Dear friend,
Last month, we partnered with JODVID on our fall solidarity tour, “Guatemalan Youth in Defense of Land and Life." Together with activists and volunteers in 9 U.S. cities, we helped raise awareness about the community and youth forces that have organized in resistance to Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver mine in southeastern Guatemala and the human rights abuses that surround the project.
The struggle for environmental justice is far from over. Tahoe Resources has powerful allies who are trying to influence the legal battles over the mine’s continued operation despite clear community opposition. Take action today for community self-determation, and join us in demanding that Nevada Senator Dean Heller stop advocating behalf of Tahoe. Sign our online petition now!
Did you miss out on tour? Read our report-back, check out pictures on our Facebook page, or watch a live recording from our first-ever virtual exchange!
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News from the Grassroots
- Denver Justice & Peace Committee honors Guatemalan genocide victims with Day of the Dead altar and CALDH photo exhibit
- Needham Congregational Church celebrates 30 years of U.S.-Guatemala solidarity
- Skylight presents documentary film “500 YEARS” and The Resistance Saga tour
- Accompanier perspectives: From Huehuetenango to Omaha, NE
Justice & Accountability
- As Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez are retried, witnesses and survivors reaffirm 2013 genocide sentence
- NISGUA report highlights grassroots strategies to preserve historical memory in Guatemala
Defense of Life & Territory
- Resistance movement from Jalapa & Santa Rosa initiates second round-the-clock protest camp in front of Guatemala’s Constitutional Court
- Nobel Women’s Initiative speaks out in support of community resistance to Tahoe Resources
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"The Denver area has longtime community members from all over Latin America who fled brutal and repressive governments. People currently living here have family members that were killed in Guatemala by the military dictatorships. This altar in honor of the victims of the genocide in Guatemala brings collective healing to people in Denver and cultivates solidarity across borders for peace and reconciliation."
-- DJPC
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Denver Justice & Peace Committee honors Guatemalan genocide victims with Day of the Dead altar and CALDH photo exhibit
During October, the Denver Justice & Peace Committee partnered with the Chicano Humanities & Arts Council to create an altar honoring victims and survivors of genocide in Guatemala. Built alongside others commemorating deceased family and community members during the Day of the Dead, the altar was visited by some 500 people on its opening night, which coincided with the the October 20th reopening of the Ixil genocide case against Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez.
Along with plants, fabrics, vases, and other elements, the altar included photographs from an exhibition curated by the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) entitled “Defending Truth and Memory: the Path Toward Justice.” Throughout 2017, NISGUA has partnered with CALDH to bring the exhibition to the U.S. for the first time as part of our Justice & Accountability program. Additional installations in are anticipated in California, New Mexico, and Colorado throughout 2018.
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Needham Congregational Church celebrates 30 years of Guatemala-U.S. solidarity
NISGUA's Sponsoring Community partnerships provide the resources, energy, and political action required to ensure ongoing international accompaniment in Guatemala. Their long-term commitment to human rights and solidarity is an essential component of the longevity and sustainability of the Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP). The Needham Congregational Church/Guatemala Partnership is one of NISGUA's longest Sponsoring Community relationships. On our blog we share Needham’s reflections as they celebrate the 30-year anniversary of their sister community solidarity relationship with Santa Maria Tzeja, Ixcán, Guatemala.
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Skylight presents documentary film “500 YEARS” and The Resistance Saga tour
NISGUA is partnering with Skylight to support the launch of their new film 500 YEARS. From the historic Guatemala genocide trial to the deposing of a president, 500 YEARS tells a sweeping story of recent resistance in Guatemala, through the actions and perspectives of indigenous Mayans featured in the film.
In 2018, Skylight is hosting The Resistance Saga tour to cities across the U.S., holding local forums on long-term resistance led by the Mayan women protagonists of 500 YEARS. The tour includes the classic documentary When the Mountains Tremble (1983), Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, (2011) and their new film 500 YEARS. At each stop on the tour they will share their experiences from Guatemala with local groups fighting to defend our rights, whether it be women’s rights, indigenous rights, LGBTQ rights, the movement for Black Lives, or immigrant rights. You can support The Resistance Saga tour in 2018 by donating and spreading the word!
Starting on December 1st, 500 YEARS is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, and the entire Guatemalan trilogy of documentaries will be available on Amazon Video.
