After the peasant’s death, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) in Guatemala, Alberto Brunori, did not hesitate to give his opinion about this incident: “The peasants were unable to continue working and paying for the land. They evicted the peasants without providing them with a plan b”.

He then said that they had already warned the government authorities about the fact that the evictions fail to comply with the international standards and they violate human rights. “There is always reference to property rights, but they never mention that the person has the right to life and to be fed”, said Brunori in a statement published by Prensa Libre.

Last week during the celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the UN commissioner on Human Rights once again expressed his opinion on this kind of incidents.

Before an audience full of peasant community delegates, Brunori said that there are nearly 370 million indigenous in the world that have lost or who are under threat of losing their ancient lands and their natural resources, and this “happens in the name of the ’so called’ development”.

“The question is who benefits from that development and at what cost? Having communities displaced and marginalized from society is not development. Forced eviction or the loss of life as a result of these conflicts is not development either”, he said.

Mining makes intensive use of soil and water affecting the peoples, therefore it is necessary to promote a “new development model” that takes into account the right to self-determination and that recognizes that land plays a key role in the peoples’ lives.

“Land is the mother that gives life”, he said. He questioned the State of Guatemala for having failed to respect the indigenous right to community consultation.

“The insitutional response does not contemplate the multicultural state. The political response after the internal conflict suffered by Guatemala is insufficinet and the traditional and collective forms of land ownership are not recognized. The peoples live in a situation of vulnerabiliyt before extractive projects and a drastic change is needed”.

Photo: Prensa Libre