Defense of Territory
We support the rights of Indigenous people in regards to access to land and determination over their territories including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Our efforts focus on supporting communities defending their territories, natural resources and livelihoods in the face of mining and other extractivist industries. We echo our Guatemalan partners who see the defense of ancestral and Indigenous language, culture, historic memory, as well as individual and collective bodies as an important continuation of the defense of territory.
Some subthemes in this area include support of communities impacted by Canadian mining companies and other extractive industries; food sovereignty; land access; and support for criminalized land defenders.
Related posts about defense of territory
Violent Eviction of Xinka Community, Nueva Jerusalen
Nueva Jerusalen homes burned in violent eviction, photo credit: CCDA On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples - Wednesday, August 9th - police and private security forces attacked the Xinka community of Nueva Jerusalen and ruthlessly burnt people's homes and possessions. Located in Escuintla, the sugar-cane [...]
Xinka Parliament Recognized with Prestigious Human Rights Award
The Xinka Parliament accepts the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation's Human Rights Award, photo credit: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation On June 6, the Xinka Parliament was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation's annual Human Rights Award. The award honors human rights defenders who face oppression [...]
Cooperant Update: As Seasons Change, the CCDA Builds Soil, Power, and Land Defense Cases
Members of the CCDA and BTS travel to Macho Creek to learn community members' ties to the land. Photo credit: Raphael Freston By: Raphael Freston, a cooperant with the Highlands Small Farmers Committee (CCDA) Shifting Seasons Come April, fireflies flit through San Lucas Tolimán at dawn. Community members [...]
Macho Creek: “We love this place”
By Jim Hodgson After a drenching ride along Guatemala’s Atlantic coast from the city of Livingston, our boat approached Macho Creek. It’s a small, mangrove-lined river that leads inland to the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community also known as Macho Creek. This day, March 21, the river was overflowing its banks [...]
BTS partner, CCDA, supports Xinca land defenders in Escuintla
By Jim Hodgson An Indigenous Xinca community on the Pacific coast, south of the Guatemalan capital, has the support of a Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking The Silence Network (BTS) partner in its effort to remain on their land. The 53 families of Nueva Jerusalén (New Jerusalem) have the backing of the Comité [...]
Popular education, social history: among the keys to defending Maya land
Third in a series by Jim HodgsonRead the second post here Many supporters of Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking The Silence Network (BTS) and other solidarity groups across Canada know Leocadio Juracán and the organization he has been part of since 1989: the Comité Campesino del Altiplano – CCDA (Highlands Committee of Small [...]