Guatemala Is Sliding Into Chaos In The Fight For Land And Water

Guatemala is becoming a hotspot for violence against social movements opposing evictions, logging and mining. 18 human rights and indigenous defenders have been murdered this year alone, of which 13 were involved in land conflicts and 9 were leaders belonging to Codeca (Association of Committees for Small Farmer’s Development). 

"Although the men may have been killed by local hitmen", The Guardian's John Vidal explains, "the killings have probably been orchestrated by more powerful political and financial interests, with links to the drug trade and the military".

He draws parallels to the sort of violence and political turmoil seen in Honduras and Nicaragua. In 2017, Global Witness registered 197 killings against environmental defenders in 2017 – a rate of four assassinations a week. 

This global trend, however, needs to be looked at in the context of Guatemala's political turmoil. The government of Jimmy Morales has made considerable attempts to thwart the country's anti-corruption efforts, as it is itself under the spotlight of prosecutors. Morales' Interior Minister has effectively stopped cooperation between security forces and the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). And he has sought to distract public opinion by arguing CICIG and its local allies are staging a political vendetta against himself. 

Morales has effectively singled out Codeca and denounced it during a rally of his supporters. He said the organization faces over 2,000 penal accusations, effectively echoing private sector organizations who vilify Codeca for stealing energy from distributing companies and for acting as a "source of conflict" in areas with mining, hydroelectric dams, and other resource-extractive companies. 

Codeca has been one of the strongest opposition forces against the government's corruption and private firms' illegal proceedings. 

National media are not covering this story, due to their financial commitments with the private sector.