Guatemala

Forced Offer. On November 9, the K’ichÈ title owners of Los Cimientos presented an offer to exchange the two properties for comparable land. The offer was made four months after the community was forcibly expelled from the land located in the municipality of Chajul, QuichÈ department.

        This action could be the first step toward putting an end to the land conflict that the Guatemalan government has not been able to resolve through legal mechanisms.

        The bishop of QuichÈ department, MonseÒor Julio Cabrera, mediated the negotiation where the offer was presented. The United Nations Verification Mission for Guatemala (MINUGUA), the presidential land conflict resolution institution (CONTIERRA), the Peace Secretariat (SEPAZ) and the Presidential Conflict Resolution Unit (UPRECO) were also at the negotiation table.

        The K’ichÈ community was displaced by the internal armed conflict in 1981 and again driven from its land on June 25, 2001, by an Ixil community that claims historic rights to Los Cimientos (CAR XXVIII 26). After this latest invasion, and faced with continued hardships and a long and difficult legal process, the K’ichÈ have been left with little choice but to accept a land exchange.

        At the November 9 meeting, which CAR attended, UPRECO coordinator Shayne Ochaeta requested certification of the K’ichÈ’s property titles, saying this was necessary to assure legal ownership and verify that there were no liens on the land during the specified time period. According to one expert who has been closely involved with the case, this is a costly request for the K’ichÈ, who currently have no land or income, and have been forced to rely on international and government assistance to supply them with all basic necessities and legal help.

        Meanwhile, the government has still not found a solution to the conflict, although it has committed to working with the displaced to find new land. The K’ichÈ community has conditioned their acceptance on a direct study of the proposed land to ensure it is a fair exchange. This has not yet taken place.

        According to Diego Itzep Pasa, one of the elected leaders of the K’ichÈ community, a list of four land tracts has been presented by UPRECO and rejected because it did not meet the requirements laid out in their exchange proposal. One of the lands proposed by the government is under a mortgage.

        Itzep said the community is also asking for Q6.9m (US$854,000) to cover damages, including appropriation of crops, resulting from the June 25 attack. He noted the community’s reliance on international aid for food since the invasion, a highly unstable situation in terms of food security.

 

Constant Siege. Despite the existence of documents dating back 111 years that back up the K’ichÈ’s claim to the land, conflicts have arisen several times in the last 40 years. In 1967, the municipalities of Cotzal and Chajul tried to wrest the land from the K’ichÈ through the courts. However, the K’ichÈ’s land titles were legally confirmed.

        According to lawyer AnÌbal GarcÌa, the verdicts are final and cannot be disputed through any legal means.

        The K’ichÈ fled Los Cimientos in 1981 in the midst of nearby massacres carried out during the armed conflict. They returned in 1994 to find a military installation on the land.

        Fernando LÛpez, legal assessor at the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), attributed the army’s presence at that time to the land’s strategic importance near the Sierra community in resistance. The K’ichÈ appealed to the Inter-American Commission and successfully achieved the army’s withdrawal.

        The K’ichÈ’s titles were confirmed again during a challenge by the agricultural consortium, Nabalija S.A., which presented its own titles to the land in 1998.

        On July 3, 2001, the K’ichÈ’s lawyer, RamÛn Ovidio LÛpez Gil, filed a complaint against the Ixil invaders of June 25. The Public Ministry initiated an investigation and requested an arrest warrant for the perpetrators of the invasion. The judge, however, did not authorize the warrant, citing deficient documentation.

        Following this decision, LÛpez Gil filed another petition asking for certification of the titles that appear in the Estate Property Register in Quetzaltenango.

        LÛpez Gil said he has received no new notification about the case despite the Penal Process Code in force, whose purpose is to avoid formalities and setbacks, and to serve prompt justice. Petitions have been the primary means of communication between the court and the Public Ministry.

        At the same time, the K’ichÈ leader Itzep claimed that UPRECO recently asked him to renounce legal action in the case. He said he answered that “the negotiating table is a way out so that the Ixil brothers also find land.” However, he emphasized that the K’iche would not renounce their right to land.

        The UPRECO representative denied having made the request, saying such an act would not correspond to that institution.

 

Historical Weight or State Inefficiency? The Ixil invaders, despite recognizing the K’ichÈ’s ownership, argued that the property has historically been theirs. However, CONTIERRA’s final report states that the K’iche’s titles date back 111 years.

        Reinforcing the K’ichÈ’s case, LÛpez pointed out that even covenant 169 of the International Labor Organization, which concerns indigenous rights, does not recognize historical rights to land. If the State did recognize such rights, the K’ichÈ could demand the return of lands—now covered by coffee and sugar plantations—that were expropriated from them in the nineteenth century.

        LÛpez said the current situation has resulted from the State’s incapacity to resolve land disputes equitably. He emphasized the contradiction between government action in his community’s case and land invasions that have occurred in the South Coast region, in which the police has taken rapid and sometimes violent action to remove invaders. In these latter cases, the land owners were members of the Agricultural Chamber.

        Speaking from the government’s position, UPRECO coordinator Ochaeta said it could be dangerous for the QuichÈ to return to the land since the Ixil have threatened bloodshed if they do.

        LÛpez said he believed the law was violated because a group of people put the State in a checkmate. He said this seriously compromises the serving of justice.

        He warned that by accepting this situation, the government has put the constitutional article guaranteeing the right to own property in dire contradiction.

        “If this right is not protected by the State, a serious crime under Guatemalan law would be left unpunished,” said LÛpez.

        He added that the only way for the government to save face in the Los Cimientos case would be to have a positive answer for the K’ichÈ by the year’s end. Meanwhile, CALDH took the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is currently reviewing the case.

 

Other Issues. Iztep and others involved in the case blame ex Civil Patrollers for the violent aggression against his community, and do not rule out the possibility that powerful economic interests could be influencing the case. This latter suspicion arises from the government’s declaration in 2000 of the Visis-Caba nature reserve, which encompasses Los Cimientos. The reserve is to be part of one of the Plan Puebla-Panama components.

        According to LÛpez, the K’ichÈ’s position in the case is worsened by racism still existing in State institutions. He said the government lacks the will to resolve the needs of both groups in the conflict.

 

Characteristics of Los Cimientos

Area:  44 caballerÌas (total of both farms) Price according to the K'ichÈs per caballerÌa: Q1,800,000 (US$225,000.00) Location:  Multiple use zone of the Visis-Caba Natural Reserve.  Chajul township, department of QuichÈ. 1 caballerÌa = 43.68 hectares.