ACTIVE: Community Consultations

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 Hunt

Download a postcard

Additional reading about community consultations

27May, 2011

Pueblo Mam de Huehuetenango se declara Libre de Minería

Graham HuntEl 18 de mayo del 2011, en un acto multitudinario celebrado entre los templos de Zaculeu, el pueblo Maya Mam de Huehuetenango se declaró libre de minería. En presencia de autoridades comunitarias, municipales y ancestrales del mismo área Mam, así como delegaciones provenientes de otros departamentos, se dio lectura [...]

24May, 2011

Media from NISGUA tour, Mining and Violence: Indigenous Women Resist

We are excited to present multi-media available from our recent speaking tour.Concluding the Latin American Solidarity Conference in Washington, D.C., activists participated in the SOA Watch's march on the White House, demanding the closing of the School of the Americas-Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA-WHINSEC). See interview with tour [...]

23May, 2011

On fourth anniversary of community referendum of Ixcán, communities and organizations denounce environmental degradation

Two men (background, right) fish at the confluence of the Copón (foreground) and Chixoy (back) rivers, in the municipality of Ixcán, El Quiché. Community members denounce that the Copón river has become contaminated as a result of the Palo Viejo I hydroelectric dam, upriver on the Finca San Francisco plantation [...]

23May, 2011

A cuatro años de la consulta comunitaria de Ixcán, comunidades y organizaciones denuncian deterioro ambiental

Dos hombres (trasfondo, mano derecha) pescan en la confluencia de los ríos Copón (primer plano, color café) y Chixoy (fondo, color azul), en el municipio de Ixcán, Quiché. Vecinos denuncian que desde hace un año las aguas del río Copón les llegan contaminadas y alegan que el deterioro del río [...]

18May, 2011

NISGUA Spring 2011 Tour, Mining and Violence in Guatemala: Indigenous Women Resist

NISGUA's Spring 2011 tour on the East Coast featured speaker Victoria Cumes, of the Tz'ununija' Indigenous Women's Movement. Victoria spoke on mining and violence in Guatemala, emphasizing the unique ways in which women are impacted by large-scale development projects. A network of NISGUA activists hosted thirty-seven events in over [...]

6May, 2011

Thousands protest against proposed regulation of community consultations

Graham HuntOn April 29, 2011, more than 3,000 people, primarily representatives of indigenous organizations from rural areas of Guatemala, marched through the streets of the capital city to manifest once more their disapproval of current government's attempt to regulate community referenda via a proposed law presented earlier the same year. [...]