{"id":8205,"date":"2021-02-05T09:25:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T17:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=8205"},"modified":"2021-02-05T09:25:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T17:25:07","slug":"grand-plan-a-history-of-the-qeqchi-territory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/frontpage-en\/grand-plan-a-history-of-the-qeqchi-territory\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"GRAND PLAN — A History of the Q’eqchi’ Territory"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Carol Ixtabal\u00e1n<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00abThe earth is the cornerstone of Guatemalan social structure because through it, wealth and opulence have been forged by some–yet for the great majority, it has meant misery and abandonment by their government.\u00bb\u00a0 These words open Rafael Gonz\u00e1lez’ documentary <\/span>Plan Grande:\u00a0 Una historia del Territorio Q’eqchi’<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0 Its first showing is at the 5th Festival of Shorts and it closes out the Visible and Safe campaign by UDEFEGUA.\u00a0 Its goal is to divulge, communicate about and inform the general population regarding criminalization of and aggression towards those who defend human rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grand Plan<\/span><\/i> recounts how the Q’eqchi’ people have struggled against large corporations that disposses them of their ancestral land.\u00a0 It reveals the exploitation of them by these companies as a cheap labor force and the social injustices which are consequences of the government’s abandonment of them.\u00a0 Throughout the storyline a Q’eqchi’ man narrates how his father left the community known as Murci\u00e9lago, traipsing through forests, mountains and getting lost in vast flatlands.\u00a0 And from that originates the name of this community, Big Plan, a place, like many in this area of northern Guatemala, that have been affected by abusive third-party actors and dispossession of lands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image: Scene from the Documentary Plan Grande<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exploitation of Grand Plan began when production of bananas was introduced to the area in 1978.\u00a0 This created an expectation among the people that a \u00abgreat opportunity\u00bb was available due to the establishment of a major corporation in the region which would offer life-long employment for adults and their future children.\u00a0 It turned out to be a half-truth:\u00a0 there was work, very difficult and demanding work, which did not pay decent wages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alberto Chub Caal, a human rights and indigenous peoples’ rights defender talks about how in 2008, thirty years after the setting up of banana growing a group known as <\/span>Campo a Campo<\/span><\/i> arrived in the community talking about workers’ rights and the obligation to pay fair wages.\u00a0 It was then that people became more aware of the value of their work and began demanding what was rightfully theirs.\u00a0 As some Q’eqchi’ men have stated, \u00abThe wages were between 35-38 quetzales (about USD 4.60-USD 5.20) per day, working approximately 12 hours\/day, yielding 250 quetzales (approximately USD 34) every two weeks.\u00bb\u00a0 This is insufficient to survive, even more so, if one has a family.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were obstacles for the banana producers once the demands began.\u00a0 Their solution was to seek support from those high in the government who would facilitate the repression of the indigenous communities and facilitate the appropriation of their lands.\u00a0 They went as far as burning homes and crops, activities carried out by the national police.<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts in the field view this dispossession as a <\/span>new cycle of private enterprise’s appropriation of lands<\/span><\/i>:\u00a0 a process since colonial times which has continued through today.\u00a0 Its purpose is to advance mining megaprojects, monoculture or hydroelectrics.\u00a0 For this reason Alberto Chub Caal unwaverly defends the rights of indigenous communities who eat and live off the land.\u00a0 The land they plant which provides them with many resources for their subsistence.\u00a0 Alberto Caal was accused of illicit association with intent to silence the people.\u00a0 Then after two years and some months in prison he was released after he demonstrated that he was innocent.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This story is identical to that of many defenders of rights of indigenous people <\/span>vis-a-vis<\/span><\/i> natural resources in Guatemala and in all of Latin America.\u00a0 People who raise their voices in self-defense or in defense of others are quashed by those who take advantage of power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00abLand is a human right, she is \u00abour mother\u00bb because she gives us everything.\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

The Plan Grande<\/i> can be viewed in UDEFEGUA’s youtube channel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Image: James Rodr\u00edguez<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Carol Ixtabal\u00e1n \u00abThe earth is the cornerstone of Guatemalan social structure because through it, wealth and opulence have been forged by some–yet for the great majority, it has meant misery and abandonment by their government.\u00bb\u00a0 These words open Rafael Gonz\u00e1lez’ documentary Plan Grande:\u00a0 Una historia del Territorio Q’eqchi’. \u00a0 Its first showing is at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[453],"tags":[2733,2732,2730,2734,2731],"class_list":["post-8205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frontpage-en","tag-5th-festival-of-shorts-and-it-closes-out-the-visible-and-safe-campaign","tag-a-history-of-the-qeqchi-territory","tag-documentary-plan-grande","tag-plan-grande-udefegua-en","tag-short-film-rafael-gonzalez"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/articulo-carol-autor-james-rodrigues-titulo-evictions-in-el-estor.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-28l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11252,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/uncategorized\/artistic-residency-for-qeqchi-women\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":8205,"position":0},"title":"Artistic residency for Q\u2019eqchi\u2019 women","author":"EntreMundos","date":"25 septiembre, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"TRANSLATED BY MARIE WUNDER In the framework of the International Rural Women\u2019s Day, October 15, the Ma\u00edz de Vida Association launched for the first time the artistic residency program \u201cTerritorial Body\u201d, program specifically designed for the involvement and participation of Q\u2019eqchi\u2019 women. 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