The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 11, 2022

Historic Rights Trial Brought by Guatemalan Maya Q'eqchi' Community Gets Underway
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Costa Rica, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights heard oral
arguments Wednesday in a historic case of an Indigenous community
accusing the Guatemalan government of violating their ancestral and
collective land rights. Maya Q'eqchi' residents of Agua Caliente, in the
eastern Guatemalan region of El Estor, have fought to obtain formal
titles for their lands for over 40 years, in a struggle to protect their
communities from extractive industries. Rodrigo Tot, a Q'eqchi' leader
and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2017, testified in
front of the court about the repression he and other land defenders have
faced from the Guatemalan government.

Rodrigo Tot: "We have faced many threats in response to our resistance.
The most painful was the loss of my son. … His killers thought I'd stay
silent, but what's motivated me the most is that since my son's
assassination, more leaders have stepped up, like me, to fight for our
land."



.