Defending Indigenous Rights & Land in Guatemala: A Conversation with Lesbia Artola & Sandra Calel
During their European Speaking tour, coinciding with the launch of the Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala's report on agrarian conflict and Indigenous peoples' rights in Alta Verapaz, PBI UK had the privilege of engaging in conversation with Lesbia Artola and Sandra Calel. These two Indigenous women human rights defenders (WHRDs) from Guatemala are leaders of the Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA) and the Verapaz Union of Campesino Organisations (UVOC), respectively. In this interview, we delve into various crucial topics, from the intersection of Indigenous women's rights and the criminalisation of WHRDs to the impact of multinational organisations and the recent contested presidential vote.
Can you start by briefly introducing yourselves and telling us about the work you do in advocating for Indigenous rights and the fair distribution of land in Guatemala?
Lesbia: Hi, my name is Lesbia Artola. I am Maya Q’eqchi from Alta Verapaz, in the North of Guatemala. We live in a region that has a lot of natural resources, exceptionally beautiful territories and very fertile land. It is coveted by national and foreign interests and the landowners in our regions.
Sandra: Hello, my name is Sandra Calel, and I am Maya-Poqomchi’. I am also from the north of Guatemala, from Mocohan in Baja Verapaz. It’s sad to speak about what's happening in Guatemala. We have suffered as human rights defenders (HRDs) for a long time now. However, the situation is now even worse with the fallen democracy in the country, forced disappearances, discrimination and human rights abuses. People have been killed, and a lot of members from the Indigenous communities - many of our comrades - have been at the frontline of this struggle, risking their lives. They have been demonstrating in the capital to demand changes in favour of the nation's interests and ensure that the popular vote in August of last year is respected. One demonstrator has already been killed, and therefore, we are losing our rights as people. That is causing us pain because we don't have anywhere else to go, we don't have institutions that we can dialogue with, and the government has militarised and criminalised our work protecting and defending rights.
Sandra Calel (left) and Lesbia Artola (right)
Both of your organisations have been fighting against land displacement and evictions. Could you explain the challenges Indigenous communities face in defending their land against these forces?
Lesbia: The criminalisation and the repression that we - as Indigenous communities - face to defend our communities has increased dramatically recently. We have been forced off our land, and this defence of our land has resulted in a lot of deaths of HRDs. Others remain in impunity.
In 2018, we as an organisation had six comrades murdered in just one year, all of whom had remained in impunity. The last of these six people’s bodies was returned to us cut into pieces. Of the people who were murdered, one of those people - Ramon Choc Sacrab, the leader of the Ixloq San Pedrito community in Cobán, Guatemala - even had his ears cut off. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to survive these horrible attacks that he suffered.
Currently, one of the challenges we face is defending our democracy, which is why we have been demonstrating for sixteen days. This has provoked the government to repress us further. Their policy is to repress and murder the opposition and resisting communities. At the moment, the news that is coming out suggests that the current government has displaced a previous interior minister because he refused to criminalise or attack the resisting communities - the peaceful demonstrators. As a result, he has now been replaced by a representative of the armed forces, whose objective is to repress and murder the opposition.
In addition to resisting outside our territories, we are also resisting within our territories because, for many years, this is where we have been persecuted. There's a systematic process, and we have documented more than 1,070 arrest warrants against HRDs, 352 of whom are women. This is in addition to the political prisoners from our territories. We have seven comrades who are in prison due to their activities. Two have been sentenced to 35 years just for defending their territory. We also have three female comrades who teach women to protect their land and who have each been sentenced to 75 years. They are not murderers, they do not live on occupied land nor are they terrorists or criminals. They are none of those things. They are in prison just because they are defending their territory. Sadly, protecting our land is seen to be a grave and serious crime - the authorities see us as murderers of their ambitions.
There is a lot of indifference in the country about our communities' struggles, and the disappeared people don’t seem to have much impact. It's not something that a lot of the population sees as important. Many people aren’t that aware of the impact that the disappeared communities have on Guatemala, even though these communities are resisting ecological damage and defending resources. Major landowners are only interested in exploiting and destroying our land. The implications of climate change don’t seem at all important to them, but we need to take climate change seriously, and that’s not just regarding our own territories. It’s a question that is internationally and universally important.
Can you possibly expand further on the experiences of members of your community who have been forcibly disappeared or faced threats due to multinational organisations, criminalisation and killings in your communities?
Sandra: The Indigenous and peasant communities, for over 500 years now, have been suffering from multiple expulsions from the land, first by the Spanish and now by the transnationals who are arriving in our communities. They manipulate and sometimes murder leaders who don't hand their land over to large companies.
At the moment, the hydroelectric scheme is one of the significant causes of the suffering of our community because they manipulate and then begin to murder leaders when they enter the area. If they don’t kill them, they disappear. Carlos Enrique Coy disappeared during the pandemic. It's now three years since he disappeared, and we still haven't found his body during this time. We don't know whether he’s been murdered, or whether he’s still alive. The family is still asking for justice. We are living in the 21st century, and we shouldn't still have to be speaking about people who’ve been disappeared, but this is what’s still happening in our communities.
