Thursday night, Bernardo Caal Xol (Guatemalan environmental defender) was released from Coban prison after four years of imprisonment for his resistance to hydroelectric projects within the Alta Verapaz department.
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The Qeqchi-Mayan defender was accompanied at his release by his lawyers and a delegation representing his community. Together, they continue to fight the Oxec S.A. hydroelectric power plants on the Cahabon River in Alta Verapaz.
Today is the day that history is being made. Once again, we have shown the world how social leaders are criminalized in Guatemala,” Caal Xol said.
Bernardo Caal Xol was sentenced by the Alta Verapaz Criminal Court to seven years imprisonment on November 9, 2018. He was accused of aggravated robbery, acts of violence against employees at a hydroelectric plant.
Bernardo Caal Xol preso poltico qued en libertad, en medio de la emocin y abrazos de familiares y amistades dijo “Le hablara nuevamente a mi pueblo con la cara en alto porque las empresas hidroelctricas Oxec S. A. Son quienes me fabricaron los delitos”
Gilberto Cucul pic.twitter.com/Q0aruM6PdY
PrensaComunitaria (@PrensaComunitar)
March 25, 2022
The tweet said, “Bernardo Caal Xol a political prisoner was released amid emotion & hugs from family & friends.” He stated, “I will speak to my people once more with my face high because the Oxec hydroelectric company fabricated my supposed crime’.”
In reality, however, the Maya QEqchi leader was a victim of political persecution as a result of his struggle against companies that operate in the north of this Central American country.
Caal Xol is a 49-year-old teacher who became the visible figure of the protests that began in 2015, when the Q’Eqchi Indigenous people opposed the arbitrary actions of the hydroelectric companies that prevented them from accessing the Cahabon and Ox-eek rivers, where people used to bathe and access water for centuries.
Human rights organizations around the world became aware of his persecution and condemned him as a prisoner conscience.
As anti-government protests continue against corruption and the increase of the national general budget for the period 2021, a group of protestors set fire to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala. @SantiagoteleSUR pic.twitter.com/FQbfuhD2tk
teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)
November 21, 2020