THE MAYAN CONNECTION - LOS CIMIENTOSALLIANCE

Timeline

Hundred Year Timeline of Events in Los Cimientos / Xetzununchaj

Sources: Community of Los Cimientos Archives, CONTIERRA History, Los Cimientos Alliance, Rights Actions.

1887: First known official acknowledgment that Los Cimientos belongs to the K'iche - Pedro and Maximo Ysep (Itzep) receive approval from the Chajul Ixil Town Council to claim the area known today as Finca Los Cimientos.

1909: Guatemalan President, Manuel Estrada Cabrero, in a national grant program, officially grants Pedro and Maximo Ysep (Itzep) land title to Los Cimientos after a witnessed survey, is ratified by majority of Ixil Town Council. Two members of the Town Council, Sr. Caba and Rivera object on the grounds that they believe that Chajul lands extend to the Putul River. This idea is shown to be in error at the time of the survey after careful study of Chajul municipality title. Ysep (Itzep) title is recorded in the Public Register of Quetzaltenango. Pedro and Maximo Yzep apply for and receive Titulos Inmuebles Registrado.

1935: The K'iche (Ysep/Itzep) ownership re-inscribed in the Public Register under the names of descendants of the Ysep/Itzep brothers, Diego Itzep Rojop - (a respected, elected community leader) and Felipe Itzep Tum. These titles are Titulos Inmuebles Registrado.

1967: Municipalities of Cotzal and Chajul attempt to claim Finca Los Cimientos land through court actions. Court decisions are that the K'iche titles are affirmed and that the cases are considered Casos Juzgado - court decisions that are binding for all time - never to be retried or legally questioned.

1969: Ixil from Santa Rosa, Chajul invade Los Cimientos and kill two Los Cimientos landowners. Diego Itzep Rojop files court action and the killers are found guilty yet released due to a plea for mercy from K'iche community. Diego Itzep Rojop points out that the killers have wives and children who would suffer if they were imprisoned.

1973: More than 60 individual titles to Los Cimientos, originally registered to Diego Itzep Rojop and Felipe Tum, were distributed to members of the Los Cimientos K'iche community at the request of these two community leaders. Individual titles included in this "dismembration" were recorded in the 2nd Register of Property, (again Titulos Inmuebles Registrado - a classification that represents the highest level of a complicated and costly process that legally protects the Constitutionally guaranteed right of Private Property - a great effort for a Mayan campesino community.)

1976: Guatemalan Earthquake: Los Cimientos K'iche community generously contributes significant amount of food to neighboring Ixil communities and rescues several Ixil from the river. Descendants of some of those Ixil currently illegally occupy the K'iche owned Finca Los Cimientos.

1981-1983: The Guatemalan Army executes a scorched earth campaign that results in the massacre of thousands of non-combatant civilians and burning of hundreds of villages in several zones of Guatemala. Chajul, particularly the area of Chajul municipality in which Los Cimientos is located, suffers severe damages. The United Nations sponsored "Commission for Historical Verification" found that this Guatemalan military campaign was in truth a genocide.

Early 1982: Forced to flee from intense danger and direct military threats, 132 K'iche families of Los Cimientos, 672 people, settle in six Cunen Municipality villages near Nebaj. In six months these villages come under strong Army control and are given the identity of "Model Villages." (Villages closely controlled by the Army and "Civil Patrol" units as part of the Army's contra-insurgency policy.) Army units begin establishing themselves in Los Cimientos.

1985-87-89: the K'iche present three separate petitions to the Guatemalan government insisting that their land right be acknowledged. In each instance, their case is referred to INTA -National Institute of Agricultural Transformation, which finds the K'iche ownership of Los Cimientos is legitimate. However, also in each case, INTA lacks the means of enforcement and political power to order that the Army remove themselves from Los Cimientos. INTA refers the case to the judicial branch, which fails to push for a return of Los Cimientos to the rightful owners.

Oct. 1989: The Guatemalan Army establishes a base in Los Cimientos in order to control the CPR - Communities of Population in Resistance. This base, established on the K'iche ancestral cemetery eventually becomes what is known today as "Cimientos Xeputul"- the home site of the illegal land occupiers. Army brings 50 Chajul Ixil Civil Patrol (paramilitary) families to live in Los Cimientos. Two of the four Civil Patrol "Military Commissioners" leading this Civil Patrol are descendants of Sr. Caba and Rivera who refused to accept the 1906 land survey. The Civil Patrol are heavily armed and given orders to shoot the K'iche landowners if they attempt to return to their legally owned land, Los Cimientos. Civil Patrol units throughout the area become infamous for atrocious human rights abuses.

