INSIGHTS: Chixoy Dam Affected People Take Over Hydroelectric Facility

By Monti Aguirre

BERKELEY, California, September 9, 2004 (ENS) - Hundreds of people displaced by Guatemala's Chixoy dam Tuesday occupied the dam's hydroelectric facility, which provides some 60 percent of the country's electricity. They threatened to shut down production unless their demands for land and other reparations are met, and they receive immediate assistance in regaining access to power and water.

The Chixoy Dam was built during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time when Guatemala was engulfed in a brutal civil war. Half the population of Rio Negro, one of the dam affected communities, was massacred because of their opposition to resettlement.

Chixoy dam on the Rio Chixoy was built in the area where the Maya Achě indigenous people have lived for hundreds of years. (Photo by Peter Lippman courtesy AdvocacyNet)

In the years since dam completion, the massacre survivors from Rio Negro and the people from neighboring communities have lived in conditions of appalling poverty, violent repression, and psychological trauma.

Housing is substandard; inadequate replacement of land has produced widespread hunger; downstream villages are flooded without warning by dam releases; and the lack of a bridge or reliable boats has cut off access to communal lands.

The institution responsible for implementing resettlement and other compensatory agreements - The National Institute for Electrification (INDE) - has been privatized, replaced by new power companies that refuse to recognize prior agreements. Thus, the resettlement village of Pacux has lost their electricity for failure to pay utility bills and, with the loss of power, the loss of potable water. In short, people lack the means to enjoy their basic rights to food, water, health, and livelihood.

A home in Pacux, Guatemala, about four hours north of Guatemala City. Community members displaced by the Chixoy dam in Rio Negro were resettled here. (Photo by Carmen Morcos courtesy AdvocacyNet)

Henry Monroy, from the Guatemalan Attorney General's Human Rights Office, said, "The demands of the people who are occupying INDE's facility date back to the times when the dam was built; the communities were displaced from their lands, and the government promised them development projects, but until now nothing has taken place."

The displaced communities are also demanding the creation of a working group comprised of representatives of the government of Guatemala, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and human rights organizations, to begin discussion and negotiation for reparations.

Sacred ceremony for massacre victims in Pacux, Guatemala, on June 14, 2004 The Day of Dignity. An exhumation at a clandestine grave, a well, has uncovered 52 bodies so far, as deep as 95 feet underground. (Photo by Carmen Morcos courtesy AdvocacyNet)

To affected communities the World Bank's and the Inter-American Development Bank position of no remaining obligation denies the immense suffering of the massacred and survivors during the years of violence and the subsequent years of deprivation and continuing hardship. "The government took their money to build the dam," said Chen, "and used it to kill my people."

The World Bank and the Inter-American Bank, like many other international financing institutions cannot be given immunity for their past mistakes. We need mechanisms by which these institutions can be held accountable for the damages and suffering caused by projects such as Chixoy.

According to Guatemalan newspapers, President Óscar Berger responded to the hydro plant occupation by saying that "this is not the way to negotiate and solve conflicts. We are willing to listen and address the demands presented as long as they are prudent and are within legal frameworks and the rule of law."

{Monti Aguirre is the Latin American campaigner for the International Rivers Network based in Berkeley, California. She is co-producer of the 1991 documentary "Amazonia: Voices From the Rainforest."}

For more information:

Read "Continuing the struggle for justice and accountability in Guatemala: Making reparations a reality in the Chixoy Dam case" a mission report from the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, August 2004 at: http://www.cohre.org/newframe.htm

For a recent interview with Cristobal Sanchez Osorio, massacre survivor and Chixoy Dam affected person, visit the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs: http://www.cceia.org/viewMedia.php/prmID/4454

"The Chixoy Dam Destroyed Our Lives" by Monti Aguirre is found in the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs publication "Environmental Rights" Spring 2004 at: http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/viewMedia.php/prmTemplateID/8/prmID/4456