CCDA member, Luis Xol Caal detained and facing criminalization

CCDA member, Luis Xol Caal detained and facing criminalization

We demand freedom for Luis Xol Caal, defender of the territory and life of the Chabil Choch community. (photo credit: CCDA)

On March 15th, 2025, Luis Xol Caal, a member of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) and community leader from the area known as Chabil Ch’och’ in Livingston, Izabal, was detained by the National Civil Police (PNC) after going to buy food and supplies in a neighbouring community. He was detained under the false accusations of aggravated encroachment, threats, and illegal detention.

Luis Xol Caal is not the first nor the last community member from Chabil Ch’och’ that the Guatemalan state, under the ordinances of a court in Puerto Barrios, Izabal, has persecuted and criminalized for defending their rights to land in the Livingston and Izabal region. In fact, his arrest comes less than two weeks after the eviction in the community of Rio Tebernal, wherein Q’eqchi’ families were violently displaced from their homes and forced to take refuge in the surrounding mountains. Notably, both of these communities are located in the Izabal department of Guatemala, where the courts in Puerto Barrios continuously favour corrupt politicians and large landholders at the expense of local Q’eqchi’ communities.

The courts of Puerto Barrios first began their persecution of Luis Xol Caal, along with other community leaders such as Antonio Ax Pop and Mario Cuc Choc, in 2017, introducing arrest warrants for their supposed illicit behaviour, despite having little evidence to back these accusations. These community leaders were targeted specifically by Joel Díaz Guerra, a representative of Agrícola Italia, S.A. (a company dedicated to the production and commercialization of agricultural products) and Liseth Wual Alvarado who is tied to the Lainfiesta family. The Lainfiesta family, specifically Rodrigo Lainfiesta Rímola (former congressman with the UCN party), was accused of corruption during his time in power and has been deeply involved in the attempted usurpation of the Chabil Ch’och lands alongside Otto Perez Molina (Guatemala’s ex-President) and Alejando Sinibaldi Aparicio (former congressman with the Partido Patriota party). Both Perez Molina and Sinibaldi Aparicio are currently incarcerated under corruption charges.

The fight for land in Chabil Ch’och’ is an ancestral fight. The community of Chabil Ch’och’, formerly known as China’ Machaca, was settled by displaced Q’eqchi’ communities that were evicted from their ancestral lands in the Alta Verapaz regions and were forced to find a new area to settle in. According to Raúl Ico, community leader from Chabil Ch’och’, his ancestors lost their lands at the hands of German settlers that usurped their lands for the development of coffee plantations, forcing the local Q’eqchi’ communities to re-establish themselves in the Izabal region. The earliest records that prove their settlement in the area date back to 1850, though community members claim their ancestors were there prior to those dates.

With the uptick in persecution and violence in the 1980s, the Chabil Ch’och’ community members were once again forced to seek refuge in other areas as the violence threatened their livelihoods. This came nearly 70 years after the first incursions of the military and of large landholders that arrived in the area to displace the community between the years of 1908 and 1912, according to the community. Nonetheless, the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC) proved to be the turning point for the community when they were completely displaced from the area as large land holding individuals and families began to appropriate the lands for themselves, despite never actually working those lands, according to Ico.

Since the 1980s, there has been a long series of complex legal battles involving different families, politicians, landholders, and ex-military leaders and commanders. These individuals all claim to have rights to the land, though Wendy Geraldina López, the lawyer representing the people of Chabil Ch’och’, has found little legal substance to these claims. According to López, these claims are not only lacking substance but were also obtained illegally. The specifics of these claims and legal battles are difficult to decipher and raise alarm bells considering corrupt politicians like Lainfiest, Sinibaldi and Perez Molina were at one point involved in trying to claim rights to these lands too. It is also worth noting that the strategic location of these lands (alongside rivers and with access to the Gulf of Mexico) makes them frequented areas of illicit narco-activity given the remote nature and navigable waterways.

Nonetheless, in 2016, the grandchildren, nieces, and nephews of those original inhabitants of the area returned to their lands after +30 years of absence, renaming the area Chabil Ch’och’ or “good land” in the Q’eqchi’ language. Since returning to their lands, the community members have had little to no peace, despite having precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) which are supposed to protect the community from further violence. On the contrary, they have faced constant threats of violence and dispossession and continue to be criminalized as the case of Luis Xol Caal clearly demonstrates. Despite the fact that there are supposed legal halts and measures protecting the community from further persecution, the 48 families that live in Chabil Ch’och’ continue to live in fear and uncertainty.

Ultimately, the fight for this land boils down to a few simple principles: the people of Chabil Ch’och’ want to live lives of dignity where they can work the land, have access to fresh water, harvest their crops, provide shelter for their children, and live in safety. When we untangle all the legal knots that surround these constant and ancestral battles for lands, we find that there is a simple desire to live in dignity and peace, with the ability to do so autonomously, practicing the right to live as their ancestors have fought for for generations.

As the situation with Luis Xol Caal unfolds, we will continue to support our partners at the CCDA and respond to any requests they have to make these acts of criminalization for land defence visible. In the meantime, the CCDA informed us that Luis Xol Caal will likely be released from detention while the investigation into his case develops.