PBI-Guatemala accompanies Union of Verapaz Campesino Organizations in Tucurú

On May 4, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“#PBI accompanies UVOC to the Public Ministry of Tucurú.”

In that local context, the Union of Verapaz Campesino Organizations (UVOC) has explained: “The Santa Teresa Hydroelectric and the Shintun Agriculture S.A. municipality of San Miguel Tucuru, are the main plaintiffs against the communities that were stripped of their land that was an ancestral belonging to them.”

Two years ago, UVOC posted this 1:42 minute video along with the text:

“50 Mayan Q’eqchi’ families of the Chitun community in San Miguel Tucuru, demand that Mr. Juan Luis Bosch president of the Santa Teresa Hydroelectric Plant return the land where they lived, since they were taken from them since they were imposed on them the project that works with a capacity of 24 megawatts with which they divert the Polochic River.”

In January 2017, Avispa Midia explained: “In the case of the Santa Teresa hydroelectric plant, it belongs to the company Agro Comercializadora del Polochic, SA (AGROPOLOCHIC), a member of the CM [Corporacion Multi Inversiones] consortium.”

That article adds: “EGI Guatemala was involved in the construction of the Santa Teresa hydroelectric plant, located in the Polochic region, in the municipality of Tucurú, which is owned by the Agropolochic company, a member of the CM group.”

It further notes that EGI Guatemala is the main subsidiary of ENEL in Guatemala, which owns the El Canada hydroelectric dam. That dam has been described as a “controversial carbon finance project”.

The Santa Teresa dam is situated on the Polochic River, a vital river that discharges 70 per cent of the total freshwater input to Lake Izabal.

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Union of Verapaz Campesino Organizations (UVOC) since 2005.