Press release: Organizations deliver petition calling for an end to Title 42 expulsions and protections for Indigenous migrants

July 28, 2021 Contact: Claire Bransky, claire[at]nisgua.org Today, a broad coalition of Central and North American organizations delivered a petition with more than 1300 signatures to the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Congress. The petition calls for an end to expulsions of asylum seekers [...]

July Solidarity Update 2021 / Boletín Solidario de Julio

On July 22nd, Rubén’s life partner, feminist leader Alba Cecilia, launched Rubén’s second book, ¿Cómo olvidar a las memorias olvidadas? or How to forget the forgotten memories? You can watch the livestream of the launch in Spanish at www.facebok.com/MadreSelvaColectivo. [Español abajo] Dear NISGUA community, In moments of grief, as in [...]

Accompanier perspectives: “We have survived the oppression, we are proud of our Indigenous Youth”

Straigth from NISGUA's archives, we invite you to read this letter written by Kayla Myers, who was an accompanier in Guatemala from November 2014 to November 2015. Dear Family and Friends, I write you with a feeling of gratitude. Your messages of support and kindness give me [...]

Accompanier Perspectives: Connecting — Zapatistas, Feminist Teachings, and Neocolonialism in Guatemala

[Christina Reyes, NISGUA Internacionalista, wrote and sent this letter in early January 2020. It now includes modifications they made in early March 2020 for International Women’s Day] Hello loved ones, I hope this message reaches y'all in a time and space where the world isn't weighing so heavily on [...]

2020-07-01T19:23:54+00:00July 1st, 2020|Accompanier Perspectives|

Four lessons from survivors on the Day of Dignification for Victims

In 1999, the UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification presented its report, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, which documented the crimes the Guatemalan state had committed against its own people during the Internal Armed Conflict. Each year, communities around Guatemala remember what they survived and those they lost on the National [...]

2019-02-28T22:20:23+00:00February 25th, 2019|Justice and accountability|

Solidarity Update: December 2018

News recap: Organizations demand justice in wake of assassinations and ongoing violence in Ixquisis, TAKE ACTION to stand with communities working to protect community consultations, NISGUA Speaking Tour shares lessons from successful organizing in Chixoy-Copón Rivers Watershed, KCA sues Guatemalan State in international court, survivors of sexual violence in Military Zone [...]

Media Advisory: Social movements at risk as technical coup unfolds in Guatemala

For a downloadable version of this media advisory, click here. For nearly a year and a half, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has repeatedly defied the rule of law by attacking the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). On January 7, Morales announced that his administration would [...]

Four lessons on human rights that we’ve learned from defenders of life

On International Human Rights Day, we recognize that the language of human rights has not always served to advance social justice. In many cases, it has functioned as a smoke screen for imperial institutions to validate or obscure their violence. The U.S. government used the rhetoric of human rights [...]

Solidarity Update: October 2018

Solidarity Update news recap: NISGUA’s Fall Speaking Tour Kicks Off in November; AJR President, Edwin Canil, speaks on the fight for justice for genocide in "Learning From Survivors" talk;  NISGUA welcomes a new GAP cohort; Former accompanier and NISGUA fellow Claire Bransky holds "500 Years Screening: Life in Resistance from Guatemala [...]

Boletín de ACOGUATE: julio-agosto 2018

En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE hace un análisis histórico del caso Las Dos Erres y da actualizaciones sobre un caso por violencia sexual, el estatus de defensorxs criminalizadxs en Huehuetenango y la lucha del pueblo Ch’orti’ de Morola. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo para leer más! [...]

2018-12-25T18:25:46+00:00September 1st, 2018|Boletín de ACOGUATE|

Boletín de ACOGUATE: mayo-junio 2018

En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE da actualizaciones sobre las luchas de la resistencia pacífica en Ixquisis, FAMDEGUA y CONAVIGUA. También cuenta sobre la visita de la relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en Guatemala. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo [...]

2018-12-25T18:21:00+00:00July 1st, 2018|Boletín de ACOGUATE|

NISGUA Local: Building connections between global movements to defend life and territory

"We oppose any desecration of our sacred site.  Our sacred sites are not for sale.  We will not allow our ancestors to be disturbed.  This sacred site represents more than 5,000 years of our history and it also currently represents our living culture. We will not permit the desecration of a site [...]

Peaceful resistance movement and Xinca Parliament call for the permanent closure of the Escobal mine

Peaceful Resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa member from Santa Rosa de Lima speaks to the press during a conference held at their second permanent resistance camp in front of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court on November 29. Community members from Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa have been [...]

2019-12-27T17:44:17+00:00November 30th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Tahoe Licenses Suspended for Lack of Consultation with Indigenous Communities, While Company Denies Indigenous Presence and Opposition 

July 7, 2017 (Oakland/Reno/Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Toronto) On Wednesday July 5, the Guatemalan Supreme Court of Justice announced that it was temporarily suspending two of Tahoe Resources’ mining licenses until a suit against the Ministry of Energy and Mines is resolved for discrimination and lack of prior consultation with Indigenous Xinka communities [...]

