CoDev is pleased to welcome Natalie Illanes Nogueira, the new Human and Labour Rights Program Director who joined us in early January, 2022.
Natalie is a Brazilian and Bolivian Quechua warmi (woman) living in Canada for the past 9 years. Her trajectory led her to study social sciences in Brazil and community work in Canada. Natalie’s commitment to Human and Labour Rights and Indigenous and Latin American liberation, come from birth and nothing makes her happier than doing work in solidarity with these powerful and vibrant communities. Natalie had an active role in two unions, being union steward and union president with Workers United Canada Council Local 2864. Throughout her time in Canada, she has done frontline and grassroots work, as well as strategic development and lobbying work because she believes that both need to go hand in hand for social change to be achieved.
”I am very happy to join CoDev’s team as the Human and Labour Rights Program Director-- being able to put together the People of the Eagle, the People of the Quetzal and the People of the Condor, through our very special model of international collaboration and solidarity.”
Sounding the alarm: Canada must address a growing crisis in Guatemala
Photo: Jackie McVickar
November 24, 2021
As our new Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly assesses priorities for Canada’s foreign policy, it’s crucially important that Guatemala be on the agenda.
The Central American country was cause for extreme concern during decades of armed conflict and genocidal violence by the army that saw 200,000 mostly Indigenous Mayan people killed or disappeared and another 150,000 forced into exile, many of them in Canada.
Today, we are once again witnessing a desperate exodus, as a growing number of Guatemalans feel they have no choice but to flee the devastation of climate change, deterioration of their livelihood, violence and pervasive insecurity. Add to that an assault by the State on human rights defenders and organizations that have sought to protect land, Indigenous territory and the rule of law for all.
It is imperative that Canada speak out visibly and consistently to support civil society leaders and organizations in Guatemala that are under increasing attack. It is also imperative that Canada work with international allies to stop a return to terror and impunity.
In recent weeks, Canadian organizations received urgent calls for solidarity from El Estor in eastern Guatemala. In July 2019, the country’s Constitutional Court ordered a suspension of operations at the notorious Fenix nickel mine, formerly Canadian-owned and long accused of violating Indigenous rights. Last month, President Alejandro Giammattei decreed a state of siege and sent in heavily armed security forces to quash a peaceful protest by community members against the mine’s continued operation. Human rights organizations documented excessive use of force by security forces, injuring women and children. Fear spread as the homes of Mayan Q'eqchi' community leaders were raided and journalists threatened.
The situation in El Estor is only the latest in a pattern of repression and persecution of people who speak up for Indigenous rights and the environment in areas where mines and hydroelectric projects have obtained permits to operate. Guatemala has a pattern of issuing such permits - many to companies with Canadian financial backing - despite clear corporate failures to comply with environmental assessment requirements, engage in meaningful consultation or obtain the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples.
Economic imperatives behind Canada’s promotion of Canadian mining projects must not trump international obligations to protect human rights and threatened human rights defenders. As an endorser of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Canada knows only too well what those obligations are.
Meanwhile, the situation is becoming ever more dangerous. Guatemala was the world’s seventh-deadliest country for land and environment defenders in 2020.
Smear campaigns and unfounded criminal charges are also used to attack Indigenous rights defenders, human rights activists and their supporters, to paralyze their efforts.
Disturbingly, prosecutors, judges and magistrates are now being criminalized, too. Those targeted include members of the Human Rights Prosecutor's Office, the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity, magistrates of the Constitutional Court, judges of higher-risk courts, and tribunals involved with emblematic cases of serious human rights violations and large-scale corruption investigations.
In May, a former analyst with the International Commission against Impunity, who worked on the so-called La Línea bribery-to-avoid-taxes case against former President Otto Pérez Molina, was arrested along with the former head of the Tax Administration Superintendency. Both remain in preventive detention where they have received threats and are in a high-risk situation, made worse because they investigated many of the people detained in the same place.
Equally alarming is the transfer last month of Hilda Pineda, head of the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office, to a new office investigating crimes against tourists. Ms. Pineda worked on conflict-era crimes, including the genocide case against former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, won the conviction of two military officials in the landmark Sepur Zarco sexual violence case and advanced other important cases that led to the conviction of high-level military officials for crimes against humanity. Tellingly, the Office from which Ms. Pineda was moved also oversees units investigating current violations against human rights defenders and journalists.
A dangerous backslide is clearly underway. What is at stake is nothing less than the independence of the judiciary, the right to due process, and the right to protect human rights, Indigenous territory and the environment. UN and OAS experts are sounding the alarm. Will Canada do the right thing and unequivocally prioritize the defense of justice, human rights, the rule of law and hope in Guatemala?
Written by the Americas Policy Group and published in the The Hill Times on November 24, 2021.
CoDevelopment Canada is a member organization of the Americas Policy Group (APG), a national network of over twenty Canadian civil society organizations working for human rights and social and environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Interview with CoDev's New Executive Director
Welcome Deanna! The CoDev team is so happy that you have joined us as the new Executive Director. We’d love for the members to learn a bit more about you.
Q. When you saw the posting for CoDev Ed, what first sparked your interest?
Deanna Fasciani, Executive Director
I was not actively looking for another job at the time, and it was actually a friend of mine who sent me the link to the CoDev job posting. I had first heard of CoDev when I was pursuing my undergraduate degree at SFU, but I did not know at that time that CoDev was not - and is not - a conventional “development” NGO. International solidarity is its mission, not charity. This is powerful and transformative stuff. When I read the job posting, it hit me hard, the sense that this organization unifies my passion and affinity for Latin America, Labour, and women-led organizing for social and economic justice. As soon as I saw the posting, I thought, “That’s me!”
Q. Tell us a bit more about your experience with the labour movement here in BC.
My first experience with the formal labour movement took place while I was a teaching assistant at my university in the late 2000s. The university was reportedly laying off several dozen workers, all unionized with CUPE, and my union responded with a public action that impressed upon me a profound appreciation for solidarity and labour organizing. Years later, I started working for a new student society at another university and reached out to the United Steelworkers to unionize our site. The Steelworkers responded swiftly and with unreserved support. This was a formative period. I became a Shop Steward and Unit President and helped bargain two solid collective agreements. Through the Steelworkers, I got involved with the BC Federation of Labour and became a facilitator for the Alive After Five (Occupational Health & Safety) and Labour Education programs. Later, I became a BCGEU member once I started working in public service for a Member of the Legislative Assembly of B.C. During this time, I served as a Steward, Local Executive Member (Equity), and Bargaining Committee member. I am now a proud member of CUPE 1004 and am, on the daily, given the opportunity to engage with dedicated solidarity activists from various unions across Canada and strengthen solidarity-based partnerships between these unions and their Latin American counterparts, many of which, themselves, are made up of labour activists. I learned early on that workers who have unity and show unity are a force to be reckoned with.
