Global Courant
A group of people demonstrated this Wednesday, June 7, in the surroundings of the Presidential House, in zone 1 of the capital, to ask the government authorities to transfer them to a farm where they can work, since due to the eruption of the Volcán de Fuego on June 3, 2018 were in shelters, but they returned to the risk area out of necessity.
Representatives of some 163 Maya Popti’ families from the Nueva Trinidad community, Escuintla, who were affected by the eruption of Volcán de Fuego, participated in the demonstration.
Leaders indicated that their plots, crops and infrastructure were destroyed by the ash from the colossus. At the time, this community was transferred to the Single-Family Temporary Shelters (ATUS) on the La Industria farm.
Now, the residents declared that this place is uninhabitable, forcing them to return to their lands, which are still at risk and threatened by the colossus.
In a statement they indicated that the ATUS are now uninhabitable, forcing them to return to their community.
They reported that their lands were declared uninhabitable by the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), through the declaration of high risk, on July 30, 2019.
The protesters asked the State of Guatemala to carry out the necessary administrative, political and legal processes to be relocated to a new territory, that is, to a farm that meets the capacity conditions so that they can farm and their families develop.
They indicated that in response to this, the government in power at that time, through the Multisectoral Roundtable for the Recovery of the Communities Affected by the Eruption of the Fuego Volcano, committed to the acquisition of a farm through the Land Fund, always and when “we looked for the farm and that it adapted to our needs and ways of life, this has implied enormous efforts and expenses on the part of our Nueva Trinidad Indigenous Community.”
According to the protesters, where they currently live means permanent danger to their lives and property, due to the constant and violent eruptions of the Fuego Volcano.
They stated: “The State of Guatemala has acted with negligence, bureaucracy and lack of capacity and five years after the tragedy, it has not provided a solution to our problems in the face of such a dangerous situation, leaving us completely and totally abandoned, during the last For five years we have not received public or private investment and we do not have essential health and education services, a situation that violates our fundamental rights.”
They affirmed that “there is no sign of will on the part of the Government of Guatemala” and that there have been excuses that have lasted for five years.
Also read: Fuego Volcano: Relatives of victims of the eruption bury remains five years after the tragedy
They requested that the State of Guatemala, through the Presidency of the Republic, attend “urgently and immediately” to the purchase of a farm for the relocation of the Nueva Trinidad indigenous community, where access to essential habitability services is guaranteed, this must include treatment as an indigenous community that has an established way of life dependent on agriculture and forest protection, a condition that must be decisive in recovering their way of life.
They also requested that the government, through its institutions, convene and integrate a high-level table, with the public institutions that are related to the acquisition and adjudication of a farm for the relocation of the aforementioned community and that it be considered as a special case.
They demanded that their human rights be guaranteed, since “the lives of hundreds of families are at stake” who continue to remain on lands declared uninhabitable. They pointed out that the shelters and other programs lack decent living conditions, as they have been affected by overcrowding.
The Presidency was consulted regarding what the residents of the Nueva Trinidad community demand, but a response is still awaited.
