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Danny Reyes of Arcoiris: “They continue to kill us, they continue to violate our rights.”

By
Brent Patterson
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Facebook photo of Melissa Núñez.

The Associated Press reports: “Danny Reyes, a representative of the local Rainbow Movement, told local media there have been 35 crimes against members of the LGBTQ community in Honduras so far this year.”

Reyes says: “They continue to kill us, they continue to violate our rights. We demand that the Honduran government do its best to start ensuring social justice.”

This follows the murder of transgender woman activist Melissa Núñez, 42, on October 18 in the town of Morocelí, in the eastern province of El Paraíso.

Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot her to death.

Indyra Mendoza, general coordinator of Cattrachas, a lesbian feminist network based in Tegucigalpa, has noted that Núñez had asked for asylum in the U.S.

The Washington Blade reports the U.S. deported Núñez to Honduras earlier this year.

Reportar Sin Miedo adds: “So far the reasons and those responsible for the violent death of Melissa are unknown, who joins the 434 members of the LGBTI+ population murdered and one disappeared since 2009 in Honduras, of which 131 were trans people, according to the Observatory of Violent Deaths of Cattrachas.”

Núñez is the sixth trans person to be murdered in Honduras this year.

On October 20, the Office in Honduras of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights tweeted: “#OACNUDH calls on the competent authorities to carry out a prompt, exhaustive and impartial investigation with a gender perspective. It recalls the international obligations of the use of specialized investigation protocols for access to justice and reparation.”

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras project has accompanied the Center for LGTBI Development and Cooperation (Somos-CDC) since January 2022 and the Arcoíris LGTB Association of Honduras since July 2015.

PBI-Honduras meets with the National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC) on agrarian reform, evictions and criminalization

By
Brent Patterson
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On October 21 PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“We met with members of the @CntcTegucigalpa [National Union of Rural Workers] who shared with us about the progress in the functioning of the National Agrarian Institute and about their concerns regarding several recent evictions in #Atlántida and #Colón.”

On Facebook, PBI-Honduras adds:

“We met with members of the national board of the National Center for Field Workers CNTC Tegucigalpa organization accompanied since 2018.

They shared with us about advances regarding the operation of the National Agrarian Institute (INA) and the important role this institution can play in carrying out an Agricultural Reform that benefits the small peasants.

On the other hand, the CNTC warns about various evictions and criminalization processes that create obstacles to the defense of the land, particularly in the departments of Atlántida and Colón.”

PBI-Honduras has also explained:

“The CNTC, created in 1985, is a small-scale farming and trade union organization, which fights for the distribution of land. It is affiliated to the Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers (Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras – CUTH) and is part of the Vía Campesina.

Its aim is to support affiliated small-scale farming families so that they have access to land and resources and can carry out productive agricultural, fishing, forestry and agro-industrial activities, contributing to their social and economic development.”

Photo: Franklin Almendares, General Secretary, National Union of Rural Workers (CNTC).

Canada’s Hatch Ltd. and the OXEC II dam opposed by the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón

By
Brent Patterson
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The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón since July 2017.

It has explained: “The Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón is made of more than 190 Q’eqchi’ communities who live in the Cahabón River basin. Since 2015 they have organized around defense of territory and against the launch of the OXEC I and OXEC II hydroelectric projects installed on the Oxec River, a tributary of the Cahabón River.”

It adds: “During the good-faith consultation [in August 2017] PBI accompanied the consultation process relating to the hydroelectric project installed on the Cahabón river basin, operated by OXEC SA, belonging to the Energy Resources Capital Corp group (ERCC).”

Hatch Ltd., a company founded in Toronto and now based in nearby Mississauga, was involved in the construction of the OXEC II dam.

In 2017, PBI-Guatemala noted: “On February 17 the Constitutional Court (CC) ordered to suspend the construction of Oxec I and Oxec II hydroelectric projects due to incompliance with Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which establishes the right of indigenous peoples to be consulted on projects that affect them.”

OXEC II became operational in September 2018.

