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 [...]
leer esta pagina en español The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr. President-Elect Office of the President Elect 1401 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20230 January 14, 2021 Dear President-Elect Biden, Congratulations on your electoral victory. As you prepare to take office, we wish to share our [...]
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN GUATEMALA? For centuries, the elite of Guatemala have consolidated their power by violently robbing resources from the Indigenous majority. In recent history, the oligarchy has maintained its control through militarized violence, mass corruption, systemic impunity, and strategic alliances with the U.S. government and multinational corporations. [...]
[Español abajo] Image reads: Liberty! No to the State of Siege (Photo credit: Festivales Solidarios) On May 30, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei declared a State of Siege in Santa Lucía Utatlán, Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, and Nahualá in Sololá due to territorial conflicts in these regions. [...]
The setting sun shines through bougainvillea flowers in central Guatemala. Dear friend, I write to you today from my kitchen table, thankful for the pink-blossomed trees outside and the available resources for digital communications. On behalf of all of us at NISGUA, I want to offer [...]
Survivors of the Internal Armed Conflict at their Press Conference. Photo Credit: Impunity Watch Statement on International Human Rights Day The Victims and Survivors of the Internal Armed Conflict, convened in National Assembly, declare before national and international public opinion that: 1. We publicly condemn the [...]
UPDATE: 10/22/19 As the state of siege continues, impacts are felt in communities where no state of siege has been requested, as in the case of the municipality of Ixcán, Quiché: A military incursion in Santa María Tzejá and local military intervention intp internal community conflicts in Pueblo Nuevo [...]
On September 4, 2019, Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales declared a state of siege in 22 municipalities and 5 departments of Guatemala. The decree came after an event in Semuy II, El Estor, Izabal, in which three Guatemalan soldiers were killed and multiple community members were injured and criminalized. There [...]
A sign reads, "The interference by the United States buries the people's peace." THEY DO NOT CONSULT US, THEY DO NOT LISTEN TO US, WE RESIST TO SURVIVE… On this day, August 9, 2019, we, the Indigenous people of Zaculeu, convene ourselves to strongly condemn the events [...]
News Recap: Huehuetenango communities march against militarization, Escalation of tension, threats and defamation against the peaceful resistance to mining in Mataquescuintla, NISGUA Oakland takes action for immigrant justice on Amazon Prime Day, Thank you Becky, David, and Martha; welcome Claire, Meredith, Rafael, and Sarasuadi!
Former NISGUA accompanier Olivia Pandolfi (they/them or she/her) created this zine about militarization and resistance as a Friends and Family Letter to their community. To read the zine as a PDF, click here. To download the zine, cut it up, and fold it into your own mini [...]
Rubén Herrera, General Coordinator of the ADH, present the Petition of Zacaleu to representatives of the Governor of Huehuetenango on July 11, 2019. On July 11, 2019, communities of Huehuetenango marched against the presence of the U.S. military in their territories. Not one Indigenous community was [...]
The following public statement by the Assembly of Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH) rejects the militarization by the United States in their territories. To read more about the resistance against militarization, click here. To take action in solidarity with the people of Huehuetenango and all the border departments of Guatemala, [...]
In the past several weeks, communities and organizations in Huehuetenango have noted an increase in U.S. and Guatemalan military presence in their territories. This unexplained and unapproved military presence has caused great consternation in a region that was a target of the military’s “scorched earth” policies during the internal [...]
NISGUA joins 10 international organizations who stand in solidarity with the communities of the Peaceful Resistance “La Puya” impacted by the international arbitration claim filed against the state of Guatemala by US mining company, Kappes, Cassiday & Associates. Community members from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc [...]
For nearly a year and a half, the Jimmy Morales administration has repeatedly defied the rule of law in its attacks on the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).The situation reached another climax when CICIG researcher, Yilen Osorio, was detained and denied entry to the country at the [...]
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 [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE subraya varios desarrollos en casos jurídicos de alto perfil, incluyendo el caso por genocidio, el caso de Las Dos Erres y el caso de la Mina San Rafael. También explica unos puntos en la coyuntura de Quiché y Ixquisis. ¡Haz clic en [...]
On Thursday, June 22, riot police used tear gas to disperse communities protesting the negative impacts of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine. For three weeks, representatives from six municipalities neighboring the mine have maintained a peaceful encampment along the highway in the town of Casillas, 15 kilometers from the entrance to [...]
