Ramazzini participated on the events to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, celebrated last week in Totonicapan department. He took the opportunity to analyze the socio-political situation in Guatemala.

“The liberal economic model favors the Gods of money and power, the power of lies, of bribes and corruption”, he said. Ramazzini praised how indigenous populations have become more aware, and he regretted that “personal leadership” sometimes makes people forget that humanity is a “big family”.

He also referred to child malnutrition saying “It is a disgrace that in such a rich country we condemn our children to chronic malnutrition. We see large fields harvested with palm oil and banana plantations. Where are the benefits from those exports for our people?”

He claims the “indigenous cause” as his own and faulted the state for not listening to the voices of peasants and indigenous “beyond the election campaigns”.

He also talked about strengthening political alliances “in order to avoid falling into traps” and called people to not be accomplices of a system that has always maginalized indigenous peasants. He asked for leaders to forget about their own role, “We need people to forget about themselves for the good of their people”.

Another speaker was Romeo Tiul, chair of the 48 local governments of Totonicapan, the host organization. “The lands are not for sale. We must recover and defend them. No more discrimination. The message to the current and future governments is that indigenous peoples will mobilize to defend our lands and our natural resources”, he said.

Photo: CEIBA Guatemala