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Article

10 Aug 2015

Author:
Upsideworld

Guatemala: Indigenous communities recuperate ancestral land after centuries of struggle; Eco-tierra logging company to give up 800 hectares

“Indigenous community wins land rights victory in Guatemala after 200 years of struggle”, 5 Aug 2015

…[C]ommunity representatives and the Guatemalan Land Fund signed documents to officially recognize three communities that have called the land home for centuries. In the face of eviction, the communities negotiated a settlement with the Guatemalan Minister of the Interior, the Secretary of Agrarian Affairs, and representatives from Madera Filitz Díaz (part of Eco-tierra), the logging business seeking to harvest the land's forests….[T]he logging company ceded nearly 800 hectares of land…[I]n 2011, despite the ongoing negotiations, the government issued a logging permit to Madera Filitz Díaz (part of Eco-tierra)…[and] then declared the communities usurpers of private property and took steps to drive them from the land—including intimidation and the assassination of community leaders…