Q. What challenges are you most excited about tackling at CoDev?
CoDev has 36 years of history on which to reflect and from which to draw inspiration. I’m impressed by how deep our relationships go and by how committed our leadership, staff, and members have been to the Latin American organizations at the forefront of progressive social change in the region. The need for this solidarity has not diminished since 1985. Many of our Latin American partners are confronting climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, repressive regimes, and Neoliberal economics head on. One challenge involves engaging new Canadian partners into this international solidarity-building project and nourishing these ties through the exchange of knowledge, skills, and experiences. I want to reconnect a number of past Canadian partners with our Latin American partners and welcome new Canadian partners so that the transformative work being carried out in Latin America is further uplifted.
I am a big believer in intergenerational movement-building and sharing institutional memory. I want to ensure that the organizational knowledge of CoDev’s long-time champions – board directors, partners, members, and staff – is shared with newer arrivals to the fold. This is a challenge that will require both an organization-wide approach and community reach.
Q. We know it’s early days, but where do you see CoDev in the next 3-5 years?
I like to plan and not predict. COVID-19 has hit our Latin American partners hard. It’s placed a heavy toll on their personal lives and impacted their capacity to carry out their critical work in the ways that they had originally planned. But our Latin American partners are resilient, creative, and resolute, and their socially transformative projects will forge ahead. Solidarity will continue to be paramount, and CoDev will still have a key role to play here. This past year and a half has also challenged CoDev to adapt our activities. Our events and main means of public engagement have gone virtual, and all project monitoring and delegation visits to Latin America and visits to Canada by our Latin American partners are not currently possible due to COVID-19. If the pandemic subsides across the region in the next 3-5 years, I would love to see these exchanges resume, as such interactions have really helped foster long-lasting relationships and facilitated the learning process.
Q. What are you most interested in learning during your tenure at CoDev?
I want most to learn lessons and best practices from CoDev’s partners, my colleagues, our leadership, and our members. Our Latin American partners have founded, elaborated, and refined best practices for movement-building and community and labour organizing over the span of successive generations. These are the experts on the conditions in which they work. Our Canadian partners link the struggles and advancements here to the struggles and advancements in Latin America – these connections excite me in all their potential and proven successes. My co-workers bring their own experiences, expertise, and expansive skillsets to CoDev. CoDev’s board directors have each chosen to bring their leadership to CoDev, and each has their own reasons for answering the call and contributions to bring to the table. The CoDev membership and community has seen the organization grow and adapt, pivot and advance.
Q. What would you like the members to know about you and your plans as Executive Director?
My plans are informed by both my values and my understanding. As I learn, my plans will alter, but they will always be developed in reference to the organization’s mission, with the collective in mind, and in partnership with our leadership and my peers. Current plans involve our efforts to deepen our existing relationships with our Canadian partners and find new counterparts for our Latin American partners
Q. Next September, when we meet again for a year-in-review interview, what would you most like to have accomplished?
By next year, I hope to have introduced new Canadian partners to the really exciting work being done in Latin America. Facilitating these solidarity bridges is up there on my to-do list.
Impact of Blockade Against Cuba
The following is an analysis sent to CoDev from our Cuban partners in the Cuban Labour Central (CTC). It describes the economic and social impact of the tightened US Embargo that seeks to prevent countries from trading with Cuba
Impact of the Blockade Against Cuba, 2021
Translation by Carl Rosenberg
The U.S. blockade against Cuba over the last six decades has generated to date at least 144 billion, 413 million U.S. dollars’ worth of accumulated damages.[1]
The U.S. government’s policy of escalation of the blockade and its extraterritorial effects worsened during 2020, as did its goal of suffocating the Cuban economy on all fronts. In this context, the global pandemic of Covid-19 has generated notable challenges for Cuba.
The blockade has deliberately limited Cuba’s efforts to combat the pandemic and save lives of patients and health personnel, preventing them from obtaining mechanical lung ventilators, face masks, COVID-19 test kits, protective goggles, gowns, gloves and other supplies.
The blockade is compounded by a crusade on the part of the U.S. to discredit and place obstacles in the way of the international medical cooperation that Cuba offers, spreading calumnies and demanding that other countries refrain from requesting such cooperation, even in the middle of the health emergency created by the current pandemic.
2020
For the first time in six decades, this hostile policy has provoked losses greater than five billion US dollars a year.
During the administration of Donald Trump, the US enacted 243 new measures against Cuba, including changes in the regulations of the blockade, arbitrary decisions of the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments, fines, sanctions of international companies and vessels involved in the transport of fuel, inclusion of Cuban organizations and functionaries on arbitrary lists, and the introduction of legal processes under the Helms-Burton Law for the first time in 23 years.
Regarding the extraterritorial application of the blockade, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed 12 penalties of over two billion, 403 million, 985 thousand and 125 dollars ($403,985,125) on U.S. organizations and third countries. Companies such as Amazon, BioMind America and General Global Assistance have paid millions to the Treasury Department of the U.S. in order to evade legal suits for supposed violations of the laws of the blockade.
Regarding remittances, the U.S. company Western Union has imposed a regulation that prevents remittances to Cuba from third countries. The sending of remittances to Cuba became complicated when the State Department included [Cuban state company] Fincimex and its unit American International Services (AIS) on its List of Restricted Entities and Sub-entities Associated with Cuba.
The tourism sector, one of the country’s most significant sources of income, was severely affected when the Department of Transport suspended charter flights between the U.S. and Cuba, with the exception of flights directed to Jose Martí International Airport of Havana, on which limits have also been imposed.
Furthermore, the Treasury Department has annulled authorizations achieved during the administration of Barack Obama, such as the import to the U.S. of alcohol and tobacco of Cuban origin, the authorization of persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction to participate in, or organize, work events in Cuba, and the possibility of travelling to Cuba to attend public performances, clinics, workshops and athletic competitions or non-athletic exhibitions. The Treasury Department also published a List of Prohibited Accommodations in Cuba, with more than 420 properties where persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction are prohibited from staying at or making reservations. Finally, the Treasury Department also denied Marriott International the renewal of its license to operate in Cuba.
The State Department included Cuba on a list of countries which supposedly do not “fully cooperate” with antiterrorist efforts of the U.S. and added Cuba to level 4 (“Do Not Travel”) of the system of U.S. Travel Alerts. Cuba was also included on a list of “foreign adversaries” supposedly involved in conduct hostile to U.S. national security.
