Reparations

• June 2008 World Rivers Review: Legacy Issue 
  

"History does not allow injustices to vanish just because we are unable to address them."  Colombian author William Ospina

The fight for justice made by the communities affected by the Chixoy Dam in Guatemala has been going on for more than two decades. Their story is stupefying. At the time the dam was being built, horrendous persecution and even massacres of people in the dam region took place at the hands of the dictatorship. The indigenous Maya-Achí communities that lived on lands adjacent to the Chixoy (Negro) River where the dam was being built did not escape the hatred of the brutal regime. People lost the river, their land, fruit trees, animals, sacred sites, their dignity and, too many, their lives. Close to 6,000 people suffered ill effects from the dam, and at least 400 were murdered.

The survivors' resilience is admirable and humbling. For many years communities have organized, sought out national and international allies, protested, wrote letters, and met officials of the Guatemalan government, and project financiers at the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Community leaders sought remedy for wrongs doing committed against their loved ones as the dam was being planned, built and put into operation.

Volumen Uno: Resumen Ejecutivo: Daños Emergentes y Reparaciones: Recomendaciones para el Recurso

Durante más de 20 años, las comunidades afectadas por la Represa Chixoy han exigido las indemnizaciones por los daños y perjuicios causados por el proyecto, construido durante la dictadura militar más represiva de Guatemala. El aprovechamiento hidroeléctrico Chixoy–Pueblo Viejo, financiado por el Banco Mundial y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, se construyó sobre el Río Chixoy a principios de los años 1980 y fueron desplazadas forzosamente más de 3500 miembros de comunidades mayas. Más de 6000 familias que vivían en la zona también sufrieron la pérdida de sus tierras y modos de sustento. Cuando los miembros de las comunidades se opusieron a la reubicación y exigieron mejor compensación, fueron masacrados, torturados y secuestrados.

Chapter from Human Rights Dialogue: "Environmental Rights", Published by Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs. Describes the tragedy of the Maya-Achí people of Guatemala, victims of a World Bank-funded hydroelectric dam, and their efforts to reclaim their lives.

Durante más de 20 años, las comunidades afectadas por la Represa Chixoy han exigido las indemnizaciones por los daños y perjuicios causados por el proyecto, construido durante la dictadura militar más represiva de Guatemala. El aprovechamiento hidroeléctrico Chixoy–Pueblo Viejo, financiado por el Banco Mundial y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, se construyó sobre el Río Chixoy a principios de los años 1980 y fueron desplazadas forzosamente más de 3500 miembros de comunidades mayas. Más de 6000 familias que vivían en la zona también sufrieron la pérdida de sus tierras y modos de sustento. Cuando los miembros de las comunidades se opusieron a la reubicación y exigieron mejor compensación, fueron masacrados, torturados y secuestrados.

Cientos de represas grandes, planificadas en secreto, amenazan con acabar los ríos de América Central y México así como las economías de las comunidades que dependen de los ríos para su sustento. Las represas impactarían en las poblaciones de peces y los ecosistemas ribereños, de humedales y manglares que contienen muchas especies animales y vegetales, algunas aún no descubiertas.

The Chixoy Dam and its Pueblo Viejo Hydroelectric facility, built by INDE (Instituto Nacional de Electrificación) with financing from the Inter–American Development Bank and the World Bank, is the major source of electrical power for the nation of Guatemala.

The World Bank, Dams and the Quest for Reparations

The World Bank has been the largest single source of funds for large dam construction worldwide. Under its stated aim of alleviating poverty, it has promoted and funded dams that have displaced more than 10 million people from their homes and land, caused severe environmental damage, and pushed borrowers further into debt. Never hesitant to exact loan repayment in perpetuity for projects it has funded (even failed projects), the World Bank has never been forced to pay for the destruction it has caused to millions of people’s lives and the environment.

Volume 1: Exectutive Summary: Consequential Damages and Reparations: Recommendations for Remedy.

Volume 2: Document Review and Chronology of Relevant Actions and Events.

Volume 3: Consequential Damage Assessment of Chixoy River Basin Communities.

RE: Concerns of Proposed Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project

To the World Bank Board of Directors:

We commend the Bank’s interest and commitment to refurbish existing energy infrastructure at the Inga site in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, the legacy of the Inga dams and the interest in further hydropower development of the Inga site raise several issues which create a more complex context for the Bank’s proposed Regional and Domestic Power Markets Development Project (RDPMDP).¹ The following issues demand further attention before the Bank approves financing for this project.