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Court to review measures against three Q’eqchi’ defenders seeking the return of their land from an army base, July 12

By
Brent Patterson
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Udefegua photo: The first statement hearing on June 18 in which three defenders were sent to pretrial detention after having already spent nine days in prison after a protest on June 9.

Caso Creompaz has noted that there will be a hearing on Monday July 12 at 8 am (10 am in Ottawa) at the Criminal Court in Cobán, Guatemala.

Caso Creompaz explains: “This hearing will review coercion measures against three Chicoyogüito community members arrested when they started a peaceful demonstration on June 9 in Cobán, demanding the return of their territory from which they were stripped 53 years ago by the Guatemalan Army.”

You can follow the hearing on Twitter and Facebook.

La Hora reports: “On June 18, the first statement hearing was held, where [21 community members] were linked to trial for the crimes of aggravated usurpation and three for attack. 18 of them were granted coercive measures, including financial security of 5,000 Quetzal [about CAD$800], while three were sent to pretrial detention.”

And Prensa Comunitaria reports: “The protesters said they did not intend to carry out an invasion, but to demand the return of their lands, dispossessed by the army in 1968, to build Military Zone 21, which was a center for illegal detention, torture and extrajudicial executions [and is now the Creompaz base].”

That article also notes: “Outside the courthouse, dozens of residents of the community expressed their solidarity with the detainees, calling for their release. ‘We are not invaders’ and ‘Political Prisoners’ can be read on the placards they carried.”

Webinar on Thursday July 15

On July 15, PBI-Canada will be hosting a webinar with a Chicoyogüito community member, human rights lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila who represents the families displaced by the military base, and World Beyond War Canada organizer Rachel Small.

It will provide the latest updates on what happened in court on July 12 and plans for July 28, the anniversary of the dispossession of the community by the army base.

To register for that Zoom webinar – which will have simultaneous translation in English and Spanish – please click here.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (AVECHAV) which is made up of 250 families displaced by the army base.

#JusticiaParaChicoyogüito

Indigenous camp set up on grounds of Manitoba Legislature, calls for all residential schools to be searched for graves

By
Brent Patterson
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On May 27, the remains of 215 Indigenous children were detected at the former Kamloops Indian residential school. Less than a month later, it was announced that 751 unmarked graves were located at another residential school. More such findings are expected.

Now, APTN reports: “A group of Indigenous people plan to camp on the Manitoba legislative grounds in Winnipeg until all former residential school sites in Canada have been searched.”

It adds: “On June 25, the group started a sacred fire and pipe ceremony in honour of residential school survivors. It’s now turned into a long-term commitment: keeping the fire lit until all school sites are searched.”

Camp organizer Aaliya Leach says: “Our sacred fire has been lit to help the sacred spirits of our lost children find their way home.”

Alma Kakikepenace says: “This is a healing effort here.”

And Shawna Peloquin says: “We don’t want to leave our elders mourning alone — our survivors.”

The article notes: “As the group sits on government property, police presence can be frequent. The group says they’ve had negative and disrespectful encounters with police officers in uniform. They’ve asked Winnipeg police to approach their group in plain clothes with no weapons.”

The Winnipeg Sun also notes: “A group of around 20 people have set up a teepee and tents. They’ve made a fire and are offering sacred medicine to anyone grieving the lost children.”

Between 1883 and 1996, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their parents and sent to at least 139 “residential schools” funded by the Canadian state and operated by religious institutions as part of a campaign of forced assimilation.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended: “We call upon the federal government to work with the churches and Aboriginal community leaders to inform the families of children who died at residential schools of the child’s burial location, and to respond to families’ wishes for appropriate commemoration ceremonies and markers, and reburial in home communities where requested.”

The Washington Post recently reported: “The federal government also said it would urgently distribute about $22 million to help Indigenous groups find unmarked graves, identify the missing and commemorate them. The funding was part of $28 million set aside for those purposes in the 2019 federal budget.”

Official records say 3,213 children died in those institutions, but the true number could be as many as 12,000 children.