A report issued by the Cuban government for the UN General Assembly estimates that, between April 2019 and March of 2020, the U.S. blockade caused losses of US $160,260,880 in the sphere of health; US $21,226,000 in the educational sector and US $428,894,637 in food and agriculture.
EXAMPLES IN THE SPHERE OF HEALTH
Due to the “chill effect” of the extra-territorial embargo, most international companies contacted by the public corporation Medicuba did not respond to requests for supplies, so Cuba was unable to acquire medication and equipment needed by its public health system. For example:
On July 16, 2019, Emirates Airlines denied boarding to the Indian manufacturer Apex Drug House for its shipment to Cuba of Cardidopa-levodopa medicine contracted, arguing that it could not transport goods destined for Cuba. The delay of the delivery of this resource led Medicuba to urgently search for other commercial alternatives. This medication is used to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease such as muscular rigidity, trembling, spasms and poor muscular control.
On Aug. 30, 2019, Sanyzme Private Ltd. of India refused to accept shipping documents for a commercial operation of Medicuba related to the purchase of the medicine Progesterone 50 mg. which caused delays in delivery. Progesterone is utilized in the Assisted Reproduction Program to avoid premature birth or miscarriage, and for the treatment of premenstrual syndrome and hormonal imbalance of women, such as amenorrhea and abnormal uterine bleeding.
On Dec. 3, 2019, the company Nutricia, invoking Title III of the Helms-Burton Law, refused delivery to the supplier of Medicuba of an order of nutritional supplements and foods for medical management of dietary disorders and illnesses. Nutricia is a multinational company established in the Netherlands, which operates through such well-known commercial trademarks as Nutricia, Cow & Gate, Milupa, SHS, GNC and Enrich.
In this period, Medicuba contacted 50 U.S. companies to investigate possibilities of importing medicine, equipment and supplies necessary for our public health system. The majority did not respond, and three of those that did (Waters Corporation, Dexcom and the U.S. affiliate of Koninklijke Philips N.V.) responded by arguing that they could not establish commercial ties with Cuban entities owing to the blockade.
Medicuba had hoped to order 80 kits of the laser system Excimer CVX-300 from Koninklijke Philips N.V. This system is utilized for coronary angioplasty, also called percutaneous coronary intervention, a minimally invasive procedure to open obstructed arteries in the heart. The company responded that it could not establish commercial relations with Medicuba due to regulatory restrictions and control of exports imposed by the U.S. government.
Likewise, Medicuba attempted to order from the pharmaceutical company Jansen, affiliated with Johnson & Johnson, Abiraterone acetate for the treatment of prostrate cancer resistant, but never obtained a response. Nor did the pharmaceutical company Pfizer offer a response when Medicuba asked for the medicine Palbociclib for the treatment of hormone-sensitive metastatic breast cancer. The same occurred with Sunitinib for the treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and Crizontinib, to treat lung cancer.
THE BIOPHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
The research, development, production and marketing of products of the biopharmaceutical industry, a strategic sector of the Cuban economy, has suffered grave impacts from the blockade. Economic losses to the industry are estimated at US $161 million between April of 2019 and March of 2020. The intensification of the blockade in this period is not only limited to academic and scientific exchange, but also deprives the people of the U.S. from receiving the benefits of internationally recognized biotechnical and pharmaceutical products developed in Cuba.
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
The Cuban business Bravo was unable to acquiring 2,700 tons of meat in the U.S. market at a price of 2,213 dollars a ton. The business was obliged to draw on other providers with higher prices, incurring additional costs of US $1,296,000.
Cuban food importer Alimport recorded significant impacts owing to having to pay higher prices for frozen chicken in markets geographically distant in comparison to the [U.S.] market.
In the factory of Los Portales, located in the province of Pinar del Rio, production was paralyzed for 77 days. Its warehouses were full of finished products, but lacked the necessary fuel for their delivery. The result was that at least two million boxes of refreshments and water were not produced and marketed, which amounted to a loss of 10 million, nine hundred thousand dollars.
Between the months of November and December of 2019, the lack of fuel affected the planting of 12,399 hectares of rice, 30,130 tons of [harvested] rice, more than 195 thousand tons of root vegetables. More than two million liters of milk and 481 tons of meat were not gathered, negatively affecting the feeding of the Cuban population.
EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND SPORTS
All educational levels were affected by the fuel shortage during the 2019-2020 school year, made it difficult to transport workers and students. Accordingly, student plans and programs had to be adjusted, as well as teaching schedules. Meanwhile, higher education saw impacts in access to technology and equipment for teaching and scientific research, and in lost income for services provided, among other factors which harm the development of academic and scientific activity in Cuban universities and research centers.
The US government’s financial persecution of banks in third countries that carry out transactions for Cuban institutions has made it difficult for Cuba to collect on international services it provides. For example, the Cuban sports trainer company Cubadeportes was unable to collect on half a million dollars in fees by the close of 2019, owing to the difficulties in accessing international financial transactions.
On April 8, 2019, the U.S. government announced its decision to cancel a December 2018 agreement between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), using the argument that current U.S. laws prohibit business with entities associated with the Cuban government. The announcement was made less than two weeks after the start of the 2019 baseball season, and only a few days after FCB made known the names of 34 Cuban players considered eligible to sign with the MLB.
IMPACT OUTSIDE CUBA
The U.S. government applied 17 coercive measures between 2019 and 2020 to prevent U.S. citizens and Cubans residing in the U.S. from returning to Cuba.
The U.S. has ignored the 28 resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly condemning the blockade, as well as many voices inside and outside U.S. territory, which call for an end to this policy.
Cuban-American activist Carlos Lazo argues that the blockade limits his freedom since it prevents U.S. citizens from obtaining access to medicines produced by Cuban biotechnology and to the island’s markets. U.S. activist Angélica Salazar stated to Prensa Latina that the actions of the White House prevent her from carrying out her work in joint educational programs with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Centre, the University of Havana, and the Casa de Las Américas.
In this context of particular complexity, Cuba and its people count on the support of the international community in their call for an unconditional end to this unjust policy.
[1] Translator’s note: Cuba uses the long-term billion—one million million—unlike Canada and other English-speaking countries, which use the short-term billion—a thousand million. In this translation, I have converted the figures involving billions into Canadian terms.
Colombia is Rising Up
Colombia is in the throes of its worst social crisis in decades as citizens have maintained a national general strike for over six weeks now, despite attacks from Canadian and US-armed security forces that have killed dozens and wounded hundreds. CoDev partners NOMADESC, SINTRACUAVALLE and FECODE are either participating in the strike or are in the streets as human rights observers.
