Guatemala: Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Chinebal accuses NaturAceites of planting oil palm on their traditional lands
"Guatemala’s growing palm oil industry fuels Indigenous land fight", 15 October 2021
...Already, a few dozen members of the Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Chinebal have gathered to discuss an escalating land struggle in this remote area of eastern Guatemala.
Community members accuse a Guatemalan company of planting oil palm on their traditional lands, and they have built homes to reclaim the disputed tract – spurring an eviction notice, several police operations, and a day of deadly violence that remains ever-present in the memory of the settlement’s more than 500 residents...
“The issue of agrarian conflicts in Guatemala is a historical problem that affects diverse actors, beyond any specific sector,” said Karen Rosales, executive director of the Association of Palm Growers of Guatemala (GREPALMA), which includes NaturAceites...
“NaturAceites has a conflict resolution policy that prioritises dialogue and mediation with public institutions,” the company representative wrote. “Part of that policy commits us to bring cases before the judicial system as a last resort.”
The company says it maintains open and constructive communication with Chinebal and is assisting the established village with land rights regularisation. “The only disagreement in the area is with a group of people who illegally usurped property owned by NaturAceites,” the representative said, referring to the people who have built homes on the disputed land.
GREPALMA’s Rosales also said the association’s members, which include NaturAceites, have voluntarily adopted human rights, labour, environmental and sustainability policies. She noted that nearly two-thirds of all palm oil produced in Guatemala is certified as sustainable by international initiatives such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RPSO), a palm oil industry group.
But global environmentalist groups have argued that RPSO certification is essentially meaningless in practice. Around the world, the industry has been linked to environmental destruction, labour rights abuses, and killings of environmentalists and community leaders...