Communiqués

​May 18, 2011

​

On May 18, 2011, in a mass event held among the temples of Zaculew, the pueblo Maya-Mam of Huehuetenango declared themselves free from mining. In the presence of community, municipal, and ancestral authorities from the Mam area itself, as well as delegations from other departments, the "Declaration of the Mam People Free of Mining" was read. For more information, in Spanish, consult the blogs of the Council of Pueblos of the West (CPO, Consejo de Pueblos de Occidente) and the Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango (ADH, Asamblea Departamental de Huehuetenango), respectively.
 

We: men and women, sons and daughters, granddaughters and grandsons of K´aib´il B´alam, authorities and community organizations that make up the Council of the Western Pueblo Maya (CPO) and municipal authorities; gathered in our spiritual and political center Zaculew, on the day 6 Noj that marks our ancestral calendar, to determine the following:

 

CONSIDERING:
 

We are the Pueblo Maya-Mam and our existence has been maintained in time and space for thousands of years. Today we are two million inhabitants, we have preserved our mechanisms of participation and coexistence; Zaculew is a historical reference of our spirituality and political center, heritage and patrimony that has been taken from us and that we are currently politically reclaiming.
 

CONSIDERING:
 

That our territory has immense wealth in biological diversity and transcends borders and geographic limits imposed by colonization for more than five hundred years; Currently, we are under the threat of a new transnational invasion, which with the discourse of "development," national and transnational companies, in complicity with the governments in power, intend to snatch away our natural resources that belong to us by ancestral inheritance.
 

CONSIDERING:
 

That the State of Guatemala, in complicity with national and transnational companies, has systematically violated the rights of our collectives by authorizing, without prior consultation and without our consent, licenses for mining exploitation, construction of hydroelectric plants and other mega-projects in our territory, privileging the interests of national and transnational companies.
 

CONSIDERING:
 

That the Pueblo Maya-Mam of: Colotenango, Ixtahuacán, La Libertad, San Sebastián Huehuetenango, Santa Bárbara, San Gaspar Ixil, San Pedro Necta, Santiago Chimaltenango, San Juan Atitlán, Todos Santos Cuchumatan, San Rafael Petzal, Cuilco, and Tectitán, respectively; making use of our values, norms, organization, and through the process of dialogue and community consultations of good faith (consultas comunitarias de buena fe), in consensus, have made the decision to categorically reject the new transnational invasion; our consultations were carried out using national and international legal instruments, approved and recognized by the State of Guatemala.
 

CONSIDERING:
 

That the State of Guatemala, making use of colonial, neoliberal, and bad faith mechanisms, intends to ignore our decisions issued in the Community Consultations; and to disqualify this legitimate process, the current government intends to impose a consultation regulation that minimizes and distorts the spirit of consultations, from our worldview.
 

Therefore:
 

In general assembly and in harmony with our grandmothers and grandfathers, with full political clarity towards the search for our self-determination as an Indigenous people, it is an inalienable right;
 

WE RESOLVE:
 

We declare Mam territory “Free from Mining,” free from the plundering and usurpation of our natural resources; we propose to build our own processes of political, social, economic and cultural rethinking, based on our worldview, knowledge, and ancestral practice.
That we, the 13 municipalities that make up this Mam territory, will fight tirelessly to manage our common well-being and defend our territory collectively, against any aggression or threat that alters the integrity of our territory.
 

That we will work together to advance towards our territorial, economic, and political autonomy, since dependence has caused stagnation and deterioration of 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.
 

We declare as “unwelcome” those people and institutions that lend themselves to the game and interests of the government and businesspeople attempting to unilaterally regulate community consultations and compromise our territories.
 

We intend to recover our spiritual and political center Zaculew, which by historical right belongs to us, so we will not allow another attempt at intervention and looting as they did in previous years, but above all racist opinions that question its originality and historical continuity with the Mayan people who are its grandchildren.

 

This Declaration enters into force immediately.
 

Given in our spiritual and political center Zaculew on the 18th day of the month of May, 2011.
 

Let it be published and complied with.