On October 4, 2012, residents of Totonicapán, K’iche’ citizens of Guatemala, shut down the Inter-American Highway to protest against a hike in electricity rates, a series of constitutional reforms that indigenous peoples were not consulted about and the threat of restrictions on access to education in rural areas through a proposed change to the teaching curriculum. The day ended with confrontation between the protesters and State security forces, leaving more than 40 peoples injured and Santos Hernández Menchú, José Eusebio Puac Baquiax, Arturo Félix Sapón Yax, Jesús Baltasar Caxaj Puac, Jesús Francisco Puac Ordóñez, Rafael Nicolás Batz, Domingo Pascual Solís, and Jesús Domingo Caniz murdered. The mourning K’iche’ people call for justice for these actions.

International Press Release

We, the below signed networks, who are made up of organizations that defend and promote the respect and guarantee for the exercise of human rights in the world, express our profound concern for the actions that took place in Guatemala on October 4, when seven members of the indigenous K’iche’ community lost their life as a consequence of the disproportionate response to their protests by State security forces who used firearms against the protesters.

The peaceful protest on the highway was organized as a way to support and give visibility to the dialogue that traditional indigenous authorities from the 48 communities of Totonicapán were trying to promote in the capital. That day, the indigenous authorities had traveled to Guatemala City, roughly 200 kilometers from their communities, to express their concern to the government for the increase in electricity rates affecting the people of their region, as well as their rejection to changes in the education system and constitutional changes related to rights of indigenous peoples who had not been previously consulted, as is defined by the international human rights standard.

Totonicapán, with a population of almost 500,000, is one of the departments of Guatemala with the highest indigenous population with Maya origin: the K’iche’ people make up 97%[1]. In this region of the country, high levels of poverty prevail. Five of its most populated municipalities (San Andrés Xecul, Momostenango, Santa María Chiquimula, Santa Lucía la Reforma and San Bartolo Aguas Calientes) have between 73 and 94% of the population living in conditions of poverty and between 21 and 55% in extreme poverty². At the same time, with Guatemala being one of the most violent countries in the Americas, Totonicapán is one of the departments where the least number of murders are committed (6 for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, while the national rate is 39 per 100,000³). Some analysts have explained that the low rates of violence in the region are linked to the levels of local cohesion that has been maintained thanks to the strength of their traditional indigenous organizing. This has been a key to the survival and to the peaceful co-existence of this group of people historically marginalized by the Guatemalan State.

The tragic events of October 4, which the K’iche’ people of Totonicapán have mourned, were a direct result of the use of armed military as part of the public forces meant to “preserve order” during the protest, under the logic of criminalization of social protest; and as an indirect consequence of the lack of adequate spaces for dialogue and for channeling demands by excluded groups in Guatemala. In this case in particular, one of the latent triggers has been the lack of mechanisms for expression and participation of indigenous peoples in decisions on matters that affect them.

Those who have signed below do so in solidarity with the families of the victims and with the Maya K’iche’ of Totonicapán. We manifest our rejection of violence and exclusion that have driven these serious human rights violations which shame the global community. We demand the following:

. 1) Truth: That the truth of what happened be investigated and shared and that the legitimate right to protest⁴ and that human rights of all Guatemalans be recognized.

. 2) Justice: That these violations against life and physical integrity of the victims are not left in impunity; for which an independent and impartial investigation will be required – observed by the Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala – that will identify and point to those who are criminally liable and which offer security guarantees for victims, witnesses, traditional indigenous authorities and those working in justice.

. 3) Reparations: That compensation and other means of comprehensive reparation be given to the families and K’iche’ People of Totonicapán by the Guatemalan State.

. 4) Guarantee against repetition: We insist that the Guatemalan State avoid employing military personnel and the use of firearms in social protest; we urge the government to develop and promptly establish a genuine dialogue mechanism to address the demands of the K’iche’ People and that in the meantime, all of the pertinent measure be taken for Guatemala to guarantee the application of and exercise of the rights recognized in ILO Convention 169 and in the UN Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The attentive and systematic international observation will be indispensable to achieve advances in this process; being of special relevance the role of diplomatic missions represented in the country that will participate in the Periodic Universal Review of Guatemala on October 24, the Office of the UN High Commissions for Human Rights and the Special Relators of the UN and Inter-American System, particularly those responsible for issues related to the protection and defense of human rights and of indigenous peoples. We, non-governmental actors who accompany Guatemalan society, will be attentive of your actions and support you in the context of our respective demands and capacities.

