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Dear Sir/Madam,
The PBI Guatemala Project is writing this Alert so as to express our concern to you about a violent and repressive situation that is occurring in various Mayan Kakchikel communities in the Municipality of San Juan Sacatepéquez (Guatemala), where PBI has maintained a presence since 2008. Since
December 2009 PBI has accompanied Q‟amolo Ki Aj Sanjauni (translated as the Let Us Unite San Juan People‟s movement), which brings together various neighbourhoods of the communities in the Municipality of San Juan Sacatepéquez, and who actively take part in the promotion of the collective
rights of the indigenous peoples, and in particular defending their land and natural resources. The role of local women in the aforementioned struggle has been detailed extensively in a special report that PBI Guatemala published in 2010.
Since 2006 the Guatemalan company, Cementos Progreso ltd., opened the San Juan Project, which included the construction of a cement factory and the digging of a quarry in various communities of the Municipality, more specifically in the country estate of San Gabriel Buena Vista and in the hamlets of San Jose Ocana and San Antonio Las Trojes I and II. In this project the Guatemalan company Productos Mineros ltd, a subsidiary of Cementos Progreso ltd, owns 80% of the shares, with the remaining 20% owned by the Swiss multinational company Holcim. Since then the communities affected by the project have stood up in opposition to it, demanding information regarding their rights, and asking for their opinions to be heard, while Q‟amolo Ki Aj Sanjauni have been acting as „social auditors‟ regarding the work of the company and the likely consequences this may have for local communities and for the natural resources that exist in the area. As a result of this work, members of Q‟amolo Ki Aj Sanjauni have been victims to a variety of intimidations and aggressions that are threatening their collective and individual rights.
In June of 2010 PBI circulated an Alert on renewed acts of aggression and serious threats perpetrated against various communities of San Juan Sacatepéquez. The letter detailed a series of violations which have contributed toward the worsening of the conflict, and to the growing anxieties of those affected as well those who help and advise the communities involved, and all of which have been denounced over the last four years.
These aggressions have continued over the last eight months, a recent example of which occurred on the nights of the 26th and 27th of February in the community of Pilar 1, when a group of approximately 8 people, known to be company workers of the cement factory, used firearms, machetes and sticks to threaten members of the community, even hurting two individuals (Carlos Enrique Subuyuj Boch and Roaslio Subuyuj Raxón), the both of whom were then taken to the municipal hospital. Two of the aggressors were captured by a local community security council and handed over to the National Civil Police (PNC), who subsequently sent them to the Mixco Court where they were released on bail under the condition of house arrest.
In the months of January and February alone PBI Guatemala has recorded a series of violent acts across various communities, amongst which are included: armed attacks against people and property (damage to cars and churches), death threats and physical attacks against local indigenous authorities and other community members. In almost all of the cases the aggressors acted flagrantly and without hiding their identity, and were recognised by victims or by witnesses as workers, or as affiliated individuals, of the cement company. The victims and witnesses were able to supply surnames and were able to describe the calibre of the guns that the aggressors were carrying. These incidents,
which have occurred in the second half of 2010, are a long way from being isolated incidents, being described by local civil society as systematic in character.
In accordance with established legal procedures, the victims have denounced, to the relevant authorities, the events that led to their ill-treatment. However, the same victims are concerned about the lack of progress in the investigation of their case and at the lack of initiative in following up to their official complaints. Alongside these apprehensions, they also express their concern at the divisions that now exist between communities and families because of the conflict with the cement factory, and are worried about the possibility of future violence due to the presence of armed groups who operate at night.
We thank you for your attention with regard to the aforementioned events and we encourage the international community to actively approach the civil society actors who have denounced the various aggressions that have occurred in San Juan Sacatepéquez, with the aim of supporting and protecting them, by using such instruments as the European Union Guidelines for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, as well as other appropriate instruments and mechanisms.