In April and June, ADH (the Departmental Assembly for the Defense of Territories of Huehuetenango) met with other organizations and communities from the Southern Coast, Huehuetenango, and Quiché to exchange strategies and wisdom about the defense of territory. They wrote these statements that include context for their struggle and their accusations and demands of the Guatemalan government and extractive companies.

The intimidation, threats, and criminalization of community leaders by businesses, that divide and generate conflict in our communities. We are clear that their only objective is to defame us as defenders of our territory and stop the defense of our human rights The lack of support of the Government to seek immediate solutions for the environmental problems that would allow for the wellbeing and common good of the population. As well as lack of will, respect and support from the public institutions like the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), the Public Ministry, the Attorney’s office of Human Rights, the Municipalities and the government to pay attention to our accusations and demands presented by the communities of the Southern Coast against the systematic abuse of the agricultural industry in displacing rivers, contaminating sources of water with toxic substances and violating their rights, the hoarding of underground water, which has generated the death of fish and other aquatic species, in addition to the contamination generated by aerial fumigations and harvests. The hoarding, kidnapping, and rerouting of rivers by the monocultural farms, the hydroelectric dams, the mine and other extractive projects that are directly affecting the families and communities through lack of water for their use and consumption in the Southern Coast, Huehuetenango, and San Juan Cotzal. The companies ‘social responsibility’ and due diligence are NOT enough to mitigate and compensate for the environmental and social impact generated in the forms and ways of life of the communities in the different territories that are present today. The little or none at all treatment of residual water in the departments of Huehuetenango, Retalhuleu, and Quiché that are contaminating the principal rivers of the regions In this situation we DEMAND: That the three branches of the State listen to the people and communities and stop promoting the passage of the Monsanto Law, that native and creole seeds are part of the network of life of the people and communities, and it’s not just a commodity to commercialize. And we demand the passage of the Law of Biodiversity and Ancestral Knowledge 6086. We demand that the state take up again, with urgency, the collective writing and passage of a Law of Waters and their Public Policy, from the focus of the people to regulate the use and exploitation of this vital liquid in order to guarantee as a priority the right of the people and communities to water. The end of threats, persecution, defamation, and criminalization of the community leaders that are defending Mother Earth, the water, life, and wellbeing. We demand from the Public Ministry the investigations their office should take up, based on the accusations presented by the communities for the serious violation of human rights, especially in relation to the cases of environmental contamination, kidnapping and redirecting of rivers, that affect health. In addition, the Public Ministry should stop criminalizing defenders of rights. That the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) immediately take up, again, the accusations around environmental processes related to the redirecting and contamination of rivers in the Southern Coast that was began in 2016, that were shelved to prioritize dialogues that were only means of delaying that have not had any impact in the communities affected by agroindustry and megaprojects.
Follow through on the sentences number 156-2013 and 159-2013 from the Constitutional Court given March 25th, 2015, in favor of the ancestral Authority of San Juan Cotzal that ordered the Ministry of Energy and Mines to engage in an obligatory for the Ixil people of Cotazal for the energy transportation project TRANSNOVA S.A, subsidiary of ENEL Green Power. The promotion of the restoration of forests, the respect of the ways of life of the original communities, also in the management and protection of water. That the municipality of Huehuetenango put into the budget that the actions described in each of the passed Accords for the Protection of Water are completed exaclty, as well as their distribution and publication in the Journal of Central America. We ask the Guatemalan population to reduce the consumption of products like sugar, sugary drinks, and palm oil that contaminate our environment and cause an increase of chronic illnesses like diabetes, kidney and heart effects, malnutrition, as well as increasing the solid waste that contaminate our territory. The fight for our territory begins with defending our bodies. We ask the international community to take action, as much of the products that are exported like sugar, palm oil, and electric energy to countries like the US, Canada, and Europe and Central American countries are products made through serious violations of human rights of the 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 support the development from the cosmovision of our peoples and communities. Our territory will be defended—it's not for sale! Without gold we live, without water we die! San Juan Cotzal Quiché, April 7 2024
The representatives of the communities of the Southern Coast, Huehuetenango, San Juan Cotzal, Chisec, and Raxruhá met in the territory of the Southern Coast to share and exchange experiences and wisdom for the defense of territory, and show our commitment to seek out harmony and balance with Mother Earth, to protect our national resources, and to maintain the cleanliness and health of our environment that promotes the development of our communities We expressed our concern about the lack of rain that affects all our national territory, especial campesino families, and that it is evidence of climate change, which is a product of the bad practices (cutting down of forests, redirection of rivers, planting monocultural farms, hoarding of land) that mostly the extractive businesses and agricultural industry have promoted in our territories that are closely related to the model of capitalist development based solely and exclusively around economic growth for some, leaving behind human rights, respect for the forms and means of life of the communities and the wellbeing of the majority. We see that this model contradicts the purpose of development driven by people, which is based in promoting food sovereignty in diversification of farming and agroecology, the reclamation of our local practices, the use and management of local and natural resources, the strength and the organization of our interconnected work, seeking self-sufficiency, harmony, and balance with Mother Earth, as well as the harmony and wellbeing of the majority, including indigenous people and women. In this situation that our communities our experiencing in our different territories, we DENOUNCE: The absence of the State and its different government entities and municipalities in responding to a series of violations of fundamental rights such as: to water, to food, to health and a healthy environment, caused by these extractive activities. The increase in criminalization of community leaders by businesses, that divide and generate conflict in our communities. The hoarding and kidnapping of rivers by the monocultural farms, especially facilities for production of sugar and palm oil. There is a similar case with the hydroelectric dams, the mine and other extractive projects that are directly affecting the families and communities through lack of water for their use and consumption. The companies ‘social responsibility’ and due diligence are NOT enough to mitigate and compensate for the environmental and social impact generated in the forms and ways of life of the communities in the different territories that are present today. In this situation we DEMAND: That the government, in its different government entities and municipalities, respond immediately to the accusations and demands of the communities and make the investments necessary to guarantee a right to water, food, health, and a healthy environment. That the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Energy and Mines respect the decisions of the people and investigate the methods in which they are approving and renewing licenses of exploration and exploitation of mines in the country. That Indigenous lands are protected as stated in the Constitution in Article 67. To engage in the necessary investigations to determine penal responsibilities of the legal or administrative action that made possible the invasion of the monocultural farms of palm oil and