Many families are also affected, and a large number of people don't have houses, have lost their land, and don't have anywhere to go as a result of these economic interests. Many people also suffer seeing their parents sent to prison, and those of us who are defending these communities now have armed groups from the companies and the state patrolling our land and intimidating us. This means that our children can't run free because we are afraid that something will happen to them. We receive phone calls, and our families receive phone calls telling them to stop supporting the communities. PBI has even received phone calls telling them to stop accompanying us because we are a criminal organisation.
Moreover, there is no justice that favours the communities. For example, a comrade who was unfairly imprisoned has now spent nine months in prison, and he’s still waiting to be sentenced to see whether they’ll release him or whether he’ll stay in prison. Additionally, last June, two Poqomchi’ women were imprisoned as a result of their protests. They were in tears as they had never left their community and village. Yet, they were accused of seven counts of kidnapping, murder, aggravated theft, squatting and land grabbing. How is it possible that two women who don't have money, who don't have weapons, who can't confront landowners with vehicles and wealth, are accused of these crimes? The Guatemalan criminal justice system has lost its independence completely. It’s biased in favour of the powerful.
Lesbia, you are very passionate about Indigenous women's rights. Could you elaborate on how these issues intersect, especially regarding the criminalisation of Indigenous WHRDs?
Lesbia: Being a woman is challenging because our struggles as women start within our own homes, within our own communities, and in all those places in which we might be present as women. There’s no recognition at all of the fact that WHRDs are in the vanguard, but also at the frontline of oppression and that we’re being criminalised as part of this oppression. Before, women weren’t really criminalised very much - or we weren’t aware of the criminalisation - but we’ve always been involved in the struggle against both oppression and machismo. Currently, with the situation in Guatemala, it is women who are at the front of the demonstrations and women leaders are demonstrating their power and strength.
There’s a lot of stigma that we’re victims of, as well. The very fact that we speak out publically, that we shout and that we defend rights, for many people - for many men, sadly including our comrades and partners on some occasions - they say that this is something that we shouldn't be doing. So, we get a lot of resistance from within our own community as well. We’re accused of not being real women, of being prostitutes, people who are just living in the streets, and people who are not living a dignified and seemly life.
Lesbia speaks at the launch of the Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala's report on agrarian conflict and Indigenous peoples' rights in Alta Verapaz.
Despite this, the women are tremendously brave in the continued resistance that we’re engaged in. For instance, there’s the emblematic case of the three women sentenced to 75 years in prison each. How is it possible for the justice system to hand out such enormous sentences to three Q’eqchi women, when their only crime was defending their territory - to speak out, to be on the battle line of the struggle to defend their land and defend their rights? How is it possible to receive so many years in prison? There is also the case of the Río Cristalino community, which PBI and the delegation of lawyers mentioned in their report. The community has only 70 families, yet 71 arrest warrants. Twenty-nine of those arrest warrants are against women, women whose only crime is to defend their land, to defend their territory, to defend their life. For more than 70 years, they have been defending their community. Why should they be criminalised? A German family who claims the land as their own has criminalised them, and that has affected us tremendously.
In terms of forced evictions, we currently have 138 families who are now in temporary refuge, having been forced off their land. Of those 138 families, most of those people are women. This affects them psychologically, but they continue to keep fighting to take care of their children and families.
Sandra, as the coordinator of the Women's Commission, can you share your perspective on the role of Indigenous women's leadership in the fight for land rights and gender equality?
Sandra: Talking about women in our territories is challenging. Both institutionally - as we’re not necessarily taken into account by organisations - and at the community level. Although we may be involved in the resistance and the struggle, talking about gender in our community is not easy. However, we have developed our own context of gender, which we balance between men and women to achieve equality and participation in different spaces. Despite this, in our communities, we’ve got former military members, so macho-machismo ideas and the role of men in communities significantly influence their thinking. This can make it much harder for women to participate equally because a lot of the men with this mental attitude don’t accept the participation or value of women, and this is quite typical. It’s difficult for me in my role to coordinate a women’s group, to be a leader in the struggle because, in roundtable decisions, it’s very often the case that although women are involved in the resistance, we are discounted when it comes to roundtable decision-making. This is despite the fact that when men are out in the fields and doing other things, women are much more involved, and it’s us who are out in the streets confronting the authorities. Despite how active and present we are, our role is not respected by the men in the community or by the organisations.
Also, at the national level, representation is very, very low. In Congress, there is only one Indigenous woman. This inability to make space in Congress and higher decision-making spaces demonstrates how difficult it is for women to participate. This is something we want to improve so that women can be decision-makers at all levels of society one day.
Guatemala has been facing challenges related to democratic processes, as seen in the recent contested presidential vote. How has this affected your work, and what are your hopes for the new government set to take office in January?
Lesbia: I am not very political, but I will talk about how I feel. Unfortunately, the elections that we had weren’t very transparent. Currently, we have a level of hope for Arévalo’s new government, which will take over in January. I’m not going to say that there will be a total change - that it will transform the situation of agrarian conflict and the systematic oppression that our communities face - because we’re realistic.
