Violent eviction in CCDA community of Río Tebernal

Violent eviction in CCDA community of Río Tebernal

Community members’ homes were destroyed as part of the violent eviction. Photo credit: Carlos Ernesto Choc

On March 5th, 2025, armed paramilitary groups entered the community of Río Tebernal in the municipality of Livingston, Izabal, and forcibly removed 35 Q’eqchi’ families from their homes. The families—composed of infants, young children, women, and elderly people—were unable to gather their belongings, as they watched the paramilitary forces chainsaw their homes and loot their possessions. As this took place, approximately 1,000 members of the National Civil Police (PNC) stood idly by, watching from a distance as the paramilitary members violently evicted community members. In response to the eviction, the families protested by blocking the road connecting Río Dulce to El Estor that afternoon.

The PNC remained in the area until the evening before retreating at nightfall. The paramilitary members, however, did not leave the community. As a result, the families were forced to retreat into the surrounding hills and plantation areas to spend the night under the rain without shelter. After a long night of the families taking refuge in the areas surrounding their homes, a group of men from the community approached the area where their homes once were at dawn on March 6th. Upon arriving, they encountered the paramilitary members still occupying the area. As they approached, they were met with gunfire, leaving four of the men with injuries. The men were taken to the hospital and, thankfully, none of them sustained critical injuries. Eventually the armed paramilitary group left the community and the families were able to return to the area, though their homes, belongings, and animals were in shambles.

Despite this immense violence—reminiscent of the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC) in Guatemala—neighbouring communities have shown solidarity by bringing food, supplies, and moral support. Some of these include people from El Edén, Chabil Ch’och’ and El Estor that arrived with emergency provisions in response to this violent eviction. Members from the CCDA are also on their way to Río Tebernal to continue supporting the community in this time of need. The CCDA is also demanding an emergency meeting with the head of the PNC, the President’s office and other high-level authorities on Tuesday, March 11th to create a strategic plan that will protect the livelihoods of the community members. In fact, the CCDA was in a meeting with members of the government when the eviction took place, meaning members of the government in Guatemala are aware of the situation and do not have an excuse to turn a blind eye.

Despite this, since the paramilitary invasion of Río Tebernal, no level of government has offered the community any form of support.

Historical background

The land where Río Tebernal is located historically belonged to Maya Q’eqchi’ communities. However, throughout history, they have lost access to their territories because of discriminatory policies that don’t allow Indigenous communities to register their collective land in their names. They have also been forced to leave their lands because of the massacres that occurred in the region during the armed conflict. In 2019, they returned to their territory in an effort to revitalize their historical connection to the land. To do so, they sought the accompaniment of campesino organizations, which provided support to prove that Río Tebernal belongs to Q’eqchi’ families and not to the family that purchased the land now registered under the name Hacienda Jacolo in 1896.

This conflict exemplifies how Guatemalan judicial authorities manipulate land titling to dispossess Indigenous Peoples of their territories. Lawyers accompanying struggling communities argue that more than 80% of the titles registered in General Property Registry (RGP) might be false or contain errors. This registry was created in 1877 in an attempt to make individual private property the primary valid way to own land in Guatemala, despite the fact that Maya and peasant communities in the country held land communally. Indeed, at the end of the 19th Century, several lands that were presupposed to be empty were sold, even though Indigenous Peoples inhabited them. More recently, it has become common for landowners to claim more land than what they purchased and rely on the inefficiency of the RGP and Guatemalan institutions to hide it.

By only recognizing titles emitted by the RGP, the State has made it nearly impossible for Indigenous communities to assert their right to their ancestral territories. In that context, criminalization has become a tool to enforce land dispossession and strip Indigenous communities challenging the State of their agency. Given this context, it becomes clear that people such as Byron Vidaure Adrián and Yuri Mota—the supposed landowners attempting to usurp the land—challenge the legitimacy of Indigenous communities occupying land through antiquated, nebulous and oftentimes, erroneous legal practices without being able to appropriately present the necessary legal documentation.

Given this context, it is important to note that this is not the first eviction attempt in the community of Río Tebernal. In fact, this is the 6th attempt at evicting this community, the latest being in September 2024. Legally speaking, that eviction was halted thanks to an amparo or safeguard motion placed before the Constitutional Court (CC) in Guatemala City. That same amparo was then sent to the CC in Puerto Barrios, the capital of Izabal. The CC of Puerto Barrios then responded by intentionally requesting further information or evidenceon December 21st, 2024, with a 48-hour deadline. The timing of this request was intentionally done a few days prior to Christmas in an attempt to dissolve the validity of the amparo. Despite this attempt to interrupt the legal process, the community and the CCDA were able to respond with the appropriate information on December 23rd, 2024.

In following the legal process, the Land Registry (RIC) in Guatemala was supposed to measure the land because the land title of the Hacienda Jocolo, where Río Tebernal is supposedly located, contained errors. This is important because Byron Vidraude Adrián and Yuri Mota claim that the community is located on the aforementioned hacienda, though they have yet to produce any legal evidence of this. For this reason, the legal process is ongoing, meaning the eviction that took place on March 5th, 2025 is extrajudicial because the legal process has not concluded. Nevertheless, the judge ordered the eviction despite the fact that the RIC has yet to complete its review of the hacienda’s land measurements, and no legal clarification has been provided regarding rightful occupancy.

Despite these immense legal and bureaucratic challenges, it is important to note that the Q’eqchi’ families of Río Tebernal are not solely victims of State-led violence, but are active members of civil society fighting for their right to exist. The organizing strategies of the surrounding communities and the CCDA are a reflection of the power held in the community, particularly in the absence of any state mechanisms meant to support, protect, and respect its citizens. As important as it is to recognize the strength and resiliency of the Q’eqchi’ people of Río Tebernal, it is also imperative to emphasize that these communities should not have to be so resilient and so tenacious to exist as human beings. The violence they face today, and particularly on March 5th and 6th, are glaringly similar to the violence of the IAC and the genocide in Guatemala, despite the country being in a supposed time of “peace”.

As BTS staff, we thank everyone in our network for supporting our work so that we can continue uplifting the narratives, realities, and community-led efforts of our partners in Guatemala. They too deserve to live lives of dignity, free from colonially derived violence and intentionally manipulated legal mechanisms meant to undercut their livelihoods. Beyond that, we encourage ourselves to ponder and understand how these tactics are not particular to Guatemala, but are also tactics regularly employed acrossTurtle Island (Canada/US) as well.