Guatemala:
Agrofuels cause deforestation and displacement
In Guatemala, like
in several other countries of the South, indigenous communities
and the environment are paying a high cost due to the expansion
of agrofuels. Deforestation, forced displacement, threats, illegal
arrest and even murder are the signs of this encroachment.
The organization
Salva la Selva (Save the Rainforest) has denounced a situation
that has been occurring over the past three years in an area known
as “Finca Los Recuerdos”, where Ingenio Guadalupe, one of the
companies producing ethanol in the country, has been deforesting
indigenous land to plant sugar-cane for ethanol production.
In the midst of a
food crisis and increase in the price of foodstuffs, on 30 June
this year, 60 Keqchi families from La Isla, Caserío el Morador
Semano, Corazón de Maíz and Teleman Punto 15,
in Panzos, tried to recover part of
their land to cultivate it and produce food.
According to
Salva la Selva, in response “they were attacked by paramilitary
forces associated with the company. During the attack, they
shot at the indigenous people from a helicopter, and a 35-year-old
man, father of three children had to be taken to hospital. The
next day, families and representatives of the peasant organization
CUC, carried out a peaceful protest, during which they were again
attacked by the paramilitary forces who were accompanied by two
representatives of Ingenio Guadalupe. There were shots, threats
to kill and two women were illegally arrested.” In the area of
Coatepeque similar attacks took place, this time involving the
expansion of oil palm plantations for the production of biodiesel.
According to information
supplied by CUC and by the international human rights organization
Rights Action, these events are representative of what is happening
all over Guatemala. Members of CUC have denounced the following:
“We make people see that the Government does not have any clear
measures to face the food and high price crisis and we make them
responsible for the reaction and action taken by the population
as this crisis becomes more acute.”
So far the measures
adopted have been in support of agribusiness groups and, as has
been denounced, to enable them to “illegally obtain land that
belongs to indigenous communities and where violence committed
by paramilitary forces and even by the State security forces is
used to displace the communities.”
Environmental destruction
and violation of human rights are promoted by the world financial
system: in January this year the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB), approved funding that enables the Guatemalan Government
to develop a national strategy for agrofuels. This will
inevitably be expressed in more deforestation, more land appropriation,
more forced displacements, more violation of the indigenous communities’
human rights.
IDB is one of the
major financers of the expansion of agrofuels in Latin America
and is preparing private credits for an amount of 3 billion dollars.
Rights Actions is exhorting people to address a letter to the
IDB, denouncing the situation and demanding immediate suspension
of all support and funding of agrofuel production in Guatemala.
This letter ends by stating: “The production of agrofuels in Guatemala
has increased deforestation, desertification and accelerated climate
change. It also increases hunger and violates the territorial
rights of indigenous communities, increasing violent repression.
Please immediately suspend your support of agrofuels in Guatemala.”
(Accessible at:
http://www.salvalaselva.org/protestaktion.php?id=283).
Article based on information from: “Empresa
de agrocombustibles reprime violentamente a indígenas en Guatemala,”
(Agrofuel company violently represses indigenous people in Guatemala),
Salva la Selva,
http://www.salvalaselva.org/protestaktion.php?id=283
