Dokument #1124499
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
The following information was provided
during a 25 August 1997 telephone interview with the director of
the Guatemala City-based Centro para Acción Legal en
Derechos Humanos (CALDH), one of Guatemala's leading human
rights organizations.
The director stated that he did not have
information on recent acts (last two or three years) of violence
committed against the Kekchí (or Q'eqchi') indigenous
community, but mentioned that this community is located in Alta
Verapaz department, a region known for violence related to land
issues. The director stated that the area known as the Franja
Transversal del Norte in Alta Verapaz has been and still is
targeted by the military for expropriations of land. The
Kekchí communities have lost a substantial amount of land as
a result of such incidents. The director added that the
Kekchí have colonial title and ancestral rights to these
areas but that they do not appear in the land registry, thus
enabling the military to force them from their lands, often using
violence. The director reported that the military has traditionally
been very strong in the department of Alta Verapaz, where the
national arms factory is located. One of the most well-publicized
massacres in Guatemala occurred in Panzos in 1979 when 100
Kekchís were killed by the army. Various Kekchí areas
have been flooded as a result of construction of the Chixoy
hydroelectric project. The director also noted that refugees have
returned to Alta Verapaz as part of the designated refugee-return
area of Yalpemech in the municipality of Chisec. He characterized
the current situation in the Kekchí region as tense but did
not know of any recent violent actions specifically involving the
Kekchí community.
The following information was provided by
the regional coordinator of the United Nations Mission in Guatemala
(MINUGUA) office in Cobán in the department of Alta Verapaz
during a 25 August 1997 telephone interview.
Most of the problems facing the
Kekchí indigenous people are linked to poverty and land
conflicts. The source stated that the current land situation in
Alta Verapaz is "extremely complex" with ambiguity of land
demarcations making it very difficult to determine legitimate
ownership of a specific plot. In this context both landowners and
indigenous groups use violence to secure or claim their right to
the land. The coordinator mentioned that there are still violent
land-related incidents in Alta Verapaz, as there are in other
departments. He clarified, however, that these incidents are not
distributed evenly around the entire department but are
concentrated in specific unidentified troublespots.
The following information was provided
during a 26 August 1997 telephone interview with an anthropologist
and director of the Centre of Latin American Studies at the
University of California at Berkeley. The professor authored a 1988
book on Guatemalan refugees entitled Refugees of a Hidden
War and is a specialist on Guatemala's indigenous communities.
She is a regular visitor to Guatemala, where she is currently
conducting research on a Quiché indigenous community.
The professor stated that the overall
situation of the indigenous communities remains difficult in
Guatemala. Although it is unlikely that massacres of indigenous
people similar to those in the past will reoccur, the possibility
of harassment or persecution of indigenous peoples depends to a
large extent on the specific situation in each region. The
professor mentioned that even though the Peace Accords offer state
protection to the indigenous populations, the practical
implementation of such a concept is problematic and may take years
to realize.
The professor stated that the relationship
between the Kekchí and the military is characterized by
distrust and contempt. The strong Kekchí participation in
the guerrilla movement in Alta Verapaz, mainly in the Ejercito
Guerrillero de los Pobres (EGP or Guerrilla Army of the Poor),
along with their ability to escape military searches by hiding and
surviving in the Guatemalan rain forest for long periods of time
has frustrated and angered the military. As a result the military
views the Kekchís "as people they cannot count on". The
source added that many villages in Alta Verapaz were destroyed and
their inhabitants massacred during the war.
The professor reported that Guatemalan
indigenous people tend to be very rooted in their respective
communities. Consequently a Kekchí Indian that has left Alta
Verapaz for another department in Guatemala may arouse the
suspicions of local authorities, who will wonder why the individual
is not living in his or her community.
For information on the general situation of
indigenous communities in Guatemala, please consult the
attachments.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Centro para Acción Legal en
Derechos Humanos (CALDH), Guatemala City. 25 August 1997. Telephone
interview with the director.
United Nations Mission in Guatemala
(MINUGUA). Regional office of Cobán, Alta Verapaz. 25 August
1997. Telephone interview with the regional coordinator.
University of California, Berkeley. 26
August 1997. Telephone interview with the director of the Centre
for Latin American Studies.
Attachments
Cultural Survival Quarterly
[Cambridge, Mass.]. Summer 1997. Vol. 21, No. 2. Kay B.
Warren. "The Indigenous Role in Guatemala Peace," pp. 24-27.
_____. Summer 1997. Vol. 21, No. 2.
Victor D. Montejo. "The Pan-Mayan Movement: Mayans at the Doorway
of the New Millenium," pp. 28-31.
_____. 1989. Vol. 13, No. 3. William V.
Davidson and Melanie A. Counce. "Mapping the Distribution of
Indians in Central America," pp. 37-40.
Minority Rights Group International.
December 1989. No. 62. "The Maya of Guatemala". London: Minority
Rights Group, pp. 27-30, 32.
Additional Sources Consulted
Amnesty International
Report.1992-1997.
Amnesty International. Urgent
Action. Guatemala. 1992-1997.
Central America NewsPak
[Austin, Tex.]. 1993-1997.
Central America Report
[Guatemala]. 1992-1997.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices. 1994-1997. U.S. Department of State. Washington:
U.S. Government Printing Office.
Critique: Review of the Department
of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
1994-1997. New York: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
Guatemala Human Rights Bulletin
[Washington, DC]. Quarterly.
Guatemala Human Rights Update
[Washington, DC]. 1994-1997.
News from Human Rights
Watch/Americas [New York]. 1995-1997.
Latinamerica Press [Lima].
1992-1997.
Latin American Weekly Report
[London]. 1992-1997.
Latin American Regional Reports:
Central America & the Caribbean [London]. 1992-1997.
Material from the Indexed Media Review
(IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse
sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media
Review.
Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to
the appropriate region.
Unsuccessful attempts to contact five
oral sources.