Guatemala: Maya Q'eqchi' communities face new eviction threats amid allegations implicating Naturaceites
"Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ Denounce Eviction Threats of New Communities in El Estor", 11 July 2024.
Following the police operation in May of this year that resulted in the eviction of thirty Maya Q’eqchi’ families from the community of Buena Vista, on the north side of Lake Izabal, in Guatemala, there are now nine communities in the same region of the Polochic Valley who are living beneath the threat of forced displacement...The communities denounce that the evictions are “are being driven by officials and land owners” related to the oil palm industry, who have taken land in the region from communities both to the north and south of the lake.
...Between seven and nine displaced people have warrants out for their arrest for the supposed crimes of aggravated usurpation and damage of natural patrimony. They are accused of cutting down oil palms. Although some people have been convicted, they have appealed with legal assistance from human rights organizations...the Q’eqchi’ people denounced the different evictions of communities in the Polochic Valley, demanding that the Bernardo Arévalo government guarantee security for the Buena Vista families...“If they want to enter with force, we aren’t going to back down either, the organization is on alert,” he asserts, assuring that Naturaceites S.A. is responsible for the eviction. The company is owned by Swiss-German businessman, Juan Maegli Müller...