2007-02. Primavera del Ixcán: The Resistance Fair

Primavera del Ixcan Community. Quiche, Guatemala.
January 30th – February 2nd, 2007
Issue: Post-War / Reparations / Historic Memory“We, the Communities in Popular Resistance (CPR), were born in 1983 due to the repression unleashed by the government and army during the beginning of the 1980’s in our own country. The policy known as Scorched Earth Campaign forced thousands of our Guatemalan brothers and sisters to abandon their land and flee to Mexico. Others found themselves internally displaced within the country so as to save their lives. But us, who included several hundred families from within Ixcan, did not leave.” (1)

“Due to the love for our land and in an attempt to save our families’ lives as well as our own, we [hid and] resisted in the wilderness for 12 years. We learned to share what little we could find so that no one would go hungry. We sowed the values of Solidarity, Equality, Respect, Love for Our Mother Nature, Love for Life itself, and armed ourselves with courage so as to face and withstand the atrocities which the army performed.” (2)

During the mid 1960’s, several government and church-sponsored programs were developed in order to colonize the densely forested region of Ixcan. Covered by a thick jungle, Ixcan is located on the northern third of the department of Quiche, bordering with Chiapas, Mexico. During the beginning of the 1970’s, the efforts to populate the region gave birth to the five communities that together once formed the Great Ixcan Co-Op of Various Services: Mayalan, Xalbal, Pueblo Nuevo, Cuarto Pueblo, and finally Los Angeles. “In 1975,” however, “a gradual process of militarization spread across Ixcan, which coincided with the beginning of activities by the Poor Peoples Guerilla Army (EGP) in the region.” (3)

“In 1982 the repression [by the army] against the communities in Ixcan rises massively in scale due to the new counterinsurgency policy implemented by the military. Known as the Scorched Earth campaign, the new strategy dictates the complete extermination and destruction of entire communities so as to defeat the guerrilla [by wiping out what was perceived to be their base structures]. It is under this new policy that the Cuarto Pueblo massacres take place, surely the ones with the most historical impact in Ixcan.” (4)

In March 1982, the army carried out three massacres in Cuarto Pueblo, which according to the report from the Historic Clarification Commission (CEH) left a toll of over 400 mortal victims. (5)

“With the passing of time, survivors from the Cuarto Pueblo massacres, along with other nearby communities also destroyed by the army, found themselves in hiding and congregated under the jungle canopy. In December 1983, [such group of internally displaced Guatemalans develop a formal structure and authority known as] the Communities in Popular Resistance (CPR)… Between 1983 and 1986, the army systematically hunted down the CPR destroying their crops and camps. Many people died from sickness and starvation. Ten years later, in 1996, the CPR bid farewell to the land lots of the Great Ixcan Co-Op so as to permanently transfer to the former San Isidro Ranch, henceforth giving birth to the Primavera del Ixcan Community.” (6)

Today, Primavera maintains the same organizational structure developed during its years in hiding. Community elections, open to every man and woman, are held every January 30th so as to democratically elect local leaders who in turn form the Coordinating Committee of Primavera del Ixcan (CCPI). From the CCPI one person is chosen to serve for two years as Community Mayor within the local municipal governmental structure.

Meanwhile, the last day of January is reserved annually so as to hold the Ordinary Assembly of the Agricultural Co-Op of Various Services, called La Resistencia (The Resistance). Such institution serves as the community’s main economic arm and principal source of communal income for Primavera.

A store that provides various products, managed by the Resistencia Co-Op, supplies the community with a vast number of items.

As the two days of assemblies come to a close, the Resistance Fair takes center stage. The festivities include an impressive number of sporting, cultural and entertainment events that last until the morning of every February 3rd.

Due to the history of colonization in the region, many communities in Ixcan contain a diverse mix of social groups uncommon in other regions of Guatemala. Primavera’s uncharacteristic blend includes Mayan indigenous people from the Mam, Q’anjob’al, Ixil, K’iche, Kaqckikel, Chuj and Achi ethnic groups in addition to some Ladinos (mix of European decent and indigenous peoples). Meanwhile, most of the villages adjacent to Primavera are populated nearly to their entirety by the original indigenous people of the area, the Maya Q’eqchi’. Yet a few nearby towns are comprised by a different group of displaced peoples: those who returned after living in Mexico as refugees during the internal conflict. The ethnic structure within these settlements also varies.

During the Resistance Fair, a soccer tournament between teams of several communities within the Ixcan region allows neighboring settlements to associate and establish friendly ties. Pictured, a defender from the Technological High School in Playa Grande steals the ball from an Alianza Primavera striker.

Traditional games also take place as part of the revelry. The race to catch the greased piglet caused great sensation as the winner took the farm animal home.

Nevertheless, the negative effects of globalization as well as influences by community members who migrate north in search of an improved economic status are phenomena that Primavera, like most other Guatemalan communities, has not been able to escape. The billboard displays the movies to be showed in the temporary movie theater during the festival – all violent films glorifying western warlike ways. A community leader ponders: “What can we do to keep our youth from losing their identity?”

