(Castellano) (Euskara)
Aura Lolita Chávez, a Mayan K’iche‘ leader, who accompanies the life and sovereignty of 87 self-organised communities in the Council of K’iche’ Peoples, is receiving new public threats from Mayor Nery Ramírez with false accusations, increasing collective hatred, defamation and racism. The threats began for defending the right to organisational life of the community of Chujuyub.
From here, from Euskal Herria and from A Paneta, like many other groups and organisations that know her and work with her, we stand in solidarity with Lolita and share that we will not allow anything to happen to our sister Lolita Chávez. She has already gone through enough being forced to live away from her land and her family, so they continue to be threatened and slandered.
Moreover, this is happening and we are saying this on the International Day against Gender Violence (Nov 25) and, because of this, we are once again expresing that we will not tolerate any kind of violence, even verbal violence, against Lolita and any other woman simply because the fact of being a woman.
The community of Chujuyub also denounces that in addition to not validating the assembly processes, by denying the registration of community leaders in the municipal registers, the mayor of Santa Cruz del Quiché has also violated the rights of other communities and organisational expressions on other occasions.
C.P.K Council of K’ICHE’S Peoples
For the defence of life, Mother Nature, land and territory.
Under the guidance of the nahual I’x, protector of the mountains and symbol of our ancestral strength: The Council of K’iche’s Peoples reaffirms its support for the autonomy and self-determination of our communities in the exercise of their right to decide about their territories and their authorities. These elections, carried out through assembly processes, strengthen community life and are pillars of our ancestral organisation.
Today, 22 November, the legitimately elected community authorities in the community of Chujuyub went to the Municipality of Santa Cruz del Quiché to formalise their election. However, the municipality arbitrarily rejected their registration, demonstrating a clear act of institutional racism.
We demand that community decisions be respected and that the community authorities be registered immediately. We will not let our guard down and we will not allow corrupt and unpunished acts to continue to prevail in our territories, therefore, we will maintain a permanent assembly on site until all the collectively elected community authorities are registered.
This recognition is not only an act of justice, but also an indispensable step to guarantee the organisational rights and the right to life of our peoples.
Let us defend our autonomy and our dignity!
Council of K’iche’s Peoples
Santa Cruz del Quiché, …I’x, 22 November 2024
