Repository of Socio-Polítical Communiqués of the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council
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Analysis
The select communiqués of this repository highlight that the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council has regularly engaged in various socio-political actions to strengthen social, cultural, political, and environmental conditions and connections of the pueblo Mam. These actions also seek to unite the pueblo Mam across state borders. Indigenous peoples might leverage such connections across borders to pressure states (see Keck and Sikkink 1998) to recognize them as Indigenous nations with collective rights.
As detailed in this repository, a critical engagement of the pueblo Mam has been resistance to transnational projects that have detrimental social and environmental impacts on the ancestral territory of the pueblo Mam (e.g., mining and hydroelectric dam projects). These neoliberal projects are facilitated by state governments through the granting of licenses to private transnational companies to exploit lands through extractivist activities. The Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council has mobilized against this exploitation and raised awareness to the interconnected character of territory (or tx'otx' in the Mam language) impacted by neoliberal projects.
Through the Mayan cosmovision, a Mam conceptualization of territory (as tx'otx') signifies:
An interdependence among mountains, volcanoes, trees, plants, rivers, and even air; it encompasses living and non-living beings, including humans and animals. Tx’otx’ is ontologically distinct from understandings of territory that merely signify a demarcation of land designating state limits to sovereignty, power, or jurisdiction. Even when the Mam do not use the word tx’otx’, they may call attention to trees, mountains, rivers, animals, communities, etc., as a more holistic understanding of territory. Through this conceptualization, landscapes may be envisioned as sacred and transcending the political limits of states (Bassie-Sweet 2008).
(Gardner 2024:11)
Mam activists contest the state's embrace of these neoliberal projects because of their harmful impact to tx'otx'. One Mam community official frustratingly noted:
The most apparent threats [against us] come from the government because it is the government that has already sold [our territory] and already given concessions or permission [via] licenses to those companies to exploit us through mining. We do not want those companies to enter and exploit our lands.
For the pueblo Mam, there are clear ties between the community, air, and water in the context of defending tx’otx’ from potential harm. For instance, the same Mam official further elaborated:
Now there will not be any production [of crops]. Instead, we will see contamination from the acids and other liquids they use when mining there. Thus, [mining] contaminates our water and air, and that is where the consequences of sickness and suffering come from.
(Gardner 2024:14)
This explanation connects the social and environmental harms that the Mam confront across the highlands and state borders. The Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council draws on the interdependent character of tx'otx' when calling others to ‘defend territory’ by protecting the trees, mountains, air, water, and community.
These communiqués demonstrate critiques of the state's role in devastating environmental landscapes and dividing the pueblo Mam by borders, but they are also forward-looking articulations of celebration and progress. For example, the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council notes (Communiqué from May 27, 2011):
We propose to build our own processes of political, social, economic and cultural rethinking, from our worldview, knowledge and ancestral practice.
That the 13 municipalities that make up the Mam territory will fight tirelessly to manage our common well-being and defend our territory collectively, against any aggression and threat that alters the integrity of our territory.
That we will work together to advance towards our territorial, economic and political autonomy, since dependency has caused stagnation and deterioration in our collective life as Mayan peoples, and that in the near future we will rebuild the Mam family separated by the geographical limits imposed by the colonial, neoliberal system.
In other words, the council calls attention to the division of Indigenous peoples by state-imposed boundaries, while also looking toward alternate futures with autonomy as an Indigenous nation. The following audio recording by Alfonso Morales Jiménez (council leadership) further summarizes the pueblo Mam's critique of neoliberal projects (e.g., mining in the region) and the council's success in mobilizing against such projects:
Alfonso Morales Jiménez (Council Leadership of the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council)
Our Analysis of the Mam Declaration: Free from Mining and Predatory Companies
The pueblo Mam of Huehuetenango, brought together by the CONSEJO MAYA-MAM SAQ' TX'OTX' Organization with the strength of their strategies, forceful social actions, and tireless struggles over so many years, have managed to control and cancel mining exploitations in the municipalities of San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán and San Sebastián (Huehuetenango), all in the Mam Region of the department of Huehuetenango, which are very old companies with more than 50 years of open pit and tunnel exploitation; thus plundering the vast wealth of mother Earth.
These extractive companies left us with unforgettable bitter and sad experiences; subjecting us to great suffering, from so much pollution and destruction to our environment, the death of our grandfathers and grandmothers (ancestors who fought against the damage caused by the company), the total extermination of a mining union, the slow deaths of mine workers by the disease of tuberculosis and other diseases under collapsed tunnels caused by mining exploitation.
Today, the pueblo Mam rejoice in happiness, as we have declared our region free of extractive companies. Without the damage of mining, we can now work the agricultural land, we experience less criminalization in our Rights as Defenders of Mother Earth, and now calmer living in peace with the family. And that is why today we continue to fight, careful not to accept more extractive companies, since there are latent threats with the intention of reactivating the mining licenses again.
We extend a general call, at the national and international level, to follow our example in permanently defending our environment. Our future descendants also have the right to live in peace.