1993: Council of Los Cimientos Traditional Priests and Elders request international assistance, food and funding from The Maya Connection. The Mayan Connection- Los Cimientos Alliance grew out of this requested partnership and continues to this day to accompany and advocate for the Los Cimientos community. With the help of CERJ, Comunidades Etnica Runujel Juman, a Mayan Guatemalan Human Rights organization that confronted the brutal Civil Patrols during the 1980s-1990s, Los Cimientos community files suit against the Minister of Defense, requesting the removal of the Army base. Decision is in favor of the Los Cimientos K'iche landowners. The UN sends an official to investigate. The investigation finds that the K'iche are being deprived of their legal, constitutional, land rights.

1994: 200 K'iche return to their land, accompanied by CERJ and international accompaniment. Army War Audit confirms K'iche ownership of Los Cimientos. K'iche appeal to the Inter-American Commission to remove the Army base in Los Cimientos. The returning group gradually became 97 families, nearly 500 people, by 2001.

1995: A Presidential Commission land study (February, 1995) confirms the K'iche titles and land rights. The Commission recommends-orders a land survey to locate the boundary between Finca Los Cimientos and Chajul public lands. CPR living in Xaxboj, an Ixil village illegally created in Finca Los Cimientos, stop the survey by threatening the lives of the surveyors.

1998: An agricultural corporation, Agropecuaria Nabalija Anonima, arrives in court represented by a lawyer well known for his work on behalf of top military personnel. They claim to have a "pre-existing" title to Los Cimientos. Nabalija send two helicopters and 40 armed men to Los Cimientos to evict all inhabitants. The K'iche take the case to court and once again their titles and land rights are confirmed.

At this same time: The Guatemalan government, in a USAID funded project, demarcates " Caba Visis Bio Reserve" This amazingly large project includes nearly all land within the Chajul municipality. Los Cimientos is included in the "multi-use" zone - as an area where petroleum exploration and mining development are allowed. Los Cimientos owners are not consulted during the planning meetings even though all Ixil communities and political leaders within the target area are brought into meetings concerning the development of the Reserve.

Also in 1998: An agreement to give up the K'iche claim to Los Cimientos is sponsored by FONAPAZ. It is apparently fraudulently signed by four relatives of Los Cimientos landowners. The four were not elected nor appointed by K'iche landowners to make such an agreement. In a private arrangement, the group involved in the FONAPAZ agreement agree to accept a finca name El Soch. Before completing the transaction, the government has the leader of the four sign an agreement acknowledging that the government has informed him that El Soch will not support the needs of a community (minimal water, other residents competing to survive on the barren mountainous land) and that the government was not to be held responsible. (CONTIERRA History)

1998-1999: Los Cimientos leaders nationally and internationally protest the secret signing of the Dec. 8, 1998 FONAPAZ agreement. Community states that those families (24 titleholders) who wish to go to El Soch are free and welcome to do so and that the elected leadership, including the closest relatives of Diego Itzep Rojop and Miguel Tum, demand the right to maintain their claim to their land. This group includes the majority of Los Cimientos landowners and families. K'iche are represented before InterAmerican Commission by CALDH.

June, 2001: CONTIERRA announces they will present results of their extensive land study on June 26. 70 top level invitations are sent to governmental and international officials for a presentation in an exclusive Guatemala City hotel.

June 25, 2001: Chajul Ixil former Civil Patrol living in Xeputul and some CPR living in Xaxboj attack Los Cimientos community early in the morning. After allegedly raping two women in front of their children the Ixil force all families to flee. 67 landowning families are present in Los Cimientos - 30 more are working for survival money on the south coast fincas since the Ixil have not permitted the K'iche to successfully farm their own land since 1994. All local and national governmental law agencies ignore the plight of the K'iche landowners. All K'iche homes and buildings are destroyed or forcibly occupied. All belongings stolen, all K'iche food crops, ready to be harvested, are stolen and sold in Chajul markets by the outlaw Ixil. Local and national law enforcement agencies do nothing to stop the theft.

