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El Quetzal a Quarterly Publication Issue #10 GHRC June/Sept 2011 Polochic: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Pérez Molina And

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El Quetzal a Quarterly Publication Issue #10 GHRC June/Sept 2011 Polochic: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Pérez Molina And Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA El Quetzal A Quarterly Publication Issue #10 GHRC June/Sept 2011 Polochic: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Pérez Molina and "We went looking for solutions, and found only pain." Baldizón to Compete in - A survivor of the Panzos massacre - Presidential Runoff The Maya Q‘eqchi‘ communi- Presidential candidates Otto Pérez Molina ties of Guatemala's Polochic and Manuel Baldizón came out on top in Valley have suffered a long Guatemala‘s elections on September 11. history of threats, displacement, The two will compete in a runoff election brutal violence, and crushing on November 6. poverty. After a series of vio- lent evictions in March 2011, The elections concluded a long and in- over 700 families are just try- tense campaign season marked by court ing to stay alive. battles, pre-election violence and intimi- dation. The elections also brought Guate- In 1954, a CIA-sponsored coup (Photo: Rob(Photo: Mercetante) mala into the international spotlight due cut short promising land reform to allegations that the candidates are efforts in Guatemala because linked to organized crime, corruption and the reform affected the eco- human rights violations. nomic interests of US compa- nies operating in the country. Pérez Molina, of the Patriot Party, re- During the military govern- ceived 36% of the vote. Baldizón, of the ments that ruled Guatemala The lives of hundreds of indigenous men, women and Renewed Democratic Freedom party throughout the three decades children are at risk today in the Polochic Valley (Líder), came in second with 23%. following the coup, powerful families (both local and foreign) gained On May 27, 1978 campesinos Until recently, Pérez Molina´s top chal- ―legal‖ title to the land in the Polochic (subsistence farmers) of San Vincente, lenger was Sandra Torres, the ex-wife of Valley through a combination of fraud, Panzós, went to plant corn by the banks of current president Alvaro Colom. How- confiscation, intimidation, and violence. the Polochic River. They were met by the ever, she was not allowed on the ballot by sons of a plantation owner who, accompa- the Guatemalan Supreme Court, despite The Maya Q‘eqchi‘ population was dis- nied by army troops, threatened them and her recent divorce from Colom, due to a placed, and often forced to work for slave told them to stop demanding land reform. law prohibiting immediate family mem- wages on the large plantations. Tensions Two days later, hundreds of men, women bers of the president to run for that posi- between the large landowners, many of and children from different communities tion. The Broad Coalition (Frente Am- German descent, and the local indigenous gathered in the central plaza of Panzos to plio), a group of progressive and left-wing population increased as the communities speak with the Mayor, Walter Overdick parties with Rigoberta Menchú as their struggled to win legal recognition of their García, seeking a solution to the land candidate, won 3% of the vote. historic claims to the land. problem and an end to the constant threats and intimidation. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 3 Also in this issue: Declassification of Military Archives, Page 5 GHRC Delegation on Women‘s Rights, Page 13 Massacre in Petén Leaves 27 dead, Page 6 Exciting Changes at GHRC, Page 14 3321 12th Street NE Washington, DC 20017-4008 Tel: (202) 529-6599 Fax: (202)526-4611 www.ghrc-usa.org Page 1 The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA GHRC Mission Evictions in the Polochic Valley Continued from Page 1 Founded in 1982, the Guate- But instead of dialogue, the community mem- rum, is the most economically powerful fam- mala Human Rights Commis- bers were met with bullets. Soldiers, laying in ily in Nicaragua. They oversee a vast empire sion/USA (GHRC) is a non- wait on the rooftops of the buildings surround- that includes a bank, a hospital, car dealer- profit, nonpartisan, humani- ing the plaza, opened fire on the crowd. Men, ships, insurance companies, liquor distribution tarian organization that women and children were savagely massacred, companies, communication companies and monitors, documents, and their bodies thrown into the town dump truck, many other businesses throughout the region. reports on the human rights carted like trash to the town's cemetery, and They are the largest exporters of sugarcane- situation in Guatemala, advo- tossed into a mass grave. Others died from produced ethanol in all of Central America, cates for survivors of human their wounds while fleeing the massacre. It is and have also expanded into the cultivation of rights abuses in Guatemala, estimated that over 100 people were killed, African Palm for the production of palm oil and works toward