Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).
You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo.
Xinka Alaya’ Wiriki’
Voice of the Xinka Nation of Guatemala
MANG TORO ALAXA
DEMONSTRATIONS ARE NOT TERRORISM
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
ARE NOT ILLICIT ASSOCIATIONS
Peaceful protests and demonstrations are an ancestral practice of us indigenous peoples and constitute a fundamental tool of resistance and vindication of our rights. They are an expression of our struggles for self-determination and social justice; and constitute a right recognized both in the Constitution and in international human rights instruments accepted and ratified by Guatemala.
For this reason, we strongly reject the criminalization of our Mayan brothers and sisters for complying with the mandate of their assemblies to exercise such a fundamental right in a democratic state as the right to demonstrate. To limit, attempt to limit, or misrepresent a constitutionally established right is a blatant violation of the Constitution that jeopardizes the rule of law.
We demand that the Attorney General’s Office cease the criminalization of social protest, an intrinsic element of the forms of organization and culture of indigenous peoples, which Article 66 of the Constitution requires the State to recognize, respect, and promote. Consequently, we demand the immediate release of the authorities of the Board of Directors of Communal Mayors of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán from the period 2023.
Naru Xinka Alaya’ (Xinka People’s Territory)
May 08, 2025
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