A closer look at what a new presidency might mean for Indigenous human rights defenders

By Christina Challis, PBI UK Advocacy Officer

As the New Year rang in, the world awaited the successful transfer of power to anti-corruption President-elect Bernardo Arévalo, following death threats and smear campaigns against him in an attempt to delegitimize his election win, amidst growing fears about the fragile state of democracy in Guatemala.

Following Arévalo’s win in the elections last August, attempts to prevent him from taking power ramped up, as prosecutors reportedly aligned with Guatemala’s political and economic ruling class tried to overturn the election results and strip Arévalo of immunity from prosecution.

“During these last months we have faced complex tensions and challenges that led many to believe that we were destined for an authoritarian setback,” Arévalo said following his successful inauguration on 15 January, adding that Guatemala’s “painful passage of uncertainty” was now giving way to hope.

The hope that Arévalo referred to is also shared by both human rights defenders and Indigenous communities in Guatemala, as well as the international community. “I’m not going to say that there will be a total change - that it will transform the situation of agrarian conflict and the systematic oppression that our communities face - because we’re realistic,” Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi leader Lesbia Artola told us in October last year. She added that there is however “hope that the new government will have some positive effect.” 

“In Guatemala, we - as Indigenous communities - are not included in the Guatemalan constitution, but it has been us - the Indigenous community - who have been active in defending the small amount of democracy that we do have in the country,” Indigenous Maya Poqomchi leader Sandra Calel told us last year. Indigenous communities and human rights defenders were at the frontlines of peaceful protests calling for the democratic will of the Guatemalan people to be upheld, since the results of the presidential election were contested.

“Here we are”: the role of human rights defenders and Indigenous leaders

In the days running up to the presidential inauguration in Guatemala City, Indigenous peoples from different parts of the country arrived in the city to attend the inauguration of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and Vice President Karin Herrera. Ancestral authorities of the Mayan, Xinka and Garifuna peoples, alongside social and student organizations, marched through the streets of downtown Guatemala City, while recalling the centuries of political and social exclusion suffered by Indigenous peoples which sent the following message: “Here we are.” 

Since the elections, there has been an increase in the levels of repression and illegal evictions of Indigenous communities, due to an alleged alliance between landowners and the former government. With Congress and many key institutions still controlled by representatives and allies of the country’s conservative elites, it is uncertain how much will change under the new Government. However, there are hopes that at least Indigenous communities will have a less repressive future.

Criminalization campaign against Carlos Choc ends

The beginning of 2024 also saw hope for Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi defender and community journalist, Carlos Ernesto Choc Chub. Since 2017, Carlos had been facing the charges of threats, instigation to commit a crime, unlawful association, unlawful assembly, damages and illegal detentions. The criminalization attempts against Carlos followed his investigation and documentation of the pollution of Lake Izabal, linked to the activities of the CGN-Pronico mining company of Solway Investment Group, and the coverage of a protest by Maya Q’eqchi communities and artisanal fishermen, where fisherman Carlos Maaz was killed on 27 May 2017.

Following mobilization by PBI and numerous other local and international organizations, the international community strongly condemned the charges against Carlos, as well as three artisanal fishermen, Cristóbal Pop, Tomás Che and Vicente Rax. Several UN Experts described the charges as containing “the hallmarks of Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs), which undermines journalistic work and discourages legitimate advocacy work, particularly for those documenting human rights violations in relation to corporate activities, thus creating a chilling effect on journalists’, activists’ and human rights defenders’ right to public participation.”

After 7 years of judicial harassment and six suspended hearings, the case against Carlos and the three fishermen was finally closed on 31 January 2024 due to the resignation of the accusing party in the case. “Today I demonstrated my innocence in the face of two criminal proceedings against me, for documenting, investigating and reporting environmental damage and human rights violations, in the Q’eqchi’ Mayan territory,” Carlos tweeted following the final hearing. PBI provided protective accompaniment on the day of the final hearing to the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH), the legal representatives of the three fishermen Cristóbal Pop, Tomás Che and Vicente Rax. 

Despite the hope that the past month has presented in Guatemala, Indigenous communities still face threats and repression in their defence of their land and the environment. In January, PBI  provided protective accompaniment to community rights group Chinautla Multisector at their annual assembly in the Department of Guatemala. PBI also visited the protest camp located at Km 12 of the Chinautla highway, where the community continues to highlight the pollution and impacts on the population caused by the incessant work of the clay extraction companies. PBI met with women from the community, who updated PBI about their security situation and their work in defence of the territory and human rights.

Given the widespread international concern for the threats to Indigenous and rural communities in Guatemala, a cross-regional delegation of independent human rights lawyers visited the country last year before producing an expert report.

It is crucial that the new Guatemalan government act upon the recommendations of the Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala, and:

• Recognize the intimate link between Indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands, territories and resources, and the need to enshrine their communal land rights, so that they can effectively exercise their collective rights to land ownership and tenure.

• Cease to issue licences for activities that affect Indigenous peoples without their consultation and free, prior and informed consent.

• Cease the use of criminal law to stifle peaceful Indigenous resistance.

• Cease forced evictions until it can be ensured that all evictions are in line with international human rights standards.

• Strengthen protection mechanisms and assistance programmes for at risk Indigenous human rights defenders, adapted to their specific needs and ways of life.

• Ensure that the private sector, as part of its due diligence and contractual obligations, fully respects the rights of Indigenous peoples, in accordance with international norms, conventions and standards.

• Continue to develop a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, which should contain specific items regarding Indigenous peoples and territories.

Access a summary of and the full report by the Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala on agrarian conflict and Indigenous peoples’ rights in Alta Verapaz here.