The faces of resistance and dignity

2020-11-05T03:50:41.075Z

Activistas por la vida is a photographic project of the Entrepueblos association. It brings together the faces of women and men from Guatemala and Honduras who fight for human rights and the environment, facing threats from corrupt rulers, predatory businessmen and unscrupulous gunmen.

1Central America is one of the regions most abundant in natural resources, but its citizens seem condemned to live in the most unequal and violent societies.
Rosalina Dominguez
Río Blanco (Honduras), 1970. This Lenca indigenous woman is treasurer of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh).
The Gualcarque river was to be used to build a dam and a hydroelectric plant by a company financed by the Dutch Development Bank.
It was paralyzed after the assassination of environmental leader Berta Cáceres in 2017. Gervasio Sánchez
2The pressure of extractive investments in raw materials on territories and communities is becoming increasingly unsustainable: more than three million people have managed to emigrate to the United States bypassing the walls and 800,000 have applied for asylum in Europe.
Malbin Norales
Vallecito (Honduras), 1977. Garífuna, is coordinator of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Ofraneh) in Vallecito.
It is an ancestral Garífuna area recovered in October 2012 from drug traffickers and where today four families live, 45 people, in total.
He received death threats and they wanted to kill him along with his wife and children.
Gervasio Sanchez
3In Guatemala, there are 339 valid mining licenses and another 419 pending.
In the last four years, 1,641 attacks have been registered against human rights defenders.
Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic
Santa Cruz (Guatemala).
She was born on September 15, 1972. This indigenous Quiché was co-founder in 2007 of the Council of K'iche's Peoples for the Defense of Life, Mother Nature, Land and Territory (CPK).
She is threatened with death in her country and has lived outside of Guatemala since 2017. Her opposition to extractive mining and hydroelectric plants has led to her persecution.
Gervasio Sanchez
4In the case of women, who play a fundamental role in defending the territory, a whole series of added impacts is added.
In the last five years, 4,008 violent deaths of women and 318,246 complaints of violence against them have been reported.

Rosa Elvira Coc Ix, Elvira Choc Chub, Luisa Caal Chun, Irma Choc Cac, Margarita Caal Caal
These women, born between 1967 and 1985, are Quekchi Mayans.
They were victims of sexual violence during the eviction of the Guatemalan community Lot 8 carried out in 2007 by security personnel from the Canadian mining company, police and military.
In 2011, they sued the Canadian company in Toronto.
Gervasio Sanchez
5Honduras suffers from a process of corrupted institutions —or institutionalized corruption— and it is the framework that allows a whole network of illicit businesses to the highest levels.
Gaspar Sanchez
La Esperanza (Honduras), 1993. This Lenca indigenous is coordinator of Sexual Diversity and Equal Rights of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh).
Its purpose is to raise awareness of the need to respect gays and lesbians.
There have been more than 300 sexual hate crimes in the last decade.
Gervasio Sanchez
6 Territorial dispossession, climate change, lack of economic prospects and violence mean that two of the nine million inhabitants live outside the country (mainly in the United States and Spain).
Meanwhile, 66% of the population lives in poverty.
Of it, 40% do so in poverty.
Lenca indigenous community
La Jarcia (Honduras).
María Catalina Rodríguez Vásquez, María Marcelina Dominga Vásquez, her daughter Nora Suya, María Rosario Dominga Vásquez, her son Darwin Alexis and Raimunda Vásquez occupied ancestral lands in 2009 after getting tired of renting.
The police destroyed their houses.
The charges were dropped in 2017. Gervasio Sánchez
7
Bernardo Caal Xol
Cahabón (Guatemala).
He was born on January 13, 1972. This Quekchí Mayan community leader, known as “The Guardian of the Rivers”, was sentenced on Friday, November 9, 2018 to seven years and four months in prison for the crimes of illegal detention. with aggravating circumstances and aggravated robbery during protests that occurred three years ago against hydroelectric plants.
Gervasio Sanchez
8
Rosalina Tuyuc
San Juan Comalapa (Guatemala).
She was born on October 14, 1956. Her father, Francisco Javier Tuyuc, has been missing since July 1982 and her husband, Rolando Gómez, since May 1985. This indigenous Kaqchikel founded in 1988 the National Coordinator of Widows of Guatemala.
It has been photographed in the Paisajes de la Memoria memorial, where the bodies of 172 unidentified people murdered during the 1980s are kept.
All images belong to the book 'Activistas por la vida'.
Gervasio Sánchez.
Editorial Blume.
Exhibition at Arts Santa Mònica in Barcelona from November 4 to March 14, 2021.
Gervasio Sanchez