by Jessica Sherman
Fernando Chiyoc Albizures and MaytÌn Castellanos would be pleased to know about the progress their neighbors in Champerico have achieved since their murders in 2001. These two young men (ages 14 and 22) were killed in separate incidents protesting the actions of the shrimp farming company Camarones S.A. (Camarsa) when factory guards opened fire.
Although no amount of progress would be worth this loss of life, villagers have since gained greater environmental protections and responsiveness from the company, largely through the work of the Neighborhood Association for the Integral Development of Champerico (AVEDICHAM) and other community groups that have come together in the wake of this violence.
Camarsa, a large shrimp company with subsidiaries throughout Guatemala, has been active in Champerico, on Guatemalaís west coast, since 1992. Companies such as Camarsa have expanded over the last decade, in part through support by the World Bank. Today, according to the New York Times, they account for 40 percent of shrimp production worldwide. These companies rely on shrimp ponds, which are usually dug in coastal lowlands, often displacing mangrove forests and estuary ecosystems that are biologically rich spawning grounds. They introduce foods and chemicals into local waters, and this pollution usually has an impact far beyond the ponds themselves.
Champerico was once surrounded by wetlands, estuaries and mangrove forests. This made it an ideal location for shrimp farming. But fishing is the town’s major source of income, and any threat to local marine ecosystems is taken very seriously.
In 1995, Camarsa constructed a fence, illegally blocking public access to mangrove and water resources on public lands. By this time, the people of Champerico already had seen major changes. The company had polluted the estuaries through discharge of untreated waste from shrimp ponds; it had pumped unknown quantities of water from the wetlands, significantly lowering water levels and raising fish mortality; it had illegally logged mangrove forests to construct the shrimp ponds; and it had repressed and intimidated local fishermen, discouraging them from taking any action.
As in many poor communities in the developing world, the people of Champerico had no recourse. The government turned a blind eye to the company’s violations despite laws against logging of mangroves and requirements for environmental impact assessments that Camarsa never carried out. Enforcement in Guatemala is notoriously lax, and the government is unabashedly pro-business. As one fisherman stated in a report on Camarsa’s activities, “This is…the struggle of one village dying of hunger against an industry that is killing the mangroves, our source of life.”
Yet the people of Champerico persevered, despite years of environmental damage and the company’s heavy-handed approach that culminated in the violence of 2001. AVEDICHAM and other community organizations have worked tirelessly to make their case against the company and help the people of Champerico gain a voice in the region’s future. With the support of Global Greengrants funds, AVEDICHAM has organized regular community meetings and created a resource center to bring together subsistence fishing families throughout the area in common cause.
AVEDICHAM has initiated a monitoring committee to track Camarsa’s activities and relay information to the National Council for Protected Areas and the Minister of Agriculture, with the goal of encouraging enforcement of environmental laws. AVEDICHAM also has helped increase local awareness of the importance of mangroves and estuaries and of the ecological services they provide.
Perhaps most importantly, AVEDICHAM has begun to build lines of communication between Camarsa and local fishermen. Camarsa has agreed to consult AVEDICHAM before any activities are carried out in local estuaries. The fence built in 1995 has been removed, and Camarsa has committed to rehabilitating 45 acres of mangrove.
In July 2003, on “Mangrove Day”, AVEDICHAM organized a soccer game between the community and Camarsa factory workers. The achievements of AVEDICHAM and similar groups helps ensure that the people of Champerico and other developing world communities might someday meet companies like Camarsa on a level playing field. With luck it also might prevent the kind of desperation and violence that led to deaths of two very young men.