2019-12-27T18:11:18+00:00July 10th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Saying “NO” to proposed parking lot on Mission Peak Ohlone cultural site

NISGUA's Oakland office and staff are guests on Ohlone land in California. On September 20, we responded to call to stand with the local Ohlone community in saying no to a proposed parking lot on Mission Peak. NISGUA spoke out at the public hearing and filed a letter (below), urging the [...]

Land defenders Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez absolved of all charges but remain in prison

On October 28, 2015, a Quetzaltenango Femicide Tribunal unanimously voted to absolve political prisoners Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez of the crimes of femicide and homicide. The Tribunal rejected every single witness presented by the prosecution and questioned the political motives behind the Public Prosecutor's decision to begin investigation [...]

2019-12-27T18:16:59+00:00November 25th, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Huehuetenango|

Uncertainty around the Xalalá Hydroelectric Project

Posted on February 28, 2015 by ACOGUATE Translation by NISGUA On November 7, 2013, the National Electrification Institute (Instituto Nacional de Electrificación, INDE) signed an Emergency Purchase contract with the Brazilian company Intertechne Consultores, S.A. to conduct the geotechnical, seismic, geological and geophysical feasibility studies for the Xalalá dam, [...]

2019-12-27T18:59:20+00:00March 17th, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Xalalá Dam|

The Q’eqchi’ and the Duwamish

This article was originally published in Spanish, online at elsalmon.org By Alejandro Echeverría October 13, 2014 Indigenous leaders Víctor Caal Tzuy and Ken Workman Ken Workman is a Seattle native who despite his tall stature, has characteristics that evoke his famous 19th century ancestor - the indigenous Chief of [...]

Will new World Bank lending policies undermine advances for justice in Guatemala?

Only days after a Guatemalan appeals court emitted an historic ruling strengthening the domestic jurisdiction of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO 169), a leaked draft of the World Bank’s new Safeguard Policies revealed proposed changes to the Bank’s lending policies that could undermine international laws in [...]

2019-12-27T17:46:55+00:00August 7th, 2014|Defense of life and territory, Xalalá Dam|

Court rules that Guatemala must recognize results of community consultations

In an historic resolution, a Guatemalan Appeals Court ruled last week that the government must take into account the right to free, prior and informed consent when granting mining licenses on the lands of indigenous communities. The ruling came in response to a legal action presented by the Sipakapense [...]

Guatemalan Indigenous Organizations File Complaint over Mining Law with Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Sources: Western Peoples' Council (CPO) - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - MiningWatch Canada – Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) (Guatemala City/Ottawa/Washington) Tuesday, Guatemala's Western Peoples' Council of Mayan organizations (CPO) filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) alleging that the [...]

2019-12-27T18:42:37+00:00September 3rd, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Escobal, Huehuetenango, La Puya|

Declaration of the Second Gathering of the Q’anjob’al Nationalities

On August 21 – 23, leaders and representatives of twenty Maya Q'anjob'al communities in northern Huehuetenango and Chiapas, Mexico, gathered in San Juan Ixcoy, Huehuetenango to discuss the ongoing imposition of large-scale development projects on their territory and to continue generating strategies for unified resistance moving forward. The three [...]

2019-12-27T17:21:36+00:00August 28th, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Huehuetenango|

Guatemalan complainants celebrate effective suspension of Tahoe Resources license

CALAS and the Xinca Parliament announce the suspension of Tahoe Resources' mining license on Wednesday morning. Photo: Prensa Libre (Ottawa/Guatemala City) On Tuesday, the Civil and Mercantile Division of Guatemala’s First Court of Appeals notified the Centre for Environmental and Social Legal Action (CALAS) that it is upholding an [...]

2019-12-27T18:42:52+00:00July 25th, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Indigenous organizations denounce proposed mining moratorium

In a televised program broadcast from outside Tahoe Resources’ conflictive Escobal mine project, President Otto Pérez Molina announced a proposed two-year moratorium on the granting of new mineral mining licenses. A similar moratorium put in place under the Colom presidency was lifted under the Molina administration, allowing for the [...]

Complaint asks for investigation into Tahoe Resources after wiretap evidence implicates employees in violence at Escobal mine

On Saturday April 27, mine security at Tahoe Resources' Escobal project opened fire on community members peacefully gathered outside the mine site. Six men were shot and seriously injured. This incident set of a chain of events, eventually resulting in the declaration of a state of siege in four [...]

2019-12-27T18:43:06+00:00June 3rd, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

International community calls for Rubén Herrera’s immediate release

More than one year after President Molina declared a state of siege in Santa Cruz de Barillas, repression continues against community leaders resisting the Cambalam hydroelectric project, operated by Spanish owned Hidro Santa Cruz. Violence and criminalization against leaders defending territory and the right to self determination has been [...]

2019-12-27T18:21:39+00:00May 23rd, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Huehuetenango|
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