PBI-Guatemala accompanies Chinautla and Retalhuleu communities at anti-Monsanto Law food festival

Published by Brent Patterson on June 6, 2024

PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“Yesterday [May 29] #PBIacompanies the Multisectoral of Chinautla and the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) in a gastronomic festival for the second anniversary of the delivery of the initiative 6086 (law of Biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge) and against the so-called Monsanto law, all celebrated at the door of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala.

The first article of the initiative states: the objective of this law is to guarantee the respect, recognition, conversation and protection of indigenous and peasant ancestral knowledge and practices, as well as the biological diversity in their territories, their ecological balance and convenience with the people, peoples, indigenous and peasant communities.

This festival brought together ancestral authorities and organizations from most of the country, with the REDSAG [the National Network for the Defense of Food Sovereignty in Guatemala] with the objective of exhibiting different typical dishes of the national geography, made free of pesticides, chemicals and GMOs [genetically modified organisms].”

The Ministry of Agriculture in Guatemala (MAGA) approved field trials for genetically modified (GMO) crops in 2004. In 2006, MAGA approved commercial production for export purposes. The Monsanto Law was approved in June 2014 but repealed in September 2014 after ten days of widespread street protests. In September 2023, EFE reported: “Dozens of Guatemalan small farmers protested on Wednesday against the possible approval of a bill they call the ‘Monsanto Law’, an initiative that, according to them, threatens the ‘ancestral heritage of indigenous seeds, corn and other foods.’”

In October 2022, Shado Magazine reported:

“REDSAG’s most recent initiative to defend their biodiversity, as well their ancestral knowledge, is through proposing a new law at a national level called the ‘Initiative 6086, the Biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge Law. 

As stated in REDSAG’s communique: The proposed law seeks to defend biodiversity and ancestral knowledge from the extractive model, looting, plundering by companies and corrupt politicians; it also states that the use of ancestral knowledge should be for the benefit of indigenous peoples and humanity.

David Paredes, a member of the National Network in Defence of Food Sovereignty in Guatemala (REDSAG), asserts that the approving of this law would not be the end of the struggle but it would definitely be a huge step in the right direction – and would set a precedent for the entire continent. On the 31st May 2022, it was officially handed in to the National Congress of Guatemala and continues to be in process.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Multisectoral of Chinautla since December 2018 and the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) since April 2020.