Hatch and OXEC II

NS Energy has reported: “What began as a discussion with stakeholders in 2014 would later become Hatch’s formal engagement by Energy Resources Capital (ERC), the developer, and Solel Boneh Guatemala (SBG), the general contractor.”

“Hatch would be engaged to deliver the conceptual design and detailed design-build-engineering for the Oxec II Hydroelectric Project, recipient of a 2019 Award of Excellence from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada (ACEC).”

Design-Build combines all aspects of design services, construction services, and project management into one team that works together to complete a project.

That article also notes: “Hatch’s design of the cellular cofferdam [for the first stage diversion of the river] was recognised by the Consulting Engineers of Ontario (CEO) in 2017 with an award of merit in the Industry, Energy, and Resources category.”

Commenting on OXEC II, Ian Ainslie, a Hatch project manager based in Niagara Falls, Ontario, noted: “Hatch has been active in developing hydroelectric sites in Guatemala for over 20 years.” And Hatch’s managing director of power, Jim Sarvinis, says: “Projects like Oxec II are exactly why we do the type of work we do at Hatch.”

Criminalization of Maya Q’eqchi’ water protector Bernardo Caal Xol

Hatch’s one-page Indigenous Peoples Policy (signed by CEO John Bianchini in March 2018) states: “Our relationships with First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native Americans are based on the values of honesty, respect, and transparency. We understand that our ability to deliver successful projects on behalf of our clients is enhanced by our knowledge and understanding of the histories, cultures, protocols, values, aspirations, and governments of First Peoples across North America and Aboriginal communities around the world.”

And yet the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission has highlighted: “[In December 2017] a few months [after the August 2017 consultation on the OXEC dams], Bernardo was arrested [in] a clear act of retribution for the defense of his community’s water rights.”

In November 2018, he was sentenced to seven years and four months in jail.

Caal Xol was released from prison on a judge’s order on March 24, 2022.

PBI-Guatemala is now accompanying Caal Xol and the Human Rights Law Firm at a second criminalization trial against him.

For more on Hatch and the OXEC II dam, please click here.

New Ottawa police chief oversaw the arrests of Wet’suwet’en land defenders opposing megaproject that lacks consent

By
Brent Patterson
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Update

On December 4, le Droit reported:

“[The arrival of Eric Stubbs as the new Ottawa police chief] was greeted coldly by some activists who remember RCMP interventions against supporters of hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation who were opposed to a proposed natural gas pipeline.

Police arrested protesters in November 2021, including a photojournalist and a documentary filmmaker who were integrated with the protesters, to enforce an injunction in the case of blocking infrastructure construction.

In an interview, Chief Stubbs, who was assistant commissioner at the time, preferred to comment little on the case because it is still a current and complex file, and because he no longer works for the RCMP.

“Throughout my career, I have a lot of experience working with Indigenous peoples and I have enjoyed that very much. If I hadn’t liked it, I wouldn’t have done it for so long. I’ve had a lot of positive experiences, but if people use Google and only focus on that, it’s a shame,” he shared.”

Decolonial Solidarity event information here.

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CTV reports: “RCMP Assistant Commissioner Eric Stubbs was introduced as the new chief of the Ottawa Police Service Friday afternoon [October 21], three days before voters head to the polls to elect a new mayor and council.”

The article also notes: “Stubbs has been in charge of Core Criminal Operations for the B.C. RCMP since July 2017.”

Similarly, Le Droit also reports: “In recent years, Eric Stubbs has been involved in the management of protests on Wet’suwet’en ancestral territory, in opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.”

This includes overseeing the three militarized RCMP raids on Wet’suwet’en territory on January 8, 2019, February 6-10, 2020, and November 18-19, 2021, that resulted in the arrests of land defenders, legal observers and journalists.

After his appointment as Ottawa’s police chief, Stubbs commented: “There’s been a lot of resource base [protests], the Coastal Gaslink with the Wet’suwet’en, Old Growth Forest, the Trans Mountain pipeline, it’s been very challenging.”

