Last Friday, only a day after over 300 people demonstrated outside the National Palace with the aim to deliver President Colom a formal letter explaining why it was necessary to suspend all mining activity, Real World Radio interviewed Leopoldo Mendez, who is part of the Maya Waqib Kej National Coordination and Convergence and of the Uk’úx Bé Mayan Association.

Mendez said they have not received an answer to the demand yet and linked the government’s position with the colonial heritage in Guatemala.
“This administration’s impunity – which is expressed by saying that mining exploitation continues in our country, thus offending our peoples, offending mother earth- means that they follow the policies inherited, we could say that the President is the boss of the CEOs of transnational corporations and even national corporations”, he said.

Mendez also said the government was taking an “inhuman position against nature” because the affected communities were suffering pollution and problems related with it, such as the appearance of diseases.

“We believe that this is another insult to the ICHR resolutions and to the ILO’s resolutions. But something else we’ve noticed here is that a resolution that mother earth has issued exactly eight days ago. Here the Pacaya vulcano has erupted and has spread ashes in the center of the country, then hurricane Agatha came, which we can say is a very strong response from the sacred rain and also from mother earth.

“We believe that nature has a say in the two resolutions in favor of the people and of mother earth. The same nature is sending a very strong message which, unfortunately the inhuman people of our government do not understand, or turn a deaf ear to”, he concluded.

Photo: http://www.waqib-kej.org/