PBI-Guatemala accompanies UVOC as public ministry and police collect testimony about eviction of community of Quejec

On May 6, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“Yesterday, PBI accompanied the community of Quejec [in the Alta Verapaz] accompanied by UVOC [the Verapaz Union of Campesino Organizations] during the visual inspection and taking of testimonial statements by the MP [Public Ministry] of Tucurú and the PNC [National Civil Police] of Cobán, police station 51. The investigation process corresponds to an eviction registered in this community on April 7.”

In August 2018, The Guardian reported: “According to the NGO Udefegua, which monitors official records, there were 483 serious acts of aggression against people fighting for their lands in 2017. More than 300 evictions have been registered in 2018.”

It further explains: “Guatemala’s largely indigenous population say their rights have been violated since the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, dispossessing their communities and driving them into the less fertile highlands.”

“A peace agreement in 1996 should have led to land redistribution, but a handful of powerful families still dominates the economy, and Guatemala remains one of the world’s least equal and most violent countries, with the largest 2.5% of farms occupying more than 65% of the land.”

It also quotes Mike Taylor of the International Land Coalition who says: “People are being evicted illegally, even if they have title to land.”

PBI-Guatemala has been accompanying UVOC since 2005, following threats and serious intimidation against some of its members.