Mohawk land back camp set up to stop 290-unit housing development in Montreal suburb

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 8, the Canadian Press reported: “Kahnawake Mohawks set up the encampment beside their community on July 1 in a wooded area bordering the municipality of Chateauguay, Que., on Montreal’s south shore.”

That article adds: “Chateauguay city council adopted a zoning change in the area on March 15, clearing the way for the construction of 290 homes on the land.”

This statement from the three clan chiefs says:

“The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation at Kahnawà:ke is opposed to this project as it further usurps lands that rightfully belong to Kahnawà:ke. [We caution] all surrounding municipalities that development in the larger territory of Kahnawake is being monitored by the Longhouse and can be the target of a campaign to stop development in the interest of environmental protection and as an act of self-determination to protect our territorial integrity.”

Camp spokesperson Kahnawakero:non Karihwakatste Deer says: “We felt like July 1 was an appropriate day for us to make an encampment there because of the connection between the residential schools, with them taking our language and culture and land.”

Turtle Clan mother Kaherihshon Fran Beauvais says: “We matter, and we’re going to stop this. It is our land. These are our children. We didn’t give it, we’re keeping it.” And Kahnawake Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer says: “It’s about getting our lands back. This is for us the perfect chance to get our land back because it hasn’t been developed yet.”

There have been at least two other significant land defence struggles against housing developments on Mohawk lands:

Kanesatake

The Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanesatake once occupied 689 square kilometres, now they have about 12 square kilometres.

In 2004, private developer Gregoire Gollin purchased 220 hectares of land near the Village of Oka, about 60 kilometres east of Montreal. 

Ellen Gabriel and other community members have opposed the Domaine des Collines d’Oka housing development since 2017 when construction began there.

Gabriel told the mayor of Oka at that time, “See all this land? This is Kanesatake. It doesn’t belong to Oka, it belongs to the (Mohawk) people of Kanesatake. We’re not going to allow you to build any more homes on our land.”

Six Nations

On July 19, 2020, Haudenosaunee land defenders began a reoccupation of a 25-acre area of land in Caledonia, about 90 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

Foxgate Developments planned to build at least 218 houses on this land. The Haudenosaunee asserted it was their territory through the Haldimand Treaty of 1784 that granted them an area of 950,000 acres in southern Ontario. Today, the Six Nations reserve boundaries is less than five per cent of the original land base.

On July 2 of this year, after 350 days, 38 arrests, and more than $16.3 million spent on policing, the land defenders stopped the development on their territory.

The Canadian Press/APTN coverage of this Kahnawake land defence camp is here. And the Kahnawake News coverage can be read here.

PBI-Colombia accompanies International Observation Mission in Cali, hears testimonies from victims of state violence

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo by Comisión de Justicia y Paz.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project is accompanying the international observation mission that is taking place from July 3-12.

The mission is receiving testimony from the victims of police repression and other violence that has taken place during the national strike (paro nacional).

On July 7, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“@PBIColombia accompanies the #MisionSOSColombia in Cali. The mission at this time hears testimonies from victims and human rights organizations in Cali, on the human rights violations in Cali within the framework of the #ParoNacional.”

Then on July 9, it tweeted:

“@PBIColombia continues accompanying the #MisionSOSColombia in Cali. Where there are spaces with a differential character to listen to testimonies of women, indigenous people, young people, human rights defenders, etc. noting the magnitude of human rights violations within the framework of the #ParoNacional.”

Later that day, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“Culminating the #misionsoscolombia in Cali. Mission heard hundreds of testimonies from victims of the #ParoNacional.”

During this mission, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH-IACHR) released (on July 7) their report on their working visit to Colombia on June 8 to 10 that evaluated the human rights situation since the national strike began on April 28.

CIDH President Antonia Urrejola told journalists: “The commission confirmed that, repeatedly and in various regions of the country, the response of the state was characterized by excessive and disproportionate use of force.”

