The Indigenous World 2023: Guatemala
Guatemala has a population of 14.9 million inhabitants, of which 6.5 million (43.75%) belong to the Mayan peoples (Achi', Akateco, Awakateco, Chalchiteco, Ch'orti', Chuj, Itza', Ixil, Jacalteco, Kaqchikel, K'iche', Mam, Mopan, Poqomam, Poqomchi', Q'anjob'al, Q'eqchi', Sakapulteco, Sipakapense, Tektiteko, Tz'utujil and Uspanteko), as well as the Garifuna, Xinka and Creole or Afro-descendant peoples.
Indigenous people continue to lag behind Guatemalan society as a whole in terms of health, education, employment and income, and this situation is even worse for Indigenous women. There is a structural racism that lies at the root of this inequality and social exclusion, as well as violations of the fundamental rights of Indigenous Peoples. Although the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala recognizes the existence of Indigenous Peoples and calls itself a multicultural society, and even though the government has ratified international agreements on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in practice, the social, economic and political gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples is a vast. For example: the State invests USD 0.4 per day in each Indigenous person but USD 0.9 per day in each non-indigenous person;[1] poverty affects 75% of Indigenous people but only 36% of non-Indigenous people;[2] chronic malnutrition affects 58% of Indigenous people compared to 38% of non-Indigenous people.[3] In terms of political participation, Indigenous people make up no more than 15% of members of parliament or high-ranking public officials.
Guatemala has ratified ILO Convention 169 and, since 2010, this text has been of constitutional rank, obliging the country to recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The country has also acceded to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. In practice, however, exclusion, discrimination and structural racism prevail.
A year of setbacks
Indigenous Peoples continued to suffer the effects of the government's policy of denying their rights throughout 2022; they received no significant responses to their demands and their living conditions deteriorated as a result of the pandemic and the country's social, economic and political crisis. Some of the key events described in this report are: the mobilization of various Indigenous Peoples' organizations against the current government’s lack of commitment to fighting corruption and the rollback of human rights that has taken place; the criminalization of Indigenous communities fighting to defend their lands and territories; complaints at the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic; the tragedies that have resulted in the deaths of Indigenous migrants; the submission of a report on the situation of Indigenous women; and the scant progress made in terms of programmes, legislation and policies for Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous mobilization demands action to combat State corruption and co-optation
A number of Indigenous organizations organized several activities during 2022 in protest at the lack of government action to address key issues related to human rights, the Peace Accords, the fight against corruption and the exercise of an independent justice system. One of the central issues was the protest against the re-election of the current Attorney-General for a second four-year term. This is someone whom the Indigenous organizations claim has persecuted judges, journalists and prosecutors in their attempts to fight corruption and impunity.[4] A number of individuals accused of corruption (lawyers, congressmen, former presidents and businessmen) have been released or have had their sentences reduced and, now, with the support of the Public Prosecutor's Office, they are spearheading the persecution of officials who used to work in the now defunct International Commission against Corruption and Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and in the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption and Impunity (FECI). The Public Prosecutor's Office has demanded the arrest of 11 prosecutors and former prosecutors, in addition to other people,[5] some of whom are now in jail or under criminal investigation, in clear retaliation at their efforts to combat corruption.[6]
Among the most significant cases of persecution was the arrest of Rubén Zamora, editor of El Periódico, a newspaper known for its critical role in fighting corruption and which, due to pressure, was forced to cancel its print version;[7] the resignation and subsequent exile of Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez, who headed up the corruption case against former president Otto Pérez and former vice-president Roxana Baldetti;[8] and the trial against former prosecutor Virginia Laparra, who was responsible for investigating cases of corruption.[9]
Violent evictions, criminalization and a state of emergency: the government’s solution to Indigenous demands
Several Q'eqchi' communities, including Chapín Abajo, Tz'inte' and Buena Vista in the municipality of El Estor, department of Izabal; Se Inup in the municipality of El Chal, department of Petén, and the Poqomchi communities of Washington, Pancoc, Pamojón, in the municipality of Purulhá, department of Baja Verapaz, have been violently evicted from their homes by the security forces for defending their ancestral lands and territories.[10] Far from addressing the demands of the Indigenous communities, the government is instead protecting the interests of the mining, oil palm and large landowner companies operating in these areas. The Indigenous communities of El Estor, for example, have been criminalized ever since they protested against oil palm plantations and mining operations.[11] During the eviction, armed agents of these companies took advantage of the situation to set fire to houses, crops, domestic animals, food and household goods, leaving children, women and the elderly unprotected from the elements. To reinforce control, the government imposed a state of emergency in the conflict areas, a mechanism that limits constitutional guarantees and facilitates the persecution of community leaders.
In cases of long-standing border conflicts between communities (Nahualá - Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán in the department of Sololá, and Tajumulco - Ixchihuán in the department of San Marcos), the government's response has focused simply on imposing a state of emergency[12] without putting in place any processes that would resolve these problems, which resurface intermittently with regrettable consequences.[13] Having dismantled the institutions that specialized in conflict resolution (Secretariat of Agrarian Affairs and the Nation Permanent Dialogue Commission), the government now has little capacity to deal with these situations and therefore resorts to imposing states of emergency.