This new video provides a useful update in English on the situation.
CoDevelopment Canada’s Statement on Legal Proceedings Against Guatemalan Security Officials Accused of Crimes Against Humanity in the Case of the Military Dossier
As an organization that has supported human rights in Guatemala for more than 35 years, CoDevelopment Canada welcomes the opening of the trial of 12 former members of Guatemalan security forces accused in the kidnapping, torture and forced disappearance of 183 people between September 1983 and March 1985. These cases are recorded in the “Military Dossier,” a document leaked in 2005, in which Guatemalan security officials meticulously documented the fate of people abducted by military and police.
In 2012, the Guatemalan State was condemned by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights for its role in the terrible crimes committed against the 183 people listed in the military dossier. We see the opening of the trial against the alleged perpetrators of these crimes as an important step toward breaking the wall of impunity that reigns in Guatemala.
At the same time, we view with concern recent backsliding in the area of human rights and transitional justice in the country, including: dissolution of peace institutions, cooptation of judicial bodies, amnesty initiatives for crimes against humanity, and attacks against prosecutors and human rights defenders.
CoDevelopment urges the Guatemalan State to take all measures necessary to protect Judges, prosecutors, and witnesses involved in this important trial.
We support the work of Prosecutor Hilda Pineda and Prosecutor Erick de León, as well as their teams from the Special Cases Unit of the Internal Armed Conflict of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
We support the family members who are plaintiffs in the process, and we call on the Guatemalan State to guarantee their physical integrity.
We urge the Guatemalan State to provide all necessary protective measures to guarantee the hearings conducted by Judge Miguel Angel Galvez.
We condemn the intimidation, threats and media smear campaigns that have occurred against organizations related to the case since the former military and police officers were detained May 27.
We urge the Guatemalan State to comply with international agreements and take steps to reveal the whereabouts of the 183 persons listed in the Military Dossier who were abducted and disappeared by state actors, and the prompt application of justice,
We express our solidarity with the families, organizations and individuals who fight and have fought for Memory, Truth and Justice in Guatemala.
CoDevelopment Canada statement on the recent identification of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School
CoDevelopment Canada expresses its grief and horror at the discovery by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc nation of 215 unmarked graves believed to contain the remains of children interned at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, run by the Catholic Church on behalf of the Government of Canada. While we are saddened and horrified by the discovery, we are not surprised. Canada and the Catholic Church have for too long ignored the rights of First Peoples to access residential school records and receive an explanation as to the treatment and whereabouts of their children.
It has been 6 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its final reports which noted inaction around the high numbers of children who were forcibly taken to residential schools and never returned home. The Commission urged the Canadian government to assist Indigenous communities search for their children. To date, there have been no such efforts supported by the Federal government. It was the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc alone who hired a company to carry out a ground-penetrating radar examination of the old schoolgrounds.
CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev) is a defender of human rights across the Americas. CoDev has fiercely advocated for the release of abducted human rights defenders by various Latin American state security forces and has worked to discover the fate of those forcibly disappeared. We have accompanied indigenous communities and particularly indigenous educators in Latin America to support their struggles to develop education systems that reflect their practices and worldviews. CoDev is committed to do the same in Canada.
CoDev calls on the Catholic Church and any others to release records that reveal the fate of the children and those responsible for their mistreatment and death. What happened to the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School and other residential schools is genocide, and the legacy of that continues through denial and inaction.
The Canadian government must:
Stop fighting residential school survivors in court. Provide access to information related to their tenure and mistreatment in the schools.
Stop fighting the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling that provides Indigenous children with the same access to health, education, and other social services as non-indigenous children.
Stop resisting the CHRT ruling that orders Ottawa to compensate approximately 50,000 Indigenous children who were unnecessarily placed in child welfare and separated from their families and culture.
Greatly accelerate the execution of recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Six years since the Truth and Reconciliation issued its 94 Calls to Action the Canadian Government has only just begun to implement a small handful.
Closely linked to the inter-generational trauma and disempowerment that is the legacy of Canada’s Indian residential school system is the ongoing violence perpetrated against indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people. CoDev urges the Canadian government and all others, including media, health, education, and social services, to implement the 231 Calls for Justice included in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
As an organization, CoDevelopment Canada recognizes that we too must do more. CoDev staff, Board Directors, and members are committed to move forward with cultural humility and to educate ourselves about past and present indigenous peoples of Turtle Island: we commit to step up our work facilitating partnerships between indigenous peoples and communities in Canada and Latin America: and we commit to act when the Canadian government violates the rights of indigenous peoples across the Americas.
Resources and Actions for Indigenous Solidarity
Actions
Read and support Independent indigenous Media such as as Indiginews
Take the free course Indigenous Canada offered by the University of Alberta
To show your solidarity with an orange shirt and start conversations with your neighbours about why you are doing so.
Resources
Greetings to CoDev from our Latin American partners
As 2020 grinds towards its end, we have received many greetings from partners in Latin America to CoDevelopment Canada and our members and Canadian partners. In addition to warm wishes, our partners have shared striking photos and video clips that demonstrate the work they have achieved even under the challenging circumstances of the global pandemic. Achievements made possible, in part, due to the solidarity of our partners and members.
To share these with the wider CoDev family, we have assembled here in a collage of 2020 Greetings from Latin American partners.
Hurricane Devastation - Appeal for Support
#Giving Tuesday 2020
In mid-November, two powerful, contiguous hurricanes battered Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Eta and Iota generated mudslides and flooding, burying villages, flooding homes, and destroying crops. Government responses have been woefully inadequate and many of our Partners have been seriously affected.
CoDev is raising funds for these partners: Artesana, a Guatemalan organization supporting imprisoned women and their families, and the Honduran Women’s Collective, CODEMUH which accompanies workers in the country’s maquila (sweatshop) zones.
Artesana has borrowed a truck and is delivering donations of food, clothing and sanitary supplies (masks, hand sanitizer, basic medicines) to affected families of imprisoned women. Artesana’s share of the donations sent by CoDev will support the truck’s fuel costs and purchase additional emergency supplies.
Seventy homes of CODEMUH’s shop floor advocates have been submerged by the hurricanes. These women received little warning to evacuate and lost most of their belongings to the floods. CODEMUH will use donations to provide them with clothing, bedding, new mattresses, cooking materials, food, sanitary supplies, and tools for cleaning the mud and debris from their homes once the waters recede.
