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Neighbors of Pajopom Village from Esquipulas Palo Gordo don´t want trash from San Marcos anymore. From June 15th 2009 they have prevent the discharge of garbage in an illegal garbage dump in their community by having a pacific protest in front of the community saloon. Adults, young people and even children had been rotating since early in the morning until the sunset, in order to fight for their lives and a safe environment.
In the afternoon on Friday, June 5, a group of neighbors representing Pojopom Village from Esquipulas Palo Gordo filed a complaint against the municipal governments of San Marcos and Esquipulas Palo Gordo, because of the ilegal dump in their community, in the assistance office of the Public Ministry in the municipal head, San Marcos.
With respect to the issue of mining, Guatemala is at a crucial moment. The deputies of the Mine an Energy Commission of the National Congress were not able to reach an agreement. This is due to the apparent pressure that some deputies are making in order to take to the plenary the ruling signed by the former commission. They haven’t been open to listen the opinions of different social sectors interested in the subject. Meanwhile the social conflict and criminalization of resistance is rising in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos. The Oak is working on a special issue on this theme.
Nevertheless, mining is not the only focus of conflict in San Marcos and in The Oak we inform on different events that happen in the department. As well as mining we let you know about the problems that the inhabitants of the municipio Esquipulas, Palo Gordo, San Marcos are going through due to an illegal garbage dump, which is being used by the municipality of San Marcos in the poorest and most forgotten village ofPalo Gordo.
On Monday June 22nd 2009, the deputies of the Energy and Mine commission of the Republic Congress failed to reach an agreement about the modifications to the mining law. There’s already a proposal that has a favorable ruling from December 4th 2008, by Alejandro Sinibaldi, congressman from Partido Patriota and former president of the Energy and Mine commission. So, basically they ignored the input from the civil society.
The mining negotiating table (formed by organizations Ceiba, Copae, Madre Selva, Fundaeco y Calas), the San Marcos Diocese and other organizations from the Civil Society concluded that such proposal does not have, neither reflects the minimum and fundamental requirements that a new mining law should have.
While the stakeholders of the Canadian company Goldcorp gathered in Vancouver, in Guatemala City affected neighbours organised a alternative Assembly. “We want to thank you for the half liter water bottles that you gave us, but would like to remind you that the company uses 250 thousand liters of water per hour, without paying one cent for it.”
The activity began with a press conference in the Pan American Hotel on the morning of Thursday, may 21st, where the press release was read and (who was?) informed about the protest to be held the following day. The objective was to denounce Goldcorp’s annual stakeholders meeting in Vancouver, Canada, on May 22nd and announce that community members from San Miguel Ixtahuacan will hold a peaceful protest and an alternative assembly.
On May 27th 2009 the people from Comitancillo celebrated the anniversary of the community consultation. Four years ago they expressed a categorical “NO” against the mining exploration in their territory. Today more than half million people have followed Comitancillo and Sipacapa`s example. Watch the report...
By Efren Diego Domingo
Communication, Social Pastoral Committee of Ixcán
1. Rights of the indigenous communities are valid in everyday life, but forgotten, walked-on and eradicated by the State
The 1985 Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala dedicated a crumb of its constitutional articles to the indigenous communities. For example, Article 66 speaks of protecting ethnic groups, Article 67 refers to protecting the land of indigenous agricultural cooperatives, and Article 68 speaks of the lands of indigenous communities. Por ejemplo, el articulo 66 habla sobre la protección a grupos étnicos; el 67, protección a las tierras de las cooperativas agrícolas indígenas y el 68, acerca de tierras para comunidades indígenas. With the approval of ILO Convention 169 in 1996 and its enactment in 1997, the collective rights of indigenous communities are becoming more widely recognized, like the right to be asked previously to any administrative and legislative action that may harm collective rights. Also their right to participate in the design, execution and evaluation of plans, projects, programs and policies of development and to implement them in the lands or territories that the original people traditionally occupied.
After four years the communities’ struggles continue
The economic activity of Ocós is based on agricultural production, whose base is founded on the cultivation of corn, plantains, bananas, watermelon and raising cattle. For the farms in the region, production is principally based on the large-scale production of banana and palm oil.
The importance of water usage in the region’s communities and farms is focused on agricultural production during the dry season, when water shortage is a constant threat. Communities utilize wells from which they extract water for irrigation and plantings when the river is too low to support the crops. In the case of the farms, the only economic alternative for production is bringing water from the river… according to the map of plant cover and the use of land prepared by MAGA, the zone that corresponds to the zanjon Pacaya, which is characterized by wetlands flooded lands that cover 7,671.64 ha, or 3.68% of the total area of the basin. Flooding occurs in September and October as a result of the precipitation from the rainy season. Is in this months when people stop planting to avoid looses, using the time frame from November to May to plant, specially corn. The Ocós municipality is 6,368.56 hectares, contains eleven communities and 7,476 inhabitants.