positive, and many more were injured. and biodiesel. systemic change. Former mayor Walter Overdick Garcia re- With Chabil Utzaj back in business, the land Board of Directors cently made a shocking declaration while tes- had to be cleared — and that meant getting rid Kathy Ogle tifying during a court hearing in June of this of the Maya Q‘eqchi‘ farmers who had President year. Naming names, he publically confirmed planted their crops in the idle fields. Amy Kunz that four wealthy landowners in the region had Vice President coordinated beforehand with high-ranking On March 14, while certain Guatemalan gov- military officials to violently repress the cam- ernment officials met with a delegation from Joan Dawson pesino gathering. the Polochic communities to find a negotiated Secretary solution to the urgent need for land, other gov- Janett Forte The Commission for Historical Clarification ernment officials were preparing the logistics Treasurer (CEH), in their truth commission report enti- to forcibly remove those very same communi- Yolanda Alcorta tled ―Memory of Silence‖, characterizes the ties. It would be the largest land eviction in Panzos case as a clear example of the State‘s Guatemala‘s recent history. América Calderón inability to protect the historic land rights of Christina del Castillo the Q‘eqchi‘ communities. The case reveals The following day, in the early morning hours, how large landowners utilized the State to hundreds of soldiers, national police, and pri- John Leary resolve land disputes in their favor, even to the vate security guards employed by Chabil Utzaj Jean-Marie Simon point of using extreme violence against poor gathered in the Polochic Valley. Under the campesinos. It also clearly demonstrates the direction of Carlos Widmann, they began to willingness of the elite to involve the army in violently evict men, women and children from Advisory Board agrarian conflicts. Sadly, little has changed in their homes. One farmer, Antonio Beb Ac, Kit Gage the 33 years since the massacre of Panzos. received a fatal wound to his head. Others Jennifer Harbury were injured or became sick from tear gas In 2006, Carlos Widmann, brother-in-law of inhalation. Sr. Dianna Ortiz then President Oscar Berger, secured loans Sr. Alice Zachmann from the Central American Bank for Eco- Families desperately pleaded with the govern- nomic Integration (BCIE) for $31 million to ment and paramilitary forces to spare the Staff move his sugar cane refinery, Ingenio Guada- crops that they had planted, but to no avail. In lupe, from the Guatemala‘s southern coast to a brutality reminiscent of the scorched earth Kelsey Alford-Jones the Polochic Valley. The company, renamed tactics used by the army during the internal Director Chabil Utzaj, eventually floundered and the conflict, indigenous families‘ homes were lands were abandoned. Displaced Q‘eqchi‘ burned and their crops destroyed, leaving Robert Mercatante communities returned to the idle lands and thousands without food or shelter. Human Rights Defender Pro- began to plant subsistence crops for their sur- gram vival. In 2010, newspapers reported that the Two days later, the government of President lands and equipment belonging to Chabil Ut- Alvaro Colom published a confrontational Kathryn Johnson zaj were to be auctioned off by a Guatemalan communiqué entitled: "It is the Duty of the Advocacy and Development bank. Government of the Republic to Preserve Gov- Coordinator ernability and Uphold the Rule of Law." The In March 2011, however, it was announced document asserted that the government has the Interns that Grupo Pellas of Nicaragua had come to "legal and moral obligation to stop this grow- the financial ―rescue‖ of Chabil Utzaj, invest- ing wave of illegal actions." Unfortunately, the Melissa Deal ing over $20 million in the business, under the "illegal actions" being referred to weren't the Julia Sick name "Guatemala Sugar State Corporation." violent evictions or the assassinations of cam- The Pellas family, producers of Flor de Caña pesinos, but rather the peaceful protest of Continued on p. 10 Page 2 Issue #10, June/Sept 2011 Elections Go to Runoff Continued from Page 1 The months leading up to the elections across the country. Issues of jus- saw high rates of political violence, with tice, transparency, and indigenous as many as 35 activists and mayoral and rights have been largely ignored congressional candidates murdered. during their campaigns. In fact, Many were concerned about violence on both men have had to confront election day, access to ballot boxes, and allegations against them of in- complications due to multiple ID sys- volvement in human rights abuses tems. and organized crime. While the day was relatively calm, elec- Pérez Molina has a long history of tion observers, who numbered over involvement in the armed forces (Photo: Rob(Photo: Mercatante) 10,000, reported acts of voter intimida- and oversaw the military‘s tion, vote-buying, and other anomalies. scorched earth policy in the Ixil An indigenous woman votes in Guatemala City. Large numbers of complaints were regis- region in the early 1980‘s.
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