He added: “[There’s a team] really dedicated to trying to resolve these things through talking and negotiating and we’ve been successful in a lot of those cases. But often we do end up having to arrest people and some people are upset.”

“Lethal overwatch” in 2019

The Guardian has reported: “Canadian police were prepared to shoot Indigenous land defenders [in January 2019 who were] blockading construction of a natural gas pipeline in northern British Columbia, according to documents seen by the Guardian.”

That article adds: “Notes from a strategy session for a militarized raid on ancestral lands of the Wet’suwet’en nation show that commanders of Canada’s national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), argued that ‘lethal overwatch is req’d’ – a term for deploying an officer who is prepared to use lethal force.”

February 2020 exclusion zone

On February 5, 2020, The Georgia Straight quoted Stubbs stating: “As enforcement of the injunction nears, we’ve assembled a team in the area. We encourage all of the protesters to abide by the injunction and leave the area.”

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association wrote to Stubbs: “The BCCLA is highly concerned about the developing situation in Wet’suwet’en territories. We are alarmed by the institution of an overbroad RCMP exclusion zone prohibiting Wet’suwet’en people, journalists, and the public from entering and monitoring police activity.”

Stubbs made his comment after the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had called on Canada to halt the construction of the pipeline and remove the RCMP from Wet’suwet’en territories.

The arrest of journalists in 2021

Mike De Souza and Matt Simmons have also reported in The Narwhal that on the day – November 19, 2021 – that photo-journalist Amber Bracken and filmmaker Michael Toledano were arrested by the RCMP during their raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, the gold commander of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), John Brewer, justified the arrests of Bracken and Toledano in an email to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.

The C-IRG gold commander alleged that the journalists were activists and that his unit was about to produce the evidence.

The Narwhal article adds: “Less than three minutes later, according to time stamps on the emails reviewed by The Narwhal, Eric Stubbs, an RCMP assistant commissioner forwarded Brewer’s message to Wayne Rideout, a senior provincial government official.”

Stubbs later publicly stated that he was “willing to work with the media” but this email from Stubbs suggests reason for concern.

The promised evidence about the journalists was never produced.

Ongoing harassment in 2022

Gidimt’en Checkpoint has noted: “Since February 2022, RCMP and C-IRG have entered our village sites and home sites multiples times a day – hundreds of times in total. RCMP and C-IRG have continuously harassed and intimidated our people and our guests and disrupted our cultural practices and ceremonies.”

Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham (Sleydo’) says: “On multiple occasions, I have witnessed the RCMP on the ground take direction from Coastal GasLink workers. Their relationship is so close and intertwined that it’s hard to distinguish roles.”

In June of this year, several Wet’suwet’en land defenders launched a civil lawsuit that holds the RCMP and others accountable for invading their privacy, intimidation, intentional infliction of mental distress, malicious and willful misconduct, and more.

Local reaction

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says: “Now is the time, I think, for politicians and the public to show their support as this police officer, who has dedicated his life to police services, starts his new job which is very challenging at this time, no question about this.”

Watson adds: “I know one of his priorities will be to reach out to the aboriginal community, the Algonquin Anishanabe Nation, and start those relations on a positive footing.”

Sam Hersh of Horizon Ottawa has responded: “If this is the Board’s attempt at ‘regaining our trust’ they have failed. We are unsure how a Police Chief who played a big role in raids of Indigenous territory is supposed to make BIPOC and other equity-seeking communities in Ottawa feel safe – quite the opposite.”

Stubbs will be sworn in on November 17.

PBI-Canada observes Decolonial Solidarity painting salmon at RBC in support of Wet’suwet’en water protectors

By
Brent Patterson
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On October 21, PBI-Canada observed Decolonial Solidarity painting salmon on the sidewalk in front of a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) branch in Ottawa.

Decolonial Solidarity took this action in support of Wet’suwet’en water protectors opposed to the RBC-financed Coastal GasLink pipeline now being built without free, prior and informed consent on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia.

Police threaten mischief charge

RBC called Ottawa Police who responded with seven officers. The police advised Decolonial Solidarity that they could be charged with mischief.

