Guatemala: News & Updates

We wrote to authorities in Guatemala to protest the forced displacement of the Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Chapín Abajo in El Estor, Izabal Department, carried out by agents of the National Civilian Police (PNC) and paramilitary forces.

On December 6, Guatemalan security forces arrived to carry out an eviction on behalf of the palm oil company NaturAceites, a member of the international Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. Together with paramilitary forces, they raided homes of families, stealing their food and personal belongings. They fired tear gas on the residents. An investigative delegation arrived later and confirmed that several people were injured. A 17-year-old was seriously wounded and hospitalized in critical condition. At least one other young man was missing. Two other men suffered gunshot wounds. Several women were beaten and sustained injuries to their faces and bodies.

During the past several months, several Q'eqchi' communities have been evicted in the region of Alta Verapaz, Izabal and Petén.

We wrote to authorities in Guatemala to protest the forced displacement of the Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Se’inup’ in El Chal, Petén Department, carried out by agents of the National Civilian Police (PNC).

During the past several months, Q'eqchi' communities have been evicted in the region of Alta Verapaz, Izabal and Petén, despite the organized resistance of the Indigenous communities. Local government authorities continue to side with more powerful economic and political interests. In the case of Se’inup’, where 56 families engage in subsistence farming, they have been working through the legal process of land titling. Whether the state would give them all their land or half, they were ready to accept the ruling. In the meantime, they have nowhere else to go.

We are urging that authorities in Guatemala: (1) legally resolve the land conflict and grant at least half of the land to the families of Se’inup’, (2) stop issuing eviction orders while legal processes are still pending, and (3) stop siding with the interests of private companies over the needs of subsistence farmers

We wrote to authorities in Guatemala urging the immediate release of prisoner of conscience Virginia Laparra. False criminal charges against her could result in a prison sentence of up to nine years.

Former prosecutor Virginia Laparra was head of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity (FECI) in Quetzaltenango, where she led investigations into corruption and large-scale crime. The criminal prosecution against her began in 2018, after having reported to the Board Disciplinary of the Judicial Branch possible inappropriate conduct by a judge accused of leaking confidential information on a case in which he was working. In retaliation, this same judge filed two criminal complaints against her: in July 2018 in Quetzaltenango and in August 2019 in Guatemala City. Since then, the former prosecutor has had to defend herself simultaneously in two parallel processes initiated by the same plaintiff, despite the fact that they relate to the same events. Authorities arrested Virginia Laparra on February 23, 2022 as she left her job in Quezaltenango, and since then she has been unfairly held in preventive detention.

Virginia Laparra has suffered an egregious violation of the rights to due process and a fair trial.  We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Virginia Laparra after an unjust detention of more than nine months.

We wrote to authorities in Guatemala urging protection for Luis Adolfo Ich Choc, an elected representative of the Ancestral Council of the Q'eqchi' People of El Estor, Izabal Department. In recent months, Luis Adolfo Ich Choc has been the victim of robbery (September 16) and a beating that left him with a fractured shoulder (October 19). He is being targeted because of his active role in the organized resistance to the El Fénix nickel mine.

The nickel mining operation has been a source of contention and violence for many years in El Estor, a community where 90% of the inhabitants are indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’. The Swiss-Russian consortium Solway Investment Group purchased the mine from HudBay Minerals in 2011; the mine is operated by its subsidiary, the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN). For the past 15 years, impacted residents have reiterated that the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) did not obtain their free, prior, and informed consent as required by national and international law (ILO Convention 169, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of 1989). In its ruling in 2019, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala ratified the right to consultation and resolved that the mining company had to suspend its mining activity.  The company later carried out a “consultation” but excluded many key actors, including the fishing communities and the local indigenous authorities. The mining operations continue in defiance of the spirit of the court ruling.