The day before yesterday [January 13], #PBI accompanied members of REDSAG [the Network for the Defense of Food Sovereignty] in the Pajales Sis community. During our visit, we observed the burning of the sugarcane harvest, induced by sugar mills to facilitate harvesting. The fire generates smoke and ash that spreads over the houses, impacting the health of people and the environment. They report breathing difficulties, the fire being too close to the community’s houses, ash in the air, and damage to the local ecosystem. We also took the opportunity to update ourselves on the security situation of the organization’s political council.”
PBI-Guatemala has previously explained: “The Pajales Sis community is located between the El Pilar and Tululá sugar refineries. José Miguel Sánchez López, a member of the Pajales Sis Community Development Council (COCODE), has been speaking out for years about the consequences of both sugar refineries’ poor practices, which have affected community members’ lives. As a result, he has been targeted for criminalization by the sugar refineries.”
Canada
According to the (USDA) Canada imported 52,790 metric tons of sugar from Guatemala in 2023/24, 85,900 metric tons in 2022/23, 87,050 metric tons in 2021/22, 113,650 metric tons in 2021, 269,770 metric tons in 2020, and 292,787 metric tons in 2019.
The most up to date figures should be available in April.
PBI-Canada visit
On May 2-4, 2023, PBI-Canada visited the South Coast of Guatemala to learn more about the impacts of sugar production on communities and their access to water.
At that time, PBI-Canada saw diminished and polluted rivers attributed to sugar production and visited numerous communities that shared stories about how the water required for sugar mills had dried wells and gardens.
Photo: The entrance to the El Pilar sugar mill. Photo by PBI-Canada.
Photo: PBI-Canada hears testimony in the community of Pajales Sis about the impacts of the El Pilar sugar mill, May 2, 2023.
Accompaniment
PBI has accompanied members of the REDSAG Political Council since September 2025, especially José Miguel Sánchez López from the Pajales Sis community in San Andrés Villa Seca, Retalhuleu, and sisters Carmelina and Estela Chocooj from the Soledad Sayaxut community in Cobán, Alta Verapaz.
We continue to follow this.
Further reading: How does sugar from Guatemala arrive in Canada? (PBI-Canada article, March 3, 2022).