Lawyer Michael Spratt has previously written: “It is time to offer the Ottawa police some simple and free legal advice: it is not a criminal offence to chalk a sidewalk. It can be a criminal offence to make permanent markings on public property. But chalk is not permanent. It can also be a crime to interfere with lawful enjoyment of public spaces. Chalk does not do that.”

Commenting on chalking on sidewalks, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has tweeted: “If you don’t like it, just wait for a rainy day.”

Furthermore, Spratt has also argued that the right to freedom of expression (with chalking) is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Risk to Wedzin Kwa

While Decolonial Solidarity used “washable, non-toxic and gluten free” and “water-based” children’s paint that will wash away with time, the stakes are permanent for the Wedzin Kwa river on Wet’suwet’en territory.

The Wet’suwet’en have highlighted: “Wedzin Kwa is a spawning ground for salmon and a critical source of pristine drinking water on the territory.” Gidimt’en water protector Molly Wickham adds: “Our way of life is at risk. Wedzin Kwa is the river that feeds all of Wet’suwet’en territory and gives life to our nation.”

The day prior to this Decolonial Solidarity action, The Narwhal reported: “Coastal GasLink is drilling under the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) as spawning salmon lay their eggs throughout the river system.”

The article highlights: “The work is being done during a period outside of the ‘least-risk window’ for in-stream construction, according to reports filed with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office. Put another way, Coastal GasLink is putting its pipeline under the river at the riskiest time for salmon.”

RBC financing and carbon pollution

Significantly, Stand.earth has documented: “RBC is among top commercial banks providing the CGL project with working capital, including CAD $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.”

And according to the Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International report: Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon (page 16), the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline could produce 125 million metric tons of CO2 pollution annually.

Construction on the pipeline is scheduled to be completed in 2023 and would be in service for a minimum of 25 years (to 2048). Given gas pipelines can have a lifespan of 50 years, Coastal GasLink could be operational through to 2073. 

Canada ignores UN calls to halt pipeline construction

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has repeatedly called on Canada to stop the construction of the pipeline until it has gained the consent of the Wet’suwet’en peoples for the building of the pipeline.

This was conveyed in this resolution dated December 13, 2019, and in follow-up letters sent to Leslie E. Norton, Canada’s Ambassador at the United Nations in Geneva, on November 24, 2020, and April 29, 2022.

On September 28, Kim-Mai Vu of Peace Brigades International presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva during the Interactive Dialogue with the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

She stated: “The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called on Canada to stop construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory. Canada ratified this International Convention in 1970 and said in 2016 that it supported the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, however, the construction of this gas pipeline without consent continues as does the criminalization of land defenders.”

For more, please see: Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham: “It’s time to plan, prepare and protect what is left”.

Controversial EDC-financed Ituango dam in Colombia scheduled to be operational on November 30

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: PBI-Colombia accompanying Isabel Cristina Zuleta, spokesperson for Ríos Vivos, at a protest in Valdivia, Antioquia, June 2016. In March of this year, she was elected to the Colombian Senate as part of the Historic Pact (Pacto Histórico) coalition.

The Spanish news agency EFE reports: “Thousands of workers are toiling around the clock in an underground cavern to launch initial operations at what will be Colombia’s largest hydroelectric project – a massive embankment dam on the Cauca River.”

That article highlights that construction on the dam began in 2010, was to have concluded in 2018, but now the first two of the hydroelectric plant’s eight turbines are scheduled to enter into operation on November 30.

EFE also notes: “Two other turbines are expected to be ready in the fourth quarter of 2023, three more in 2025 and the last in December 2026.”

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has previously posted: “Several of the cases that the Corporation for Judicial Freedom [CJL] is working on focus on defending the environmental rights of communities, and more specifically, the right to water. One of the sadly famous cases in this area is that of the controversial Hidroituango hydroelectric project, located in the municipality of Ituango.”

The Hidroituango hydroelectric dam is being built in northwest Antioquia by the Colombian state-owned utility Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM).