El Espectador also reports: “Some of the most important issues on which the IACHR pronounced on Wednesday are the right to protest, the disproportionate use of force, sexual and gender-based violence, the ethno-racial approach, the use of the figure of transfer of protection, disappearance of persons, military assistance, the application of military criminal jurisdiction, the protection of journalists, and access to the Internet.”

The 41 recommendations from the CIDH-IACHR can be read in their report here.

The #MisionSOSColombia will also present a report with recommendations on the guarantee of the right to protest and against impunity.

PBI-Canada Board member Heather Neun is taking part in this mission and has been been with the delegation in Medellin.

PBI-Mexico accompanies the search for disappeared persons in Ciudad Juárez, calls for the protection of families

By
Brent Patterson
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On July 9, the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project posted: “Today in Ciudad Juárez [in the state of Chihuahua] we accompany @CdhPasodelNorte [Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre] and @UnidasVerdad [Families United for Truth and Justice] in search work and the tracking of missing persons.”

“The families of missing persons face dangers that put their physical and emotional integrity at risk during their tracking efforts. Therefore, we express our concern about the absence of local authorities during today’s search.”

PBI-Mexico adds: “We call on the Mexican authorities to fulfill their duty to guarantee protection for families and their companions in the search for their loved ones.”

The Intercept recently reported: “At the very minimum, nearly 90,000 people and counting have disappeared in the past 15 years, a tally that exceeds the Cold War totals of desaparecidos in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala combined.”

That article adds: “The current iteration of disappearances in Mexico is linked to former President Felipe Calderón’s 2006 deployment of thousands of troops into the streets in a supposed war on drug trafficking organizations.”

NBC News has reported: “The majority of disappearances have been reported since 2006 and 40 percent were recorded since December 2018, since the start of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”

In the first five months of 2021 alone, 605 victims were recorded.

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has accompanied the Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre since 2013.

Canada’s history with the Creompaz military base in Guatemala: A timeline with context

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Colonel Julio César Ponce Monterroso, Commandant of CREOMPAZ, March 20, 2021.

To learn more about the struggle of the Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito to reclaim their ancestral land from CREOMPAZ, please join this webinar on July 15.

Canada has a long history with the CREOMPAZ base in Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Below is a timeline with key dates and context:

1950: A study by Canada’s trade commissioner in Guatemala claims: “Businessmen and landowners do not have any cause to view the prospect of Jacobo Arbenz as future president with any optimism.”

1951: Árbenz elected president of Guatemala.

1952: The Agrarian Reform Law, intended to redistribute land to campesinos, introduced by Árbenz is passed.

1953: Canadian External Affairs Minister Lester B. Pearson refuses the Guatemalan foreign minister’s request to open embassies in each other’s countries.

1954: Arbenz forced to resign in a CIA-backed coup and goes into exile, External Affairs Canada sees this as a positive change.

1960: The internal armed conflict in Guatemala begins.

1968: The Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito is displaced from their ancestral lands so that Military Zone 21, a Guatemalan military base, could be built.

1978 to 1990: The military base is a clandestine centre for illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearance and rape.

1996: The internal armed conflict in Guatemala ends.

1999: The Commission on Historical Clarification finds that “agents of the state committed acts of genocide against groups of Mayan people.”

2004: Military Zone 21 is closed, CREOMPAZ opens.

2008: The families of those displaced from Chicoyogüito hold their first march to demand that their lands be returned to them.

2009: The Government of Canada provides a CAD$250,000 grant for the training of soldiers at CREOMPAZ.

2012 to 2015: The Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) carries out exhumations at CREOMPAZ and finds 558 human remains.

2014: The Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence hosts a Civil Military Cooperation course at the base.

2015: Canada’s Global Peace Operations Program funds CREOMPAZ.

2016: PBI-Guatemala begins to accompany the Chicoyogüito Neighborhood Association of Alta Verapaz (AVECHAV).

2021: The Peace Operations Training Institute partners with CREOMPAZ, thanks Global Affairs Canada’s Peace and Stabilization Operations Programme for funding.