Exiled Honduran Teacher Thanks Canadian Supporters
In late October 2019, Honduran teacher activist Jaime Rodriguez was abducted, tortured, thrown off a bridge and left for dead. He survived, and when well enough to travel, went into exile in Mexico just before the Covid 19 pandemic began. CoDevelopment Canada called on supporters to help Jaime through these difficult months of exile. As organizations and as individuals you responded with an outpouring of solidarity. On November 26 2020, Jaime will take his chances and return to his country. This is his message to you:
Message of Thanks
On my first day of pedagogy class when I began my primary school teacher studies at the Western Normal School in La Esperanza, Intibucá, my teacher Marco Tulio, congratulated us all for choosing a profession that involves so much social commitment. At the time I did not grasp the significance of his statement, but little by little this noble profession taught me the realities of our children and youth, and they become a reflection of my own reality. This makes it easier to understand the commitment of teachers all over the world to defending the rights of the people; the right to health, water, land, the rights of women and, of course, the right to education.
There are consequences for struggling for a better future for our peoples and against policies of privatization and the looting of public resources. Various colleagues have given their lives for this in Honduras, and in almost every country of the Americas. In my case, it brought exile. But with exile came a wonderful experience of great learning.
Today I want to thank my fellow teachers, and others, in the republic of Canada, the teachers of Mexico, and educators from many countries of the Americas who supported and sheltered me with their solidarity. You, compañeros and compañeras, have shown me the true value of that word.
I want to give special thanks to CoDevelopment and the IDEA Network, to the BC Teachers' Federation and the Surrey Teachers' Association, to Steve, Maria Ramos and the teacher Dilcia Díaz – and to so many compañeros and compañeras who I have never met, and to whom I beg forgiveness for not naming, because that list would be very long.
I am returning to my country.
My commitment to free my homeland is today even stronger than before. I return bringing more experiences and the knowledge that, with your solidarity compañeros and compañeras, they will never break us.
But the repression will surely continue in Honduras, so I ask of you to simply follow the song of our resistance that says, “Promise me you will continue to fight.”
Gracias maestras y maestros
Jaime Rodríguez México City, November 25, 2020
Americas Policy Group Concerned About OAS Meddling in Human Rights Commission Appointment
Organization of American States (OAS) General Secretary Luis Almagro has increasingly sought to control what are traditionally arms-length institutions of the organization. Most recently, Almagro has meddled in the appointment of the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), an independent body of the OAS charged with investigating complaints of human rights violations committed by member states. The OAS Secretary General recently refused to ratify the Commission's recommendation to appoint Executive Secretary Dr. Paulo Abrão to a new term.
The Americas Policy Group (APG), a Canadian coalition of 27 organizations promoting human rights and equitable development in the Americas, is concerned that Almargo's interference in the appointment of the Commission's director undermines the ability of the IACHR to independently investigate human rights violations in the Americas. CoDevelopment Canada worked with other APG members to draft a letter of concern sent by the coalition to Canadian Foreign Minister François-Phillippe Champagne.
Please follow these links to read the APG's letter to Minister Champagne: IHRC Letter English
CoDevelopment Canada and Communities Resisting Racism
CoDevelopment Canada stands with and supports the black community and all racialized communities; every day, everywhere to end racism in all forms.
Recent deaths of members of the black community in the US and indigenous communities in Canada at the hands of law enforcement leave us heartbroken. Their lives, and the lives of black, indigenous and all peoples taken by violence, matter.
CoDevelopment Canada is founded on principles of social justice and global solidarity. We know that expressions of racism in the Americas are a result of colonization, and structural violence is prevalent throughout the Americas. Our partners in Latin America also fight these forces of oppression in their governments, institutions and societies.
We stand with black, indigenous, and all communities facing injustice. We pledge to continue to work to enforce international human rights and basic human dignity everywhere, especially in our own backyard.
Show your solidarity by supporting Canadian organizations working for Black and Indigenous communities.
https://blacklivesmattervancouver.comhttps://blacklivesmatter.ca/
https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/https://www.crrf-fcrr.ca/en/http://www.idlenomore.ca/
https://www.nwac.ca/https://www.ubcic.bc.ca/https://stopracism.ca/
CoDev, Cafe Etico & COVID-19
Special Message to CoDevelopment Canada’s Supporters, Members and Partners Regarding Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Dear Friends,
In accordance with the advice of BC’s Public Health officer, CoDevelopment Canada is taking steps to maintain social distancing and reduce opportunities for the COVID-19 virus to spread. At the same time, we recognize the importance of maintaining support for our partners in Latin America who will face huge challenges in the coming months.
As of Monday, March 23, most CoDev staff will work from home. CoDev has set up remote computer connections for all staff and established an online meeting routine that should enable us to conduct most of our business this way. However, the CoDev offices will remain open with skeleton staffing, and orders for Café Etico can still be filled. The general office phone line will still be answered, and all staff will continue to regularly respond to messages sent to their CoDev e-mail addresses.
Office hours will remain 9 AM to 5 PM,Monday-Friday.
This work routine will remain in place throughout the pandemic.
We hope that these measures will serve to strike a balance between reducing the likelihood of contracting or spreading the virus, while maintaining much-needed solidarity with all our partners in Latin America and their struggle for social justice, human rights and sustainable and equitable development.
We thank you all for your patience and understanding in these challenging times.
Indigenous Guatemalan Activist speaks out about Vancouver Mining Corporation in Guatemala
Colombia: Teaching for Peace, Working for Human Rights
Labour and Human Rights Program director with NOMADESC staff
By Filiberto Celada (Human and Labour Rights Program Director, CoDevelopment Canada)
During CoDev’s Schools Territories of Peace Canadian teacher delegation to Colombia, I took some members of the delegation to observe a pedagogical encounter in Monteria, Cordoba province in Colombia’s Caribbean Region. Together with teacher delegates Anjum Khan and Susan Trabant, we travelled to the conference with John Avila, former director of the Colombian Teachers Federation’s (FECODE) Centre for Education Research and Development (CEID) and Jose Luis Ortega, executive secretary of the Córdoba Teachers’ Association’s (ADEMACOR) CEID.FECODE and ADEMACOR organized the conference entitled: Pedagogical Movement, School Territories of Peace and III Pedagogical National Congress and 2nd Provincial Encounter of Secretariats of Pedagogical Affairs – ADEMACOR 2019. Between 15-20 teachers attended this provincial encounter at ADEMACOR facilities where members of CEID and FECODE presented an analysis of the Schools as Territories of Peace program and the education policies and agreements with the Colombian Government. The last day of the encounter, 10 teachers presented and shared their alternative pedagogical experiences within 10 different schools.
