Letter to U.S., Mexican, and Guatemalan governments on International Migrants Day

International Mayan League 1201 K St. NW Washington, D.C. 20005

Phone: (202) 827-6673 Email: info@mayanleague.org www.mayanleague.org

December 17, 2021 President Joseph R. Biden 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, D.C. 20500 President Andrés Manuel López Obrador P.za de la Constitución S/N, Centro Histórico de la Cdad. de México, Centro, Cuauhtémoc, 06066 Ciudad de México, CDMX, México President Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Casa Presidencial A, 6A Avenida 4-18, Cdad. de Guatemala, Guatemala

Re: Indigenous Peoples Demand Justice and Accountability on International Migrants Day Dear President Joe Biden, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and President Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei: In commemorating International Migrants Day on December 18, The International Mayan League, based in Piscataway Nation Territory (Washington, D.C.), writes this letter expressing our deep sorrow for the deaths of at least 56 people and the wounding of at least 60, victims of the tragic accident that occurred on December 9, 2021 in Chiapas, Mexico. The victims were from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Ecuador. We are outraged for all the victims but highlight that most of those injured and killed are Indigenous Maya peoples from Guatemala.

The historical roots of this tragedy make the governments of the United States (U.S.), Mexico, and Guatemala responsible. Forced migration for the most vulnerable, but particularly Indigenous peoples is closely linked to racist colonial policies, structural inequalities and violence, U.S. foreign intervention, and genocide. Indigenous peoples’ right of self-determination, including rights to ancestral lands, territories, and natural goods, are blatantly ignored. In the most recent wave of land dispossession, transnational corporations are actively stealing Indigenous lands and persecuting Indigenous leaders with support from colonial governments and in coordination with the police and military, as is the example in El Estor, Guatemala. Corruption, impunity, and repression are causing debilitating conditions that do not allow for a dignified standard of life, forcing thousands of our peoples to migrate.

Indigenous peoples remain invisible within official statistics because they are denied their identity, which in turn hinders due process rights for Indigenous language interpretation. As an example, Indigenous children like Jakelin Caal Maquin (Maya Q’eqchi’) have died under the custody of the U.S. government. Most recently, the victims in Chiapas include Maya peoples from the following Indigenous Nations: K’iche’, Mam, Q’eqchi’, Ixil, and possibly others. Their identities are frequently erased from official reports and dominant media narratives, which further violates their human rights.

The U.S. has had anti-immigrant policies for decades. Since the 1990s, the Prevention Through Deterrence policies have used authoritarianism, force, and militarization, creating repressive conditions against those who are forced to leave their countries in search of asylum, an inherent right under International Law. It is very clear that these policies have been designed to criminalize and place migrants in vulnerable conditions, conducive to physical and spiritual harm, further aggravated by the violence of criminal organizations that often work in collaboration with corrupt police and military officials in the U.S., Mexico, and Guatemala. Additionally, U.S. Border Patrol agents have been implicated in corruption and directly linked to drug cartels, as well as committing acts of sexual violence and misconduct against asylum seekers, while the Mexican police has been accused of participating in extortion and massacres of migrants.

Current illegal and unfair policies, such as Title 42 and the reinstatement and expansion of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), eliminate due process for asylum seekers who are denied their human rights guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Status of Refugees, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The vulnerabilities faced by Indigenous migrants are connected with their specific Indigenous identities, racism, and linguistic discrimination in addition to more than 500 years of colonial legacies.

Therefore, we demand the following from the U.S., Mexican, and Guatemala governments: 1. Thoroughly investigate the accident that led to the deaths and injuries of dozens of people, and comply with mandates to support and assist families of the victims of the crash in Chiapas, Mexico including humanitarian relief, repatriation of bodies, Indigenous language interpretation and accompaniment.

2. The recognition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the minimum standard to address the rights of Indigenous migrants who face conflict, violence, and forced displacement in our ancestral lands, and to ensure compliance in the development of any immigration policies or the administration of foreign aid. All three countries have endorsed the Declarations, and made a commitment to advance and implement such rights of Indigenous peoples; 3. The immediate repeal of Title 42 and MPP and cease in the complicity of such policies; 4. Investigate and prosecute the perpetrators for the deaths of Claudia Patricia Gómez González (Maya Mam), Jakelin Caal Maquin (Maya Q’eqchi’), Felipe Gómez Alonzo (Maya Chuj), Juan de León Gutiérrez and Wilmer Josue Ramirez Vasquez (Maya Ch’orti’); Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez (Maya Achi) and other children, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who have died in migration and detention; 5. Uphold the right of persons fleeing persecution to safely seek asylum including the end to militarized borders and criminalization of such persons; 6. Jointly address with Indigenous leaders the structural issues which hinder the full realization of their rights forcing them to migrate. Urgently address in particular the right of self-determination, self-government, collective land rights and legal certainty of their lands, education, health, culture, and languages.

In this time of crisis in which the root causes of forced migration are not addressed, we welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your designated representative in the immediate future to discuss solutions with special emphasis on the human rights of Indigenous peoples, particularly in Guatemala.

Sincerely, International Mayan League

International Mayan League 1201 K St. NW Washington, D.C. 20005

Phone: (202) 827-6673 Email: info@mayanleague.org www.mayanleague.org

CC: United States Government Officials: The Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States, The White House The Honorable Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Congressman Raul M. Grijalva Congressman Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia, Congresswoman Norma J. Torres Congressman Alan Lowenthal Congressman Juan Vargas Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Congressman Joaquin Castro Mexico Government Officials: Honorable Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Secretary of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Honorable Rosa Icela Rodriguez Velazquez, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Guatemala Government Officials: Honorable Pedro Brolo Vila, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lic. Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade, Human Rights Ombudsman, The National Council of Attention to the Migrant of Guatemala (CONAMIGUA) International Bodies Tania Reneaum Panszi, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Antonia Urrejola Noguera, President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Commissioner Julissa Mantilla Falcon, First Vice-President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Rapporteur on the Rights of Migrants Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Rapporteur for Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela’ Rapporteur on the Rights of Children, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Honorable Amilcar Pop, President of the Commission for Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of the Central American Parliament