[Aztlan] Letters Needed: Crisis on the Usumacinta

[David Becraft]

Listeros,

The last time the U.S. got involved in Guatemala...and El Salvador, 
Honduras, and Nicaragua; thousands of innocent people died.  This indeed is 
a Land issue, but its not about protecting the "Parks", its about protecting 
the rights of Indigenous people to use their own land, which has been held 
back from them.

David F. Becraft

>From: charles golden <cgolden at brandeis.edu>
>To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
>Subject: [Aztlan] Letters Needed: Crisis on the Usumacinta
>Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:11:34 -0400
>
>Dear Listeros,
>
>Many thanks to Dave Pentecost for posting the links to news reports on the 
>Sierra del Lacandon and Piedras Negras.
>
>I wanted to write to emphasize the situation is dire.
>
>This could be the moment in which Piedras Negras is lost to the looters for 
>good, and the remaining portions of the park are burned or logged out.  I 
>have worked in the area since 1997, and I have experienced all the many, 
>many problems that plague the Usumacinta.  I have never seen such a crisis. 
>  Previous attacks on Piedras Negras or on the park authorities were 
>sporadic and limited to one location.  The current situation represents a 
>concerted, multi-pronged attack designed to cause the Guatemalan 
>authorities to abandon the park - a plan that has, for now, succeeded.  The 
>Usumacinta is now a free trade zone for looters, loggers, and narcos.
>
>I want to ask, on behalf of my friends in the Defensores de la Naturaleza, 
>administrators of the park, who are valiantly trying to get the Guatemalan 
>government to respond to this crisis, and on behalf of the Instituto de 
>Antropologia e Historia in Guatemala which is similarly trying to protect 
>Piedras Negras that  you write to your representatives in congress and to 
>the US ambassador in Guatemala City encouraging them to take action.  In 
>the past, political and economic support from the United States through the 
>Embassy has been successful in getting action from the Guatemalan 
>government.
>
>You can e-mail Ambassador James M. Derham at AmCitsGuatemala at state.gov
>
>If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.
>
>Thank you,
>Charles Golden
>cgolden at brandeis.edu
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