It is important to highlight the fact that some teachers were presenting their alternative pedagogical experiences as part of their Master’s thesis in education. It was very motivating to witness that even that it was their own thesis, the teachers were open to share their methodology and results and welcomed their colleagues to use what they had developed in other schools without caring about copyrights.
After the Schools Territories of Peace Delegation was over, I traveled to the city of Cali in southwestern Valle del Cauca province to meet with CoDev partner NOMADESC (Association for Research and Social Action). While visiting Cali I was able to:
1) Introduce myself and meet with NOMADESC’s staff, explain CoDev’s model of partnership and international solidarity;
2) Meet with NOMADESC’s beneficiary population: members of the community of el Jarrillon and of Buenaventura;
3) Meet with NOMADESC’s Director Berenice Celeita to evaluate the project Comprehensive Defense of Life, Territory and Culture in Colombia.
4) Participate as International Observer in the National Congress of the Republic of Colombia’s session in the City of Santander de Quilichao in the department of El Cauca, organized by Senator Alexander Lopez due to the acts of genocide against the indigenous guard in Colombia’s Pacific coast.
Colombia Delegation Learns Innovative Approaches to Peace Education
by Education Program Director, Wendy Santizo
CoDev accompanied a Canadian teacher delegation to visit Colombia and learn from the “Schools as Territories of Peace” project FECODE is implementing across the country. Our visit coincided with the celebration of provincial pedagogical circles encounters, where teachers shared their experiences in bringing peace education to the classroom. Pedagogical circles are made up of teachers, school principals, parents and students to discuss and create alternative pedagogies that will result in promoting peace, dialogue, conflict resolution, historical memory and democratic participation in their communities.
The delegation split up and visited three provincial encounters in Montería, Córdoba; Cúcuta, Norte de Santander and Fusagasugá in Cundinamarca.
Three of the experiences presented that most caught my attention were the “7 Hats”, “The Memory of the River” and “My History”.
The first provides students with a tool they can use to analyze any conflict situation and decide how to react in a constructive way. There are seven different coloured hats, each representing a question or perspective of looking at the conflict. Once the student answers these questions, they are in a better position to talk about it and solve it in a peaceful way.
The second is a long-term school project, it was created to recover the historical memory of the local river. It begins with students researching the history of the river, its names, where it originates, what stories are linked to the river, fiction or real, when did the contamination of the river begin and why. Today the school has created a project to protect the river and plant hundreds of trees.
The third consists of students interviewing their grandparents or elders in the family and neighbourhoods and asking: What was school like before? What was the neighbourhood like? What is the story of their town? These stories and anecdotes are shared in the classroom and collective memories begin to be recovered, as well as stronger ties across generations.
The delegation also had the opportunity to visit several museums and galleries including the photographic exhibition “The Witness” by Jesus Abad Colorado in the National University of Colombia. The exhibition demonstrates how communities and schools have experienced the armed conflict and were affected by multiple armed actors.
Meetings were held with FECODE’s Executive Committee and representatives of the CUT (Colombian labour central) Executive to speak about working conditions in Colombia, the impact on workers of the entry of Colombia into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, as well as analysis around the national strike that was being prepared for November 21st.Among the demands of the strike are: No more tax, wage and labour reforms without consultations; An end to the killings of social and environmental leaders; the right to healthcare for teachers and their families; Strengthening of the national teachers’ social security fund, and; Implementation of agreements previously signed with the national government, that include the implementation of a diploma program for teachers in peace education and declaring schools as Territories of Peace.
The teachers’ unions seek peace with social justice, reconciliation and truth. FECODE prepared a report with detailed cases of teachers, social leaders and unionists who were victims of systematic accusations, persecution, threats, forced disappearances and assassinations to be presented to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) as part of their commitment to the clarification of truth in Colombia.
FECODE’s “Schools as Territories of Peace” project is facilitated by CoDevelopment Canada with support from the BC Teachers’ Federation, the Ontario Secondary Teachers’ Federation, the Centrale des Syndicats du Quebec and the Surrey Teachers’ Association.
CUPE Delegation to Cuba - Reflections
During the week of November 10-16, 2019, CoDev Executive Director, Steve Stewart traveled to Cuba with delegates from CUPE National and CUPE BC. What follows are a series of "reflections" written by the delegates shedding light on their experiences and thoughts as they met with their brothers and sisters in Cuba.
Since 1998, CoDev has coordinated the partnership between the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Havana province section of the National Union of Public Administration Workers (SNTAP-Havana). With the most recent 5-year CUPE-supported project wrapping up this year – a shop steward training program that included the renovation and equipping of training classrooms at the union’s offices in different Havana municipalities – CoDev organized a delegation of CUPE representatives to meet their Havana partners. The project with SNTAP is supported by both CUPE National and CUPE BC, and representatives of both made-up the five-person delegation.
Delegates sought to evaluate the work of the 2014-19 training centres project, learn about the Cuban labour movement and the new challenges it faces with the recent tightening of the US trade embargo of the island, and to begin discussions with SNTAP representatives regarding future cooperation between the two unions.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Debra Merrier, Diversity Vice-President for Indigneous Workers, CUPE National
My first day as a member of the CUPE delegation in Havana, Cuba has been both amazing and overwhelming.
We had a meeting with SNTAP representatives of the province of Havana. They told us that this week the city of Havana would be celebrating its 500th anniversary, and talked a little about the history of the Havana province division’s partnership with CUPE, as well as the structure of the Cuban union movement.
There are 19 national unions in Cuba, all of whom belong to the Cuban Labour Federation, the CTC. With 249,000 members, SNTAP is among the four largest unions in Cuba. The education and health unions are the largest. The union representatives shared with us two great sayings for understanding life in Cuba: “It’s not easy,” but, “it can be done.”
Later, we visited the CTC building in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolution, one of several in Havana province. The unions belonging to the CTC have 15,616 members in this municipality, with most coming from the health-care, education, culture and public administration unions. We visited a training classroom that had been renovated and equipped with the support of CUPE and then met with the municipal SNTAP executive committee at their office there – Local 26. There were six executive officers who spoke with us – all women. They told us that union executive officers were elected at congresses for a five-year term. A representative cannot serve more than two terms - for a total of 10 years on the executive. They told us that in recent years, new policies have been developed by the Cuban unions to encourage more participation by youth. So now, if you are over 50, you can no longer run for an executive committee position. They also told us about a partnership the unions had developed with the University to enable union members to specialize in labour studies by attending courses on Saturdays from 9 AM - 4 PM.