EPM has twice benefitted from the support of the Government of Canada financing agency Export Development Canada (EDC). In 2016 and 2017, EDC provided EPM with financing totalling between 500 million and one billion dollars.

The province of Quebec pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has also provided financing for the dam.

In 2019, the Corporation for Judicial Freedom published a study of twelve municipalities affected by the construction of this hydroelectric plant.

That report highlighted the crimes committed by paramilitary groups and State agents, who individually or jointly have acted against local populations, social leaders, human rights defenders and political opponents.

In July 2021, PBI-Colombia also tweeted: “Last week PBI accompanied @dhColombia [the Associated Network of Human Rights Defenders] in Toledo in #Antioquia. On July 16, several local organizations, affected by the megaproject #Hidroituango, gave an account; the next day they delivered a report to the #CommissionDeLaVerdad [the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition].”

El Espectador has also reported that dhColombia lawyer Germán Romero Sánchez has represented those affected by the construction of Hidroituango.

Isabel Cristina Zuleta of the Rios Vivos movement has stated: “Since its launch in 1997, this megaproject has been imposed by violence and the forced displacement of the population, victims of the armed conflict.”

For a short video (from July 2018) with English subtitles, please see Isabel Zuleta Denounces Flooding of Hidroituango Dam.

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) since 2000 and dhColombia since 2016.

We continue to follow the situation in Antioquia and to call for greater accountability in the Canadian financing of extractive projects.

Isabel Zuleta speaking in Ottawa in November 2019.

PBI-Colombia accompanies Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation at meeting on Bill of Rights for Women Seekers of the Disappeared

By
Brent Patterson
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On October 19, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Women builders of #peace: Thanks to @IrelandColombia [the Embassy of Ireland in Colombia] for listening to @nydia_erika [the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation] and women seeking families of forced disappearance in a historic moment: #Today the first Bill of Law in #LatinAmerica was filed in #Colombia that protects the rights of women seekers.”

Pares has reported:

“The Comprehensive Bill on the Rights of Women Seekers of the Disappeared was filed in Congress [on October 19], which protects and recognizes the work of the rights of women and seekers of victims of disappearance.

This file had the support of the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation for Human Rights and Congressmen Iván Cepeda, Alirio Uribe Muñoz, María José Pizarro Rodríguez and Senator Gloria Flórez.

The senator for the Historical Pact and Defender of human rights and life, Gloria Flórez, mentioned that women and seekers of disappeared persons are builders of collective memory, truth and peace. For this reason, this Bill guaranteeing their rights was filed.”

PBI-Colombia began accompanying the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation occasionally in 2007 and fully since 2016.

Tweet: “Thank you for supporting and contributing to promoting a comprehensive law for the rights of female seekers…”

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Resistance of Olopa at a Training on Media and Human Rights

By
Brent Patterson
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On October 19, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“On Saturday, October 15, #PBI accompanied the Resistance of Olopa in a Training on the Media and Human Rights.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained:

“The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa are working in the municipality of the same name, in the department of Chiquimula. The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa is formed by 14 communities.

The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa are fighting for recognition as indigenous communities, the recovery of their spirituality, the defense of their territory and the right to free, prior and informed consultation before the entry of mining projects into their territory.

They also seek to minimize the negative impacts of mining activities on the health of the people in their communities, denounce illegal logging and fight against gender violence in their communities.

The communities of Olopa are confronting the company American Minerals S.A., which was granted a 25-year antimony extraction license in 2012, without prior consultation with the communities.

In 2016, when mining activities began, the communities became aware of the negative impacts of these activities on water and the environment, and demanded the closure of the project.

On July 9, 2021, the Guatemalan Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) granted an injunction to these communities, recognizing their right to consultation, as provided for in Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), had been violated. The mining license has thus been suspended, which should result in the cessation of their work.

PBI began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Authorities of Olopa in June 2021, following the receipt of their request, which is based on the serious increase in security incidents, defamation and criminalization processes they are experiencing.”

