We share the statement of Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos, in solidarity with the pursuit of democracy, freedom of expression and non-criminalization of human rights defenders. In view of the raids on El Periódico, the arrest of its President and the Prosecutor Samari Gómez We denounce: the arbitrary action [...]
Ruby Tedeschi (she/elle/ella) former NISGUA Internacionalista, recorded this update during their time as a volunteer with NISGUA. Turn the volume up and enjoy! Dear Friends and family I enjoy talking a whole lot more than I enjoy writing so I attached a voice recording [...]
De manera urgente, La Asamblea Departamental de los Pueblos de Huehuetenango ADH, nos hemos declarado en sesión permanente; analizando la situación preocupante de la Comunidad de Triunfo de Champerico Retalhuleu. En este momento la comunidad está bajo atropellos, amenazas de Energuate y luego coordinado con las fuerzas represivas del [...]
LEER ESTA PAGINA EN ESPANOL VISIT RESIST ESCOBAL'S WEBSITE January 21, 2021 TO: María Consuelo Porras, Attorney General, Office of the Public Prosecutor, Guatemala Augusto Jordán Rodas Hernández, Ombudsman, Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, Guatemala Sean McAleer, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Guatemala, [...]
Una represa ya baja construcción es visible desde el otro lado del río en Ixquisis, a pesar de la resistencia permanente de las comunidades ante la imposición de megaproyectos en sus territorios.
Dams already under construction in Ixquisis are visible from the river bank despite the communities' ongoing resistance against the imposition of mega-projects in their territories. Note of clarification: We reject all attempts to link us to supposed criminal acts On February 29, 2020, certain corporate communications media, [...]
Julio Gómez Lucas speaks before a crowd of thousands of people in San Mateo Ixtatán, Huehuetenango. Photo credit: Nelton Rivera, Prensa Comunitaria Km. 169 January 28, 2020 María Consuelo Porras Attorney General of the Republic of Guatemala Édgar Godoy Samayoa Department of the Interior Nester Mauricio [...]
Welcome to this second Friends and Family letter, I hope you are staying warm and cozy this winter days! I wish you a festive, joyous and reflective time. Below you’ll read about my reflections as well as my wishes for the next decade: for political prisoners to be freed, [...]
UPDATE: 10/22/19 As the state of siege continues, impacts are felt in communities where no state of siege has been requested, as in the case of the municipality of Ixcán, Quiché: A military incursion in Santa María Tzejá and local military intervention intp internal community conflicts in Pueblo Nuevo [...]
On September 4, 2019, Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales declared a state of siege in 22 municipalities and 5 departments of Guatemala. The decree came after an event in Semuy II, El Estor, Izabal, in which three Guatemalan soldiers were killed and multiple community members were injured and criminalized. There [...]
News recap: Xinka Parliament, Lawyer Quelvin Jiménez, and Peaceful Resistance Under Threat; In Blow to Justice, Judge Frees 6 Men Accused of Sexual Violence against Maya Achi Woman; 2019 Accompanier Cohort Participates in NISGUA's Organizer Training in Berkeley; Fugitive Ex-Chief of Operations Under Ríos Montt Captured on Genocide and [...]
Dear Friends and Family, As I reflect on the past year since joining Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) and officially finishing my first period in Guatemala Accompaniment Program, I hold my deepest gratitude to you all who have supported my journey in this accompaniment work. [...]
Current NISGUA accompanier Meredith Wilkinson shares the journey that brought her to accompaniment and the lessons she'll take away. She invites others to join NISGUA's cross-border work for justice through the Guatemala Accompaniment Program. If you're interested in being a part of our 2019 Accompanier Cohort, we call on [...]
News recap: Organizations demand justice in wake of assassinations and ongoing violence in Ixquisis, TAKE ACTION to stand with communities working to protect community consultations, NISGUA Speaking Tour shares lessons from successful organizing in Chixoy-Copón Rivers Watershed, KCA sues Guatemalan State in international court, survivors of sexual violence in Military Zone [...]
For a downloadable version of this media advisory, click here. For nearly a year and a half, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has repeatedly defied the rule of law by attacking the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). On January 7, Morales announced that his administration would [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE subraya varios desarrollos en casos jurídicos de alto perfil, incluyendo el caso por genocidio, el caso de Las Dos Erres y el caso de la Mina San Rafael. También explica unos puntos en la coyuntura de Quiché y Ixquisis. ¡Haz clic en [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE hace un análisis histórico del caso Las Dos Erres y da actualizaciones sobre un caso por violencia sexual, el estatus de defensorxs criminalizadxs en Huehuetenango y la lucha del pueblo Ch’orti’ de Morola. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo para leer más! [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE da actualizaciones sobre las luchas de la resistencia pacífica en Ixquisis, FAMDEGUA y CONAVIGUA. También cuenta sobre la visita de la relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en Guatemala. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo [...]