Without gold you live, but without water you die.
See you soon sisters and brothers.
Alfonso Morales (Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council of Chnab'jul)
The communiqués also highlight how the cultural and political are intertwined. Indeed, for many Indigenous peoples cultural rights claims are enmeshed with political rights claims. For example, in one communiqué (July 29, 2021) the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council articulates specific political critiques of Guatemalan authorities. This includes a corruption critique of Guatemala's attorney general, María Consuela Porras, for her decision to remove Juan Francisco Sandoval from his role as Guatemala's anti-corruption prosecutor for FECI (the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity). Then, in another communiqué only a week later on International Indigenous Peoples' Day (August 9, 2021), the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council expresses additional political challenges while also drawing attention to the cultural and historic significance of K'ayb'il B'alam (as a Mayan hero for the pueblo Mam):
We see that the rich and current governments decree laws in their favor and protection, while in some articles there is a percentage that protects us, but the rich, distorted with endless arguments and justifications, exclude us from their laws.
We have an international law, ILO Convention 169, which protects us, protects us, and through it we organize ourselves to demand our social, economic, cultural, and political development.
...We have a commitment to instill in our veins and conviction the indisputable history [of K'ayb'il B'alam], to continue passing onto our sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, and great-grandchildren of the pueblo Maya-Mam.
Communiqués such as this show how the political and cultural reinforce each other (see Richards 2013). Likewise, the May 18, 2011 comunicado that offers a political critique against mining in Mam territory also includes a call to recover the "spiritual and political" Mam center of Saq Ulew, which by historical right belongs to the pueblo Mam.
Thus, Mam council leaders have mentioned that struggling for Mam collective rights entails different aspects of the same struggle, including efforts to seek cultural and political recognition and resources. Rather than seeing these aspects as distinct struggles, one Mam council leader explained that efforts to engage in “el rescate de la cultura” (“rescuing the culture”), a struggle in particular regions where the state worked hard to strip Indigenous peoples of language and cultural traditions, is also connected to environmental struggles in “la defensa del territorio” (“the defense of the territory”). They explained:
The focus on language revitalization, on traje [típico; traditional Indigenous clothing], on Mam music, all of that, this is all part of "the defense of territory." It’s the same! It’s the same struggle. Just as defending territory from the mining. It is all political and part of the same struggle.
In essence, this work invites us to view the cultural as political.
In Oxe Tun K’al of Quetzaltenango (2001) the first Mam council was organized. At this time there were less than 10 delegates from different municipalities that formed the leadership for the Mam council. Within a few years Mam councils were also formed in the departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu through a close network of Mam activists.
In years prior (1998-2000), the Coordinadora Maya-Mam Huehueteca was organized in the department of Huehuetenango (initially with the municipalities of Colotenango, San Idelfonso Ixtahuacán, San Pedro Necta, Santiago Chimaltenango, and San Juan Atitán; then later [2003-2004] to also include organizing in the municipalities of la Democracia, Cuilco, San Sebastián Huehuetenango, Santa Barbara, San Gaspar Ixchil, and San Rafael Pétzal). Later (March 2012) the Coordinadora Maya-Mam Huehueteca was organized into the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council, as it operates today.
There were two primary areas of focus in the early years of these Mam councils in western Guatemalan departments: first, an articulation of Indigenous rights claims (including the right to be consulted about projects in Mam territory); and second, Mam education (including the promotion of bilingual education). As part of these early focuses, from 2004 onward Mam councils began to focus on what one council leader referred to as “stronger axels.” These “stronger axels” included community workshops about the Indigenous and Tribal Leaders Convention (ILO-169) regarding Indigenous rights, defending Mam territory, and organizing Consultas Comunitarias de Buena Fe (community consultations where Indigenous peoples make collective decisions, such as voting against the imposition of transnational mining and hydroelectric dam projects in their territory).
The Consejo Mayor Mam was organized in Pavencúl, Mexico in April 2011 (Hernández Castillo 2012). Later this council would become organized as the Council of the Mam Nation, including Mam councils from Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Retalhuleu, and Quetzaltenango (Guatemala) and from Chiapas (Mexico). An early communiqué of this Mam alliance council is the Pab'en Qul Accord:
"Pab’en Qul Accord." Council of the Mam Nation, April 11-12, 2011.
The Consejo Mayor Mam, consisting of Chiapas, Mexico; Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, Retalhuleu, and San Marcos of Guatemala. Meeting in Pab’en Qul, Chiapas, Mexico to declare the “PAB’EN QUL ACCORD” and to make known to the governments, nations of the earth, the media, and the population in general, the following:
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From this date we declare ourselves in construction of our autonomy as a nation of the pueblo Maya-Mam of Guatemala and Mexico. In this context we support [and] we politically back the autonomy of Pab’en Qul of the State of Chiapas, Mexico… We call for and we demand that the governments of Guatemala and Mexico respect our rights as a pueblo.
