After illegal eviction, Indigenous families Live in makeshift tents by the river

AFTER ILLEGAL EVICTION,

INDIGENOUS FAMILIES LIVE IN MAKESHIFT TENTS BY THE RIVER

By: Aj Ral Ch’och’ (Q’eqchi’) and Juanita Cabrera Lopez (Mam)

The Buena Vista Maya Q’eqchi’ community lives under roofs made of plastic on the banks of a river in El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala.

June 24, 2024

Invaders in our own lands

More than a month has passed since 29 Maya Q’eqchi’ families from the Buena Vista community of El Estor, Izabal, were illegally evicted from their community. Children, pregnant women, and elders were left vulnerable in the open.

This eviction was carried out by the Public Ministry (MP), the National Civil Police (PNC) Judge Sandra Nineth Ayala Tello and the private security personnel of the Tzinté Estate. The families were only given an hour to dismantle their homes and to look for another place to go. This was not enough time to collect their belongings.

Photo: Aj Ral Ch’och’

In August 2015, the families of the Buena Vista community survived a landslide in Sierra Santa Cruz, located in the northern area of the municipality of El Estor. During this landslide they lost their crops and homes and the lands they were on were deemed uninhabitable by the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED). The community was abandoned by the Otto Pérez Molina Administration and the former mayor, Sostenes Leiva, of the Patriot Party. Currently, the families of the Buena Vista community live under trees in makeshift plastic tents on the banks of a river that passes through the community of Santa Rosita, El Estor, Izabal.

65 children now must eat on the ground, surviving from the generosity of some nearby communities and human rights organizations.

On June 22, a visit by the Presidential Commission with the Buena Vista community was held regarding the evictions in El Estor Izabal of May 22. Up until this past weekend, the community had not received any visits from the Government of Bernardo Arévalo, nor from the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office or other government officials. The only visit was from the director of the El Bongo Community School asking parents to disenroll the children from school because they were not attending class. According to the children's parents, attendance for the children is impossible due to the distance.

Photo: Aj Ral Ch’och’

@mayanleague

Do Indigenous children have

rights?

The community has asked the central and municipal government for support to place them somewhere where they can live and work on the land. Every day their worry grows because the health of the children declines. Several children are sick with skin rashes and others with fevers due to living [by the river] and the mosquitoes that do not let them sleep at night. There are two newborn babies and two pregnant women who do not have the necessary conditions to live in that place.

All the families sleep in hammocks, others on plastic sheets as beds on the floor and some on sacks that are used for corn grains or beans. They have lost farm animals and clothes.

The few kitchen utensils left in the community have made it so that the families must take turns cooking to feed their families. In this wintertime the families fear that the river will overflow and that once again, they will have to look for a place to live

June 2024

The State must guarantee the right to health, education and housing of the 29 Maya Q’eqchi’ families of the Buena Vista community because they previously survived a landslide and now are illegally evicted. These are the true causes of migration of the Mayan Q'eqchi' people, who are evicted and repressed by the interests of extractive companies and landowners in their territory.

Photo: Aj Ral Ch’och’