June 25-29, 2001: K'iche flee to San Marcos village near Los Cimientos trusting that law enforcement will facilitate their return to their legally owned land. Ixil threaten the leaders of San Marcos and the K'iche flee again, arriving in the Cotzal Ixil village of Xeputul II - a community of 29 permanent residents, who share their homesites with the 97 K'iche families until Dec 27 when Chajul Ixil threats and Cotzal Ixil fatigue again force the K'iche to flee. No investigation of Los Cimientos is ever made by official law enforcement or human rights observer organizations.

June 26, 2001: CONTIERRA land study, funded by USAID, World Bank and the Government of Denmark is presented in the InterContinental Hotel, confirming the titles of the Los Cimientos K'iche. The study shows clearly that the titles presented by Agropecuaria Nabalija are "ghost titles' - titles without land. Many such titles have been presented since the war and the Peace Accords were signed. During intensive K'iche negotiations with the government, the director of CONTIERRA attempts to claim that "new evidence" supports Agropecuaria's claim, even though the director of Agropecuaria acknowledged during three meetings with the K'iche that Agropecuaria land is not Los Cimientos.

June, July, August, Sept, October, November, December, 2001, January, February...2002: K'iche live as penniless, landless "displaced persons", begging for food from international aid organizations and the Guatemalan government. At the present time, (March 2002) the K'iche are on a small piece of land near Nebaj, an area known for overcrowded conditions and freezing cold nights. They have minimal survival shelter, less than sufficient blankets, and since mid-January, no food is forthcoming from international aid organizations. The K'iche negotiating team is meeting time and again, at their own financial cost, with the government in a heroic effort to keep their case alive.

July 2, 2001: Lawyer for the displaced K'iche files a complaint against the Ixil invaders for the crimes of June 25, 2001. A judge in Nebaj refuses to issue arrest warrants, citing "insufficient" evidence, despite the presentation of boxes of substantial documentation brought forth by the K'iche landowners.

July 6, 2001: With Bishop Julio Cabrera of Quiche as mediator, negotiations begin between the Landowners and the illegal land occupiers. The K'iche again are forced into defending their right to their land. Tables of negotiation take place over a period of several months, as the K'iche plead to return to their ancestral land. The Ixil admit the crimes committed on June 25 and that the K'iche are the legal owners of the land. The Ixil also threaten further violence if the K'iche return. The Guatemalan government states that it is incapable of enforcing the rule of law in Chajul and states that if the K'iche return home they will be the cause of a "civil war." The K'iche present several offers of how to resolve the theft of their land, all including providing land to and sharing the area with the Ixil. The government states that if the K'iche will "be flexible"...give up their land, the government will give them new land and help them with each step of the relocation. Guatemalan governmental Conflict Resolution Agency, UPRECO, and MINUGUA (UN Verification Team,) are present. UPRECO is made up of CONTIERRA- Guatemalan land conflict resolution commission, SEPAZ- Guatemalan Presidential Secretariat of the Peace, SAE - Secretariat of Civil Intelligence, COPREDEH - Presidential Human Rights Commission and SCEP - Presidential Executive Secretariat. The K'iche believe and eventually accept the offer of new land when it becomes clear that there is no support for the rule of law.

July, 2001: Plan Pueblo-Panama, an international economic project stretching from Southern Mexico to Panama is launched. Los Cimientos is within its geographical mandate that includes emphasis on "eco-tourism" projects.

Oct. 25, 2001: UPRECO publicly states its commitment to a rapid and permanent resolution to the land dispute. After repeated requests from the K'iche UPRECO issues a written statement promising to provide new land. Its goals are to search for adequate replacement land where the K'iche could live and economically sustain themselves, in return for giving up ownership for Los Cimientos. In fact, there no longer exists pieces of land available in Guatemala as large, fertile, productive and water rich as Los Cimientos. The K'iche offer to accept 2 or 3 pieces of land to arrive at the extension of land taken from them. They now find themselves locked into a phrase in the UPRECO offer - stating that the government will give them "one finca" - the same extension as Los Cimientos. The community continues to suffer in refugee circumstances, without adequate housing and less than adequate food. Each week during the negotiations the Los Cimientos representatives also must attend Humanitarian Aid meetings in order to convince Guatemalan governmental and international agencies to provide the refugees with sufficient food to survive.