June 9: Twenty-one members of Chicoyogüito are arrested as they prepare to mobilize to demand their land back.

June 18: PBI-Guatemala accompanies the first hearing of the Chicoyogüito community members arrested (photo below).

Thursday July 15 at 3 pm ET: PBI-Canada holds this webinar about the struggle of the Q’eqchi’ community to reclaim their ancestral land from the military base.

July 28: The 53rd anniversary of the eviction of the Chicoyogüito community for the construction of the military base.

PBI-Guatemala meets with water defenders challenging big sugar companies, the diversion of rivers

By
Brent Patterson
-

On July 8, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Last week, we visited the criminalized defenders and members of the Retalhuleu Council of Communities (CCR). We also met with Governor Ignacio Arreaga Cifuentes to express our concern about the safety of these defenders and the advocate for the right to water.”

Abelino Mejia Cancino of the CCR says: “We need people to realize that when they consume sugar, it has an impact on the life of the communities and on the right to water for all. We call for the consumption of what is healthy and good produced by the campesinos and not products made by the big companies.”

Notably, the Guatemalan Sugar Association (ASAZGUA) has identified Canada as the top export destination for Guatemalan sugar.

In September 2020 it reported Guatemala exported 333,596 metric tons of sugar to Canada. The next largest market was the United States at 261,628 MT.

The defenders

The defenders have stated: “We organize ourselves in a peaceful way to publicize the consequences of sugar cane, the diversion of rivers that the mills have.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained: “The CCR consists of more than 18 communities in the department of Retalhuleu (mainly the municipality of Champerico), belonging to the Mam, K’iche’ and Ixil peoples.”

“Its main objective is the defence of life, territory and human rights, in particular the right of access to water and agriculture on a small scale.”

“They began to organize in 2015 as a result of adverse effects caused by the expansion of the monoculture of sugar and the use of large-scale agrochemicals and pesticides used by the mills in the region.”

That article adds: “In recent years there has been drought and pollution of wells, rivers and lagoons, as well as the destruction of livelihoods, causing lack of access to water and health problems such as malnutrition and respiratory and renal ailments.”

Criminalization

In November 2019, Panorama Noticias reported: “Allegations of violations of the right to water, food and environmental pollution by the communities of the South Coast led to four defenders being criminalized by the mills of El Pilar and Magdalena.”

That article adds while the court terminated the case against the defenders, that decision was appealed by the sugar mills.

The Governor

As noted above, PBI-Guatemala also met with the Governor of Retalhuleu.

In September 2020, CRN reported: “Ignacio Osbelí Arreaga Cifuentes, a retired captain in Guatemala’s army, was recently appointed [by President Alejandro Giammattei] as the departmental governor of Retalhuleu. Arreaga, who is a lawyer, was a candidate for deputy in the 2019 elections for the Vamos party.”

PBI accompaniment

The Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project has been accompanying the Retalhuleu Council of Communities since April 2020.

PBI-Canada webinar on Q’eqchi’ community demand for their land back, July 15

By
Brent Patterson
-

“This land is ours.” To join a webinar on this land back struggle, click here.

Photo credit.

On July 28, 1968, the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito was displaced from their ancestral lands so that a Guatemalan military base could be built.

Olivia Sierra, whose grandparents were evicted in 1968, says: “When the armed forces arrived, they began to shoot, and people were beaten. People began to flee, and some fell into the river. Siblings were separated. Over 200 families were evicted.”

“They were left without clothes, without food, their homes were burned down.”

Sierra, now a community leader, adds: “I would like us to return to this land and for the soldiers to no longer be there.”

That military base became a clandestine centre for illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearance, and rape committed from 1978 to 1990.

At least 565 Indigenous people were disappeared at that base. Exhumations of mass graves at the military base began in 2012. The bodies identified are of Mayan Achí, Q’eqchi’, Pomochí, Ixil, and Kiché peoples.

At least 90 of the bodies found belonged to children.

