On February 18, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:
“Today #PBIaccompanies the community journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc in a meeting with a women’s cooperative from 5 communities of El Estor.
Women have developed a system of savings and communal lending accounts, generating economic independence at the community level.
Carlos Choc interviewed members of the cooperative, to give visibility to this initiative and favor its recognition by the local authorities.”
Choc has also posted on social media:
“#CommunityJournalism Soon a report on the reality of Maya Q’eqchi’ women from the community Seacacar Arriba, El Estor Izabal, and how they have organized themselves to move forward.”
We look forward to that report.
Accompaniment
Carlos Ernesto Choc is a Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist, environmentalist and human rights defender (HRD), born in the municipality of El Estor, in the department of Izabal.
Choc has been criminalized and prosecuted because of his journalistic work, which he has used to report on human rights violations against the Q’eqchi’ people and the environmental pollution caused by the Fenix mine in the El Estor municipality.
The criminal prosecution against him began in August 2017, when mine personnel brought allegations in two cases, which finally concluded in January 2024, when all charges against him were dropped.
Choc requested accompaniment from us in order to be able to continue his work as a journalist. PBI began accompanying him in April 2025.
