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 [...]
By Raphael Freston Water is ubiquitous this time of year in San Lucas Tolimán. Streets become streams; fields become swamps. The sky, the silvery sky, feels ever closer and heavier. Fog creeps into every corner, burying San Lucas in one vast cloud. You can see no more than an arm’s [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Abner Peréz giving certificates of appreciation to organizations and individuals who have supported the CCDA during the past four decades. On March 1st, 2022, the Highland Committee of Small Farmers (CCDA) held a National Assembly to celebrate their 40th anniversary. To commemorate four decades of fighting [...]
In Guatemala, human rights defenders continue to face threats of violence and criminalization for their human rights work. Many of them are Indigenous farmers who are working on issues of access to land and in defense of territory, like BTS partner: the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers (CCDA). Risks faced [...]
~Please distribute widely. Many of you know Angelica and she and others need your support now! Individual and organizational sign-ons needed! Angelica Choc has denounced the murder of her husband, Maya Q'eqchi' activist and leader Adolfo Ich, in Europe and Canada. Dear friends, We’re looking for individual and [...]
By Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.ca/sites/default/files/2012-12-07transformingpainintohope.pdf Human rights defenders play a fundamental role in helping to create a world where the promise of human rights becomes a reality for all. Drawing on decades of work with defenders in the Americas region – Central, North and South America and the Caribbean – this [...]
BTS signs on to a letter directed to the President of Guatemala, with copies sent appropriate ministries and governmental institutions, whereby the international community expresses its concern over the increase of attacks against human rights defenders - particularly among which those who work in favour of indigenous rights and a healthy environment. [...]
