Business as usual in the Polochic Valley?

I got a call this morning at around 5:29am.

It was Raul, one of the community leaders in the El Estor region that I had been working with. Unfortunately, I wasn’t awake to take the call. I called him back shortly after 9:00am. He asked whether I had talked to the other community leaders, which I hadn’t. He said to wait for another hour, or for their call, whichever came first. But, no one was picking up, or calling. At 11:40am, I got a call from Rights Action. I was told that there had been a killing during the night, almost exactly 12 hours earlier.

Maria Margarita Che Chub was a 37-year-old Qeqchi midwife and community leader in Parana de las Sierras de las Minas, located in the Polochic Valley. After finishing some chores in the kitchen, she headed out to her pila to bathe. As she started to take off her clothes, she was shot in the back and killed. She is survived by her two children. The Ministerio Publico arrived in the late morning to retrieve her body.

I’m shocked, but not surprised. This assassination fits the broader campaign of fear and repression used against the campesino movement during their struggle, which has been ongoing for a long time in the Polochic Valley. All too recently, Oscar Reyes was assassinated, and three others severely wounded, on May 21st in a conflict with the Chabil Utzaj sugarcane company. I’m meeting later today the leaders from El Estor to discuss what to do next. We had been planning a trip into the Polochic Valley on Monday, but none of us imagined that it would be for a funeral…