Project Description
Community Consultations: A model of resistance under attack in Guatemala
A bill currently before Guatemalan Congress seeks to co-opt the consultation process and violate the rights of indigenous communities to free, prior, and informed consent. Add your voice in calling on the Guatemalan government to respect the results of community-organized consultations.
Three ways to take action:
1. Print out the postcard and mail it to NISGUA’s office for delivery
2. Read more about the incredible role that consultations play in community organizing to protect land, life, and self-determination
3. Sign the extended action! Petition available here.
Photo: Graham HuntAdditional reading about community consultations
CALDH reports from the closed-door retrial of Ríos Montt
The following are translations from the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), plaintiff in the genocide case against former dictator Ríos Montt and his Head of Military Intelligence, Rodríguez Sánchez. CALDH and the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) are currently participating in the closed-door retrial of Ríos [...]
More than 99% of participants in the Quesada municipal consultation oppose mining
This weekend, the municipality of Quesada, Jutiapa held a consultation in which 99% of voters expressed their firm opposition to resource extraction activities taking place in their territories. Consultations organized at the community and municipal levels have been one of the many ways Guatemalans have organized in defense of [...]
Communities Rise Up: Report-back on NISGUA’s delegation to communities organized in resistance to Tahoe Resources
In the fall of 2015, Llan Carlos Dávila from the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) toured the U.S. to speak about CODIDENA’s efforts to stop the development and expansion of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala. Dávila spoke about popular education, grassroots action, and the organizing of [...]
Family members of disappeared Marco Antonio Molina Theissen move forward in their search for justice
Photo of 14-year-old Marco Antonio Molina Theissen. Photo credit: Lucrecia Molina Theissen The submission of preliminary evidence in the Molina Theissen trial was expected in Guatemala's First Instance Tribunal last week but was halted by a defense appeal on the issue of amnesty. The court had previously ruled [...]
“Caravan for Dignity” testifies to human rights violations in Huehuetenango
The following is a press release issued by the Departmental Assembly of the Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH), together with other organizations who accompanied the "Caravan for dignity, resistance, and freedom for political prisoners from northern Huehuetenango." NISGUA joined the Caravan as international observers, documenting testimony of communities in the [...]
Thousands march to Guatemala City in the defense of water
On Friday, April 22, communities from across Guatemala marched into the capital in protest of an economic development model that prioritizes corporate interests over the rights of communities to water. The activity coordinated the arrival of four marches entering at different points of the city; some organizations and individuals joined [...]