During our fall tour, “Guatemalan women healing towards justice,” community psychologist Maudi Tzay met with hundreds of students, activists, psychologists, and healers from across the U.S. to speak about the groundbreaking case of Sepur Zarco and the critical work of Guatemalan feminist organizations to create spaces for healing grounded in [...]
Maudí Tzay joins hundreds of activists in denouncing ongoing U.S. militarization at this year’s SOA Watch Convergence This year’s tour, “Guatemalan women healing towards justice: the case of Sepur Zarco,” kicked off at the U.S.-Mexico border, together with hundreds of other activists at the annual School of the Americas Watch [...]
The following is a letter NISGUA sent to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, expressing our opposition to the requesting of funds for Urban Shield. NISGUA has joined the Stop Urban Shield coalition to demand an end to the SWAT team training and weapons expo that brings together local, regional, and [...]
News Release: Source: Mining Watch Canada - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) (Ottawa/Guatemala City) Today, a letter from Guatemalans living in the vicinity of Gunpoint Exploration’s ‘El Escorpión’ project was sent to the company raising concerns about inadequate disclosure in company filings, particularly considering overwhelming results [...]
One of the pillars of international human rights accompaniment is the backing of a strong and active international network that commits to ongoing education of the international community about the human rights context of those we accompany, monitors the specific situations of those human rights defenders, and is ready [...]
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 [...]
For the past five years, communities impacted by Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala have stood up to peacefully defend their lands and livelihoods. The Diocesan Committee in the Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) has led this movement – organizing and carrying out community referenda in which more than [...]
Honorable: President Barack Obama, President Otto Pérez Molina President Juan Orlando Hernández President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, President Enrique Peña Nieto We, the undersigned civil society organizations and groups, wish to address you as your meetings begin at the Summit of the Americas in Panama to express our urgent concerns about [...]
An affidavit given on November 24, 2014 by Donald Paul Gray, vice president of the Canadian mining company Tahoe Resources Inc., has shed light on the strong interests at play since 2011 in contracting private security companies for the Escobal mining project in San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa. [...]
FULL ITINERARY: SEATTLE, WA.; OCTOBER 2-6 Area Contact Phil Neff: phil.neff@gmail.com OCTOBER 2 Seattle University, 1:30-2:30pm 901 12th Avenue Bannan Building, Room 102 Seattle, WA 98122 Traditions Fair Trade Café; 7-8:30pm $5-15 Sliding Donation 300 5th Avenue SW Olympia, WA 98501 OCTOBER 3 Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural Center, 5:00pm [...]
Below is NISGUA's translation of a press release by Guatemala's Center for Independent Media (CMI-G) regarding attacks suffered as a result of its coverage of the violent eviction of communities opposing the imposition of mega-projects in Alta Verapaz. For the original version in Spanish click here. CMI denounces attacks [...]
Join NISGUA and GHRC in calling on Secretary of State John Kerry to deny certification of DOS funds to Guatemala "We need more teachers and not military brigades." Photo: PrensaComunitaria Guatemala’s UN Truth Commission report not only attributes 93% of all human rights violations and acts of violence to [...]
According to a secret contract signed between Guatemala's National Electrification Institute (INDE) and Brazilian Intertechne Consultores S.A., geological studies necessary to begin construction on the Xalalá dam are to begin in March 2014. Communities organized in defense of territory, who have opposed the dam's construction for years, denounced the [...]
On September 28, conflict erupted again in Northern Huehuetenango in response to the imposition of Spanish-owned Cambalam hydro-electric project in Santa Cruz Barillas. Despite ongoing criminalization and repression, community members continue to demand respect for the 2007 community consultation rejecting large-scale development projects in their territory.During his September 3 [...]
Since the May 2 declaration of a state of siege in four municipalities surrounding Tahoe Resources' mine, 12 members of the Committee in Defense of Life and Peace of San Rafael had their homes raided by police and military forces, five community members have been arrested and charged, and [...]
During the early hours of Thursday, May 2, one day after the first anniversary of the state of siege in Santa Cruz de Barillas, Huehuetenango, the Guatemalan government declared another state of siege in four municipalities surrounding Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine. The imposition of martial law comes less than one [...]