The Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam currently sits upon a deserted tract of land with very few settlements located closely downstream. So pleased were the banks with the Chixoy hydroelectric dam that, in 1986, they authorised another loan to the project, making no mention of the human rights catastrophe that had taken place. The Guatemalan government still needs to approve the 2015 budget allocating funds to pay for these reparations, and it is still unclear where funds will come from. Thereafter, debt increased rapidly, by $100m a year or more in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and then more than $250m a year in 1981 and 1982, at the height of the terror.
Countless more were displaced, tortured, raped or left starving.
A hydroelectric dam and power plant were completed on the river in 1983, which led to the displacement of local Mayan villages.
The plan includes the following provisions:"We are all very happy about this news. More than 6,000 families living in the area also suffered loss of land and livelihoods. The best role the World Bank can play is to make reparations for the damage it has done – and clear the way for people who believe development is about people's rights rather than corporate profits. In 1978, in the face of civil war, the Guatemalan government proceeded with its economic development program, including the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam.Financed in large part by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, the Chixoy Dam … And all to make way for a hydroelectric dam.So pleased were the banks with the Chixoy hydroelectric dam that, in 1986, they authorised another loan to the project, making no mention of the human rights catastrophe that had taken place.Sadly, there was nothing especially unusual about this event in a country where, by 1982, horrific events had virtually become the norm under a series of military governments intent on terrorising the population. We remain hopeful and insist that the Banks make no-interest loans to pay their long-due debt to Maya Achi communities affected by the Chixoy Dam.However, the government refused to sign the legal agreement which would make the reparations plan binding, and ensure its completion.Protecting rivers and defending the rights of the communities that depend on them.For more than twenty years, communities affected by the Chixoy Dam have demanded reparations for the damages caused by the project, which was built during Guatemala's most repressive military dictatorship.
For more than twenty years, communities affected by the Chixoy Dam have demanded reparations for the damages caused by the project, which was built during Guatemala's most repressive military dictatorship. 6 Articles linked to Hidroelectrica Chixoy (Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam) Summary The Hidroelectrica Chixoy is a project that was conducted by the Guatemalan government with support from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank during the 1970s and 1980s, in the context of the 36 year Armed Conflict. We began to work for reparations in 1995 and today we heard the great news.
That area along the Chixoy River was once rich with Maya culture, communities, and villages. Yet, for the very worst period of the terror, international institutions including the World Bank hugely extended their lending to Guatemala year on year.The coup ushered in decades of repressive government but, by the late 1970s, state terror reached genocidal proportions, seeking to eliminate unions and social movements. It is the largest structure of its kind in the country. 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. By 1985 the country's debt had reached $2.2bn – an increase of more than $2bn in 10 years.Opposition was met with fierce repression from the armed forces. The Chixoy is navigable for about 140 miles of its total length of 250 miles (400 km). The project, financed by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, was built on the Chixoy River in the early 1980s and forcibly displaced more than 3,500 Maya Achi community members. The Chixoy Dam (Spanish: Planta Hidroeléctrica Chixoy) is a reinforced concrete dam and power plant spanning the Chixoy River between the Departments of Baja Verapaz, El Quiché and Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. For years survivors have lived in extreme poverty but never given up their call for justice. The Río Negro massacres were a series of killings of villagers by the government of Guatemala between 1980 and 1982.. "While the solemn ceremony at the stadium in Rabinal marked the culmination of the negotiations process for Carlos and the rest of the Maya Achi survivors, it also sets the beginning of another long, hard process – repairing the social, cultural, emotional, physical and environmental scars left by the Chixoy Dam. We are hoping that the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank and the government of Guatemala do the right thing, sign the government agreement, and begin implementation of reparations" said Carlos Chen Osorio, co-founder of the Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of the Violence Maya Achi (ADIVIMA), as well as director and main negotiator for the Coordination of Communities Affected by the Chixoy Hydroelectric Plant (COCAHICH).