{"id":2564,"date":"2016-04-25T14:33:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T22:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=2564&lang=en"},"modified":"2021-02-22T18:57:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T02:57:23","slug":"the-fourth-invasion-guatemalas-water-crisis-in-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/economy\/food-security\/the-fourth-invasion-guatemalas-water-crisis-in-context\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"\u00abThe Fourth Invasion\u00bb – Guatemala’s water crisis in context"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thousands of people from throughout Guatemala, mostly rural and indigenous men and women whose livelihoods depend on small farming or plantation labor, arrived in Guatemala City on April 22, Earth Day, to denounce increasing water scarcity and pollution, food insecurity, and inequality in access to water and land.<\/span><\/p>\n

The March for Water\u00a0was a national event because throughout the country community leaders are being jailed and sometimes murdered for speaking out against existing and proposed dams, mines, and plantations that are threatening their communities\u2019 land, water, and livelihood.<\/span><\/p>\n

The main march route passed through Guatemala\u2019s southern lowlands, where tropical savannas, mangroves, and jungles that were likely once as verdant and diverse as the Yucatan rainforest have been nearly completely transformed. Expanding African palm, sugarcane, banana, and rubber plantations now dominate the region. Most of what they produce is exported.<\/span><\/p>\n

Large plantations in the region commonly redirect entire rivers. Basilio L\u00f3pez, a small farmer and community leader from Chiquirines<\/a>, near Coatepeque, said that 15 years ago there were three maize harvests a year in his area, and that fisherman could comfortably support their families. Today, there\u2019s only one maize harvest a year, and drying, polluted rivers make commercial fishing impossible. Nearby, an African palm plantation has a pump<\/a> (below) that when activated sucks so much water from the Pacay\u00e1 River, once one of the region\u2019s largest, that the river\u2019s two-foot-deep flow inches upriver toward the pump instead of downriver toward the ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bomba<\/a>
Hame group extractor pump in the\u00a0Pacay\u00e1 River. Photo by\u00a0Patricia Mac\u00edas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the summer, wells and rivers dry up. L\u00f3pez explained that nearby plantations \u201cbuild their all their dams and they capture all the water and they divert it to their crops\u2026 and for us, nothing.\u201d In winter, \u201cthey dump the water towards us because they no longer use it. They dump it into the river and for us this causes floods\u2026 I\u2019m against them because they\u2019re violating the right to life, to food… We can\u2019t produce, and the worst part is that they\u2019ve seized the best land.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n