Rainstorms destroying CCDA communities, again (updated 2011-11-08)
Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 10:31PM A Report from Laura on One of the Communities Affected by this Year's Rain
Hello,
I had the opportunity to visit Salvador Xolhuitz this week, the CCDA-affiliated community that was most affected by the recent rains. The members of the community showed me the damages suffered on their property, and requested that I put together an article for their English-speaking friends to convey the impact of the damages and their concerns for the future.
The people of Salvador Xolhuitz have been through their fair share of struggles, since gaining access to their finca (plantation) through the government's land fund in 2004. They have worked to build their community, overcome internal conflict and attempt to meet the annual payments required to pay off their debt. Despite all of these challenges, residents are grateful for the land they now live and work on, and are determined to make their story a successful one.
Just as the rainy season was drawing to an end, the residents of Salvador Xolhuitz were presented with another challenge. After days of heavy rain, the earth gave way, and their finca suffered numerous landslides. Thankfully, there were no injuries or deaths, since the lanslides occured in the part of their property designated for production. The result however, is the loss .352 hectares of productive land, in the middle their harvest. Their losses are principally banana trees, coffee and trees used for wood. It is estimated that the cost of the damages is over Q 800,000.00 or $101,105.81 Canadian dollars.
The effects of the landslides would be devestating to any community, but in Salvador Xolhuitz there is an additional challenge, their debt. Altogether, Salvador Xolhuitz owes Q 2,740,123.28 (345,883.97 Canadian dollars) for the land they bought through the land fund in 2004. This figure represents an immense challenge, considering that each benefactor earns approximately Q 20 ($2.50 Canadian) a day[1]. As interest accumulates on their debt, benefactors find themselves further and further away from paying off the finca, with their payment plan to expire in 2016.
Guatemala's land fund was founded in the 1996 Peace Accords for the purpose of addressing the unequal access to land that plagues Guatemala. The land fund adheres to a market-based approach to land reform, which means that it serves as an intermediary between groups of campesinos interested in accessing land, and landowners interested in selling their property. Unfortunately, this program has failed to alleviate the problem of landlessness, as only 253 communities have succeeded in buying land since the land fund began its operations in 1998. Among land fund benefactors, the majority live in conditions of poverty, due to the poor quality of land accessed. It is common for fincas bought through the land fund to be remote, lacking infraestructure such as roads, potable water and electricity, and to have been long abandoned with land that is no longer productive. Since the creation of the land fund provoked a surge in demand for land, with few landowners willing to sell, the land accessed is often overvalued, leaving benefactors with a large debt. As the result of this situation, it is predicted that 139 of the 253 communities that accessed land through the land fund, will be unable to pay off their debt, and therefore are at risk of loosing their land. To date, three communities have lost their land after finding themselves unable to repay their debt.
Despite being among the 139 communities at risk of loosing their land, the residents of Salvador Xolhuitz are fortunate. The land they accessed is of good quality, and they have been able to build a school, install electricity and enjoy access to water. Since accessing the finca, they have had several good harvests, but have so far not been able pay the full amount outlined in their annual debt payments. Now, having lost approximately half of their coffee harvest, as well as other crops, they find themselves worrying about making ends meet, nevertheless fulfilling their debt payment. The damages suffered to the finca are yet to be acknowledged by the land fund, which has failed to provide any assistance to the community.
Aside from the land fund, the government has also failed to provide assitance to the community of Salvador Xolhuitz or other small producers affected by the rains. Unfortunately, when natural disasters strike Guatemala, emergency relief is often channeled through the government, where it rarely reaches campesinos. It is for this reason that the residents of Salvador Xolhuitz have turned to the CCDA their international partners, in this time of need.
In my conversations with the governing council for the community of Salvador Xolhuitz, I was told that any help received would be directed replanting lost crops and repairing damages, all of which will help them make this year's debt payment. Residents expressed their frusteration, that they have been forced to turn to organizations such as the CCDA and international partners for assistance, in times where it is the government's responsibility to come to their aid.
Donations can be sent to
CoDevelopment Canada
#260 2747 EastHastings St.,
Vancouver, BC, V5K 1Z8
Any donation over $20 will receive a tax receipt. In order to ensure that your contribution is directed to the CCDA, please write "CCDA relief" on the memo line of your cheque. For more infomration, please write: <cjgreenbeans@gmail.com>
[1] This figure is based on an estimation of their daily wages, using the approximate annual income of the finca divided by beneficiaries and days worked.
Please click here to see some pictures I took during my visit.
Take care,
Laura
A Report from the CCDA
Dear all;
The storms have come to the Guatemalan highlands. Again. Once in a decade storms, have now become annual events in Central America, and elsewhere in the tropics.
I have translated below a letter received last night from Leocadio Juracan. It appears that the CCDA community most severely affected is San Salvador Xolwitz, the Macadamia nut and coffee coop. This is the home community for Herlindo Hernandez, whom many of you met when he came with up Lesbia
Morales in 2009. Those who participated in the 2005 BC CASA tour also visited this community (in the killer speed pick up truck).
