In May, trouble erupted in Barillas, Huehuetenango, over a proposed Spanish hydro-electric project, which community leaders claim was imposed on them without proper consultation. One man was killed during clashes with government security forces, and Perez Molina promptly imposed martial law on the region. Several dozen community leaders are still in jail. And last Thursday—Totonicapan. With unimaginable deadly force, the peaceful blockade along the highway was attacked.

      The united 48 villages of the department Totonicapan are among the best organized among the Maya in Guatemala. Totonicapenses consider themselves the descendants of Atanasio Tzul, the great Maya-K’iche’ leader who in the first decades of the 19th century successfully fought the Spanish colonial church and government. Totonicapan has ever been a guarding place for traditional ways. This is evident in the rotating forms of leadership which maintain territory and practice authority despite the ravages of war, genocide, and environmental attacks. Passing through Toto—all of a sudden—there are trees, more trees, and white, clear rivers. The forest guardians walk through these woods, and there isn’t a whiff of the Canadian mining invasion, so present elsewhere in the country.

      On Saturday (October 6), the town square of Totonicapan, and all the streets leading to it were crammed with mourners, and with protesters, determined not to stand down. On Friday (October 12), as Columbus Day is marked up and down the continent, students, indigenous leaders, and peasant farmers from all of the Western Highland departments of Guatemala have promised to fill every town square. Isabel Yax, community leader from Toto, says it in a few words, “Government troops or no, the conquest here has failed.”

      Emilie Teresa Smith, a Canadian Anglican priest, writer, and community activist, has worked for almost 30 years with Guatemala. She lives in Santa Cruz del Quiché, department of Quiché, Guatemala.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Peter Gregg

      Oct 12, 2012 at 6:06am

      I am glad to see that this piece is classified as "Commentary" not "News" The author has presented a very biased and slanted black and white view. The indigenous people of Totonicapan are presented as saints and the government of Guatemala and the Canadian mining companies as devils. There are plenty of shades of gray that tell a more complete and honest picture than depicted in this article.
      No reasonable person would disagree that the indigenous peoples of Guatemala have been abused and poorly treated by past governments and the ladino community. Blocking highways is seen by these communities as an effective way to make their point and this is done often causing huge damage to the economy. Since they do not participate in the formal economy , this is of little concern to them. The Perez government has pledged to stop these illegal actions. This is supported by the vast majority of the population. The error was using the military to do this. This job should have been left to the police.
      The education issue you raised is also very slanted. The objective of this policy is to raise the standard of education of the teachers to level where they can prepare their students to have options for employment other than menial labour.
      As for mining, 50% of the royalties are paid directly to the communities impacted by the mining operation not to the central government. If you look at these communities before the mine came after, you would not be so quick to demonize the mining companies. Much of the anti mining dissent comes from people who are on the periphery of these projects and have not seen any direct benefits coming to them. About 40 cents on every dollar of gold or silver produced remains in Guatemala in the form of royalties, taxes, duties, wages, company community programs etc.
      Rights Action and Mining Watch are anti mining, not responsible mining advocates. Mining is here to stay in Guatemala as it has been in the rest of the world for thousands of years. The correct approach to take for people of your persuasion is to work with these communities, not to denigrate mining, but to ensure that the communities receive what is rightfully due to them in a safe environment. This way it will be a win win for both sides.
      I am a Canadian resident of Guatemala working as a CSR/Sustainability external advisor to the resource extraction companies in Latin America and, am past president of the Canada Guatemala Chamber of Commerce. These are my personal views.

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      Justin Berger

      Oct 12, 2012 at 6:06pm

      WOW! so let me get this straight Peter Gregg, "damage to the economy" means it's okay for a government to send in troops and murder its own citizens?!. Sounds pretty devilish to me--- heck you should know being consultant for those very same mining companies who are ruining Canada's good name in Latin America. Oh, so the police would have been better eh? You know your probably right- they would have been content with rape and torture-- no need for all out murder. What you call "non participation in the formal economy" I call trying to earn an honest living off the land-- the only alternative is starvation, and with rates of child hunger second only to Saharan Africa, about half of Guatemalan kids are doing just that.

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      ugh

      Oct 15, 2012 at 11:47am

      "Since they do not participate in the formal economy , this is of little concern to them."

      What in the hell does that mean? You talk like they're a bunch of nomadic tribesmen living off the land and trading mangoes for currency, unconcerned with how the government affects their lives. Shmuck.

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      iSheep

      Oct 17, 2012 at 8:27am

      Canadian companies that support that corrupt Government should be exposed and boycotted.

      Canadians should reconsider their travel to places like this including Mexico & Costa Rica.

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