Front Line Defenders notes the displacement of communities by large-scale agribusiness plantations

Abelino Salvador Mejía will be speaking on this PBI-Canada organized webinar on Sunday March 13 starting at 2:30 pm EDT.

The Front Line Defenders Global Analysis report released today notes: “Communities across the Americas continue to be displaced to make way for corporations to develop large-scale agribusiness plantations, such as for sugar cane and oil palm.”

That report further notes that human rights defenders in Guatemala have been subjected to criminalization for defending their land and territories.

This would include the human rights defenders who have spoken against the environmental harms of the sugar industry on the South Coast of Guatemala.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Abelino Salvador Mejía, Virgilio García Carrillo, Anabella España Reyes and Flabio Vicente.

They will be in court on Monday March 14.

The day before, Sunday March 13, Abelino will be on a PBI-Canada organized webinar providing an update on their case and situation.

To register for this webinar, click here.

The land given over to sugarcane production in Guatemala has grown by 46 per cent between 2001 and 2012. Notably, sugarcane requires three times more water than corn, the primary subsistence crop for campesinos in Guatemala.

There are eleven sugar mills in Guatemala.

Prensa Comunitaria has reported: “Abelino is one of the four defendants for the crimes of illegal detention, threat and coercion; the person who denounced him claims to be the legal representative of the El Pilar sugar mill.”

That article adds: “Two other sugar mills [Magdalena and Tulula] had also filed charges against him and three other peasants, but they desisted shortly after.”

The Guatemalan Sugar Association (ASAZGUA) has identified Canada as the top export destination for Guatemalan sugar.

And the Canadian Sugar Institute notes: “Raw sugar is transported by ship in bulk cargo to refineries located at deep water ports in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.”

Those sugar refineries are Rogers Sugar (Vancouver), Redpath Sugar Ltd (Toronto) and Lantic Inc. (Montreal).

Lantic and Rogers have merged and in June 2021 produced this ESG Report that says: “Rogers’ raw material sourcing is responsible.”

Redpath says its “Corporate Social Responsibility Program is an ongoing commitment to continuous assessment of our supply chain.”

This webinar and continued research will begin to look at the links between Guatemalan sugar exports and Canadian sugar imports.

Abelino says: “We need people to realize that when they consume sugar, it has an impact on the life of the communities and on the right to water for all.”

To register for our webinar happening on March 13, click here.