Guatemala: Army attacks Maya community: Gas Natural Fenosa, La Caixa, Repsol behind

Huehuetenango department highlighted

State of siege is a variant of the state of emergency that exists in Latin cultures and laws of military meaning: it implies the suspension of human and political rights and a totalitarian military administration (punctual localized fascism by other name).

The Guatemalan President, retired general Otto Pérez, decreed the state of siege in Santa Cruz Barillas (Huehuetenango) five days ago in support of Spanish energy multinational Unión Fenosa, owner of both the Guatemalan electricity companies, against the community opposing the construction of a reservoir.

Some 12 people have been arrested, of which two only have been named (Carmelina López Miranda, 43, and Esperanza Herrera Serrano, 74). Apparently the women were captured because the troops did not find their husbands at home in a clear violation of all human rights and common sense.

A phone call by a local resident going by the name Aurora declared: I am hidden, hungry and very worried.

The Maya communities of this area suffered massively in the civil war in the 1980s, when the military massacred the communities. Aurora recalled all that:

The military killed our parents, we are living with much sadness and terror, very specially the women with their children, please end the state of siege.

On April 13th 298 out of 305 communities confirmed their rejection to the construction. On May 2nd, Andrés Francisco Miguel, Pablo Antonio Pablo and Esteban Bernabé were ambushed by security guards of the ad hoc construction company Hidro Santa Cruz, killing the first one and injuring the others.

The murder triggered massive protests, some of which ended in destruction of property of the criminal company. This was used as pretext to impose the state of siege. 

This military intervention is similar to others executed in the recent past in various localities in support of the Spanish mafioso multinational Gas Natural Fenosa, which holds the energy monopoly in the Central American country. 

Gas Natural Fenosa is owned by La Caixa (the largest Spanish bank, partly owned by Catalan elect institutions) and Repsol (the only relevant Spanish energy corporation, still a monopoly in many sectors, even against EU directives and a major neo-colonialist enterprise in Latin America).

Source: LINyM[es].