SPANISH
Directivo de comunidad Xinca muerto a balazos.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/junio/25/323568.html
Comunidades Xincas rechazan Minería en Jalapa http://www.prensalibre.com.gt/pl/2009/junio/11/320598.html
Cardenal insiste en Reformas a la Ley de Mineria
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/junio/22/323097.html
Alcaldes se oponen a la Mineria.
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/junio/20/PDFs/nac.pdf (buscar pagina 6)
Alcaldes de San Marcos rechazan minería y reducción de presupuesto http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/mayo/24/316444.html
Justicia
In "The Oak" we want to greet all the people from San Marcos, the indigenous people of the western highlands and all the indigenous of the World. They are the truly architects of the resistance, the ones who teach us and cheer us to stay on the path of the struggle. They, who show resistance through their daily activities, are the ones who build the road of freedom for their people.
The woman who, besides domestic chores, gets involved with women’s groups that work in development projects for the benefit of their community demonstrates the most beautiful act of resistance because in it love is implicit. There is no force that can battle love. The man who walks for two hours in the fields to get to his land, where he plants the food that will be his family’s sustenance is another example of love. Even the children and youth that go to school or help their parents with different chores are examples of resistance, struggle and love.
Cotzic premieres with resistance music.
“For one hundred handfuls of gold, a million or many more, I will not sell my land, my traditions, that will never happen.” The group Cotzic sang loud in San Pedro`s central park, where they presented their new disc “The people have already decided” a joint venture with COPAE.
San Pedro Sacatepequez`s central park was full on the night of April 2nd. There were strollers, vendors, citizens from Sipacapa and fans of the group who started playing early in the evening. Cotzic, a group that has been playing in San Marcos for 25 years, presented their first CD in a concert organized by COPAE and the Guevarista movement.
“Immediate history is not enough to explain the armed conflict. The concentration of economic and political power, the racist and discriminative nature of the society
Against the majority of the population, that is indigenous, and the social and economic exclusion of the biggest impoverished groups – Mayas and ladinos – had been expressed through illiteracy and the consolidation of local communities, isolated and excluded from the nation”
(Guatemala Memoria del Silencio, Resumen del Informe de la CEH. Causas del Enfrentamiento Armado. pg 3)
The martyrdom of Monsignor Gerardi has its origin in the search for truth, the struggle for justice and his total and absolute devotion to the preferential option for the poor, marginalized and excluded. That’s why 11 years after his assassination, we still search for truth and demand justice. Not only for the thousands who were massacred, tortured and disappeared but as well for key people in the historical explanation of the darker years (1960-1990) like Mirna Mack and Monsignor Gerardi.
With the idea of clarifying some issues and of creating a clear picture of different subjects relating to the San Marcos Diocesis, we talked with Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini. Here is a summary of what he said. You can access the link with the video interviews from the COPAE webpage
About Mining. We need a law that respects the environment, without excessive water use and that makes people pay for every water liter they use, but most important of all, that respects the decisions of indigenous populations, the ILO Treaty 169. At the end, the people who lives there are the ones who suffer the consequences of this extractive industry. My personal position is to tell the people, do no accept mining because the mining law is not good for the country, do not accept mining because it will not get us out from poverty and is not respecting the environment, do not accept mining because it’s using thousands of water liters, water that we need for other uses.
(in Spanish)
Si yo fuera un oligarca. http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=83533
La Teología de la Liberación se propaga http://alainet.org/active/29664&lang=es
¿Vivir mejor o «el buen vivir»? http://alainet.org/active/29839
Guatemala. Uranio en la mira.http://www.inforpressca.com/notas_libres/libre_1792.php
¿Será que no sabe? http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/abril/24/307829.html
¿Pais Minero? http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/mayo/01/309569.html
April News
Spanish
Jóvenes contra mineria
http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/abril/21/309097.html
Músic = Struggle
San Marcos music group "Cotzic" presented its CD "The people had already decided" on Thursday April 2nd 4:00pm in San Pedro´s Central Park. The disc has well known songs among Latin-Americans as well as original songs (lyrics and music) that invite us to resist, struggle and defend our territory. Leaders from different communities talked and shared their struggle and resistance experiences.
Day after day, step by step the resistance is increasing in the San Marcos department; men, women, children, youth and elderly, everyone is joining the struggle for life! The marquense dignity shows up again, this time through music.
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