To give the security forces greater powers when suppressing demonstrations and popular protests, during the year the Congress of the Republic proposed approving Law 6076, the Public Order Law, which was widely rejected by the population. A demonstration led by the Indigenous organization 48 Cantones de Totonicapán of the Maya K'iché people was noteworthy in that it forced a backdown on the part of the government.[14]
Failure of COVID-19 vaccination among the Indigenous population
The National COVID-19 Vaccination Plan has been considered a resounding failure since the country has the worst vaccination rate on the continent, with only 35% of the population fully vaccinated.[15] This rate is far worse among the Indigenous population since only one in four of them are vaccinated. This situation is a clear reflection of a structural ethnic disparity since insufficient government efforts were made to establish culturally-appropriate programmes. The official version is that the Indigenous population rejected the vaccine but, in reality, there was not enough campaigning in native languages and nor were community structures used to promote it.
The impact of the pandemic on the Indigenous population is still not known as the country lacks statistics broken down by ethnic belonging. Unofficially, it is known that there were numerous deaths, especially among the elderly.
Indigenous Peoples therefore turned to their ancestral knowledge of traditional medicine to cope with the pandemic, using their native plants and local therapies to prevent and recover from the impacts of the disease. Indigenous communities also established their own prevention protocols and encouraged the use of traditional medicine in the form of native plants and therapies to strengthen immunity.
Migrant tragedy benefits Guatemalan economy
Faced with the economic crisis rocking Central America, irregular migration has become an escape valve for thousands of people who decide to embark on the venture of migrating to the United States. And yet migration entails unfortunate dangers in terms of loss of life. During the course of 2022, nearly 900 people,[16] including Guatemalans from the Indigenous regions of the country, died in their efforts to cross the border from Mexico to the United States.[17] Some cooperation organizations are promoting programmes to reduce such migration. It is nonetheless undeniable that the country's economy survives largely thanks to remittances sent home to families from abroad, which have grown steadily. Such remittances grew from USD 1.6 billion in 2002 to USD 18 billion in 2022[18] (higher than the country’s total volume of exports, estimated at USD 15 billion in 2021),[19] which means that the country's economy relies greatly on migration.
Uncertain outlook for the upcoming general elections
During the course of the year, the different political forces mobilized around their preparations for the general elections in mid-2023 when the president, members of parliament and municipal mayors will be elected. As has been customary, the political parties go to the Indigenous communities to garner votes but their manifestos never include any significant ethnic issues. The Indigenous vote represents at least half of the electorate, which is why the political parties compete for it with trivial offers, gifts and propaganda. Few policy proposals emerge from the Indigenous organizations and those that do are fragmented. It is therefore difficult to imagine how they will gain greater representation given that fewer than 15 Indigenous individuals have been elected to Congress out of a total of 168 in any election, a situation that is even worse in the case of Indigenous women, of whom no more than three have ever been elected.
The political struggle for Indigenous women's rights
During the submission of the report on the “Situation of Indigenous Women in Guatemala”, prepared as an input for the fourth cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Tz'ununija' Indigenous Women's Movement of Guatemala denounced the racial discrimination from which Indigenous women in Guatemala continue to suffer. The movement, which brings together more than 85 organizations from across the country, highlighted: the lack of public policies, limiting and discriminating against women’s access to justice (the courts are centralized in the cities, increasing the costs of using them, and there are insufficient interpreters who speak Indigenous languages); the lack of access to land; the failure to implement Free, Prior and Informed Consultation (FPIC); criminalization, which affects the physical and mental well-being of Indigenous women; and the murders and sexual assaults against women.
From 9-11 October, the III International Summit of Indigenous Women of Abya Yala was held in Guatemala with the participation of Indigenous women leaders representing the native peoples and the ethnic diversity of the American continent. The summit is organized with the aims of strengthening continental coordination around an analysis of the situation of violence against Indigenous women, building coordination strategies and raising demands with States, and analysing the scope and limitations of Indigenous women’s political and economic participation and the impacts of racism and its mechanisms of dispossession and violence.[20]
Silvel Elías is Maya K’iché and the director of the Program of Rural and Territorial Studies (PERT-FAUSAC) at the School of Agronomy of the Universidad de San Carlos in Guatemala.
