Organizers from the Departmental Assembly of the Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH) attended a gathering of land defenders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Read their shared statement demanding protection of water, land, and communities, as well as a reflection from a NISGUA Internacionalista:

Watching the U.S. election results come in from Guatemala, my sense of dread over a second Trump administration felt a little different in the context of Indigenous organizing here than it might have at home in the US. Indigenous organizing is often discussed in terms of decades, not years: a 10 year campaign against a mine, a 15 year struggle against a dam, a 40-years-in-the-making court case for genocide. Certainly, Trump’s election affects organizers here, too: it could mean more difficulty for cousins, siblings, children living and working in the United States, sending back remittances; it could mean empowerment for the Pacto de los Corruptos, the pact of the corrupt lead by attorney general Consuela Porras who have been trying to overthrow president Arévalo and preserve impunity for military leaders responsible for atrocities in the internal armed conflict.

But the Indigenous organizers we work with are also grounded in the fact that they have been struggling against a fascist and genocidal government for 500 years. The statement below, written this past month at a gathering of land defenders and indigenous organizers from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, is grounded in the resolve that comes from this history. Governments and corporations will continue to threaten and criminalize workers, families, communities, water, land; Indigenous communities will continue protecting them, and organizing towards a world where all these things can flourish. As we begin this new stage of organizing under a Trump presidency, I hope my communities and comrades in the US can deepen their solidarity with Indigenous communities, fight for concrete protections for vulnerable neighbors and loved ones, ground in the long term struggle, and never lose sight of the world we’re fighting for.

Statement in Defense of Water, our Territories, and the Wellbeing of our Communities

Representatives of communities in the Southern Coast, Huehuetenango, El Salvador, and Honduras met in El Salvador to share and exchange our wisdom and experiences in the defense of water and territory, showing our commitment and responsibility to promote harmony and equilibrium with Mother Earth, the care and protection of water, the conservation of natural resources and the promotion of a clean and healthy environment that allows for the development of our communities.

We expressed our worry about the multiple effects our communities and territories have suffered over the years from the imposed model of development that has hoarded indispensable resources like water, land, and forests.

The hoarding of natural resources and the contamination that companies generate in our territories is severely affecting our right to food, water, a healthy environment and free, timely, and informed consultations.

In this context, our communities across their territories denounce:

The absence and noncompletion of legislation, sanctions, and restrictions in the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras that have allowed the establishment without limits of transnational companies that are hoarding our natural resources.
The approval of the Technical Law of Biosecurity of Genetically Modified Organisms for Agricultural Use, pushed under the framework of customs agreement between Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, putting at grave risk the biodiversity, that not only legitimizes the commercialization and transport of genetically modified goods, but also GMO experimentation and research in our territories without consulting or effective guardrails for the ecosystems and communities.
The increase of the criminalization of the community leaders by the companies and the governments, who divide and generate conflict in our communities and have used the justice system to deter our denouncements and demands.
That the justice system in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras refused to respond to the denunciations presented by communities concerning the violations and consequences for our rights.
The hoarding, kidnapping, and granting of rivers by the agroindustry, the hydroelectric dams, the mines and other extractive projects that are directly affecting the families and communities through lack of water for use and consumption.
“Corporate social responsibility” and “due diligence” are not sufficient to mitigate and compensate for the environmental and social impacts on the way of life of the communities in their different territories.

In light of this, we demand:

That these governments recognize natural resources such as the water and the Earth as having rights.
That the governments respect the decisions of the peoples and communities, and investigate the forms and methods used to approve licenses for mines and hydroelectric dams to explore and exploit, and environmental permits for monocultural projects to expand in our countries.
That the States promote the conservation and promotion of the seeds and ancestral knowledge and we fervently oppose the introduction of GMOs and the implementation of new GMO technology like synthetic biology and genetic editing, that threaten the ecosystems and food systems of our peoples.
We demand that the State of Guatemala quickly approves the initiative of Law 6086, “the Law of Biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge” in order to guarantee the wellbeing of our families and communities.
The end of any economic activity that threatens the human right to water of the diverse communities in our countries, especially, rejecting transnational mines and hydroelectric dams that are sources of corruption, persecution, and criminalization of land defenders.
That the governments in their different government entities and municipalities, immediately address the denouncements and demands of the communities and make the necessary investments to guarantee the right to water, food, health, and a healthy environment.
That the governments of Central America, particularly Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, to start dialogues to create a Transnational Water Treaty. As organizations we will make available our proposal for a treaty for the integrated, sustainable and shard basin management for cross-border waterways.
That the Trifinio Plan respects the self-determination around land for the original peoples and campesinos by carrying out prior, free, and informed community consultations that consider social, environmental, economic, and cultural impacts like in the case of Guatemala.
That these governments demand the restoration of forests, the respect for communities’ own forms of organization in the management and protection of water and the approval of a water law that comes from the people.
That the governments assign an appropriate budget to implement the protection and sustainable management of water and natural resources.
That the governments sign and ratify a Regional Agreement over Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Affairs in Latin America and the Caribbean, better known as the Escazú Agreement, which will add to and support the work of land defenders.
We ask the international community to guarantee their due diligence– many of the products that are exported and consumed like sugar, palm oil and electric energy are produced at the cost of serious violations of the human rights of families and communities.

We call on social organizations and the population in general to join the defense of territory in order to protect our natural community resources and bring about development from the cosmovision of the peoples and communities.

We defend our territory, it’s not for sale!

Without gold you can live, without water you die!

El Salvador, November 21, 2024