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
Communities defend right to clean water, continue to speak out against Tahoe’s dirty mine
In honor of World Environment Day, communities impacted by Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine did what they have consistently done since the mining company came on to their lands - stand up for land, water and life against mega-development extraction. The situation is critical: just over a year into the [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Ixcán
Since the mid-1990s, members of the NISGUA network have provided a physical international presence to threatened human rights defenders and communities in the Ixcán. We invite you to read the following reflection piece from one of our current accompaniers, Kayla Myers, about the violence of the past and the ongoing [...]
Victory for communities threatened by the Xalalá dam: Contract for feasibility studies canceled
NISGUA's 2014 Rivers for Life speaking tour featured ACODET, an association made up of more than 50 communities whose livelihoods and culture are threatened by the possible construction of the Xalalá dam. During the tour we mobilized our grassroots base to stand in solidarity with impacted communities by calling [...]
A corruption scandal, a new Vice President and the largest mass mobilization in Guatemala’s recent history
Tens of thousands gather in Guatemala's central park to demand an end to impunity and corruption. Photo credit: SkyCam Guatemala A crime ring that defrauded the Guatemalan national tax collection agency (SAT) and customs office, and implicated high-level authorities in different government institutions all the way up to Vice President [...]
Take action to support political prisoners from Barillas!
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 [...]
Community leader from Huehuetenango testifies at the World Bank
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 [...]
