This November, NISGUA partnered with the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources (ACODET) for a 14-day speaking tour, “How to Stop a Dam with Indigenous Resistance.” ACODET representative and Maya Mam leader, José Gómez García, visited Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, lifting [...]
On International Human Rights Day, we recognize that the language of human rights has not always served to advance social justice. In many cases, it has functioned as a smoke screen for imperial institutions to validate or obscure their violence. The U.S. government used the rhetoric of human rights [...]
News recap: NISGUA celebrates a successful fall speaking tour; Communities celebrate another year of resistance; Take action to stand with Indigenous Peoples to demand respect for Indigenous self-determination in Guatemala; ACODET releases statement in the face of attacks against water defenders; 2018: a year of horizontal exchange - a [...]
Washington, D.C. local, Clara Lincoln is a recent NISGUA accompanier through the Guatemala Accompaniment Program. She spent ten months accompanying land and human rights defenders in Guatemala. Since returning, she has collaborated with ONE DC, an organization fighting for the rights to housing, wellness, and economic equity for low-income [...]
Español abajo. The peoples that form part of M4 who resist the capitalist and extractive model and are working towards social transformation DECLARE In Guatemala City’s historic center, on November 15, 16 and 17, we met to discuss and analyze current efforts to regulate prior consultation of our [...]
As the kick-off to NISGUA’s 2018 tour, “How to Stop a Dam with Indigenous Resistance,” we travelled to Seattle on occupied Duwamish and Coastal Salish territories. Duwamish Tribal Chair Cecile Hansen and Jolene Hass generously welcomed Maya Mam activist José Gómez and members of the NISGUA network to the [...]
On November 11, 2018, six years after the municipality of Mataquescuintla voted “NO” in a referendum on mining, thousands of community members marched to uphold the results and re-affirm their resistance. The 2012 referendum, which saw 98.42% of participants reject mining, is one of several that have taken place [...]
The following article was co-written by the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, Earthworks, and NISGUA. On November 19, 2018, the Xinka Parliament held a press conference to denounce the malicious behaviour of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), and [...]
In the past few weeks, water defenders in Guatemala have faced growing threats. Last Friday, Q'eqchi' community leader Bernardo Caal Xol was unjustly sentenced to seven years and four months in prison in Cobán. He was convicted of illegal detention and aggravated robbery, despite contradictory and insufficient evidence presented by the [...]
Español abajo. The following statement was written by Indigenous communities in the Ixcán, Cobán, and Uspantán regions of Guatemala. At the request of the authors, NISGUA invites Indigenous and Indigenous-descendent individuals and Indigenous-led organizations to add their signatures. To sign on, please email NISGUA's Guatemala Programs Coordinator, Becky Kaump, [...]
Solidarity Update news recap: NISGUA’s Fall Speaking Tour Kicks Off in November; AJR President, Edwin Canil, speaks on the fight for justice for genocide in "Learning From Survivors" talk; NISGUA welcomes a new GAP cohort; Former accompanier and NISGUA fellow Claire Bransky holds "500 Years Screening: Life in Resistance from Guatemala [...]
For decades, NISGUA has used grassroots speaking tours as a tool to build cross-border, people-to-people connections between social movements in the U.S. and Guatemala. With the support of scores of volunteers, activists, and organizers, NISGUA speaking tours have cultivated deeper understandings of the common forces our communities are up [...]
MEDIA ADVISORY Contact: David Imhoff, (510) 763-1403, david@nisgua.org Event Details: Maya Mam Indigenous Water Defender to visit Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico & Washington (Guatemala City/Oakland, CA): José Gómez, Maya Mam community leader and co-coordinator of the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources [...]
News recap: Court affirms that the state enacted genocide, but finds Rodríguez Sánchez not guilty in a split decision; Constitutional Court upholds temporary suspension of Escoal mine and calls on the State to consult impacted Xinka communities. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
In the lead-up to our fall speaking tour, "How to Stop a Dam with Indigenous Resistance," NISGUA sat down with José Gómez, Maya Mam community leader and member of the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources (ACODET), to discuss the importance of [...]
Featured photo credit: La Hora GT For weeks, Guatemala has made international headlines after President Jimmy Morales announced his government will not renew the mandate for the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), an independent anti-corruption body that has had significant impact in the country since [...]
Press Release September 4, 2018 Earthworks * MiningWatch Canada * Projet Accompagnement Québec-Guatemala * Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala * Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network Late Monday night, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled that [US-Canadian owned] Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine will remain suspended while the Ministry [...]
News recap: Communities in Huehuetenango call out the Inter-American Development Bank for human rights and environmental violations in Ixquisis; Over 60 international organizations call for an investigation into the murder of environmental activist Estuardo Quevedo; Join NISGUA as an intern in our Bay Area office. This and more in [...]
Today, the Peaceful Resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa & Jutiapa and the Xinca People's Parliament sent a letter to US and Canadian mining company, Tahoe Resources, and their Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera San Rafael, expressing firm opposition to their Escobal silver mine and reiterating their demand for the permanent closure [...]
On July 12, 2018, Guatemalan activist Ángel Estuardo Quevedo, a member of the Peaceful Resistance in Casillas which demands the permanent closure of the Escobal silver mine, was murdered while traveling in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima. The murder of Quevedo is the latest in a wave [...]
