LA QUETZAL
Surrounded by the thick
jungle of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala's northernmost
province of El Petėn, refugees, returned from years in camps in Mexico,
resettled an abandoned plantation in hopes of starting over after one
of the bloodiest civil wars in the Americas left them landless,
homeless, diseased, and tortured with missing and dead relatives.
Approximately 230 families from all over Guatemala, speaking at least
seven indigenous languages as well as Spanish, managed to find
unimaginable heart and soul and returned to their homeland to struggle
against racism, class warfare, and military oppression to build a
stable, healthy future for their children filled with pride rather than
fear.
Since 1996, UUCAN has sponsored eight volunteers to provide human
rights accompaniment to the people of La Quetzal and thus offer a
measure of safety and security to the people as they start new lives
and rebuild community. When we began, we never imagined the gifts, the
richness that this relationship would bring to us and to the Unitarian
communities in the Pacific
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Northwest. We have been
blessed by remarkable young people who gave up time and energy, wrote
exquisite letters about their lives and the people of La Quetzal. Many
of us have visited the community and count the people of La Quetzal as
cherished friends. We have sponsored youth abroad delegations and
contributed funds and materials for the schools, the clinic and their
water project. This work would not have been possible without the
incredible generosity and support from you, our members, our extended
community here in the Pacific Northwest and now, throughout the United
States.
The community of La Quetzal is a strong, well organized cooperative.
Their leadership has consistently proven to be wise, proactive and
creative problem solvers. While their lives are hard and tenuous at
times, they continue to be committed to their community, to the Mayan
Biosphere where they live and to a future of peace in Guatemala. They
now face new threats to their lands, the forest and sacred ancestral
sites from Plan
Puebla Panama, especially the
proposed construction of giant hydroelectric dams that would flood as
much as one third of the Peten. Yet they are informed, organized and in
strong coalitions to fight this latest attack.
During this past decade, there have been no human rights threats or incidents in La Quetzal. On the other hand, the human rights situation is potentially very precarious for witnesses in the landmark genocide cases being brought against two dictators and their high commands. Since 2001 we have partnered with the Marin Interfaith Task Force in California to sponsor an accompanier for witnesses in two of the 22 communities participating in those cases, Ilom and Xix. Thus, in consultation with La Quetzal and with the guidance of our partners, the Guatemala Accompaniment Program (GAP) and NISGUA (Network In Solidarity with the People of Guatemala), we are ending accompaniment in La Quetzal. However, this does NOT mean that we will end our long-term relationship with the people of La Quetzal. We will continue our visits, delegations and youth programs. We will explore alternative means of support for education and health care. And we will monitor developments in the Peten such as Plan Puebla Panama that directly affect the safety and security of La Quetzal. We are proud of our work in La Quetzal, and pleased that accompaniers are no longer necessary there. This is cause for celebration!!