Adolescents admire a photography exhibit depicting key events in the community’s history. Despite possible distractions, the preservation of collective memory remains at the forefront above any other theme during the affair.

Verses from The Clearing, written by community members during their days in hiding, as is played live by teachers over the community loudspeaker:

Here I am under the jungle cover, One day I hope to exit into the clearing
Leave the shade, leave the hillsides, And see the horizon smile

In the wilderness life is hard, One has many needs
Hunger and sickness surround us, And so does the army and its oppression

But even though the struggle is lengthy in time, Such sacrifice I must commit to
Because after such sorrow and need, A new world we will encounter

Such thoughts comfort me, And fill my heart with joy
Because my children will be happy, In a non-oppressed Guatemala

The crops will belong to everyone, And my country won’t go hungry anymore
No one will live the hardships, Which our people now experience

That’s the clearing I most want, The clearing I want to live in
When my children, my grandchildren, In liberty they can live

Monsignor Mario Alberto Molina, Bishop of Quiche, attended the Resistance Fair as it coincided with the inauguration of the community’s new catholic church.

During the morning of February 2nd, catholic members of Primavera marched in a procession that marked the official opening of the new church and culminated with the confirmation of dozens of faithful as well as two weddings.

The Catholic Church has played a protagonist role throughout Ixcan’s history: during the 1960’s and 70’s, several of the colonization programs were sponsored by it. In addition, thanks to the support of Monsignor Julio Cabrera, previous Bishop of Quiché, a loan from CARITAS was granted which allowed the community to buy the former San Isidro Ranch in 1996, known today as the Community Primavera del Ixcan.

Besides the presence of the high-ranking cleric, the community also welcomed Rosalina Tuyuc (right) and other members of the National Program for Indemnification (PNR). The PNR was formed in accordance to the 1996 Peace Accords and its function is to research and determine who and how should receive wartime compensations. Within the Peace Accords, the CPR are clearly defined as part of the uprooted sectors of society and declared victims of the internal conflict. (7) Therefore, members of the community have a right to receive “legal security in the ownership (among others, the use, propriety, and possession) of land.” (8)

The community, however, as it celebrates its 11th anniversary, still finds itself repaying part of the loan to CARITAS for the purchase of the former San Isidro Ranch. “The state never lent a hand with respects to the permanent transfer of the community to Primavera” states Juan Diego, member of the CCPI. “The only thing achieved was the recognition of the CPR as part of civil society. But regarding the purchase of the lot, as well as the transfer, it was strictly a community affair.”

Throughout the years, the community has attempted to establish a number of development programs that will alleviate its economic woes. Primavera currently participates in a project ran by the United Nations Program for Development (UNPD) made up of four programs: reforestation, rubber, livestock, and pejibaye – a type of edible palm. The project, however, has not turned out as expected and the community now finds itself indebted through this as well. Hence, the principal of the four main requests to the PNR focuses on the cancellation of the community’s remaining debt with CARITAS (which gracefully cancelled large part of the original sum) as well as the loan received to start the UNPD project. Pictured are solar panels installed on top of the community’s main office – the town’s only electrical source as of yet.

Rosalina Tuyuc and Catalina Arcon from the PNR, as well as other members of the CCPI, watch as local teacher Eulalia Francisco (right) makes evident the deplorable state of a local classroom. The construction of an adequate educational facility within the community stands as the second request to the PNR.

Roughly, 700 students will be attending the primary and middle schools this year, from which some 300 belong to nearby Maya Q’eqchi’ villages. One third of the community’s Instituto Basico por Cooperativa, the region’s only middle school, is comprised of students not from Primavera. Both schools are recognized by the state and have licensed educators. But, in eleven years, the government has not managed to build the required infrastructure.

Members of the CCPI present Rosalina Tuyuc a rather imposing and comprehensive document stating Primavera’s collective request to the PNR. The community proposes the construction of a health clinic and the purchase of an adjacent land lot to be used for further housing, in addition to the previously mentioned construction of an adequate school and the cancellation of debts with CARITAS and the startup of the UNPD project. Not diverging from their values of solidarity and equality, the roughly 275 families that populate Primavera del Ixcan have opted for collective indemnification as opposed to soliciting individual compensation with regards to economic losses suffered during the internal armed conflict.

Version en español aquí.
In Japanese: 日本語で。

1 Political Declaration from the XXVIII General Ordinary Assembly of the Primavera del Ixcán Community. January 31, 2007.
2 Ibid.
3 Report from the Historic Clarification Commission (CEH), Annex I: Illustrative Cases, Volume II, p. 98.
4 Ibid, pp. 99-100.
5 Ibid, p. 109.
6 Ibid, p. 110.
7 Peace Accords, Accord IV: Accord for the Resettling of the Uprooted Civil Groups due to the Internal Armed Conflict. Oslo, June 17, 1994, p. 38.
8 Ibid, p. 42.