” I am being criminalized for defending our land, water, mountains and life. Freedom for our political prisoners and all those who defend life!” – Maria Cuc Choc
As a result of the work carried out by the collective Festivales Solidarios and Mujeres en Movimienta and the Federación Guatemalteca de Escuelas Radiofónicas and student organizations, a process of criminalization and aggressions for defending the right to freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration in the context of the pandemic and the increase of corruption in Guatemala has been experienced for approximately 6 months.
With the arrival of the government of Alejandro Giammattei in January 2020, the situation of human rights defense is seriously affected and with it increased the vulnerability in which human rights defenders exercise their defense action, this has increased the criminalization against defenders, aggressions and violence are on the rise, violence is manifested from virtual environment, surveillance, siege to physical violence, including death threats, murders and criminal complaints filed in various prosecutors’ offices.
In the specific case of Festivales Solidarios they have registered incidents of aggression, violence, paramilitary retentions, hate campaigns on social networks and physical aggressions since 2014 to date.
Aggressions against the members of this collective have increased, ranging from the analysis in timeline began with aggressions, hate campaigns5, defamation, physical violence and even death threats, attempts on life, as what happened last September 22, 20206 where a violent aggression was experienced, which left serious injuries7 to several of the members for documenting and denouncing the illegal logging in the community forest of Alto de Totonicapán8. For this event, a complaint was filed, there are people identified and detained with an open judicial process, from where it has been identified the existence of a network of loggers who have organized to depredate the communal forest and protected area9, which allows this organization prior to a situational analysis, to be at high risk for the work of defending human rights they do, since the aggressions have been increasing from mild to high risk and in danger of their own lives.
The work of communicating from below and as indigenous women and mestizo population has not been easy, since it is done from self-management but it is assumed, as subjects with their own voice and with the clarity and commitment of service to the struggles to seek the dignity of the people and the great excluded majorities in Guatemala.
To learn more about Festivales Solidarios in English or Spanish below: