AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA: Forced Evictions on the Rise in Guatemala

[Judi Lynn]

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE

March 29, 2006

Forced Evictions on the Rise in Guatemala
Berger Administration Discriminates Against Indigenous and Poor, Plays to Wealthy Landowners, Amnesty International Charges

(Guatemala City) -- There has been a marked increase in the number of forced -- and often violent -- evictions of poor and indigenous people involved in rural land disputes since Guatemala's President Oscar Berger took office in January 2004, said Amnesty International (AI) in a report released today. As the United States government provides aid designated to implement Guatemala's 1996 Peace Accords, including the resolution of land disputes, it should help ensure that the land dispute aspects of the Accords are upheld, the human rights organization said.

The Peace Accords of 1996 -- which ended 36 years of violent internal armed conflict -- provide a framework for resolving agrarian disputes, including: enforcement of labor laws in rural areas; increasing land ownership for campesinos (rural farm workers); establishing judicial and non-judicial mechanisms for the resolution of land disputes; providing free legal assistance to rural workers and their organizations; improving access to justice for campesinos (including language translation for indigenous peoples); and promoting a legal framework that recognizes customary indigenous law.

So far, none of those measures has been put in place.

"Guatemala's poor, rural and indigenous peoples still suffer shocking discrimination and violence," said Dr. William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "It is shameful that President Berger, who has had ample opportunity to break from this horrifying legacy, has turned a blind eye in the name of pandering to big business. The United States should think twice about economic endeavors with Guatemala until there is hard proof that the aid we give is used to implement the Peace Accords."

According to government figures, 1052 cases of agrarian disputes remained unresolved in December 2005 -- up from 911 cases in October 2004. In three missions to Guatemala between 2004 and 2006, Amnesty International noted widespread discrimination and human rights violations related to land disputes, including intimidation and threats against campesinos, house demolitions and the burning of personal belongings, and beatings, shootings and sexual abuse.
(snip/...)

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGUSA20060329001

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Guatemala: New report reveals violent evictions, intimidation and house demolition
A new report from Amnesty International reveals human rights violations against peasants and rural workers in Guatemala, including violent forced evictions and house demolition, intimidation and threats, and denial of access to justice.
(snip)

These human rights violations are committed with impunity and with the indifference of the authorities, says Amnesty. The report exposes a justice system fundamentally weighted in favour of large landowners who own most of the productive land in Guatemala.
(snip)

Javier Zuñiga, Director of the Americas Programme at Amnesty International, said:

“While washing their hands of responsibility for the rights of rural workers and indigenous peoples, the authorities are quick to respond forcefully when it comes to the demands of the wealthy landowners.

“Since coming to office in 2004, President Berger has accelerated evictions and ignored the consequent human right abuses. Destruction of homes, violations of due process, even killings, have been carried out with impunity.”
(snip/...)

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/16902.shtml



Bush and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger

[laheina]

1. I donate to Amnesty International and I have participated in

letter writing campaigns. I want to say that at the outset. I'm not a freeper troll. :)

However, this article is not only very one sided, but it wraps several issues together--and then oversimplifies them. It also uses cultural differences, such as the food and water to evicting officers, to show corruption, when in their culture this is just good manners.

Don't get me wrong! There is a lot in that country that needs fixing. Not the least of which are the racism against the Indiginos (indigenous people), which is extreme, and the corruption of the government. However, the land disputes need to be called what they are--squatting.

Squatting is a huge problem there, and if they put better laws in place, and would actually enforce them, then most of these situations wouldn't happen. But when you have two poor farmers, and the only difference between them is that one owns a piece of land and the other wants to squat there, the situation can get very messy very fast. Situations do when a person thinks that their livelihood is threatened. But please know that these situations aren't worker vs. wealthy land-baron, like one is tempted to think by the piece. My experience has been that many of the landowners have dirt floors, but they must look pretty nice compared to a squatter's lean-to. After all, they know what they are getting into, but they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[K-W]

3. Amnesty international's account is both more supported

and more plausible than yours.

I dont know who you think is going to buy your story of a Guatamala where there are no wealthy landlords.

[laheina]

4. I never said that there were "no wealthy landlords."

There are. And their wealth distribution system is more messed up than ours. In fact, I didn't contradict their account at all, but it needs more information. There is a lot more going on in this situation than class struggle, and it can't be fixed unless that is recognized.

And you don't have to buy my story. As a matter of fact, I hope you don't. Go and do some investigating on your own. Better yet, GO there. Just don't let the men with machine guns scare you. They are only the police, but I've yet to find them to be the good guys.

[K-W]

5. Yes you did.

"Don't get me wrong! There is a lot in that country that needs fixing. Not the least of which are the racism against the Indiginos (indigenous people), which is extreme, and the corruption of the government. However, the land disputes need to be called what they are--squatting.

Squatting is a huge problem there, and if they put better laws in place, and would actually enforce them, then most of these situations wouldn't happen.But when you have two poor farmers, and the only difference between them is that one owns a piece of land and the other wants to squat there, the situation can get very messy very fast. Situations do when a person thinks that their livelihood is threatened. But please know that these situations aren't worker vs. wealthy land-baron, like one is tempted to think by the piece. My experience has been that many of the landowners have dirt floors, but they must look pretty nice compared to a squatter's lean-to. After all, they know what they are getting into, but they have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

This is what you wrote. You seem to be saying rather clearly that these land disputes are not what Amnesty says they are, but are in fact cases of poor farmers squatting on each others land.

Of course there is more than just a class struggle going on, but, there is a class struggle going on and the government of Guatamala is apparently siding with the wealthy landowners over the peasants and not living up to its responsibilities. Of course that isnt the only story in Guatamala, but it is an important story.

