On May 1st a group of gunmen ambushed three community leaders who were returning from Santa Cruz Barillas to their community near Posa Verde. The company Hidro Santa Cruz is pressuring to build a hydroelectric dam in that area, a project strongly resisted by the communities even through massive popular consultations.

Andres Francisco Miguel died in the incident, while his colleagues and neighbors Pablo Antonio Pablo and Esteban Bernabé, who had refused to sell their lands and therefore had been legally persecuted by the corporation, were seriously injured.

The people who were injured and witnesses of the death of Andres Francisco Miguel said the aggressors were driving similar cars of Hidro Santa Cruz, so they assumed the violence was perpetrated by people linked with the company.

This is also related with a claim filed two weeks ago before the authorities about the existence of home-made explosives in the company’s premises. Besides this, there was intimidation from the company such as legal persecution, co-opting of leaders and threatening messages.

Real World Radio interviewed Francisco Rocael Mateo Morales, member of the Departmental Assembly for the Defense of Huehuetenango Territory (ADH), who also mentioned that the authoritarian administration of Otto Perez Molina has declared a state of emergency in Santa Cruz Barillas, followed by arrests and raids against leaders who resist the company.

Meanwhile, the coordinator of CEIBA – Friends of the Earth Guatemala, told Real World Radio that it is necessary to call the attention of national and international human rights groups so that they protect the community’s rights.

The day after the incidents community, human rights and environmental organizations demanded the immediate review of the file and the suspension of the building and operation license of Cambalam hydroelectric dam, as well as the withdrawal of the company from the area and an investigation to clarify what happened and try the direct and indirect responsible.

Information was also circulated worldwide and different organizations are considering carrying out urgent actions to stop human rights violations in that Guatemalan region.