December 13, 2004
Rabinal Baja Verapaz
Over the next 3 months, Tony Nelson and Matthew Schwartz are traveling through Guatemala and Mexico in an attempt to solidaridize grassroots movements rejecting development plans such as CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) and Plan Puebla Panama. They will be sharing stories that demonstrate the traumatic repression and repercussions that indigenous communities face due to corporate interests and U.S. policy in Mesoamerica. They will also highlight local and international organizations that are actively creating networks of resistance while empowering communities to seek sustainable alternatives.
We descend into the pueblo of Rabinal Baja Verapaz from the cliff defying whirlybird bus ride four hours after leaving the congestion of the capital, Guatemala City. In the bustling plaza farmers, artisans, and merchants make their living humbly, proudly displaying their goods. Oranges, pineapple, carrots, and onion all pepper the market with earthy colors and natural flavors. Folks come and go, stroll and dance, adorned in their patterns and fabric...
At first glance you wouldn't see the lasting scars from Guatemala's civil war which traumatized the country from 1960 – 1996. Specifically between the years 1981 and 1983 Guatemalan soldiers and cooperating paramilitary forces killed more than 4,411 people in Rabinal area alone, equivalent to approximately 20% of the population at that time (99.8% of the victims were members of the Maya-Achi community). This indigenous genocidal campaign was partially spurred by the construction of the Rio Negro hydroelectric dam funded by the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank. This mega project forced hundreds of families to yield to false promises of development and relocate to suffer an even deeper level of poverty. Ironically, those who were ordered to move still don't receive electricity from the dam (which provides 1/3 of the country’s electricity) which displaced them over twenty years ago. However, in this community of survivors their tragedy has spurred a movement for peace, justice, and reconciliation whereby local organizations have taken direct action to rethread and secure their identity as a Mayan people.
In 2003, as an integral part of this progressive front, La Fundación Nueva Esperanza (The New Hope Foundation) has constructed and initiated an autonomous, bi-lingual, and bi-cultural middle school for children of families affected by the violence in the early 1980's. Their aggressive curriculum boasts human rights, rural development, Spanish and Achi language classes. In addition to fulfilling state requirements these pupils will graduate with a second specialization in rural well-being and hope to become promoters in their own villages.
...We let go of a few Quetzale coins in exchange for some beans, fruit, and veggies and hike our cargo out to the school. The students are currently on "vacation": Some harvest banana & coffee crops on the coast that will eventually arrive closer to our home than theirs, other students work in the capital, while the rest earn their keep at home. Don Juan guards and maintains the school grounds 7 days a week returning to his town only to go to mass on Sunday or to bicycle his daughter to class. He schools us in how grunts give extra strength when in need, how to cook corn soup by campfire, even which birds will lie to you about the weather. Here you pass the nights cradled in the mountains, stars strive to give you enough light to brush your teeth, and crickets bicker you to sleep.