[laheina]

6. I "seem to be saying" is different than what I said.

I also stated explicitly that "my experience has been" in the sentence after your second bolding. And in my last post I also stated that there are probably wealthy land owners involved in these situations too.

About the government, I agree with you whole-heartedly. While the legal loopholes that make the squatting so attractive to the rural poor remain in place, and that is in their favor, but the government is notoriously corrupt. That undoubtedly gives the wealthy more advantage than fairness alone would allow. But I'm not trying to debate the semantics of my posts with you or the fairness of a stratified society. All that I was saying is that there is more here than meets the eye.

But to put another slant on it, let's use the U.S. as an example. Common law in our country says that if a person squats in a building for 30+ days without a formal objection by the landowner, they are legally considered tenants. Then they aren't trespassers, and legal action must be taken to evict them. If I could, I would call the police to forcibly evict them. I don't know what the exact laws are in Guatemala, but I do know that because of something similar landowners are scared of loosing their land. This hurts both sides. If the land owners weren't so scared of squatters, they could lease the land or sharecrop it out, instead of letting it sit there. That would benefit everyone. But the government does nothing.

Ownership rights aside, it's a hard situation for Americans to observe objectively because we don't have the rate or the severity of poverty here that they have there. It is truly heartbreaking. And that goes back to the government. What they really need is a Hugo Chavez. They need a government that can get things done and benefit its citizens. I'm sure that we agree on that.

[K-W]

8. Nevermind.

Your words and the report speak for themselves.

[Judi Lynn]

2. More on the subject.

November, 2003

Hundreds of Guatemalan soldiers and policemen violently evict farm workers and their families.

Homes and crops destroyed.

Farm workers (campesinos) and their families were violently evicted from their land and saw their homes and farms destroyed, on April 11, 2003. The eviction was carried out by hundreds of soldiers and policemen, in the presence of the public prosecutor. The armed forces continue harassing campesino families.

This is a flagrant violation of one of the Peace Accords that ended the civil war in Guatemala, in 1996. The Accord on Socio–Economic Aspects and the Agrarian Situation calls for:

• increased citizen participation in socio–economic development,
  
• promoting the access of campesinos to land ownership,
  
• protection of communal lands and limitation on their alienability,
  
• compensation or restoration of usurped lands.
  (snip/...)

http://www.s-j-c.net/English/mexicocaua/pastactions/furgent7.htm


Denounce Evictions in Alta Verapaz

Sources: UVOC, CNOC, CDHG

March 1, 2006

Background:

On the night of January 31, various sources began reporting preparations for a large-scale eviction on the San José Moca and Cabañas fincas (plantations) in the municipalities of Tinta and Senahú, Alta Verapaz. According to UVOC, both fincas are owned by brothers of German origin, William and Howard Hempstead Smith. On the morning of February 1, approximately 600 heavily armed police officers arrived, accompanied by approximately 100 soldiers. They began a dialogue with the campesino families in the communities of San José Moca and Cabañas. The National Coordinating Committee of Campesino Organizations (CNOC) reported that the families in the Cabañas finca opted to cooperate with the authorities, while families on the Moca finca resisted and the police responded with violence. According to CNOC, those resisting the eviction were met with physical violence and threats from police carrying arms, rods, and tear gas. UVOC reported that at 10:00 A.M., the police violently proceeded with the eviction, burning the families’ homes, food, and clothing and removing the barricades the families had set up on the highway to impede the advance of the police.

On February 2, the families again occupied the land, as they had nowhere else to go. At approximately 2:00 P.M., two people who identified themselves as employees of the National Commission for the Resolution of Land Conflicts in Guatemala (CONTIERRA) entered the community in a taunting and intimidating way. The disagreement escalated when the employees started taking photos of the campesinos. Knowing that this is not the function of CONTIERRA, the angered campesinos held one of the alleged employees, Elmer Pa, for more than six hours, until representatives of the local Human Rights Procurator’s Office (PDH) negotiated his release. When the same alleged employees from CONTIERRA retuned on February 3, a phone call was made to the agrarian secretary of the presidency requesting that CONTIERRA personnel stay away.

On February 4, the landowners’ private security agents reportedly attacked four campesinos while they were getting water. UVOC reported that Manuel Federico Cu Bol, Gerardo Bol, Domingo Caal Cac, and Matías Toz Che sustained serious injuries and were hospitalized. The Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala (CDHG) reported that Manuel Federico Cu Bol was transferred to Cobán for surgery to remove a bullet that pierced his stomach. In addition to the four men, CDHG reported that Rosaria Chub was also harassed, followed, and beaten.

In their communiqué, UVOC denounced the tactics of the state and large landholders, in particular the use of public security forces to carry out evictions, destroying homes, crops, food, and clothing in the process. According to UVOC, the state and powerful landowners use terror, intimidation, and extreme violence in campesino communities. To UVOC members, the evictions, the destruction of food and property, and the detention of local leaders reflect an attempt to destroy the campesino organizing base and, in this way, undermine the strength campesino organizations draw from their base and their struggles. In addition to direct violence, the landowners and the state have also tried to discredit campesino leaders through the cooptation of national and regional media sources. UVOC compared the eviction strategy to the scorched earth policy of the 1980s, suggesting that it too was an attempt to create a newly displaced population.
(snip)

http://www.americas.org/item_25455

[laheina]

7. Thank you for posting this.

I'm going to ask around about this, next time I go. :hi:

[Judi Lynn]

9. An interesting detail from an excellent piece DU'er Davekriss provided

in an LBN thread:

A Timeline of CIA Atrocities

By Steve Kangas

~snip~
1954

Guatemala — CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.
(snip/...)

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2200134#2201207

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Doesn't really remind me of the vision of poor would-be farmers trying to rip off other poor people in any way at all.