Something that surprised me is that there is no automatic check-off of union dues in Cuban unions. Instead, every member comes to the municipal CTC building each month to pay their dues to the union they belong to. We asked the SNTAP representatives what happens if a member doesn’t pay. They said it is the responsibility of the stewards to remind members if they are overdue with paying their dues, but if a member doesn’t come in and make their payments for three months in a row, they could lose their affiliation to the union.
This first day of our delegation in Havana has been an emotional and very educational experience. As an indigenous person, I feel it is important for me to be a witness to all I see here and have learned.
Tuesday, November 12
Monique Menard-Kilrane, Senior Officer, CUPE National
The heat has not risen yet, and we are back on the road, this morning with Pepe and Mercedes. We drive to Barrio Nuevo Vedado, where we enter what is called a policlínico, a polyclinic. There are numerous of these community-based clinics throughout the province of Havana, 82 to be more precise.
The policlinic offers services that range from x-rays to pediatric, physiotherapy to traditional medicine.
After a fascinating presentation from the chief of the polyclinic, we are taken around the establishment to visit different consultation rooms, doctors, nurses, technical assistants and many more. Conchita and Jorge, both experienced doctors, are our guides through the hallways of this impressive system. A young physiotherapist reminds us of the ingenuity of the Cuban people: “Despite the embargo, we will make it work”, she says, as she shows us how they fill empty water bottles with sand to make weights for rehabilitation exercises.
The whole health care system is built around 4 principles: promotion, prevention, curing and rehabilitation. Health is seen as a holistic practice. Each policlinic is affiliated to local health clinics, 16 per neighbourhood. Conchita and Jorge guide us to the closest clinic where Marta and Leticia work respectively as doctor and nurse. Three medical students are also in residence at the clinic, including an international student from South Africa. In order to best promote, prevent, cure and rehabilitate, Maria tells us that the clinic studies the demographic and needs of the people in their neighbourhood. Home visits are carried out in a formal fashion and everything is noted, including injuries or sicknesses, social conditions and living conditions. This helps the practitioners find the best health program for each individual patient.
As this clinic’s demographic is mostly composed of seniors, Maria also invites us to a circle of grandparents, organised by the clinic every Wednesday morning. This circle is a chance for the seniors from the neighbourhood to come together and to share with Maria and Leticia. For the staff of the clinic, this is a great opportunity to better understand the needs and adjust the care.
The visits and discussions were an inspiring experience.
Wednesday, November 13
Rebecca Reynard, General Vice-President, CUPE Local 5430
We visited the Palco Convention Centre, which opened in 1979. It was developed for the Summit of the Non-Aligned Countries Movement, serves as the flag ship for State Business Groups, but also holds many international conferences. The Centre employs 4000 workers, all union members of a special branch of SNTAP, the public administration trade union. It consists of a main hall accommodating 2000 seats with a number of smaller halls accommodating up to 200 seats. During our visit the Centre was very active with a Health and Sports Convention; AFIDE 2019. There were a number of concession stands, gift shops and beautiful courtyards. Connected to the Centre by a skywalk is a large hotel. Their workers also union members. The 4000 members are organized by 10 locals with 94 units among them.
We attended the Import Office on the grounds of the Palco Convention Centre, with the intention to discover alternatives for sending a shipping container of supplies to Cuba. We were quickly made aware that this would not be possible through their service and were advised to do what we are currently doing.
Following this, we had a working meeting with SNTAP to go over where the project is now and our goals for the future. SNTAP is required to have the program proposal by January 2020 to submit for government permissions. SNTAP expressed concern that once a program is approved, the funds received can only be used for what is in the program proposal. The previous program was approved for union training. They created classrooms with equipment and trained trainers to give workshops. They are focused on health and safety, primarily the need to use protective equipment and measures and also making management aware of the importance of health and safety. They have spent what they can on union training, however are limited by accessibility issues resulting from the blockade. The remaining funds could be reassigned as a donation and that approval would need to come from CUPE and Co-Development. SNTAP suggested that the future program focus more heavily on equipment rather than funds. We also discussed a skills exchange, where one year, reps from CUPE would visit Cuba and another year where SNTAP would visit Canada.
Thursday, November 14th, 2019 – A visit to the Viñales
Carmen Michelle Sullivan, Alternate Regional Vice-President, CUPE BC
We were joined by Mercedes – Deputy General Secretary (SNTAP-Havana) and Marcel, the son of a SNTAP member, who acted as our guides. During the two and a half-hour drive to Viñales, we learned that 94% of all Cuban workers are unionized. In the country, many of the workers are self-employed, and the union has worked to organize by reaching out through door to door visits. These independent workers join the union for the benefits of advocacy for their rights, participation, and solidarity.
The drive was beautiful. It took only twenty minutes for us to move out of the city and into the country passing tobacco, sugar cane, rice, plantain, and banana plantations. There were intermittent farmhouses, and seemingly out of nowhere, workers would step out of the fields to the side of the highway with cheese and produce for sale.
Once we arrived in Viñales, a small town and municipality in the north-central Pinar del Río province of Cuba, we stopped at the Los Jazmines Hotel. We met with René, the General Secretary of the hotels and tourism union local. As a union leader, René is the advocate for 65 employees at the hotel. His primary role is advocating for the members to make sure management is providing adequate conditions, meals, and wages. He has a seat and voice at the table for all management meetings. Once a month, all the workers meet with management, which helps to mitigate any issues. As part of the Tourism union, the 65 members pay approximately 1% in union dues. The hotel has a lifeguard, a doctor and a nurse who belong to the public health union. The cultural workers’ union provides the musicians and performers, and cleanup of the grounds and waste removal is provided by the Municipal union, affiliated with SNTAP. All the union sectors work well together and show strong solidarity. Each province has a union school where anyone interested in becoming a union leader can receive training. The unions receive the training together, another strong indication of solidarity. Under Cuban law every 5.5 months, all workers receive 15 days vacation. They have one-year paid maternity with the option of a 2nd year at a reduced wage. Sick and disability benefits continue until the doctor clears them to be back at work. In the tourism sector, all union employees pool and share their tips.
That evening we returned to Havana, where we were treated to an evening at the Tropicana with the SNTAP and Tourism union representatives, including the national SNTAP General Secretary Yaisel Osvaldo Pieter Terry. On our way back from the Tropicana, we had the opportunity to speak with Alina, the General Secretary of the Havana section of the tourism workers’ union, about women in leadership. She said, “It is not easy in Cuba (referring to the US sanctions and blockades), it is never easy, but we can do it because we are together.” She is proud to be a union leader. She continued to say, women are mothers, wives, sisters, and because of that, they are strong. Women are nurturing, focus on teamwork, and are strong communicators. It was empowering to hear her passion.
