FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2023 | 12 E
Media Contacts:
U.S. - Andrea Flores, andrea@mayanleague.org (202) 827-6673
Guatemala - Julisa García julisagarcia2014@gmail.com (502) 321-80256
COLONIAL STATES AND INHUMANE IMMIGRATION POLICIES KILL - THIS IS PROOF
Iximulew - Guatemala and Piscataway Nation Territory (Washington, D.C.) - The International Mayan Leagueand thePromotoresdeLa Liberación Migrante arein mourning again in thewakeofanotherhorrific lossoflifeforourpeoplesand communities. In a fireattheNationalInstituteofMigration (INM)in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on March 27, 2023 at least 39 people killed and 29 injured from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia. The majority of the victims were from Guatemala. We are outraged that our people, the Maya, continue to be victims in these preventable tragedies and invisible in plain sight. Forced to migrate from our ancestral lands, our relatives find themselves trapped in detention centers, and navigating inhumane immigration systems that do not recognize their rights as belonging to distinct Indigenous Nations. Ourrelatives are denied their rightto exist as an Indigenousperson and refused Indigenous language interpretation. The result, tragedies like these.
AsMaya peopleswearekilled twice in these instances -they kill ouridentity, and they killourbodies. Initial media reports described “28 Guatemalans or Central Americans'' as victims of the fire, yet we know that the majority of those forced to migrate are our Maya relatives. Current reports estimate the death toll as 20. Per reports in Guatemala, the victims are from the departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Alta Verapaz, Sololá, Quiché, Guatemala, Izabal, Totonicapán, San Marcos, Suchitepéquez, Chiquimula, and Chimaltenango territories of the Mam, K’iche’, Chuj, Q’eqchi’, Q’anjob’al, Kaqchikel Maya Nations among other Maya Nations. It is no accident that our relatives are coming from these regions. These areas are where Indigenous peoples are being pushed from their lands and territories for resource extraction, where racism and corruption leave them with very few opportunities or the right to a dignified life, and they are forced to migrate.
Inhumane immigration and deterrence policies are killing our people.
We are deeply alarmed that some of the victims had been deported from the United States under Title 42, confirming that such policies, especially for Indigenous peoples and the most vulnerable, exist as another form of genocide. Anti-asylum policies that violate domestic and international asylum law will continue to result in tragedy.
If the Guatemalan government respected the rights of the Maya and addressed the systemic oppression that forces us to flee, our families would not be grieving today. But just as the Guatemalan government is responsible, so are the Mexican and U.S. governments. These colonial states have Indigenous blood on their hands - migrants were left to parish in the fire. What further evidence of mass human rights violations does the international community need to hold these governments to account?
Our hearts are broken for all the families who lost loved ones and those currently hospitalized. We also acknowledge the situation is changing rapidly, and the death tolls and identities of the victims continues to change as further investigation into this horrific incident continues. We express our sincere condolences to the families from Guatemala and our relatives from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia
We hold these governments responsible and demand justice! We call on our allies and the media to recognize our Indigeneity and not be complicit in the erasure of our identities. We call on the OAS and United Nations to REACT. This is a refugee crisis, and it is certainly not being taken seriously.
What you can do
With our sisters at Promotores de la Liberación Migrante, the International Mayan League has begun a process of confirming the Maya Nations of those taken from their families by systemic discrimination and colonial legacies. With respect and in coordination with the affected families and local traditional authorities, we will be raising funds to support families that are grieving the unimaginable loss of a child, brother, or partner. All donations can be made to our Indigenous Solidarity Fund: www.mayanleague.org/indigenous-solidarity-fund
About the International Mayan League is a Maya women and youth-led organization that promotes, preserves, and transmits the cosmovision and worldview, culture, history, and contributions of Maya traditional knowledge and stewardship of the earth into solutions and actions against current threats and violations affecting Mayan peoples, the earth, and humanity. It works closely with other indigenous peoples, organizations, and allies.
About Promotores de La Liberación Migrante is a language justice and grassroots organizing initiative, which began in 2016 to offer direct support to migrants detained in immigration detention centers in the United States and Mexico. Our vision is rooted in the struggle to defend indigenous territory in Guatemala, and the struggle to guarantee the right to migrate with dignity. We use the framework of language justice to provide direct support to Maya migrants in US and Mexican prisons, and as an opportunity to involve Maya communities in the struggle against mass incarceration.