¡Si a la vida digna, si a la justicia!
(Yes to a dignified life, yes to justice!)

On its 34th anniversary, today, March 8, International Women’s Day, the National Union of Guatemalan Women (UNAMG), salutes all women, of all ages, all ethnicities, and from all over the planet who defend their right to live a dignified life free of violence. We join ourselves to the different actions that the feminist and women’s movement are realizing today to commemorate the struggles of women in all spheres of life and throughout history.

In Guatemala we commemorate this day in the midst of the installation of a military dictatorship. As part of the women’s movement, we have denounced time and again the attacks against institutions put in place for the advancement of women and to install peace in the country, and today, against the right to justice. We reject the decisions of the Court of Unconstitutionality, which, far from fulfilling its role, is siding with the dark interests of economic and military powers involved in the Genocide and other grave violations of human rights.

We salute the attorney of dignity, memory, and justice. We salute the Women of Courage who have acted with conviction in defense of justice.

We publicly condemn the actions of the government, whose authoritarian, militaristic and controlling ways not only go against the letter and spirit of the Peace Accords, but also the meaning of a democratic institutional framework that was meant to manage –consensually and comprehensively– the impact on women of the economic, political, and social crisis generated throughout the world by the patriarchal, neoliberal, racist and colonizing system.

On this day, we remember the women who, throughout history, have defended their rights, their territories, and the decisions they make over their body and life. The echoes of these struggles can be heard today in Santa Cruz Barrillas, La Puya, the Polochic region, San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Sipacapa, San Rafael las Flores, San Juan Sacatepequez, Totonicapan, and all of the territories where women, along with their communities, are defending not only their right to life, land, and water, but also the dignity, history, and memory of our country.

UNAMG, as part of the Breaking the Silence Alliance and joint plaintiffs to the Sepur Zarco case, salutes the women who have led by example to break the silence and seek justice for crimes that they suffered during the armed conflict.

We salute the women whose countries are under attack by the economic and political powers of the world. We especially salute Venezuelan women who are defending the advances achieved by the Governments of the Bolivarian Revolution.

This March 8th, we say Yes to life! Yes to justice! Yes to resistance! Yes to memory! Yes to the defense of our territories!

This March 8th, and until we obtain justice

¡Ni olvido Ni silencio!
(We will not forget nor silence!)

Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas
UNAMG