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Maya Q’eqchi’ defender Bernardo Caal Xol and Human Rights Law Firm at second criminalization trial

By
Brent Patterson
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On October 19, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm and Bernardo Caal Xol in the hearing for continuation of the debate of the so-called Master Case.”

Earlier this month, La Prensa explained:

“In a court in Cobán, capital of Alta Verapaz, the second day of the oral and public debate hearing was held against the Mayan Q’eqchi’ teacher, Bernardo Caal Xol, accused by the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) of the crime of illegal withholding.

According to the professor’s lawyers, the complaint filed against him is not criminal but administrative, but the Public Ministry (MP) decided to use it in this area, to criminalize him.

The hearing was held on October 5 at the Second Criminal Sentencing Court of Cobán, presided over by Judge José Alfredo Quiñónez Lemus, where the MP presented a single witness and various documentary evidence offered by the accused’s defense, which were accepted by the judge.

The next hearing will be on October 19, at 11 am in the same place, to find out if they manage to sentence him or declare his innocence.

The trial takes place five years after the start of the process, with violations of the legal deadline, because the time that Bernardo Caal was in prison for another case, did not advance until he regained his freedom and it was at that moment when he began to receive the notifications. “Why is it activated until now? That remains in the reading that can be done, surely it is part of an elaborate work to persecute him”, recalled the lawyer Edgar de León.”

The full article is at Bernardo Caal : el segundo proceso en su contra no debería ser penal sino administrative. More at: Bernardo Caal enfrenta un segundo proceso penal que busca criminalizarlo.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied Bernardo Caal and the Peaceful Resistance of Cahabón since 2017 and the Human Rights Law Firm since 2013.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies UVOC at its Revolution Day activities

By
Brent Patterson
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On October 20, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“#PBI accompanies UVOC [Verapaz Union of Campesino Organizations] in its activities today October 20, #RevolutionDay.”

UVOC is an indigenous and campesino organization dedicated to the defence and promotion of access to land for the peasant population in the departments of Alta and Baja Verapaz.

UVOC has 367 affiliated communities (about 50,000 families); 98 per cent of which are Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’, Poqomchi’ and Achi.

Revolution Day

National Today has explained: “Revolution Day commemorates a landmark moment in the country’s history [when] a democratic rebellion [in 1944] overthrew over ten years of oppressive rule under military dictator Jorge Ubico.”

It adds: “The architects of the revolution? Students, teachers, and workers. …Revolution Day changed the scope of Guatemalan politics and society, paving the way for positive reform and human rights activism.”

The BBC has also provided this background:  In 1944, Juan Jose Arevalo became the president following the overthrow of Jorge Ubico (who had repressively ruled since 1931) and introduced social-democratic reforms, including setting up a social security system and redistributing land to landless peasants.

Decree 900, the Agrarian Reform Law, was passed in June 1952 and by 1954 1.4 million acres of unused land had been redistributed to 100,000 families.

Prior to this, 2 per cent of the population controlled 72 per cent of the arable land and only 12 per cent of that land was under cultivation.

The BBC adds that in 1954 the land reform stopped with the accession to power of Colonel Carlos Castillo in a coup backed by the United States.

The internal armed conflict (that followed starting in November 1960) killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced more than one million people by the time of the Peace Accords of December 1996.

45,000 people are still unaccounted, including 5,000 children.

The conflict between state military forces and guerilla combatants was underpinned by the poverty, marginalization and racism against Indigenous peoples.

The United Nations-backed Commission for Historical Clarification determined that the Guatemalan military was responsible for 93 per cent of the atrocities – including forced disappearances, massacres and torture – and that 83 per cent of the victims were Indigenous Maya peoples.

The Commission concluded that acts of genocide occurred during the war.

There are now an estimated 1,000 land conflicts happening in Guatemala.

These land conflicts are related to concessions given to foreign companies for mining, sugar cane and palm oil farms, and hydroelectric dams, all of which deepen dispossession, exclusion and poverty among the indigenous peoples of Guatemala.

PBI-Guatemala began accompanying UVOC in 2005.

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