The Guatemalan government has reached an agreement with 33 indigenous communities to pay them 122 million euros (around $154 million) for damages from the construction of a hydroelectric power station more than 30 years ago.
The terms of the settlement still to be signed were agreed on Tuesday at a meeting in the presence of the governments Human Rights Ombudsman, according to officials.
“It is a historic pact which comes after a 30-year-long negotiation process related to the damages caused by the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric power station,” said presidential adviser Miguel Angel Garcia.
Around 2,300 families from the 33 communities were affected in 1978 due to the construction of the power plant in the northern department of Alta Verapaz.
Guatemala’s National Ombudsman, Jorge de Leon Duque, also described the agreement as historic in statements to journalists.
The Coordinator of Communities Affected by the Construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Plant, an entity that brought all the victims together, requested compensation of 1.2 billion quetzals (122 million euros or $154 million) which was finally agreed.
In January, the United States included Guatemala in the Consolidated Appropriations Act and conditioned new loans at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and World Bank to make progress in the restitution of the case.
The Chixoy hydroelectric power station, the largest in Guatemala with a production of 300 megawatts providing 18 percent of the country’s total energy demand, was funded by the IDB and other organizations.
The agreement contains measures for “repairing houses, land, sanitation, and the improvement of health” of the 33 communities.
At least 400 farmers were killed by the government and thousands were evicted for refusing to surrender their land for the construction of the hydroelectric plant.
Guatemala Reaches Historic Agreement to Compensate 33 Indigenous Communities
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