Unfortunately, with the current government, we are facing an enormous level of repression. We believe the intention is to have a coup to make it impossible for Arévalo to take over. They’re blocking all of the transition processes that should be occurring to transition into the new government, and they are acting anti-democratically to make this transition impossible.
How does this affect us? The levels of repression and the levels of illegal eviction have increased since the election because there’s a criminal alliance involving landowners and the current government. They have plans to evict us, force us off our land and ensure that the judicial system doesn’t work as it should. In Guatemala, there are thousands of places of growing conflict, and we, as an organisation, have documented 360 cases of agrarian conflict in just our area alone since the previous government in 2015. Not one of these cases of agrarian conflict has been resolved. Instead, agrarian conflict has increased. However, we do have some hope that the new government will have some positive effect.
The Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala recently made recommendations for addressing the challenges both your communities are currently facing. How do you see these recommendations making a difference for Indigenous peoples' rights in Guatemala?
Sandra: It was difficult for us to come here knowing the situation back home that we are facing, but the community is hopeful that this report produced by the lawyers might represent some hope for us to be able to answer our case in the courts and help one of our comrades who is currently awaiting sentencing. In recent months, his sentencing was suspended, but we are hoping that over the next month or so, he can come to court. We’re hopeful that the report by the lawyers will help ensure that the court recognises that there are international law experts who are aware of the situation, who are aware of the reality, who have first-hand experience and understand the situation in which we live. Their expert opinion might help the community represent its position and show the reality, and that might have a positive effect in this case.
What role do you believe the international community, especially the UK, should play in supporting Indigenous rights, the rule of law and the protection of human rights defenders in Guatemala?
Lesbia: I would like the international community to observe the situation and monitor the legal system of Guatemala - a legal system involved in the criminalisation of HRDs - so that they see the application of justice within Guatemala and accompany us in our struggles. To be there observing the situation that we face would make the Guatemalan government realise that the eyes of the international community are on them, hopefully reducing the levels of repression against HRDs and lessening the sentences handed out to them.
Sandra speaks at the launch of the Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala's report on agrarian conflict and Indigenous peoples' rights in Alta Verapaz.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes and aspirations for the future of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala, and how can international support help achieve those goals?
Sandra: What we want is for the international community to play a role in upholding the rights of Indigenous communities. Guatemala is a member of the UN and has signed international standards that respect the rule of law and democracy, so the international community must insist that this democracy is implemented.
In Guatemala, we - as Indigenous communities - are not included in the Guatemalan constitution, but it has been us - the Indigenous community - who have been active in defending the small amount of democracy that we do have in the country. So, it is not only a question of the international community observing. They must also demand that this government recognise our rights and act in our interest.
Currently, I see two possible futures. One would be that we ensure that we have a democratic future. If democracy can prosper, we will at least have a less repressive future. The other possible future is that we are not successful in our struggle to defend democracy, and that would lead to higher levels of imprisonment, higher levels of repression, higher levels of being forced off our land and higher levels of murder.
How do you envision strengthening protection mechanisms for at-risk Indigenous women human rights defenders and addressing the challenges they face?
Lesbia: It's a massive challenge to defend WHRDs because of the levels of repression that take place even within our own communities. Unfortunately, many HRDs are not speaking up and still have not spoken up about the situations that they’re facing. We hope that international eyes can turn towards us and that they can be more proactive in defending us in our work as HRDs. I hope that in the future, there will be more initiatives, both nationally and internationally, that protect us, provide better levels of protection for us, and reduce repression against us. Hopefully, in the future, we will also be able to get away from machismo in our own territories because that is certainly something that causes problems for WHRDs.
How has Peace Brigades International supported your work, and what role does it play in enabling you to promote rights and protect the environment?
Sandra: PBI has been accompanying us for sixteen years now and has enabled us to play a critical advocacy role, in addition to accompanying us in difficult situations. In court cases, their presence has also meant that our role has been respected more. This is despite the fact that the current government accuses PBI of insighting us into action, exercising undue influence as an international organisation and financing us - none of which is true!
However, for us, the presence of PBI has provided critical support to the Indigenous communities. They have enabled us to continue defending our territory and our lives. I hope that they will be able to develop more initiatives so that they are able to provide more support to the Indigenous population in the future. There are very high levels of criminalisation of HRDs in Guatemala, whose tremendous needs need to be met.
I want to thank PBI from the bottom of my heart for the physical and psychological accompaniment support that they provide us with. They have helped us in our ancestral struggle in defence of our territories. They have defended not only our culture but also our spirit and land.
Access a summary of and the full report by the Independent Delegation of International Lawyers to Guatemala on agrarian conflict and Indigenous peoples' rights in Alta Verapaz here.
Find out everything you missed from our report launch event and how you can take action here.
Find out some quick actions you can take to help Lesbia, Sandra, and other land and environmental defenders here.
Donate to help us organise more visits by human rights defenders to galvanise international support here.
