Lack of consultation: Three (apparently Q’eqchi’) villages within the park­­­­—Sakopur, Sajobché, and Xyaal Kobé­—were not consulted when the government established the park. ⁽³³⁾. 

Evictions and violence:

• March 2011: Community members reported that joint army commandos, CONAP, and INAB forcibly evicted people from Xyaal Kobé on March 11, 2011. The authorities also destroyed houses and crops and shot one person. ⁽³⁴⁾
• February 27, 2018: Samuel Chub, an Indigenous land defender and community leader from Xyaal Kobe, was murdered. ⁽³⁵⁾
• Approx. 2019: Community members engaging as environmental defenders within the park have had arrest warrants issued against them. ⁽³⁶⁾
• June 2019: Government agents evicted people living in part of the park. A leader from UVOC stated that “landowners, hydroelectric companies, mining companies, monocultures and cattle ranching have taken over the community members’ lands through pressure, deception, criminalization, persecution, buying and co-opting the leaders.” He further stated that government agents “have violently evicted many people several times and have never taken the time to start a fair dialogue with the peasant population. In previous meetings, they detain leaders who come to represent the communities, such as in the case of the Secopur community, where at the end of the meeting, six people were detained, four of them were released and Edwin Choc and Martín Chub, who had an arrest warrant, were imprisoned.” ⁽³⁷⁾

• June 8, 2020: Alberto Cucul Choc, a Q’eqchi’ Maya park ranger and environmental defender in Laguna Lachuá, was shot and killed on his way to work. ⁽³⁸⁾ 

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Other land-related issues:

Invasions: Authorities have reported 12 unlawful invasions in the park in the past 15 years. Authorities have reported that these invasions have taken over 21% of the protected area and led to damaging fires throughout the park. Authorities have responded through monitoring activities, including patrols with the Guatemalan army, and reporting the occupations for prosecution. ⁽³⁹⁾ It is unclear whether any of these alleged invasions were by Q’eqchi’ people.

Conflicts: Generally, there is conflict over land and the use of natural resources in the park, further complicated by uncertainty and disputes over legal land ownership. ^{(40, 41)}

(33) Jordi Quiles Sendra, We Defend Life! The Social Struggles in Alta Verapaz, PBI Guatemala (~2019), https://pbi-guatemala.org/sites/default/files/We%20defend%20Life_cL.pdf, p. 31.

(34) Id.

(35) Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) - Verapaces Region: Agrarian Struggle Threatened, PBI Guatemala, https://pbi-guatemala.org/en/who-we-accompany/campesino-committee-highlands-ccda-verapaces/campesino-committee-highlands-ccda-%E2%80%93.

(36) Sendra, supra note 33.

(37) La falta de tierra los obligó a vivir en el Parque Nacional Laguna Lachuá, Prensa Comunitaria (July 17, 2019), https://prensacomunitaria.org/2019/07/la-falta-de-tierra-los-obligo-a-vivir-en-el-parque-nacional-laguna-lachua/ .

(38) In Memoriam: Indigenous Human Rights Defenders Murdered in 2020 in Latin America, Cultural Survival (Apr. 9, 2021), https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/memoriam-indigenous-human-rights-defenders-murdered-2020-latin-america#guate.

(39) 12 invasiones ilegales amenazan al Parque Nacional Laguna Lachuá un sitio RAMSAR en Las Verapaces, CONAP (July 10, 2024), https://conap.gob.gt/invasiones-ilegales-amenazan-al-parque-nacional-laguna-lachua/

(40) Plan Maestro: Parque Nacional Laguna Lachuá, Instituto Nacional de Bosques (INAB) (2003), https://conap.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/PM-PN-Laguna-Lachua.pdf, pp. 27–30, 40–41 (pp. 41–44, 54–55 of PDF) 

(41) Sendra, supra note 33.