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That from now on the pueblo Mam of Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala will constitute its council and at the same time will form part of the Consejo Mayor Mam.
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We call for and we demand that the governments of Guatemala and Mexico respect our rights over our ancestral territories, avoiding the granting of mining licenses, hydroelectric dams, and every type of exploitation to our natural resources without consulting us…
FOR THE AUTONOMY AND SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE PUEBLO AND MAYA-MAM NATION
From this meeting in Pavencúl (Chiapas, México), the Mam councils of Guatemala began to develop cross-border connections with the pueblo Mam of Chiapas. The beginnings of this cross-border national council indicate that its formation is a political form of resistance. This is especially manifest in the Pab’en Qul Accord (see above). This meeting in Pavencúl laid a foundation for organizing a cross-border national council. Later in 2014, the Consejo Mam Saq Tx’otx’ began to establish socio-political ties across the border with the Consejo Regional Indígena Maya-Mam del Soconusco (or C.R.I.M.M.S.; of Chiapas, Mexico).
In the Pab’en Qul Accord above, the Council of the Mam Nation did not define autonomy as something merely specific to Pavencúl. “Politically [backing] the autonomy of Pab’en Qul,” as it mentions in the accord, is but just one instance of the usage of this term. More broadly (as in the closing of the Pab’en Qul Accord), autonomy is used to call for the political recognition of the Mam cross-border nation.
The following audio recording from Victor Manuel Sales Ortiz (a council leader) summarizes the analysis about the context of struggles and challenges of the Maya-Mam Nation:
Victor Manuel Sales Ortiz
Our analysis of the constitution of the
COUNCIL OF THE MAYA-MAM NATION
The board of the Maya-Mam Saq' Tx'otx' Council greatly values the historical constitution of the Mam Nation, from the departments: Retalhuleu, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, and throughout Chiapas, Mexico with the name of C.R.I.M.M.S (Maya-Mam Indigenous Council of the Soconusco Region); for more than 500 years, the Mam social fabric has been completely broken by the neoliberal policies of monstrous exterminating capitalism.
Its constitution is a true vindication of the Mam Nation, raising high the ancestral knowledge and wisdom of our Mam grandmothers and grandfathers, in this way we appreciate and embrace their historical legacy.
We believe that the timely contribution of its constitution benefits as a valuable contribution to the unification of the Mam people.
The challenge and test is very great and complicated because we are walking with diverse backgrounds in the very difficult and confusing national and international context. There is more priority for the capitalist system in using our people as ladders, since they corrupt them, buy them, and co-opt them for the strengthening of the national and international capitalist system (usually when there are electoral campaigns of political parties). That is where they invade us completely, leaving us completely divided into a few crumbs. This leaves us weak in our Mam organization and structure.
The Mam people are the heart of the country's wealth, due to our culture, [Mayan] clothing, languages, and everything that makes up our identity.
Therefore, the call is to make courageous efforts not to divide us anymore, staying united is the strategic key and continuing to leave a good legacy for the future of the Mam Nation.
As stated in the holy book of Popol Wuj, let everyone rise and let no one fall behind others.
Thank you very much for your careful attention.
As a form of resistance, the Council of the Mam Nation pursues the recognition of their territory on both sides of the border in order to better defend it from national and transnational companies involved in mining and hydroelectric activities. And the council seeks institutional recognition as the political body to be consulted and to resolve issues related to the imposition of programs, projects, and policies in Mam territory on both sides of the border (Communiqué from August 5, 2014).
The pueblo Mam is actively engaged in seeking collective rights as a cross-border nation. The Mam have exercised Consultas Comunitarias de Buena Fe in defense of their ancestral territory, organized Indigenous councils for their pueblo within each country, and asserted their political authority as an Indigenous Nation.
References
Bassie-Sweet, Karen. 2008. Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Consejo Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx'. 2011. "Comunicado: Declaración Mam Libre de Minería." 18 Mayo, 2011.
Consejo Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx'. 2021. "Comunicado de Prensa del Consejo Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx'." 29 Julio, 2021.
Consejo Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx'. 2021. "Comunicado: Territorio Mam de K'ayb'il B'alam; Saq Ulew Capital del Pueblo Mam." 9 Agosto, 2021.
Consejo de la Nación Mam. 2011. “Acuerdo de Pab’en Qul.” 11 y 12 Abril, 2011.
Consejo de la Nación Mam. 2014. "Comunicado: La Nación Mam Decidimos Nuestra Autonomía y Autodeterminación." 5 Agosto, 2014.
Gardner, Jeffrey A. 2024. “Tx’otx’ and la Defensa del Territorio: Articulating Mam Territory as an Indigenous Cross-Border Nation.” Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies 19:21-43.
Hernández Castillo, R. Aída. 2012. Sur Profundo: Identidades Indígenas en la Frontera Chiapas-Guatemala. Mexico: Publicaciones de la Casa Chata.
Keck, Margaret E. and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Richards, Patricia. 2013. Race and the Chilean Miracle: Neoliberalism, Democracy, and Indigenous Rights. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.