News recap: Environmental activist Ángel Estuardo Quevedo killed in a wave of assassinations; Accompanier perspectives on violence at the U.S. border; New NISGUA report: Defending an ancestral decision-making process; Maya Achí women from Rabinal call for justice for sexual violence. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
In these times of intensifying repression and political upheaval, our social movements urgently need to share concrete lessons and strategies for organizing to defend land and life. The Latin American solidarity movement has a powerful contribution to make in strengthening global justice struggles by facilitating direct exchange between leaders [...]
On Thursday, July 12, 2018, Guatemalan activist Ángel Estuardo Quevedo, a member of the Peaceful Resistance in Casillas which demands the permanent closure of the Escobal silver mine, was murdered while traveling in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima. NISGUA joins the Xinka People's Parliament in condemning his [...]
Yesterday, 54 organizations from Guatemala, Latin America, United States, Canada and Europe delivered a letter to the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, Luis Arreaga. The organizations expressed their concern regarding the U.S. government's intervention in the case against Tahoe Resources' Escobal silver mine, a project associated with numerous and well-documented [...]
On Sunday, June 3, the Volcán de Fuego erupted and has had catastrophic effects. We have been in touch with our partners, none of whom have been directly affected by the eruption. We're saddened by the immense loss of life and displacement that this disaster has caused, and know [...]
News recap: VICTORY! Four former military officials found guilty in the historic Molina Theissen trial; Host a summertime community screening of 500 YEARS!; Accompanier perspectives on land, genocide, and gentrification in Guatemala and the U.S.; Security measures restored for the Reynoso Pacheco family. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
Thousands gather in front of the Constitutional Court in Guatemala City, demanding the closure of Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine and the respect for the self-determination of the Xinca People. On Monday April 9, thousands took to the streets in Guatemala City as part of the "March for [...]
Community members demand justice for the murder of 16-year old environmental activist, Topacio Reynoso, outside of the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor's Office in 2014 On March 26, Guatemalan and international human rights organizations called on the Guatemalan state to restore the life-saving security measures for the Reynoso Pacheco [...]
News recap: Prayerful action on the Equinox at the Ohlone Shellmound and Village Sacred Site in California; Genocide retrial moves to Nebaj to hear testimonies from elderly and protected witnesses; Nearly 40 years later, former military officials stand trial for crimes against the Molina Theissen family; NISGUA's latest report celebrates community [...]
Members of the Peaceful Resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa, and Jutiapa at a press conference in front of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court on February 21, 2018. The following article was co-written by MiningWatch Canada, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), and Earthworks. It has [...]
The following information was published by the Xinca Parliament regarding the misreporting by local news sources, which are alleging the "detention" of two Tahoe Resources/Minera San Rafael executives in a community in Santa Rosa. The original publication can be found in its entirety at the bottom of the page. [...]
News recap: We're ready for 2018 with a new cohort of GAP volunteers; NISGUA Local: Building connections between global movements to defend life and territory; Members of the AJR denounce ongoing racism as they continue their search for justice for genocide; plaintiff organizations to take Military Zone 21 case [...]
In the face of the ongoing threat by mega-development projects and extractive industries to indigenous and campesino peoples' natural resources, and in particular to their water sources, the Departmental Assembly of the Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH) held a day-long meeting to discuss strategies for their protection. The ADH, a [...]
"We oppose any desecration of our sacred site. Our sacred sites are not for sale. We will not allow our ancestors to be disturbed. This sacred site represents more than 5,000 years of our history and it also currently represents our living culture. We will not permit the desecration of a site [...]
Photo Credit: Francisco Simón Original article posted in Spanish on Prensa Comunitaria. Translation by NISGUA. By: Francisco Simón. January 6, 2018, San Mateo Ixtatán The communal authorities of Yulch'en Frontera paid tribute to the martyr and defender of rivers Don Sebastián Alonzo Juan, who was murdered on [...]
This week, NISGUA received a delegation from the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) in our Guatemala City office. NISGUA relies on a strong network of individuals and organizations, like CRLN, fighting in the global struggle for social justice and respect for the earth. We work in [...]
News recap: Needham Congregational Church celebrates 30 years of U.S.-Guatemala solidarity; As Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez are retried, witnesses and survivors reaffirm 2013 genocide sentence; NISGUA report highlights grassroots strategies to preserve historical memory in Guatemala; Nobel Women’s Initiative speaks out in support of community resistance to Tahoe [...]
Peaceful Resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa member from Santa Rosa de Lima speaks to the press during a conference held at their second permanent resistance camp in front of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court on November 29. Community members from Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa have been [...]
NISGUA partnered with Jalapa-based youth organization, Youth Organized in Defense of Life (JODVID), for a 16-day U.S. speaking tour, “Guatemalan Youth in Defense of Land and Life.” Together we helped raise awareness about the community and youth forces that have organized in resistance to Tahoe Resources' Escobal silver mine in southeastern [...]
In August, Nevada Senator Dean Heller wrote to the U.S. State Department to lobby for Tahoe Resources, a Canadian company headquartered in Reno. At the time, Tahoe’s operating license for its flagship Escobal mine in Guatemala had been suspended by Guatemala’s highest court over failure to consult with the Xinca [...]