Guatemala’s Indigenous Peoples Endure Poverty and Contested Land Rights

Aug 17, 2016 | World Politics Review
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Individuals who self-identify as indigenous—about half the population—are recognized as full citizens, even though they may face many types of de facto discrimination. As collective “peoples,” they do not have special status. However, they do hold some collective rights, such as the right to collective land tenure; the right to alter some forms of local governance according to indigenous customs; and the right to free, prior, informed consultation, known as FPIC, over legislative initiatives and development projects that could impact them. Many indigenous organizations and activists claim that indigenous peoples have a right to control the territory on which they live, but this is quite contested in Guatemala. In fact, most collective rights are perennially under attack.

In recent years, the right to FPIC and collective control of territory are arguably the greatest legal struggles that indigenous peoples have faced. Thousands of indigenous communities have protested the construction of large natural resource development projects like open-pit mines and hydroelectric dams on or near where they live. In some places these projects have been slowed or postponed, but rarely has a project been completely halted. Recently it was announced that the most contentious mining project in Guatemala, Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine, will close. But this is only after years of operations that have damaged the environment, public health and social fabric of the surrounding communities. Further, indigenous individuals who lead the movements against projects like the Marlin Mine have been targeted in assassination attempts and sometimes imprisoned under questionable legal grounds. The latter cases have forced the activists left behind to divert energy and funds toward the legal defense of these individuals.