This is a good summary by Jose Raymundo of Ceiba-Friends of the Earth Guatemala, with reference to the situation in that municipality, located in the department of Huehuetenango.

In an interview with Real World Radio, Raymundo said that in the community consultation to decide on the establishment of a hydroelectric dam that took place on May 21st, 2009, over 20 thousand people rejected the installation of megaprojects in their territories.

39 thousand people live in the Guatemalan municipality and according to Raymundo the Ministry of Energy and Mining is not complying with the result of the consultation.

In a statement issued this weekend, local organizations stated that hydroelectric projects Pojom I, Pojom II and Bella Linda in San Mateo Ixtatan owned by Hidralia, Energia and Producciones de Desarrollo Hídrico (PDH) are operating “in complicity” with the Mayor.

According to them, transnational companies and municipal authorities are taking advantage of the situation of “poverty and abandonment” suffered by the 29 communities of this region, through “deceits, manipulations, bribery to community leaders, intimidations and conflicts between neighbors, and false promises to solve their needs such as the lack of electric power”.

“We blame the municipal authorities and the central government if the social conflicts in the region get worse, and we blame them for the consequences of their speeches that discredit human right advocates”, they warned.

Photo: ALER