For a month now, 160 Mayan Q’eqchi’ people, including pregnant women, children and the elderly, have been living under trees, sleeping on the ground, without food, and suffering from skin conditions, local media Plaza Pública reported.
The group was evicted and found refuge on the land occupied by another community, but there is also a court order seeking to expel those who granted them shelter, he added.
The latter, Prensa Comunitaria also reported, have been in the place for around nine years, since in August 2015 they suffered a natural disaster in Sierra Santa Cruz, where they were originally from, and were forced to move.
Altogether, 60 families (30 of each) are at risk of being homeless within two days, according to reports from Buena Vista and Santa Rosita, belonging to the El Estor municipality, Caribbean department of Izabal.
Also, other reports coincided, for that same 26th of this month the Second Court of First Instance Criminal and Narcoactivity of Alta Verapaz ordered the eviction of the Finca Las Delicias y Dolores.
The displaced people (an estimated 40 families, a total of 125 people) will be housed by the municipality of Cobán and the Public Ministry requested support in order to guarantee them food.
In the case of Buena Vista and Santa Rosita, the governor of Izabal, Carlos Tena, arrived the day before to learn about the situation of the families, by order of President Bernardo Arévalo and the first lady of the nation, Lucrecia Peinado, he said.
After a meeting at the site, the executive director of the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights, Oswaldo Samayoa, stated that there is no coordination between the Executive and the Judiciary to care for the evicted and implement the protocols well in El Estor.
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The protocols force us to know in order to be able to attend. It is time to advise the department to coordinate, she stressed.
The Peasant Unity Committee (CUC), one of the historical organizations of peasants defending rural communities, indicated on May 22 in relation to Buena Vista, that the eviction was promoted by an order with “questionable irregularities.”
He called on the authorities and the international community to intervene and respect due process and the human rights of the Q’eqchi’ families.
The CUC of Guatemala itself condemned on the 11th the threats, evictions and violent actions carried out in different rural communities resulting in two deaths.
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