Statement from Juanita Cabrera Lopez, Maya Mam Nation Executive Director of the International Mayan League At the Faith Vigil for Children Dying at the Border
May 23, 2019
Heart of the sky and Heart of the Earth, Heart of the Wind, and Heart of the Water, Ancestors of the Piscataway Nation, and all our Ancestors, we ask for your guidance during this time of grief and loss. We uplift our voices for our children, that we may find the good way and justice for their stolen lives.
A year ago, today, Claudia was shot in the head by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent. We still await justice.
Last night I spoke with Mr. Gilberto, Claudia Patricia’s father on the phone. I asked Mr. Gilberto, how are you doing? As you can imagine, his response. “We are sad, we are the same as we have been, sad. Today, I could not take it anymore, I broke down and I cried for my daughter. We have been celebrating her life for the past 8 days and this morning [ while we hold the vigil here,] it is the last day of her mourning. There is a mass and then we will leave a wreath and flowers on her grave.
These days have been so difficult, so many people have been calling me, asking what is our message? what do we want people to know? We are tired. There comes a point when I just don’t know what to say anymore. As more time goes by, it is more difficult for us, we miss her so much. But what I ask is that there is justice for her. This is what I have always asked, JUSTICE. We want answers.
I want to thank all of you for your solidarity, for what you are doing, that there be justice. We ask that this not be forgotten, that this not continue to happen, so that more fathers and mothers not lose their children and endure the suffering that we have endured.”
As I called the family last night and offered my words of condolences; as a Maya Mam woman in mourning for Claudia Patricia, who was also Mam and born just in the next village from where I was born, I also cannot contain my grief and rage because today on the 1-year anniversary of her senseless murder, we are relivinganother nightmare, the deaths of three more children since April that died in U.S. custody Wehavelost six lives ofchildrenfrom Guatemalasincelast year. And wehaverecentlylearned of another loss of a child from El Salvador. They were someone's’ daughter, someone’s son.
We say their names and recognize their indigenous Nations:
1. Claudia Patricia Gómez González, Maya Mam, 20 yrs. old, from San Juan Ostuncalco, Quetzaltenango, died May 23, 2018
2. Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, Maya Q’eqchi’, 7 yrs. old from San Antonio Secortez, of the Damascus microregion of Raxruhá in Alta Verapaz, died December 7, 2018
3. Felipe Gomez Alonzo, Maya Chuj, 8 yrs. old from Nentón, Huehuentenango, died December 24, 2018
4. Juan de León Gutiérrez,Maya Ch’orti’,16 yrs. old fromoldfromCaserioTizamarteinthevillage El Tesoro, Camotán, Chiquimula, died April 30, 2019, died April 30, 2019
5. Wilmer Josué Ramírez Vásquez, (indigenous Nation not yet identified) 2.5 yrs. old, from Chiquimula, died May 14, 2019
6. Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez, Maya Achi, 16 yrs old, from San Jose el Rodeo, Cubulco Baja Verapaz died May 20, 2019
Let me be clear, the five children thus far identified were Maya children from Guatemala. Each indigenous child whose life has been stolen was forced to migrate because they are the most affected by centuries of structural inequality and discrimination in Guatemala. Our children often have no future in the rural and extremely impoverished communities that they come from. Many of our communities never recovered from the large-scale massacres that occurred during the genocide and internal armed conflict orchestrated by the Guatemalan government. And we cannot look away from the support of United States foreign policies and aid.
Today, Guatemala continues to be in crisis, especially for the Maya, Xinka and Garifuna indigenous peoples. Guatemala still perpetuates human rights violations, systemic oppression and exclusion of indigenous peoples at all levels of society. There are debilitating inequalities in land ownership, control, and management. The forced migration of my people from Guatemala is a symptom of the underlying causes derived from not only decades but from over 500 years of land theft, oppression, racism, and institutionalized exclusion of the predominant indigenous peoples. This cannot continue. We are the majority in Guatemala, yet we are the most abandoned and neglected by the state. We are tired of being treated as if our lives do not matter. As a Maya Ixil youth said recently when reflecting on the genocide in the 1980s, “our only crime was that we are native, that we are indigenous.”
And as each of us comes together this morning from different faith traditions, mourning the loss of the most innocent lives, the lives of children, I again ask; How many more children must die before there is collective outrage, actions, denouncements? How many more times do we need to say this is a crisis specifically affecting indigenous peoples and our most vulnerable - children and youth? As people of faith, placing your faith into action, I ask that you continue to stand with the Maya and act from a place of compassion, humanity, dignity and truth. We want answers, accountability, and justice for our children.
We must stand on the right side of history, for Claudia, and for all our stolen children, lives that have joined the cosmos and are now our ancestors. And in closing I ask Heart of Sky and Heart of Mother Earth to continue to enlighten our hearts, minds, and actions for our children and future generations.