This article is part of the 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous person in Tanzania. This photo was taken by Geneviève Rose, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2023 where this article is featured. Find the Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Notes and references
[1] “Inversión en pueblos indígenas, según el presupuesto ejecutado en 2015”. Guatemala: Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies, July 2017. Available at https://www.icefi.org/sites/default/files/inversion_en_pueblos_indigenas_0.pdf
[2] “Situación de Derechos Humanos en Guatemala”. IACHR, 31 December. Available at http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/multimedia/2016/guatemala/guatemala.html
[3] “Análisis de situación, nutricional de Guatemala. Secretaría de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional”. Available at http://www.sesan.gob.gt/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Situacion-SAN-Guatemala-dia-1.pdf
[4] “Autoridades de los 48 Cantones se pronuncia por reelección de Porras”. El Periódico, 17 May 2022. Available at: https://elperiodico.com.gt/sociedad/local/2022/05/17/autoridades-de-los-48-cantones-se-pronuncian-por-reeleccion-de-porras/
[5] PZP. “36 historias de persecución contra operadores de justicia y defensores de derechos humanos”. PZP. Available at: https://pzp.gt/herramientas/casosmp/
[6] Elsa Coronado. “Exilio o cárcel. El 2022 fue el año en el Ministerio Público intensificó la persecución contra jueces, fiscales, periodistas y activistas”. Plaza Pública, 6 December 2022. Available at: https://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/exilio-o-carcel-el-2022-fue-el-ano-en-el-que-el-ministerio-publico-intensifico-la
[7] Axel Vicente, Sandy Pineda and EFE. “El Periódico pone fin a su edición impresa luego de que sus directivos señalaran presiones”. Prensa Libre, 30 November 2022. Available at: https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/elperiodico-pone-fin-a-su-edicion-impresa-luego-de-que-directivos-senalaran-presiones-mientras-su-presidente-sigue-preso/
[8] Jody García. “Así impidió la Corte Suprema de Justicia que el Juez Gálvez pudiera defenderse”. Plaza Pública, 16 November 2022. Available at: https://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/asi-impidio-la-corte-suprema-de-justicia-que-el-juez-galvez-pudiera-defenderse
[9] Angélica Medinilla. “Sentencia a Virginia Laparra, una exfiscal condenada por denunciar la corrupción”. Agencia Ocote. Available at: https://www.agenciaocote.com/blog/2022/12/18/sentencia-a-virginia-laparra-una-exfiscal-condenada-por-denunciar/
[10] Francisco Simón Francisco. “Más de mil agentes de la PNC intentaron desalojar a 36 familias en el Estor, Izabal”. Prensa Comunitaria, 7 July 2022. Available at: https://prensacomunitaria.org/2022/07/mas-de-mil-agentes-de-la-pnc-intentaron-desalojar-a-36-familias-en-el-estor-izabal/
[11] “El Estor: la lucha por la recuperación de la tierra del pueblo Q’eqchi’”. Prensa Comunitaria, 5 January 2022. Available at: https://prensacomunitaria.org/2022/01/el-estor-la-lucha-por-la-recuperacion-de-la-tierra-del-pueblo-qeqchi/
[12] Congress of the Republic. Plenary ratifies state of siege in Ixchihuán and Tajumulco. Congress of the Republic. Available at: https://www.congreso.gob.gt/noticias_congreso/8571/2022/4
[13] “Guatemala extiende el estado de sitio en municipios enfrentados por tierras”. Swiss Info, 19 January 2022. Available at: https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/guatemala-tierras_guatemala-extiende-el-estado-de-sitio-en-municipios-enfrentados-por-tierras/47275584
[14] Julio Román and Mynor Toc. “48 Cantones de Totonicapán exige que ley de Orden Público no sea aprobada”. Prensa Libre, 17 August 2022. Available at: https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/politica/48-cantones-de-totonicapan-exigen-que-ley-que-regula-uso-de-fuerza-publica-no-sea-enviada-a-la-cc-y-que-sea-eliminada-en-sesion-del-congreso-breaking/
[15] Jeanelly Vásquez. “Fracaso del Plan Nacional de Vacunación en Guatemala”. La Hora, 8 July 2022. Available at: https://lahora.gt/nacionales/jeanelly/2022/07/08/revista-aborda-el-fracaso-en-la-vacunacion-y-la-desconexion-con-poblacion-indigena/
[16] “Record letal de migrantes en la frontera México – Estados Unidos: 853 muertos en 2022”. Euronews, 6 November 2022. Available at: https://es.euronews.com/2022/11/06/record-letal-en-la-frontera-mexico-estados-unidos-853-muertos-en2022#:~:text=internacionales-,R%C3%A9cord%20letal%20en%20la%20frontera%20M%C3%A9xico,Unidos%3A%20853%20muertos%20en%202022
[17] Retorno de migrantes guatemaltecos fallecidos. Government of Guatemala. Available at: https://guatemala.gob.gt/arriban-al-pais-restos-de-19-guatemaltecos-fallecidos-en-accidente-en-chiapas/
[18] Bank of Guatemala. Remesas Familiares. Bank of Guatemala. Available at: https://www.banguat.gob.gt/es/page/remesas-familiares-0
[19] Bank of Guatemala. Guatemala en Cifras, 2021. Bank of Guatemala. Available at: https://www.banguat.gob.gt/sites/default/files/banguat/Publica/guatemala_en_cifras_2021.pdf
[20] Factor Méndez. “Cumbre Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas de Abya Yala”. La Hora.GT, 7 October 2022. Available at: https://lahora.gt/opinion/fmendez/2022/10/07/cumbre-internacional-de-mujeres-indigenas-de-abya-yala/
Tags: Women, Global governance, Human rights, Criminalisation
