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Mark · Site Admin Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 1052

Guatemala Indigenous anti-mining activist assassinated

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/...anti-mining-activist-assassinated

Excerpt:

Trusting in the democratic processes that we have also pushed forward, raised up, and participated in, we have engaged in constant dialogue and consultation with our families, communities and peoples about the origin and destiny of our resources, goods and services. The next generations are our responsibility, and it falls on us and them to reaffirm our commitment to conserve this triple-harmony: humanity, nature, and cosmos.In the recent presidential elections, Mr. Álvaro Colóm offered that his government would establish a "social democracy with a Maya face." We believed this and we voted for him. But the few initiatives that he has implemented towards this end have been left behind as a result of the weight that historical repressive powers still represent in this country. Our peoples are a force that has been continually disregarded and manipulated by those power structures that historically and currently comprise the Guatemalan state. The Colóm administration's strength and power is rooted in its closeness to, dialogue with, and commitment to the poor and excluded who gave him the opportunity to be in the position of power that he holds today.In the name of this commitment by the President to undertake his government service with preference for the poor, peasant farmer, and indigenous peoples, we demand on this International Day of Indigenous Peoples:

Judicial Branch:Do not criminalize the struggles of indigenous peoples with regards to issues of agrarian land, mining and hydrolelecric projects.
Executive Branch: Declare the contracts and licensing for exploration and exploitation of chemical metal mining harmful to the country; Make legally binding the 27 community consultations that have already happened, as well as those that will happen in different municipalities across the country; Carry out diversified hydroelectric projects and without impacting the flow of rivers. Respect prior community consultation; We want access to land, not to the way of the market. We want a solution to the agrarian conflicts and labor conflicts and a canceling of the agrarian debt; Reallocate public programs towards contributing to the economic independence of the indigenous and peasant farmer population; Comply with the obligation of applying the laws of International Labor Organization (ILO) convention 169, an international legal instrument with constitutional backing that regulates fundamental collective rights of indigenous peoples; Create policies and laws that include elements of holistic rural development and that prioritize small and medium economies, farm workers, and peasant farmers. Legislative Branch:We declare you responsible for the creation of laws that directly prejudice against indigenous peoples and peasant farmers and benefit another sector.
MOST URGENTLY:

Judicial Branch: That you suspend the arrest warrents against: GREGORIA CRISANTA PEREZ BAMACA, CRISANTA HERNANDEZ PEREZ, PATROCINIA MATERO MEJIA, CATALINA PEREZ HERNANDEZ, OLGA BAMACA GONZALEZ, MARIA DIAZ, CRISANTA YOC Y MARTA PEREZ, indicated with the penal code identification number [1908-2008], under the purview of the Fifth Assistant to the Court of First Instance for Criminal and Narcotics Activity and Crimes against the Environment in San Marcos, for the existence of an unfounded resolution and lack of motive as required by law. That you respect the right to possess land for the inhabitants of Caserio San Francisco, San Pablo, and San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, which are being affected by the implementation of hydroelectric projects and private companies.