The criminalization of Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclan is an exemplary punishment for organized indigenous peoples throughout the country

By Lucía Ixchíu 

Translated Emma Porter 

A few days ago someone asked me why it was difficult for the native peoples in Guatemala to see themselves and organize themselves within the State, and seeing today the arrest of Luis Pacheco and Hector Chaclan it is very clear that the Guatemalan State continues to be in an unpayable debt with the native peoples.

In the midst of the incapacity of the current government, of Bernardo Arévalo and his lack of effectiveness in responding to the well-founded demands of the national strike demanding the resignation of Consuelo Porras and the dismissal of several judges and officials of the judicial system, today we see the result of the ineptitude and the cost of the government’s lukewarmness.

For months we have known how the ruling party is crumbling inside, in an every man for himself, where personal decisions, quarrels and egos have been more powerful than what they tried to be a political project, very much read by the criminal pact, fragmented internally, divided and cracking, with deputies who have even thought of reforming laws in order to be reelected. According to them, to continue saving the country. Today we see the cost of their inexperience and as always we, the people, are the ones who put the body on the line.

An indigenous leader who defended democracy and who came out at a time of an attempted coup d’état, together with other indigenous leaders to put a stop to impunity and the imposition of the ignominy that is naturalized in Guatemala, which I call finca nación, is today betrayed by the same ethnic and class condition of those who are in charge and who do not even understand the country in front of them.

The criminalization of Luis Pacheco, former president and Héctor Chaclan, former treasurer of the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, is an affront against the people of Guatemala, against all the indigenous organizations of the country and against those who took to the streets to defend democracy for more than 106 days.

48 cantons of Totonicapán is an ancient organization that existed before the nation state and is very important at the national level. It is evident that this is an attack against this organization that was vital to put in check the coup pact.

However, in the midst of this atrocious, criminal act of the colonial justice of the failed State, it is vital to remember and analyze that criminalization is the cruelest act and an exemplary punishment, which is literally the domination of the bodies of the detained persons.

This has several levels: the individual, which directly affects the person who is being detained; the family, because the detention has an impact on the family social fabric of the closest people; the community, where this impacts on different levels, the organization and indigenous leaderships nearby, in this case directly to 48 Cantones; and then comes the general level, where the population in general is affected, which in similar profiles sees a punishment for the work done.

This is part of the shock doctrine, of the State terrorism of what I call the judicial dictatorship. They are accused of terrorism, illicit association, obstruction of criminal action, obstruction of justice, which has been since 2008, part of the package of crimes that the institutions have been using to criminalize indigenous leaders.

I do not deny the pain I feel to see someone who served as our authority, criminalized and detained, but this is the justice of the topsy-turvy world where criminals are sitting free deciding how this country will function, where the current puppet government has decided to just watch.

And I am not going to romanticize, I am not going to idealize. Our organization has many contradictions, inconsistencies and there are many questionable things within it, but it is our organization and we are going to defend it with whatever it takes.

Lucia Ixchíu is K’iche, tree of the forest, architect, anti-patriarchal, journalist, storyteller and indigenous filmmaker. Coordinator @blackindigenousliberation and @festivalesgt.