One year ago today, Ermitaño López – “Don Taño” – was arrested in Guatemala City’s courthouse as he was attending a pre-trial declaration hearing in support of other land defenders from Barillas. Don Taño is a teacher and community organizer from Barillas, northern Huehuetenango, where communities are facing the [...]
One of the pillars of international human rights accompaniment is the backing of a strong and active international network that commits to ongoing education of the international community about the human rights context of those we accompany, monitors the specific situations of those human rights defenders, and is ready [...]
We celebrate the release yesterday of Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez, two community leaders wrongly convicted of homicide in a 2014 trial plagued with irregularities. Saúl and Rogelio were sentenced to 33 years in prison, despite major holes in the prosecution's evidence linking them to the murder. After winning a [...]
For the past five years, communities impacted by Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala have stood up to peacefully defend their lands and livelihoods. The Diocesan Committee in the Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) has led this movement – organizing and carrying out community referenda in which more than [...]
Last month, Los Angeles communities kicked off our summer of grassroots organizing and celebration with the first “house party” of the season hosted by the inspiring collective and cultural space, Eastside Cáfe in El Sereno. Local organizers came together with LA cultural performers and families to celebrate the 10-year [...]
"This is all of our struggle. Who doesn't breathe this air? Who doesn't drink this water? Who doesn't feel the rays of the shining sun on their face? Standing up for life - this is my husband's crime. How many of our brothers and sisters have given their lives [...]
Dear Family and Friends, Thanks to those of you who’ve responded to my recent call for action in solidarity with political prisoners in Huehuetenango and for financial support in NISGUA’s successful May Match campaign! Those of you who’ve signed in support of the release of Saúl Méndez and Rogelio [...]
UPDATE: On May 15 a court in Huehuetenango unanimously resolved not to ratify the 33-years and 4-month sentence against Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez. The decision is the result of a special appealed filed on behalf of the community leaders from Santa Cruz Barillas. Their case will be re-tried [...]
Last month, Cecilia Mérida testified at the World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. about the damage being inflicted by the Bank's financing of the Cambalam hydroelectric dam in the municipality of Barillas, Huehuetenango. She testified to the strategies of criminalization being employed by the Guatemalan government and the [...]
UPDATED May 1, 2015 Last night, Roberto de Jesus Pivaral y Pivaral was release from police custody due to lack of evidence, and all charges against him were dropped. Pivaral was charged with murder on April 21 (see information below). He was held for 10 days after being arrested [...]
Honorable: President Barack Obama, President Otto Pérez Molina President Juan Orlando Hernández President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, President Enrique Peña Nieto We, the undersigned civil society organizations and groups, wish to address you as your meetings begin at the Summit of the Americas in Panama to express our urgent concerns about [...]
Written by Nelton Rivera Translated by NISGUA Read original piece in Spanish here. [Yesterday] Rigoberto Juárez Mateo was arbitrarily detained and became another political prisoner held by the state of Guatemala. Rigoberto Juárez is a representative of the Plurinational Government (Gobierno Plurinacional) of the Q'anjob'al, Chuj, [...]
Late Sunday night, around 10:30PM, father and daughter activists involved in the resistance against Tahoe Resources' Escobal Mine, Edwin Alex Reynoso and Merilyn Topacio Reynoso, were attacked by unknown suspects. Alex and Topacio were on their way home from Matequescuintla after attending an activity there. Topacio was shot and [...]
The National Police, at the service of US mining company Kappes Cassiday and Associates (KCA), have been carrying out acts of intimidation and threatening eviction against communities in resistance at La Puya, just north of Guatemala City. Early April 9, a local company contracted by KCA, Transmac S.A., arrived [...]
Tired of being ignored and disrespected by the Guatemalan government, and determined to halt a hydroelectric project approved without their free, prior and informed consent, the men and women of Santa Cruz Barillas founded the peaceful blockade, Nuevo Amanecer on April 6, 2013. Nuevo Amanecer, or New Dawn, is [...]
Neither are San Rafael Las Flores, Nueva Santa Rosa, Mataquescuintla, Jalapa nor Santa Rosa de Lima. In 2005, the communities of Sipakapa carried out one of the first community consultations on mining in Guatemala, taking a stand against Canadian giant, Goldcorp Inc., and sparking a movement that has resulted [...]
On January 14, the people of Sipakapa joined together to take action in denouncing the granting of the Los Chocoyos mining exploration license to Goldcorp Inc. Earlier this month, the Sipakapa Maya Council, together with the Western People's Council (CPO), filed a legal complaint against the Ministry of Energy [...]