Listen to archaeologist Richard Hansen talk about his imperialist pet project, which would wrest control of the land away from local caretakers & turn a site of immense cultural significance into a private resort. His words seep w/racist contempt for Guatemalans and Mayas. https://twitter.com/Ronislove/status/1273483394861563905

This project of his is contemptible enough when viewed as an isolated case. But it builds on a long, sordid history of imperialism in the Peten that has attempted to put Maya communities under the thumb of empire for centuries. Let’s lay it all out, shall we?

The Peten, a densely forested department in northern Guatemala, was one of the last regions to be “conquered” by the Spanish. In 1697, Spanish forces invaded the Itza Maya capital of Noj Peten (known now as Flores) and massacred its inhabitants as they tried to flee.

I use scare quotes b/c although Noj Peten was a Spanish-occupied presidio thereafter, Itzas founded a new capital nearby, maintained regional trade networks that bypassed the presidio, & organized persistent rebellions in the following century. “Conquest” is Spanish propaganda.

The siege of Noj Peten was orchestrated by Martín de Ursúa, a colonial governor who craved the fame & fortune of the conquistadors of old (for him already 100+ years removed). He set his sights on Noj Peten, and contrived a reason to penetrate the region: a camino real.

His plan was to build a camino real, or royal highway, that connected the Yucatan w/highland Guatemala by plowing right through Itza territory. His pretext was to ease travel b/w colonial centers, but the real prize was conquering the Itzas, among the last sovereign Mayas.

Like Hansen’s miniature train to El Mirador, Ursúa’s camino real was a tool of imperialism: on its face about accessibility, but at its core about regional control. (Who has access, who controls access?)

But as I said, “conquest” is a myth. For centuries after Ursúa’s invasion, the Peten remained a refuge for Maya communities, proving ungovernable (haha suck it colonizers) for the Spanish Crown and later the independent Republic of Guatemala.

This became especially important during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996), which saw an oppressive US-backed military commit genocide against Maya peoples and terrorize other rural groups. People fled to the Peten to avoid persecution, rebuild community, & organize.

As part of the 1996 Peace Accords, the Guatemalan government transferred forested lands to the refugee communities and cooperatives living in the Peten to promote local resource management. Under this arrangement, deforestation has dwindled and communities have thrived.

Carmelita, whose members are featured in the video, is one such community forest concession in the Peten. Hansen wants to strip this community of their livelihoods, insinuating that he knows better how to care for the lands they’ve maintained for decades.

Hansen’s project is just another chapter in the long tome of imperialist and capitalist interventions that aim to exploit the Peten at the expense of its mostly Indigenous caretakers. Sign the petition to stop him in his tracks: https://www.change.org/p/us-senate-stop-bill-s-3131-mirador-calakmul-basin-maya-security-and-conservation-partnership-act?recruiter=982605015&recruited_by_id=6c878120-a2b9-11e9-a101-d574ede2b794

TL;DR: Richard Hansen can suck on his miniature train and choke on it. I yield my time. FUCK YOU.

And if you want to learn more about the communities managing Guatemala's precious rainforests, give @ACOFOP a follow!