‘Green’ dam linked to killings of six indigenous people in Guatemala
‘Green’ dam linked to killings of six indigenous people in Guatemala
Indigenous people are being ‘terrorised’ after protests against a mega-dam backed by European development banks, whose carbon allowances will be tradable on the EU’s emissions trading system
Arthur Neslen in Brussels
Thursday 26 March 2015 09.24 EDT
A planned mega-dam in Guatemala, whose carbon credits will be tradable under the EU’s emissions trading system, has been linked to grave human rights abuses, including the killing of six indigenous people, two of them children.
Several European development banks and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) have provided funds for the $250m (£170m) Santa Rita dam.
But human rights groups back claims from the Mayan community that they were never consulted about the hydro project, which will forcibly displace thousands of people to generate 25MW of energy, mostly for export to neighbouring countries.
The issue has become a focus of indigenous protest in Guatemala – which has led to a march on the capital and severe political repression.
“At the moment our community is living under the same conditions as they did during the war,” Maximo Ba Tiul, a spokesman for the Peoples’ Council of Tezulutlán told the Guardian. “Our civilian population is once again being terrorised by armed thugs.”
Around 200,000 Mayans died or were “disappeared” during the civil war of the early 1980s, leading to the conviction of the country’s former president, Efraín Ríos Montt, in 2013 on genocide charges.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/26/santa-rita-green-dam-killings-indigenous-people-guatemala
