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For nearly thirty-six years, Guatemala suffered a violent internal armed confrontation
that profoundly affected almost every sector of society. Over this same period
international financial assistance was received to finance the construction
of Central America's largest hydroelectric energy development, the Pueblo-Viejo
Quixal project built on the Chixoy River. Some 3,500 residents were forcibly
evicted without adequate involvement in resettlement and compensation plans,
and without adequate assessment of damages and compensation. In addition, more
than 6,000 households in the broader region suffered losses from the construction
of the dam and its reservoir. Protests were met with acts of state-sponsored
violence. Communities that attempted to negotiate fair compensation were declared
guerilla-supporting communities, and the military and civil patrols were used
to forcibly remove people from the reservoir site.
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Photo credit: Bert Janssens
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The Guatemalan Historical Clarification Commission, established with the Accord
of Oslo in 1994, investigated human rights violations and violence connected
with armed conflict in the region. In their summary of of exemplary cases, the
Guatemalan Truth Commission found that in the case of Río Negro, state-sponsored
violence constituted genocide, and that the massacres in Río Negro illustrate
how "many resistant attitudes to administrative decisions, even though
they were peaceful, as occurred in the relation to the construction of the hydroelectric
dam, were a priori conceived to be instigated by the guerilla and were resolved
through violent repression" (CEH 1999:Volume 1, Annex1, Chapter VI: Exemplary
Case No. 10).
Some of the many local consequences resulting from the construction of the
Chixoy Dam include problems associated with surviving the violence, the extreme
poverty imposed by inadequate or nonexistent compensation for loss of land and
other property, cultural assaults due to the loss of sacred sites, and loss
of access to communal lands and disruption of trade and social ties due to the
transportation difficulties created by the construction of the dam and its reservoir.
Over the years Chixoy Dam-affected communities have met to discuss common problems
and strategies, and testified before national truth commissions and in international
human rights arenas. With help from national and international advocates, dam-affected
communities have commissioned and participated in a range of research initiatives to
document the impact of the dam and the consequential damages to their communities.
Given the failure of these efforts to secure a comprehensive, holistic remedy
addressing the needs of all the dam-affected communities, and given the varied
perspectives on obligations and liabilities mentioned above, an independent assessment
of the project record was deemed a critical component in the overall effort to secure
meaningful remedy for Chixoy Dam-affected peoples.
In July of 2003 the representatives of the dam-affected communities -- the
Asociacion Campesina Río Negro 13 de Marzo Maya Achi (ASCRA) -- and their advocates
(International Rivers Network, Rights Action and the Campaign for the Reform of the
World Bank), commissioned research in support of a reparations plan with the Center for
Political Ecology, California, USA. The investigation conducted by CEP is comprised of
five components: critical review of the documentary record, household survey and
consequential damage assessment, the social investigation of the communities affected
by the Chixoy Dam, and a cadastre and land registry of affected lands.
This five-volume study, completed in March 2005, represents an independent, transparent,
peer-reviewed assessment of Chixoy Dam development history, consequential damages, and
community needs, and it includes findings, recommendations, and a plan for reparation.
- "The
Chixoy Dam Destroyed Our Lives" by Monti Aguirre, Human Rights Dialogue:
"Environmental Rights" (Spring 2004)
- Mission
Report - Continuing the struggle for justice and accountability in Guatemala:
Making reparations a reality in the Chixoy Dam case, Centre on Housing
Rights and Evictions (COHRE), 2004
- Santa Fe Group
on Reparations and Development concerning the Chixoy dam-affected communities
in Guatemala.
- The Chixoy Dam: A
People's Struggle for Justice and Reparations in Guatemala, by Stephen
Hansen, Report on Science and Human Rights, Fall/Winter 2004 Vol XXIV, No.
2
- A People Dammed, Witness for Peace. 1996.
- The Chixoy Dam: The
Maya Achi' Genocide. The Story of Forced Resettlement, by Jaroslava Colajacomo
and Carlos Chen. Contributing Paper, Thematic Review 1.2: Dams, Indigenous
People and vulnerable ethnic minorities. World Commission on Dams. 1999
- "Continuing the Struggle for Justice and Accountability in Guatemala: Making Reparations s Reality in the Chixoy Case"
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). 2004.
Asociación para Desarrollo las Víctimas
Violencia las Verapaces Achì (ADIVIMA)
Campagna per la Riforma della Banco Mondiale
Center for Political Ecology
International Rivers Network
Rights Action
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