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Accompanier perspectives: From Huehuetenango to Omaha, NE
The Maya Q’anjob’al Nation takes their defense of land and life in Huehuetenango transnational through community organizing in both Guatemala and the U.S. Caya Simonsen worked for 6 months as a NISGUA accompanier in Huehuetenango and shares her experience visiting the Maya Q’anjob’al Nation in both Guatemala and her hometown of Omaha, NE. Read Caya’s account and those of other accompaniers in the Accompanier Perspectives section of our website.
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As Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez are retried, witnesses and survivors reaffirm 2013 genocide sentence
In October, retrial proceedings began against ex-dictator Efraín Ríos Montt and former head of military intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez for genocide against the Ixil people. Keeping with a 2015 decision to try the two accused separately, Ríos Montt’s case will remain behind closed doors, while Rodríguez Sánchez faces a public trial. Members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) uphold the validity of the 2013 verdict and hope that current retrial proceedings, which resume processes stalled in May 2016, will affirm the sentence against Ríoss Montt and open the door for justice for Rodríguez Sánchez’s crimes.
As has been the case throughout, genocide surivors from across Guatemala have stood in solidarity with the Ixil witnesses. Weekly, members of the AJR travel from around the country to Rodríguez Sánchez’s open trial to stand with their fellow survivors. You can read more about survivors’ perspectives of the genocide case retrial in our blog.
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Survivors from Chimaltenango travel to participate in the retrial of the Ixil genocide case. The AJR represents 5 regions, and solidarity between communities has been their foundation since their formation. Photo: José Silvio T.
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NISGUA report highlights grassroots strategies to preserve historical memory in Guatemala
In our September report, NISGUA explores the creative and resilient strategies used by communities working to preserve the memory of those forcibly disappeared during the Internal Armed Conflict. Featuring the work of several of our Guatemalan partners, the report looks at how survivors continue the "revolutionary project" of those targeted by state violence, using legals cases, exhumations and burials, street art and protest, historical exhibitions, and youth education to ensure that the disappeared live on in collective memory and that genocide never be repeated.
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DEFENSE OF LIFE & TERRITORY
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Resistance movement from Jalapa & Santa Rosa initiates second round-the-clock protest camp in front of Guatemala’s Constitutional Court
The Peaceful Resistance Camp in Casillas has organized a second permanent protest camp in front of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court demanding a swift and legally founded decision in a case that could permanently close the world’s third largest silver mine, a project that has been met with broad community opposition since its inception in 2010.
Since June 7, community members from six municipalities in Santa Rosa and Jalapa have organized a 24-hour peaceful protest in the community of Casillas, calling for the permanent closure of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine due to negative environmental impacts felt in the region. In a separate but related legal battle, Tahoe’s license to operate the mine was suspended in early July following a complaint filed by the Center for Social Environmental and Legal Action (CALAS), in conjunction with the Xinca Parliament, against the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM). The complaint argues that MEM granted the Escobal license illegally and without prior consultation of the indigenous Xinca people, and calls for the mine’s permanent closure. Members of the Peaceful Resistance Camp say that they will remain in front of the Constitutional Court until a decision is made.
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Nobel Women’s Initiative speaks out in support of community resistance to Tahoe Resources
Four Nobel Peace-prize laureates visited the Peaceful Resistance Camp in Casillas, Santa Rosa as part of a delegation in support of women-led movements in defense of land in Guatemala and Honduras in late October. The laureates commended resistance members in their struggle to close the Escobal mine, recognizing their work as part of a global movement to protect the Earth. During the visit, news broke of a video circulating on social media in which Tahoe’s Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera San Rafael, claimed the purpose of their visit was to resolve the “roadblock” by a group of people in Casillas. The women immediately responded with their own video. Notably outraged by the claims, Jody Williams, laureate from the U.S., clarified, “We are here only in support of the Peaceful Resistance, the women and men who are peacefully protesting Minera San Rafael. We aren’t here to mediate anything.” This is just the latest in the extensive campaign to delegitimize the peaceful resistance movement by Tahoe resources and its supporters.
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From the 2018 NISGUA Calendar, "Youth in Resistance": At the water's edge, children scratch "No to the Xalalá Dam" on broad river rocks, a symbol of the powerful organizing of Maya communities who have mobilized in defense of their rights to water. Join us as we celebrate youth leadership in 2018 --
order your NISGUA calendar today!
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