Guatemala votes on Dams

The Río Hondo vote

On July 3, 2005, communities from the Municipality of Río Hondo, Department of Zacapa. held a local vote on three dams proposed to be built on the nearby Colorado river near the headwaters of the Sierras de las Minas mountain range. Of the 2,831 votes that were cast, 2,735 were "no" votes. The vote was proposed by the Mayor and Municipal Council, and conducted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Communities feared that the dams might break and that the fifteen communities located downstream would be in danger, especially because the environmental impact studies for the dams were conducted before 1998, when Hurricane Mitch greatly altered the geography of the area. There was also opposition to the idea of building dams near the protected Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve. Finally, it was reported that local people feared that the aquatic biodiversity of the Colorado river would be altered due to pollution and the impounding of water in the dam reservoir.

It has also been reported that Guatemala's Constitutional Court "upheld the results" of the local vote, although it is not clear what this means in light of the court's later decision in the Sipacapa mine legal challenge.

The Xalala vote

The municipality of Ixcan in the Department of Quiche is a region of rich agricultural lands, and untapped minerals and oil deposits. The Ixcan consists of 176 pueblos of Maya indigenous peoples (about 75,000 people) who live as subsistence farmers in an isolated jungle region.

The Xalalá Dam proposed for the Chixoy river in the Ixcan has been on the government's energy expansion plans for more than twenty-five years, but only recently has the dam become a priority. It is expected that the dam would attract foreign investment, generate profits, and provide electricity for more than two million people.

The proposed dam would displace thirty-six communities (roughly 2,000 people) along twenty-six miles of the Chixoy river. All told, the livelihoods of roughly 8,000 Maya-Qechi farmers would be negatively impacted. As is so common in situations where controversial development projects are proposed, the plan for the construction of the dam has already sparked violence in the area, and community leaders near the dam site claim they have been threatened.

On April 20, 2007 the communities of the Ixcan held a local vote to answer two questions: the level of support for the construction of hydroelectric dams on the rivers of the Ixcan; and whether to allow oil exploration in the Ixcan. According to reports from the local Mayor, of 21,155 voters, 89.7 percent voted "no" on both issues.

A commission of 35 representatives of the Community Development Council and social organizations from the Ixcán traveled to Guatemala City to turn in the results of the vote.

- Rights Action, reporting on the Xalala dam local vote