I wrote to Leocadio this morning to see if the CCDA wants us to launch an appeal.
Steve
BC CASA/Cafe Justicia-BC
cafejusticia.ca
The revolution will be caffeinated
Dear Steve.
Fraternal greetings. The neverending rains in our country have forced us to suspend our political activities, training sessions and even the coffee processing today due to the heavy rainfall. Instead we are investign our time in monitoring the situation in the communities. Unfortuantely we have begun to recieve worrying news tonight.
Seven communities in (the province of) Retalhuleu are flooded, the most strongly affected is Salvador Xolwuitz where there has been a major slide that has wiped out a large protion of thier crops of coffee, banana, basic grains and Macadamia. We calculate the losses to be around Q 800,000.00 (about Can $114,000). The community has also been cut off as the irt road from the highway has been destroyed, and thye are without water since the slide wiped out about 200 metres of their water line. This has left 89 families without water. The powerful winds have blown the roofs off half the homes and many of the families are now housed in the community school and the coffee warehouse.
In Huehuetenango, especially in (the municipality of) San Idelfonso Ixtahuacan a number of cob houses have been damaged. The torrential rains have washed thier walls. Many of the dirt roads in the area have been washed away, so there is no access to the affected communities.
In Sololá vehicle access on the Panamerican highway has been cut off, three homes have been destroyed by landslides at the El Paraiso cooperative in Chitulul (where much of our cafe justicia comes from), communities in San Lucas are once agian flooded. We have managed to evacuate some families.
The rain keeps coming down and in all our communities there is already damage to the crops. Sigue lloviendo y en todas las comunidades ya tienen perdidas en sus cultivos. Yesterday and today, we have not been able to go out and collect coffee. We hope that tomorrow the weather will imporve. If not, we will loose a significant part of the crop as the coffee cherries will fall.
This is why we need to press forward with our campaign for an increase and reoirintation of the MAGA (Ministry of Agriculture) budget, so that it develops a form of agricultual insurance for small producers.
Sincerely;
Leocadio
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CCDA CCDA
Date: 2011/10/12
Subject: Lluvias y demandas al congreso
To: Steve
Estimados Steve. Saludos Fraternos, Las interrumpidas lluvias en el nuestro país nos han obligado a suspender nuestras actividades políticas y capacitaciones el día de hoy incluso el procesamiento de Café debido a las fuertes lluvias por acá, y hemos invertido tiempo en el monitoreo de las comunidades, lamentablemente tenemos algunas noticias preocupantes desde a noche.
siete comunidades de Retalhuleu están inundados, entre ellas la más afectada es la Comunidad Salvador Xolwuitz con un deslizamiento en grandes proporciones que destruyó una gran cantidad de cultivos de café, banano, granos básicos y macadamia las pérdidas se calcula hasta en Q 800,000.00 además de estar incomunicados porque está destruido la carretera de terracería, así mismo se han quedado sin agua entubada porque el derrumbe destruyó en unos 200 metros la tubería de agua. Dejando sin líquido a 89 familias. Los fuertes vientos han dejado sin techo más de la mitad de viviendas, varias familias están albergadas en la escuela de la comunidad y la bodega de café.
En Huehuetenango, específicamente en San Idelfonso Ixtahuacan también fueron afectadas varias viviendas de bajareque que han sido lavado sus paredes. Caminos destruidos se han quedado sin acceso.
En Sololá esta interrumpido el acceso de Vehículos por la carretera interamericana, tres viviendas destruidas por derrumbe en la finca el Paraíso en la comunidad De Chitulul. San Lucas esta nuevamente inundada las comunidades del Campo. se evacuaron algunas familias.
Sigue lloviendo y en todas las comunidades ya tienen perdidas en sus cultivos. Ayer y hoy no se ha podido ir a recolectar el CAFE esperamos que mañana mejore el tiempo de lo contrario se estaré perdiendo gran parte de ese cultivo al caerse el grano.
por es necesario seguir con la demanda de ampliación y reorientación del presupuesto de MAGA para contemplar un seguro agrícola para los pequeños productores.
Atte.
Leocadio
PD. adjunto conferencia del domingo pasado
Comité Campesino Del Altiplano -CCDA-
Col. Quixayá, San Lucas Tolimán, Sololá.
www.comitecampesino.org
accionesccda.blogspot.com
Education in Action
Education in Action and the Cafe Justicia Network in Canada has launched a campaign to collect donations to assist with the reconstruction of Salvador Xolwitz.
Donations can be sent to
CoDevelopment Canada
#260 2747 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC, V5K 1Z8
Any donation over $20 will receive a tax receipt. In order to ensure that your contribution is directed to the CCDA, please write "CCDA relief" on the memo line of your cheque. For more infomration, please write to cjgreenbeans@gmail.com.