“This week, #PBI is accompanying Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Choc in El Estor. On this occasion, we visited the COCODE [Community Councils for Urban and Rural Development] of the El Renacer community. They are currently working on measuring the plots and land of the entire community so that they can be properly registered in the RIC [the Cadastral Information Registry] and become the owners of the homes in their community.”
On August 27, Choc posted several updates from El Estor (that we share in chronological order):
#Urgent More than 3,000 National Civil Police (PNC) officers gathered at the soccer field in the San Jorge neighborhood of El Estor, Izabal. According to confidential sources, this is an eviction procedure. #CommunityJournalism Video Aj Ral Ch’och’.
#Urgent PNC agents are traveling to the village of Río Zarco to carry out an eviction order. Justice of the Peace Sandra Ayala Tello is accompanying this proceeding. We will be sharing more information from the scene. #CommunityJournalism
#Eviction Police arrive at the community of La Ceiba, El Estor, Izabal. According to community members, they were not notified. There are more than 30 families living in the community. #CommunityJournalism
#Eviction Sandra Nineth Ayala, justice of the peace for the municipality of El Estor, Izabal, orders the eviction of Maya Q’eqchi’ families from the community of La Ceiba, El Estor. Community members request that the proceedings be suspended because they were not notified in advance. #CommunityJournalism
#Urgent Eviction suspended in the community of La Ceiba, El Estor, Izabal, at the request of the Maya Q’eqchi’ families, who said they were never notified. Judge Sandra Nineth Ayala Tello also notified the people who claim to be the owners. #CommunityJournalism Video Aj Ral Ch’och’
Officers with high-calibre weapons
Prensa Comunitaria also reported:
“Q’eqchi’ families living in the community of La Ceiba, Río Zarco, in El Estor, Izabal, were about to be evicted by thousands of National Civil Police (PNC) officers, prosecutors from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Justice of the Peace Sandra Ayala Tello. This legal action is in addition to other evictions in that department during the administration of Bernardo Arévalo.
However, due to opposition from the public forces, they desisted from carrying out the procedure, only firing tear gas and then withdrawing from the site. The press at the scene documented personnel from the Public Prosecutor’s Office carrying high-caliber weapons.
During the two years of President Bernardo Arévalo’s administration, evictions of indigenous and peasant families have continued, as have arrests of community leaders, ancestral authorities, journalists, and human rights defenders. The recent arbitrary arrest of Leocadio Juracán exemplifies the use of the justice system to criminalize those who defend the land in the country.
The problem of evictions, land dispossession, and forced displacement was brought to the attention of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, during his visit to Guatemala. The rapporteur urged the Guatemalan state to stop the evictions.”
Other news articles on this also include Judge orders eviction of La Ceiba community in Izabal (TN23, August 27) and Eviction in El Estor suspended after confrontation (24 7 Prensa Digital, August 27).
Accompaniment
The Monthly Information Package (April 2025) from the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project noted:
“At our twice-yearly assembly this April, we completed our analysis of the accompaniment request that we received from Carlos Choc, a Q’eqchi’ Maya journalist, human rights defender, and environmentalist known for his important work in journalism, his reporting on human rights violations, and his support for communities that are victims of violations, environmental injustices, and evictions. He works in Q’eqchi’ territory, in the departments of Izabal, Alta Verapaz, and Petén. Carlos was involved in a lengthy legal process in which he was criminalized but ultimately acquitted. However, because he has continued his work, he remains at risk, which led him to request our accompaniment. After reviewing his request, we decided to begin accompanying him this April.”
PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson met with Choc in Guatemala City in May 2023 and then did a follow-up webinar with him on August 18, 2023. More on that at PBI-Canada conversation with Maya Q’eqchi’ frontline journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc (August 19, 2023).
From Canada we continue to follow the work of Carlos Choc.
