We Free the Rivers: Land, Coffee & Water in Guatemala
Friday, November 4, 2016,
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
PSAC Boardroom
233 Gilmour Street
Ottawa, ON
Guest speaker: Catarina Garcia, National Executive Member of the Comité
Campesino del Altiplano – CCDA, Guatemala
Public presentation in Spanish. Translation will be provided. A short documentary film may be presented to facilitate the discussion.
Following the aftermath of a Coup détat against Jacobo Arbenz for having implemented a progressive agrarian reform in the early 1950s, Guatemala plunged into a lengthy war from 1960 to 1996. The signing of Peace Accords in 1996 officially ended the 36-year armed conflict that cost thousands of lives, mostly poor and indigenous Guatemalans, but not the legacy of violence and injustice presided by the Guatemalan elite. Renewed organized violence by military and corporate agents has resurfaced against indigenous peasant farmers to displace these people from their ancestral lands and suppress dissent.
These human rights violations have been taking place in the context of free trade agreements signed by the Guatemalan government with the U.S. and other countries.
How are Catarinas community and the CCDA mobilizing to resist the growing military and corporate oppression in Quiche and nationwide that stems from increased foreign investments in agro-exports and mining stemming from free trade agreements and Guatemalas renewed State violence?
Is Canada profiting from Guatemalas State violence?
This panel invites you to debate these issues. This presentation is free and open to the public. It is not required to register.
