2017
Résolution No. 36/17
MC 412-17 - Residents displaced and the displacement of the Laguna Larga Community, Guatemala
On September 8, 2017, the IACHR decided to request that precautionary measures be adopted for the evicted and displaced residents of the Laguna Larga Community, in Guatemala. The request for precautionary measures alleges that approximately 450 people, comprised of approximately 100 families, of the Laguna Larga community in the Municipio of San Andrés, Petén Department, Guatemala, were settled in an area considered "protected" by the State of Guatemala. They were in a situation of risk, as they had been forcibly displaced from their community to the El Desengaño community, in the municipio of Candelaria, State of Campeche, Mexico. The families were living exposed to the elements in tents and shacks in a rural area of the border zone between Guatemala and Mexico. After analyzing the pleadings of fact and law, the Commission believes that the information presented demonstrates, prima facie, that the beneficiaries are in an urgent and serious situation. Consequently, pursuant to Article 25 of the Rules of Procedure of the IACHR, the Commission asked Guatemala to adopt the measures necessary to protect the lives and personal integrity of the beneficiaries through measures aimed at improving, among other aspects, sanitary and health conditions, especially of children, women, and the elderly; to adopt the measures necessary to protect the displaced population from potential acts of violence at the hands of third parties or State agents, thereby guaranteeing protection of their belongings, property, and crops abandoned by the community prior to its displacement; to adopt the measures necessary to continue the corresponding dialogue and consultation with the displaced persons to reach a durable solution for the displaced persons; to coordinate the measures to be adopted with the beneficiaries and their representatives; and to report on the actions take in order to investigate the facts alleged that led to the adoption of this precautionary measure and prevent their repetition.