The military base was closed in 2004 and despite its notoriety became CREOMPAZ, a United Nations peacekeeping training base. In 2009, the Government of Canada provided a CAD$250,000 grant for the training of soldiers at CREOMPAZ and has continued to support this base in various ways since then.

Every year since 2008, the Chicoyogüito community has held a peaceful march to demand that their lands be returned to them.

Sierra says: “Here we are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren [of those evicted]. Every year we do this march.”

Last month, 21 members of the Chicoyogüito community were arrested when they prepared to hold a protest to demand that their territory be returned to them.

Sierra says about 200 people gathered on June 9 for a peaceful march but that protest did not take place because the police arrived before it began.

According to CALDH, the police used excessive force, injuring some of the community members. Those arrested were taken to the Cobán Penal Center without being heard by a judge or being treated for their injuries.

After nine days in jail, a fist statement hearing was held on June 18.

Three of those arrested were sent to pretrial detention, while bail for the other 18 was set at 5,000 Quetzal. This for a community with incomes of less than Q300 a month. The hearing for review of coercive measure will be on July 12.

On Thursday July 15, please join our webinar to hear the latest on that court hearing, the annual march, and the continued demand for land back.

It will feature a member of Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito, human rights lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila who represents the families displaced by the military base, and Rachel Small of World Beyond War Canada who will provide context on the displacement of Indigenous peoples around the world for military bases. It will be moderated by PBI-Canada Board member Marianna Tzabiras.

To register, please click here.

The webinar will have simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.

#JusticiaParaChicoyogüito

Photo by La Hora.

PBI-Canada takes part in international mission to Colombia on the right to social protest

By
Brent Patterson
-

Peace Brigades International-Canada is taking part in an international observation mission to Colombia of 40 human rights experts from 12 countries.

We are being represented by British Columbia-based lawyer and PBI-Canada Board member Heather Neun.

The mission is taking place from July 3-12 and is receiving testimony from the victims of police repression and other violence.

Defender la Libertad has highlighted that 1,677 people have been injured by the disproportionate actions of the National Police, the ESMAD riot police and unidentified armed civilians; 267 human rights defenders have been attacked; 788 women have been victims of police violence; and that there have been 1,476 complaints of abuses of power, authority, assaults and police violence.

Following the visit, the mission will present a report with recommendations on the guarantee of the right to protest and against impunity. It will also serve to inform advocacy efforts with the governments of 12 countries, including the Canadian government.

This international observation mission has been organized by numerous organizations including the PBI-Colombia accompanied Commission on Justice and Peace, the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) and the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL).

UPDATES

July 8

July 8

July 7

July 7

July 6 – watch the Democracy Now! interview here.

July 4

#SOSMisiónColombia

Land back webinar, July 15

By
Brent Patterson
-

Our next webinar will be on Thursday July 15 at 3 pm ET and will focus on an Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community in Guatemala struggling for their land back after being displaced by a military base.

To register for it, please click here.

The Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community of Chicoyogüito was displaced by a Guatemalan army base on July 28, 1968. Almost 53 years later, they have not given up the fight for their land.

Last month, 21 members of the community were arrested as they mobilized for their land back.

They will be in court on July 12.

Just a few days later, on July 15, our webinar will feature:

– a Q’eqchi’ woman from the community (who we can’t name at this point because of recent threats against her)

– human rights lawyer Édgar Pérez Archila who represents the displaced families

– World Beyond War Canada organizer Rachel Small on the displacement of Indigenous peoples by military bases around the world

It will be moderated by PBI-Canada Board member Marianna Tzabiras who was a field volunteer with the PBI – Guatemala Project in 1997-98.

The Canadian government has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars for peacekeeping training at this base (where 565 Indigenous people, including 90 children, disappeared in the 1980s by the military were found in unmarked, mass graves starting in 2012).

With their annual march coming up on July 28 to both commemorate their displacement and signal their ongoing commitment to their ancestral lands, this is a critical time to learn more about their struggle and find out what one can do in solidarity to help them.  

The webinar will have simultaneous English/Spanish translation. To register for it, please click here.

Brent, PBI-Canada

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