Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLES OF HUEHUETENANGO IN DEFENSE OF THE TERRITORY AND FOR THE AUTONOMY AND SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE PEOPLES — ADH

Before national and international public opinion, we hereby make the following public:

THE PEOPLES SEE, FEEL, UNDERSTAND, AND EXPERIENCE FIRSTHAND THE EXTERMINATIONS AND DESTRUCTIVE ABUSES OF THE PACTO DE CORRUPTOS IN OUR COUNTRY, GUATEMALA.

It is not one, two, or three years of plundering. It has been more than 500 years since we endured this. They subjugate us to be their slaves, marginalized, dispossessed, evicted, discriminated against, excluded, and if we claim our rights, we are criminalized. Those who converge in the so-called racist pact of the corrupt carry out spurious actions to maintain their power. Enormous are the riches of the Indigenous peoples that they have been stealing; entire lives are what they continue to undermine. They are exterminating the natural resources of the people, and even so, they intend to continue doing so. We are only defenders of our territory, which we call OUR COMMON HOME; but they turn this into criminal offenses, calling us terrorists.

Given this situation, we present our clear position regarding the Second-Degree Elections that have just concluded. We strongly repudiate and condemn the 100 deputies of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala who elected Roberto Molina Barreto as Full Magistrate of the Constitutional Court (CC). Molina Barreto has been a key strategic figure in protecting those responsible for genocide, the corrupt, gangs (maras), mafias, drug trafficking cartels, among others. This individual lacks the capacity, suitability, honesty, honorability, and responsibility to protect the faithful compliance of the Constitution of the Republic; his profile is full of blemishes that aim to finish sinking the country of Guatemala. He will seek to bury the hope of the people who wish to live in a true democracy.

The old strategy of corruption:

1. They themselves invent amendments to laws to protect the corrupt, in order to legalize their plundering; they build their structures well with shielding in the branches of the State, while simultaneously legalizing the criminalization of people who defend THE COMMON HOME.

2. They use God to justify their destruction; they use religions, bibles, sins, and crosses as their shields. They invent countless political parties to feign democracy and use them in their electoral campaigns, to subjugate the Peoples through divisiveness, manipulation, disinformation, and deceit. They give away crumbs so that people cast their votes in their favor. And so, ultimately, the people end up voting for them. This is how they manufacture their strategy to continue plundering the great wealth that constitutes the natural resources of our Indigenous peoples.

3. They forge alliances among the powerful and economically corrupt and likewise practice alliances in their international relations with the same aim of protecting neoliberal capitalism.

Concrete and clear petition to the new Attorney General of the Public Ministry:

  1. TO THE CURRENT ATTORNEY GENERAL AND HEAD OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY, GABRIEL ESTUARDO GARCÍA LUNA:Fulfill what you have promised regarding bringing order to that institution which has served the corrupt system. Free the justice that has been co-opted, kidnapped, beheaded, and destroyed. Justice must be for the Indigenous peoples; much damage has already been done against our dignity. The autonomy and institutional integrity of the Public Ministry, which was destroyed, must be repaired; hope and trust in the Justice System must be restored. The machinery of criminalization that the corrupt system has used against the people and their territories must finally come to an end.
  2. TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, CÉSAR BERNARDO ARÉVALO DE LEÓN:Do not make decisions about our territories or anything that affects us without consulting us. Guatemala signed and ratified ILO Convention 169 in 1996, which entered into force in 1997, and which establishes that communities must be consulted through appropriate procedures, in good faith, and with the aim of reaching an agreement. We express our rejection of the resumption of mining operations in El Estor, Izabal, and the threat of the mining company now called “Era Dorada” in Asunción Mita, Jutiapa, without the peoples having been consulted.

To international organizations:

We, the Indigenous Peoples, do not tire of asking the International Community to help us seek legally appropriate mechanisms in defense of rights and peace in the world. They must observe, recommend, and sanction the bad decisions made against the Peoples of Guatemala.

Call to our people:

In light of the upcoming general elections in 2027, we must carefully analyze how we will participate. Let us recover the teachings of our ancestors, beginning with Jun Ajpu’ and Ixb’alamke, who defeated those of Xibalba’, so as not to allow the corrupt to continue advancing. We must not vote for the parties that serve the corrupt and favor injustice. Not a single vote in their favor.

The Peoples have the right to govern ourselves, to decide our future, to have our own authorities, and to exercise Mayan Law.

¡¡¡The sovereignty of our people must be defended!!!

The co-opted powers of the state must not define the future of Guatemala.

Self-determination is born from our territories and is exercised by the Indigenous peoples of Guatemala!!!!

Issued in the territory of CHNAB’JUL / HUEHUETENANGO, June 16, 2026

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