After traveling almost 2,000 miles to attend a hearing with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington D.C. to speak out on the human rights violations against Maya peoples in Southern Belize, on March 13th, spokeswoman of the Maya Leaders Alliance Cristina Coc was informed that the hearing had been cancelled at the last minute; representatives of the government of Belize had failed to show.
On Wednesday, January 16, 2013 the community radio movement in Guatemala held a book release presenting a newly published Spanish language text. Titled “RADIO COMUNITARIA: Su Historia ante un Estado Racista en Guatemala y sus Fundamentos Jurídicos,” the book outlines the history of the community radio in Guatemala, the argument for its legalization, and the history of racism on behalf of the government of Guatemala that has kept Indigenous communities from controlling their own forms of media.
On January 26-27, 2013, Cultural Survival held an exchange between Q'eqchi Maya communities in Belize and Guatemala to talk about strategies for implementing the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and how community radio can be used as a tool for doing so. Members of community radio stations in Guatemala teamed up with the Defensoria Q’eqchi, an Indigenous rights law organization based in El Estor, Isabal, Guatemala and the Indigenous environmental management organization SATIIM to visit four communities outside the Sarstoon Temash N
The town of Barillas welcomed home the final eight community leaders who were arrested for being outspoken against the hydroelectric dam project by Hydro Santa Cruz after being declared innocent on January 9th. A total of 12 men were held for up to 8 months in prison in Guatemala CIty under false charges.
On December 11, 2012, northern Ontario Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence began a hunger strike after months of calls and letter-writing, to pressure the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and the Governor General David Johnston to “initiate immediate discussions and the development of action plans to address treaty issues with First Nations across Canada.”
Her protest is a call to action in support of the rights of First Nations Peoples and a demand that the Canadian government honor the treaty rights and Indigenous rights of First Nations.
After eight months in prison, local courts in Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala have declared innocent the final eight men that were arrested following protests on May 4th in the town of Santa Cruz Barillas against a proposed hydroelectric dam, along with three others already freed.
This is a major victory for the Q’anjob’al Mayan community who has suffered violence, threats, and criminalization due to their opposition to the Spanish company Hydro Santa Cruz.
Rumors of closed-door agreement signed between town government officials and Spanish hydroelectric company Hidro Santa Cruz sparked confusion and unrest among community members in Barillas, Huehuetenango, Guatemala.
By Febna Caven
“In a gentle way you can shake the world”--Mahatma Gandhi
Nasako Besingi, the director of Struggle to Economise Future Environment (SEFE), one of our coalition partners on the ground in Cameroon, was arrested November 14th along with five others in the town of Mundemba, Cameroon.
Local and international pressure was successful in releasing the activists after being held for two days with no charge.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
