It's almost 3:30 p.m. on Thursday and José López, a resident of the municipal mayor's office in Zone 4 of Totonicapán, uses a microphone to encourage representatives of indigenous peoples who are holding a sit-in in front of Guatemala's Ministry of State. It is day 102 of the resistance. Today it is the turn of the members of their community who have walked the nearly 200 kilometers that separate their territory from the capital to stand guard in front of the gray mass of cement that serves as an operations center for those who accuse it of undermining democracy Landes: the Attorney General Consuelo Porras, the Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana.
President-elect Bernardo Arévalo accused the three of staging a coup through legal attacks to prevent his inauguration. With just a few hours until his inauguration, there is a festive atmosphere at the rally. The goal of a peaceful transfer of power and the preservation of democracy in Guatemala seems ever closer. But don't be confused, the cantonal authorities present at the sit-in repeat again and again with the command staff that distinguishes them: This is a non-political movement.
“We have always said it: We do not support any party, not even a president, we support the rule of law and democracy so that our country breathes and offers us the conditions.” We don't need anything that is given to us. We just want to work, we just want to have the conditions to work, and that is what we demand from every government,” warns López. And it makes room for a group of students who delight the audience with a double marimba concert: seven play the national instrument with batons and two more support with maracas and percussion. In this resistance that promotes the common good, nothing works without teamwork.
The powerful movement launched by the authorities of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, an indigenous organization with a long history of peaceful resistance that represents about 140,000 people – mostly the K'iché Maya people of western Guatemala – began on October 2nd with the confiscation of communal places and a road blockade that was joined by other communities in the country that correspond to other Mayan peoples – such as the Ixil, the Kaqchikel or the Mam – and the Xinka.
Although all decisions in the assemblies are made by consensus, Luis Pacheco – president of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán in 2023 – emerged last year as the most prominent leader of these protests. As he explains, it was the “attacks” from the Public Ministry that led his community to start the strike in order to undermine properly verified election results.
Indigenous resistance at the center of political power
After the road blockade was lifted, the 48 cantons decided on November 20th to move the mobilization to the headquarters of the State Ministry. Gladys Tzul, a sociology doctor from Totonicapán, points out that the prosecutor's interference in the election results “contributes to a chain of attacks on indigenous communities.” For this reason, when the indigenous movements saw the hijacking of the ballot boxes, they responded unanimously to the call for protest from all parts of the country.
Indigenous leaders protest in front of the Public Ministry headquarters in Guatemala City on January 12, 2024. Monica González Islas
“The public ministry acts as a hinge, as a gearbox, between the three branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. And it is also the mechanism that, administratively or scientifically, gives way to the extractive model in which we live and which has led to deaths, fears, displacement, migration or imprisonment in communities,” he says in an interview with EL PAÍS.
In the capital, the various organizations have set up a rotation system to maintain the sit-in in front of the prosecutor's office, where the assigned cities arrive daily. This Thursday it is the turn of the authorities of Zone 4 of Totonicapán, including the municipal mayor Salomon Tax. “There was fatigue, moments of tension, of provocation, but one of our slogans is always that things be peaceful, without disturbing order, so that none of our authorities suffer harassment,” he explains in a group with other community leaders, during the marimba plays.
In more than 100 days of resistance, the indigenous movements have had to overcome eviction attempts and some signs of rejection, but the population has joined them en masse, bringing them food, tarpaulins and blankets to withstand the cold of the night. The sit-in also includes volunteers like Lesvi Yanes, a 51-year-old woman from Jutiapa who cooks dishes using food donated to the indigenous resistance movements.
“It’s only three days left!” says Yanes as he walks past a sign above the food stand counting down the change in government. She claims to be a supporter of the Semilla movement and to have supported the elected president in the second round of voting. “We believe in change and if they do all that, then that’s it [Arévalo] “Don’t take possession, that’s because it’s different, otherwise they would be celebrating,” he says, pointing to the State Ministry building.
“This was maintained thanks to the unconditional support of citizens,” admits Tax. “We also had resistance, that's logical, but more people joined. “At its peak, there were up to 189 lockdowns across the country.”
Gladys Tzul believes that this indigenous resistance movement will represent a turning point in her country and that Guatemala's political system has been shaken by the communal political system. “Serving the people means defending the collective will and dignity, and not just because of the salary,” he emphasizes. “I have the feeling that through this the population of the capital has been formed and politically educated, the population that is not native, a certain middle class, and that there are also organized political structures in the popular classes who live in the cities “It made a lot of sense.” and structures. Assembly”.
Furthermore, this resistance has positioned indigenous movements as interlocutors of various sectors – from politicians to business – and they have also been taken into account by actors in the international community, who have been unusually active in responding to the Guatemalan crisis. “They were dialogues looking for a better solution or alternative to avoid conflict and not to think that the indigenous peoples do not know where we are going,” says Pacheco, the former president of the 48 cantons. “Obviously it has been widely accepted and that is why there is support, because in the end it has been shown that it is the defense of a right that belongs to all people and not just one sector.”
The challenge is for the government not to ignore them again
This resistance, which has placed the struggle and the ways of searching for the common good of the indigenous movements at the center of Guatemalan politics, also represents a challenge for the new government of Arévalo: that of not ignoring some peoples who, according to Census They represent 42% of the more than 17 million Guatemalans.
A woman rests in front of the Public Ministry headquarters during the sit-in of indigenous peoples in Guatemala City this Friday. Monica González Islas
“We have many expectations of Arévalo, but the most important is that there is now a truly inclusive government for indigenous peoples, that they occupy the spaces that belong to them. And that he rules with the indigenous people who managed to take possession of him,” says Pacheco.
However, the president-elect started the counterattack negatively, as he himself admitted when he introduced the 14 members of his cabinet, among which there is only one indigenous woman, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Miriam Roque. Arévalo acknowledged that “they are committed to the country's multiculturalism,” but indicated his intention to integrate these peoples into other levels of government.
The board of municipal mayors of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán regretted in a statement that it did not take advantage of the historic opportunity to integrate an inclusive government cabinet with officials from the country's peoples – Maya, Garifuna and Xinka. , “something crucial for the implementation of a genuine public policy linked to the conditions of each of them”.
For Tzul, Arévalo’s team must have “the ability to respect heterogeneous autonomy.” “This is a communal country and this uprising has shown us that. But the fact that the rule of law is preserved, that the democratic order has not been broken, that this transition is brought about, has to do with the defense of the common good that the authorities have carried out,” he points out.
During the sit-in, the indigenous authorities would prefer to express their confidence in Arévalo. “Such decisions logically make us a little sad,” says Salomon Tax about the composition of the cabinet. “We cannot judge something that has not yet begun, but we will monitor every movement and, if the results are not in, we will demonstrate.” Their plan for now is to continue the protest until January 15, the day after the inauguration. “If everything goes as it should, we will celebrate having achieved the goals of maintaining democracy in the country.”