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Two Years After the Signing of the Peace Accords,
Guatemalan Farmworkers Continue to Struggle By Wim Gijsbers This report was originally published in the Mexican newspaper Reforma, on January 2, 1999. It includes an engaging interview with campesino (farmworker) leader Fermina López, who sharply criticizes the ex-guerrillas' disregard of agrarian reform. During the Holy Week of 1995, 75 Guatemalan peasant families without land occupied a farm in the community of Villahermosa, located in the Department of Quetzaltenango. Today, only 44 families continue to struggle for their right to hold the land. The Peace Accords have failed to improve their prospects for obtaining land. Moreover, a new armed group has appeared, the Rebel Front of the People (FRP). According to some sources, it consists of a band of assaulters, while others claim they are dissatisfied ex-guerrillas. The consequences: a greater military presence and a stronger repression against the organized agricultural workers. Two years after the signing of the agreements, one of the main problems that caused the civil war--the contrast between the thousands of poor farmers and handful of rich landowners-- is still as alive today as it was 40 years ago, and is getting worse. During these two years, the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture (Cámara del Agro) and the Mayan Peoples' Coordination (COPMAGUA) have reached only two minimal agreements: the establishment of a fund for buying lands, called FONTIERRAS, and the decision to complete a land registry. The second accord is crucial, since the last census took place in 1979, just before the wave of massacres (1980-82), when over 400 communities were wiped from the map and hundreds of thousands of farmers left their homes and cornfields to move to Guatemala City or abroad. Farmworkers without land were invited by the military to take over those cornfields, thus transforming the area's social and ethnic configuration. Other thousands remained, but distributed the small land parcels among their children, according to traditional customs. In 1979, more than 150,000 did not possess any land, while 500 other families owned less than 3.5 hectares, found largely in the mountain region. The sum of their cornfields amounted to less than the fertile plantations that belong to the 477 richest landowners of Guatemala. Today, inequality is much more apparent. In September of 1997, the campesino organization CONIC (member of COPMAGUA) led a demonstration, one of the first to take place after the Peace Accords. Campesino leader Fermina López Cabrera explains: "We were hoping to receive an answer from the government for eight communities that had signed an agreement to have land delivered; but as nothing happened, we decided to stage the demonstration. When we reached the front of the palace, provocateurs broke windows to blame us. Finally, a negotiating table was established between the government and the Ministry of Agriculture. Support was requested for FONTIERRAS, since only two communities have received aid since the signing of the Peace Accords. Other cases have simply been forgotten, such as the farm we occupy in Villahermosa. "Written proposals were demanded from the landowners, who always want to exploit the situation asking for high prices, and offering useless land. In Villahermosa's case, the compañeros (fellow workers) found a farm and made an offer, but FONTIERRAS thought the price was too high. Many compañeros began to despair and, since they had no means of survival, went to look for work elsewhere. Only half of the group remained, and the problems continued. In my village the compañeros found no answer either, after four years of struggle. All around the eastern department of Izabal, there has not been a positive answer, either from FONTIERRAS or from the government's CONTIERRA. "Consequently, the landowners are the winners. They gain time because according to the agreement, we cannot force an invasion of farms while we are engaged in dialogue. It's easy for government functionaries and landowners to call for patience, but two years of negotiation without an answer is too much when you have nothing to feed your family with. "Although agrarian reform had been one of the guerrillas' main goals, now the ex-guerrilla commanders don't even dare to mention it. Along with the government, they accept modernization and redistribution of land according to market needs. The Peace Accords were supposed to be beneficial for the farmers, but nothing has come through. Now the government is supporting groups of farmworkers that do not belong to any organization. It's a scheme to help them remain in Congress. "A lawyer from the ruling party (PAN) arrived in Villahermosa offering land under the condition that the people withdraw from the CONIC. What we agreed upon was to buy land where campesino families could move to, at a reasonable price. The landowners demanded the minimum price be 1,500 quetzales (approximately 230 dollars) per caballería (44.5 hectares)." The government gives campesinos a subsidy of 10,000 quetzales and lends the rest with an interest of 12% a year. The farmworkers earn an average of seventeen quetzales a day. Under such circumstances, how can they pay? They would find themselves in debt for the rest of their lives." Concludes Fermina López: "We are still negotiating these conditions with the government, but the compañeros are starting to take more direct action." Article translated by ISLA and reprinted here with permission. Spanish version available upon request. |
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