Submitted by the Los Cimientos Alliance/USA:
Guatemala:
Urgent Action March 10, 2002, Guatemala City
Indigenous
Community Deprived of Land & Human Rights
The Los Cimientos Alliance/USA has announced that on
Thursday, February 28, 2002 a Guatemalan governmental agency, the Presidential
Conflict Resolution Commission (UPRECO) was suddenly dissolved. Consequently
negotiations regarding the theft and replacement of Finca Los Cimientos have
broken down. This results in the Los Cimientos Maya K’iche landowners,
presently living as refugees, being left without food, without land and without
protection of the Rule of Law... and with little hope.
Though the government promised swift and just
resolution of the situation, the K’iche are now in their 9th month since being
forcibly driven from Los Cimientos. The K’iche have been living without
adequate food, without source of income, in totally insufficient housing and
with endless unfulfilled promises from the Guatemalan government. All crops in
Los Cimientos were stolen and sold while local and national police authorities
permitted the theft to continue. The K’iche are currently living on a
temporarily donated site - the third since they were driven from their land
June 25. Their agreed upon occupation of this site expired on February 27, 2002
yet they remain there with no other option. The last food delivery to this
refugee community, minimal rations for less than a month, was made in early
January of this year.
Lack of enforcement of the Rule of Law in Chajul,
Quiche, Guatemala prevents the K’iche landowners from returning to their home
sites and planting fields that are still occupied by the Ixil invaders. The
K’iche were forced to accept a Guatemalan government offer to “give” them “new
land” elsewhere, however, the government offer has not been fulfilled - nor
have any of the government’s original promises that were made during
negotiations moderated by the Bishop of Quiche. The government promised that if
the K’iche would agree to give up their land - (because the Chajul Ixil had
threatened further violence,) the
government would help the K’iche “all the way.” There has been no support -
only long and costly journeys to endless meetings and requirements to submit
repeated proof of their ownership of land that has already been proven beyond
any doubt. The K’iche community has fully co-operated in all negotiations and
has apparently surprised governmental bodies by supplying all documentation
requested.
Context:
The Maya K’iche community of Los Cimientos was first
driven from their land by the Army in 1982. In 1989, the Army placed Chajul
Ixil Civil Patrol families in Los Cimientos. After suffering as refugees for 12
years, about a hundred K’iche families returned to live in a small area of Los
Cimientos in 1994 - surrounded by Ixil squatters. In 1995, a Presidential Commission confirmed that the K’iche are
the legal owners of the disputed land. They promised a swift return of the
fertile water-rich land following a survey of a boundary between Chajul and Los
Cimientos. The survey was never completed because CPR living in Los Cimientos
threatened the lives of the surveyors. The Ixil continued to occupy the
majority of the land, terrorizing the K’iche families while national and local
authorities ignored the situation. On June 25, 2001 the K’iche were attacked
and driven from their land. They hold documents that date back 111 years. The
attack occurred one day before a land study, funded by USAID, World Bank and
the Government of Denmark, was
presented to 70 top governmental officials on June 26, 2001 stating clearly,
once again, that the K’iche are the
legal owners of Finca Los Cimientos.
In 1970 there were two court decisions confirming
the K’iche ownership - supposedly decisions that were “for all time”. In 1994
an Army War Audit again confirmed the K’iche titles. In 1995 the Presidential
Commission confirmed the titles and, on
June 26, 2001 - the Guatemalan land
conflict resolution commission, CONTIERRA, again confirmed the K’iche right to
their land. Los Cimientos is now found to be in the economic development zone
(oil, mining and eco-tourism) of a large bio-reserve, Caba-Visis Bio-Reserve,
that is in the path of Plan
Puebla Panama - international investment.
June 25, 2001
- a mob of
up to 100 men - including some former Civil Patrollers, some CPR and men
recruited from Chajul, attacked the community. 97 houses were destroyed,
dismantled or occupied by the attackers - forcing 67 families to flee. It is
known that two women were raped in front of their children, while their
husbands were tied and beaten. Seven children were kidnapped and returned
terrorized to their fleeing families the next day. About 30 Los Cimientos
families were working on south coast fincas because constant harassment by the
Ixil- including destruction of K’iche food crops and torture of community
members - had forced the landowners to work on the coast to supply food for
their families.
More than 500 children, women and men were left
homeless, with all food and personal belongings stolen. The full Los Cimientos
community is about 230 families - 1080 people. Many have lived for years as
refugees in villages near Nebaj or other areas because fear of Ixil violence
kept them from returning home. Today the K’iche are desperately struggling to
survive while they attempt to continue negotiations with the government. The
Los Cimientos families have been left without food, constantly trying to cope
with increasingly complicated requirements from international aid organizations
that might result in minimal rations of food for their families. They have
performed “work for food” projects, only to find that the projects did not fit
the mandate of the donor organization - even though a governmental
representative promised them it did. There are more than 400 Los Cimientos
K’iche children currently without adequate food or housing. Governmental
negotiations have halted, apparently due to changes within Presidential
Secretariat personnel. The Human - and
Constitutional - Rights of the K’iche have been violated.
Recommended
Action: Please write/fax to the
Guatemalan authorities listed below, and to your Congressional representatives,
expressing your strong concern about the current lack of food in the refugee
site; failure to fulfill governmental promises and breakdown of all meaningful
avenues of negotiations. Urge that the Human Rights of the K’iche from Los
Cimientos be protected - especially the Human Rights of Children to have food
and shelter. Demand that the K’iche community be provided with adequate food
and housing while working towards a resolution to this tragic situation in
which a peaceful indigenous community has, for more than 20 years, been cruelly
deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed right to enjoy their legally
owned land. Their immediate need for food
and housing is URGENT.
Please write/fax to: (Guatemalan Ambassador in the
USA and the Prensa Libre....)
Lic Alfonso
Portillo Cabrera
Presidente
de la Republica de Guatemala
Palacio Nacional, 6 Avenida “A” 4-41, Zona 1 (Canada now runs the mail
service so there is
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala some possibility that your letter might arrive)
Fax# from the USA: 011-502-238-3579 E-Mail: secgralp@terra.com.gt
Lic. Dr. Jorge Perez
Director
Secretariate de Coordinación Ejecutiva de la Presidencia
5a Av. 6-06
Zona 1, Edificio I.P.M. 4to Nivel, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala.
Fax # from the USA: 011- 502- 220-3082 E-Mail: jperez@concyt.gob.gt
Dr. Miguel
Van Hagen
Director
Secretariate de Coordinación de Planificacion y Programacion de la Presidencia,
9a. Calle
10-44, Zona 1, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax # from the USA: 011-502-253-3127 E-Mail: mvanhagen@segeplan.gob.gt
Ing. Pedro
Pablo Palma
Director, CONTIERRA, Guatemalan Land Conflict Resolution Commission
Avenida Hincapie
5-71, Zona 13
Ciudad de
Guatemala, Guatemala
Tele/fax # from the USA: 011-502-332-6468 E-Mail: contierr@infovia.com.gt
Submitted by the Los Cimientos Alliance USA. . E-mail: mayan42@aol.com Telephone in Guatemala- 502-507-0269
Los
Cimientos Alliance/USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has worked
in partnership with the landowners of Los Cimientos as their human rights
advocates and humanitarian resource since 1993. For
the Right of A People to Live