Friday, November 15 - Banks and Tornados
Aman Cheema, Co-Chair for International Solidarity, CUPE BC
On our final day in Havana we visited the Banco Metropolitano, the Bank of the Capital in Havana. We were joined by Avigail Perez Llanes (General Secretary SNTAP Havana), and Aciel (Secretary of Economy SNTAP Havana), Rosa who is the General Secretary for the Union in the bank, Bank Manager, and Marina Vice President of Banco Metroplitano.
There are over 4000 employees in total, and 622 tellers in Havana alone. There are 4 Regional offices for more immediate issues, 94 branches, and 26 savings branches in the remote regions. Currently the bank has 525 banking ATM’s, but unfortunately the ATM Company was purchased by an American and due to the trade embargo they can no longer receive any parts or support. An alternative is currently being looked at in China. The bank is trying to transition to a digital banking model, where the citizens would use an interact card instead of hard cash. This would help the bank in using the cash for investments. To help encourage this model, the bank offers a 10% rebate if citizens use an interact card on the 15th, 16th, or 17th of the month. Repair and construction workers are also part of the same Union, but slowly there is a shift in privatization and contracting out of those jobs. The workers are part of the Public Administration Branch Union. Once per month workers meet to discuss workplace issues such as; health and safety, hours of work, and working conditions. While they don’t have specific health and safety meetings monthly like we do, they do discuss safety concerns at the monthly meetings.
Being involved in the community is an essential part for each and every worker at the bank. As Marina (VP of Bank) said “the level of consciousness is help and support one another”. In early 2019, 4,000 homes were damaged due to a tornado, the bank management and employees worked longer shifts and days, so those in need could have access to loans or the money in their accounts. As of today, 90% of the homes have been restored. Also, workers volunteer with different programs around the region, one being assisting orphaned kids who don’t have the support of any parents or families. The employees “play” the role of mom or dad, with help from the government providing meals. Finally, workers, along with management, are encouraged to donate blood for citizens and signing petitions for issues locally and abroad such as the crisis in Venezuela. The community is an integral part of the union, and coexist together, almost becoming a community union.
International Solidarity Conference 2020
Forced Migration - Popular Education- Social Investment
An opportunity for international solidarity activists from CoDevelopment’s Canadian partners to exchange experiences and best practises from their international solidarity work.
Deepen understandings of the distinctions between development, charity, and international solidarity.
Develop toolkits for solidarity action in your organization.
When: Saturday, January 25, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Who: International Solidarity Committees of our Canadian partners and other interested members of CoDevelopment Canada and its partners.
Where: BC Teachers’ Federation Building, 550 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver
Registration deadline is Monday, January 20.
The conference opens with a presentation from Daysi Marquez, Coordinator of COPEMH’s (Honduran high school teachers) project on youth migration from Honduras. Daysi’s presentation is followed by panels and workshops where international solidarity committees of CoDev’s Canadian partners share strategies and tips, and participants to deepen their understanding of solidarity and internationalist action. Workshop themes include: Using Labour’s Capital for Social Justice, International Solidarity and the Climate Crisis, Forced Migration: Canada’s Role.
Registration: CoDev members or delegates from a CoDev partner: $40. Non-members: $50
UnderMining Indigenous Rights: Pan American Silver in Guatemala
Hosted by CoDev, Mining Justice Alliance Canada, MiningWatch Canada, and Students for Mining Justice
Undermining Indigenous Rights: Pan American Silver in GuatemalaWednesday, November 206-8 pm
515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver unceded Coast Salish Territories
On November 20th and 21st, delegates of the Indigenous Xinka Parliament will visit Vancouver to share their stories of resistance to Canadian mining, to communicate their longstanding practices of self-determined development, and to call on Vancouver-based Pan American Silver to Stop UnderMining Indigenous Rights! Drop the Escobal Mine!
This event features Luis Fernando García Monroy. Luis is from the San Rafael las Flores, Santa Rosa region in Guatemala and has been active in the resistance to the Escobal mine for nearly a decade. Luis, his father, and other community members were shot outside the mine while participating in a peaceful protest in 2013. He was a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Tahoe Resources, which was concluded earlier this year. Currently, he works as a paralegal and community organizer with the Xinka Parliament.
We will not shut up and will not give up!
“If they attack one of us, they attack all of us”
On March 8, 2019, CoDev’s Guatemalan partner, Women’s Sector Political Alliance suffered an attack in the lead-up to International Women’s Day celebrations (IWD).While CoDev staff was monitoring rallies in Central America, we became aware (via social media) of the attack during the early morning hours.
CoDev contacted Ada Valenzuela, a Director of a sister women’s organization in Guatemala called Guatemalan Women National Unity-UNAMG. Ada provided an update on the severity of the situation against the women’s movement in Guatemala and the response to the attack on the Women’s Sector.
This year, the Women’s Sector Political Alliance was the lead organization for the Coordinadora 8 de Marzo, the coalition responsible for organizing International Women’s Day, including activities to denounce violence against women. Unfortunately, the materials they had prepared for IWD were also destroyed during the break-in.
Sensitive information was stolen including accounting documents and files that document the activities of women’s organizations in Guatemala since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. In addition, all computer equipment and electronics were taken. Oddly enough, the organization’s cash box remained untouched.
As Ada explained, this was not just a random attack on one organization but rather an attack on the women’s movement in general. As a gesture of solidarity, the route of the rally was changed. The original plan was to have it end at the Central Plaza but instead, it finished in front of the Women’s Sector Political Alliance office with a very enthusiastic speech by Martha Godinez, the Women’s Sector General Coordinator.
As soon as the situation in Guatemala City was confirmed, CoDev sent an appeal to all Canadian partners regarding the emergency within the Women’s Sector Political Alliance, founded by the well-known Guatemalan activist Sandra Moran in 1994.CoDev’s Canadian partners, members and friends responded immediately with Solidarity and offers of assistance:
BCTF IS Committee -- $5,000
Health Sciences Association -- $2,000
Pacific Spirit United Church -- $500
Victoria Central America Support Committee - VCASC -- $210
Five days after the attack, CoDev staff informed the board of directors about the situation and the action taken by CoDev: an Urgent Action to Canadian ambassador in Guatemala, Rudaitis Renaud with copy to Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, The board also agreed to donate CoDev’s old computers as plans were in place to upgrade CoDev office computers.
In a generous move, CoDev board member Caitlin Johnson (chair of CoDev’s Canadian partner Capacidad, a BC-registered nonprofit society made up primarily of active and retired healthcare professionals working in El Petén, Guatemala), kindly offered to hand deliver the computers on an upcoming medical delegation.