Nov. 13, 2001: CALDH, Guatemalan based Center for Human Rights Legal Action again presents the K'iche case against the Republic of Guatemala regarding the June 25, 2001 attack before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission in Washington DC. The Commission also has a K'iche case pending for the 1981-82 Army expulsion of the community and accumulated damages. Commission sends demands for the Guatemalan government to respond to within 15 days: 1. A public commitment on the part of the State to resolve the Los Cimientos issue by offering new land to the displaced K'iche landowners. 2. Compensation for damages since the original displacement in 1981-82. 3. Public admission of responsibility for that displacement. 4. On-going information to be provided to the Inter-American commission on progress in the criminal case against the June 25, 2001 invaders.

Nov.-Dec., 2001: Los Cimientos twice submits proposal to UPRECO describing acceptable land exchange details, inviting further discussion and negotiation.. Proposal includes: 1. a request that the government buy adequate, productive land with clear titles in return for the K'iche giving up their legal titles to Los Cimientos, 2. Creation of two committees - Government and K'iche, to search for and evaluate the new land. 3. Financial and technical assistance to make sustainable life possible on the new land. 4. Compensation for the million dollars worth of damages resulting from the June 25 attack. 5. Writing a verified history of Los Cimientos with the assistance of an NGO. UPRECO promises response yet none is given to date. UPRECO continues to publicly state that it will be dangerous for the K'iche to attempt to return to their legally owned land as the Ixil land occupants continue threats of further violence. Government representatives repeatedly insist that they are unable to do anything to establish rule of law in Los Cimientos, nor to bring about the arrest of the four leaders of the June 25 attack and that the K'iche will be the cause of violence if they attempt to return. K'iche continue to be forced to beg for food for their families.

Also in Dec., 2001: As a result of Ixil threats against the small village where the K'iche have lived as refugees since July, the host community demands that they leave. December 29 the K'iche relocate to Batzula, near Nebaj. A local land owner grants them 2 months residency on an open field. Nights are freezing cold. They arrive with no blankets and only rolls of plastic to create temporary shelters.

Jan., 2002: Two representatives from government - UPRECO and SEGEPLAN, agency coordinating humanitarian relief visit community making promises of food in return for work - building latrines, improving road, etc. Promise is also made to give food to families with children in school. Community is running out of food.

Feb. 7, 2002: Los Cimientos representatives present reports of community having fulfilled work for food projects. SEGEPLAN coordinator informs them that World Food Program will not accept the above described work projects and that only the children in school will receive food - if the Ministry of Education provides either a breakfast or a lunch. Community is out of food supplies.

Feb. 11, 2002: Community submits written request to UPRECO for them to initiate negotiations for a small but highly productive land the land search team has found. Land owner and Los Cimientos Alliance urge UPRECO to give a positive response as this small area will at least provide the K'iche with some land to be on and productive crops to sell. No response is given. Director of SCEP - (governmental ministry sponsoring UPRECO,) is fired for activities not related to Los Cimientos issue, new Director arrives.

Feb. 14, 2002: World Food Program visits refugee site. Describes work (educational programs) for food projects. WFP was notified in advance that key community leaders will not be present due to morning court hearing regarding June 25 attack leaders. When a representative from the Governors office insists on talking about resolution of land issue community becomes concerned due to past experiences and state that they are not authorized to sign any documents without the presence of community leaders. WFP delegation leaves before leaders return at noon. SEGEPLAN receives complaints regarding Los Cimientos leaders absence and refusal of community to sign documents.

Feb. 27, 2002: UPRECO meeting that should vote to initiate negotiations on new land. Los Cimientos request not voted on. The next day, UPRECO is disbanded, returning the case of Los Cimientos to CONTIERRA.

March 1, 2002: Los Cimientos community must leave refugee site - there is nowhere for them to go. There is no food forthcoming until WFP receives "cronograms" from the community regarding educational work for food projects. There is no confirmation from new SCEP director that the government will honor the October agreement to buy new land. Rumors from Los Cimientos say that a government helicopter arrived in February to tell the Ixil that now the government or a large business now owns Los Cimientos and the Ixil must prepare to leave. K'iche community is left in limbo with more than 400 children suffering from exposure related illnesses and malnutrition.

For a written history refer to: "History".