No more evictions! Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala in defence of nature, lands and territories |
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Lazar Konforti and Joanna Cabello
| Friday, 20 April 2012
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On March 27th 2012, several thousand people marched into the Guatemalan capital in solidarity with the struggles of the indigenous farmers and landless workers who had made the 214-kilometre, nine day journey along the highway from the town of Cobán on foot. The main objective of the Marcha indígena y campesina en defensa del agua y de la Madre Tierra, organized primarily by the Comité de Unidad Campesina (CUC) and the Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA), was to bring the land struggles to national attention and demand a solution to some of the most pressing problems facing small farmers in Guatemala, including violent evictions, landlessness, and crippling debt. These are all symptoms of a highly unequal land ownership structure now being compounded by a corporate land grab driven by extractive industries and agribusiness.
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