Dear Sir/Madam,
Greetings from the PBI Guatemala Project. The intention of this “Alert” is to express our concern to you regarding a violent and repressive situation that is occurring in various Mayan Kakchikel communities in the Municipality of San Juan Sacatepequez (Guatemala) where PBI has been present since 2008, initially accompanying the Association of Mayan Lawyers and Notaries. Since December 2009 PBI has accompanied Q’amolo Ki Aj Sanjauni, The Let Us Unite San Juan People’s movement, which brings together various neighbourhoods of the communities in the Municipality, and whom actively take part in the promotion of the collective rights of the indigenous peoples, and in particular defending their land and natural resources.
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 as well as asking for their opinions to be heard.
Recent Events:
On the 2nd and 5th of June 2010, there were renewed acts of aggression and serious threats issued in the community of San Antonio Las Trojes and other surrounding communities. These acts were reported to the Public Prosecutor, the National Civil Police (NCP) and to the Justice of the Peace.
It is claimed that that they were committed by personnel belonging to Cementos Progreso ltd. Allegedly these personnel firstly assaulted and threatened members of the community, who were at the time repairing a road that had been destroyed by hurricane Agatha, and secondly disrupted a community meeting that was organising for the arrival of the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and in which participated older men and women as well as children. Many people were hit and injured and firearms were used, and there were threats to kill various community leaders and warnings of more attacks to come. Defamatory flyers have also, as in the past, once again appeared in the streets of the communities. According to the testimony of community members the presence of the NCP was petitioned, but they were slow to arrive, and various injured people were thus left unattended. In addition to the above community members claim that when the NCP did finally arrive, they refused to stay the night so as to provide protection and so as to prevent further attacks, claiming that their own lives (those of the NCP) were at risk. Subsequently, on the afternoon of the 6th of June, the police returned accompanied by an anti-riot unit.

Background Summary:
For four years the communities of San Juan Sacatepequez affected by the San Juan Project have denounced the lack of respect accorded to them and the violations of their human rights to numerous authorities, both within Guatemala and internationally, some of which have also been formally presented to Guatemalan public institutions (such as the Human Rights Ombudsman, PDH, and the Constitutional Court, CC) as well as to international institutions. The intensification of the conflict is of great concern and worry to the communities affected, and also to those who support, assist and accompany them.
Below we have highlighted some of the examples of the lack of respect accorded to the communities and of the human rights violations they have suffered:
- Lack of information for the communities and the absence of prior, free and informed consent:
As has repeatedly been expressed by the communities, since the origin of the conflict there has been the omission or complete lack of detailed information given to them regarding the plans for the cement-works, both on the part of the company and on the part of the State, and closely connected to this, the absence of a community referendum prior to the start of the construction, as guaranteed by the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention No 169 for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of Independent Countries (ratified by Guatemala) and as ensured by the Guatemalan Municipal Code. In addition to this, the judgement issued by the ILO’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations in February 2010 stipulated that “it is the obligation of the Government to ensure that the indigenous people be consulted, in conformity with the Convention, and not private individuals or businesses.” It was within this context, where the Guatemalan public institutions had failed to live up to their obligations and promises, that the initial acts of buying up land and of digging up the quarry took place, without informing the communities of what was going on and without their prior, free and informed consent, thus provoking from the start, fears and rumours and the eventual social rejection of the Project. After various efforts to obtain information about the Project and to find out about the negative and positive effects that a quarry and a cement factory might have on the area, the Community Council for Development (a local state structure which is part of the state municipality) decided to organise a community referendum in 2007, which resulted in a practically unanimous rejection of the Project. The Mayor and the Municipal Council promised to take the referendum results into account before granting a licence permitting construction; but according to later
accusations from the communities who took part in the referendum, the works and the conflicts continue.

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