The Polochic Evictions Counteraction, 2012 October 06

This video is restricted and cannot be viewed on the HRDI website. Session is conducted in both English and Spanish. In this session, Mayra Gómez and Bret Thiele, founders of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, begin with a discussion of the case according to the framework of international human rights and gender, the systems of legal recourse that are available to the communities, and the position of power the government is in with regards to these evictions. Heather Teague discusses the work of Proyecto Contra-Desalogos en el Polochic with the Q’eqchi’ communities, including the Precautionary Measures granted by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, and presents a slideshow of photographs documenting the atrocities committed against the Q’eqchi’ communities during these evictions. After the slideshow two representatives from the evicted Q’eqchi communities describe how in March 2011, their communities were violently evicted from their lands in Panzós, Guatemala, where they lived as subsistence farmers. The two Q’echi’ people give testimony to their experiences during and after the evictions, their current access to resources, and the poverty experienced as a result of losing their livelihood. The panel then takes questions from the audience. [RT 01:42:28]