Guatemala, Canada, the United States and Europe, October 8th, 2012

THE NETWORKS:
Plataforma Holandesa contra la Impunidad

Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (Canadá)

Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (Canadá)

Foro de ONG Internacionales de Guatemala – Fongi-
FIAN International

Guatemala-Netz Zürich

Red Europea de Comités Oscar Romero

Oxfam

Iniciativa de Copenhague para Centroamérica y México -Cifca-

Asociación Latinoamericana de Organizaciones de Promoción al Desarrollo A.C. Alop
Center for Human Rights & Peace Studies, Lehman College, City University of New York Mujeres de Guatemala -AMG-

Fundación Paz y Solidaridad CCOO Aragón

Protection International

Asociacion de Investigación y Especialización Sobre Temas Iberoamericanos
World Organisation Against Torture – OMCT-

Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos FIDH
Guatemala Solidarity Network GSN (Reino Unido)

Red en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Guatemala NISGUA (Estados Unidos)
Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network -BTS-RES- (Canadá)
Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network -ARSN-

El Movimiento Sueco por la Reconciliación SweFOR (Suecia)
Collectif Guatemala (Francia)

Projet Accompagnement Quebec-Guatemala PAQG (Canadá)
La Plataforma de Solidaridad con Chiapas y Guatemala de Madrid
Fundación Pau i Solidaritat PV CCOO País Valenciano
CIDSE

[1] See: http://www.desarrollohumano.org.gt/fasciculos/cifras_v4.html

[2] Según datos oficiales de la Secretaría General de Planificación de la Presidencia de la República de Guatemala

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UK OWNER OF GUATEMALAN ENERGY FIRM URGED TO ACT AFTER PROTEST DEATHS

Military shot dead six indigenous protesters at demonstration against bills issued by Energuate, majority-owned by Actis

By Dawn Paley (dawnpaley [at] gmail [dot] com) in Totonicapán and Jonathan Watts – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/12/uk-guatemalan-energy-firm-pr...

12 October 2012,

A British financial group has been urged to take action after six indigenous protesters in Guatemala were shot dead by the military during a demonstration against an electricity rate increase by one of the group’s utilities. Nine soldiers including a colonel will go on trial over the deadly crackdown, which aimed to clear a road of demonstrators opposed to rising energy bills issued by Energuate, a company majority-owned by Actis, a private investment firm spun off from Britain’s Development Finance Institution in 2004.

Community members who took part in the protest against Energuate said its UK owner and the Guatemalan government must take action to ensure similar tragedies were avoided in the future. “Our demands need to be listened to … As indigenous people we are consuming their energy, but they are getting rich off the people,” said Juana Celestina Batz Puac, who lives in Totonicapán and witnessed the killings. “Our actions are directly linked to electricity,” she said.

Energy rates for peasant families in Totonicapán have more than doubled in the past year to £7.33 a month, according to Batz. “This is way too much,” she said.

Representatives of the 48 communities of Totonicapán, a highland municipality with a majority Maya-K’iche’ population, erected blockades on the Inter-American highway on 4 October to protest against the rate increase and other measures they deemed unfavourable to indigenous people, including constitutional amendments and a revision of the teacher training programme.

According to a United Nations report released on Thursday, demonstrators threw stones at troops in three army vehicles, who responded by teargassing the crowd. As people tried to flee, soldiers opened fire with live ammunition, killing six people, the report said. Thirty-three demonstrators and 13 army personnel were injured in the confrontation.

Protests against Energuate, one of Guatemala’s biggest utilities, have intensified since 2009. In May, locals occupied its offices in Totonicapán to demand the cancellation of a contract for public lighting. The electricity company said it was not to blame. “Fundamentally this situation produced a conflict that we didn’t cause,” said Maynor Amezquita, a communications and external relations officer with Energuate. “We only charge what the [National Electric Energy Commission] stipulates that we can charge.”

Amezquita said municipalities set the price of electricity for streetlights and public lighting, and the company billed homeowners for the service. Members of the 48 communities of Totonicapán, who do not reside in the town centre, pay monthly for street lighting they say does not reach them.

Neither Energuate nor Actis have released an official statement regarding the killings in Totonicapán. Energuate, formerly named Deocsa and owned by Gas Natural Fenosa, was purchased by Actis in May 2011. It supplies electricity to 1.4 million people in Guatemala’s rural areas, covering 94% of the country’s land mass.