The Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC), on the occasion of the commemoration of International Women’s Day on March 8th, extends fraternal greetings to indigenous women, peasant women, workers, artisans, midwives, healers, and all defenders of human rights, territory, mother earth, water, and LIFE. We pay homage and express our eternal gratitude to those women who preceded us in this struggle against inequity and injustice.
This March 8th is commemorated by showing a small glimmer of hope that allows us to dream of the advance of our historic demands.
- Our dream is that girls have access to education and are not forced to become mothers or marry at an early age. In Guatemala, 91,000 underage girls are mothers and 55,000 are married or in unions.
- Our dream is that women have access to, use, and enjoy the fruits of Mother Earth, among those who have no land, with technical advice and possibilities of trading their agricultural products, without generating unpayable debts.
- Our dream is that women and artisans have fair opportunities, where the middlemen do not keep the lion’s share of the profits.
- Our dream is to have fair working conditions, without gender discrimination or wages below the minimum wage.
- Our dream is to have market opportunities in dignified and fair conditions for products made by the hands of indigenous and peasant women.
- Our dream is to live a life free of violence for women in all spheres, starting with the domestic, organizational, work, and institutional spheres.
- Our dreams will come true with comprehensive education, prevention of pregnancy in girls and adolescents, access to decent employment, and measures to reduce violence against women, with government commitment and public policies that reduce gender gaps.
Therefore, we demand:
- From President Arevalo’s Government, to resume actions to improve the living conditions of girls and women, including healthcare, education, and eradication of violence.
- To urgently address the agrarian conflict and the criminalization of those who defend Mother Earth and territory. For this reason, we value the Government’s commitment with the signing of the document for the addressing of the Agrarian Conflict in the first 100 days of Government.
- We reject the actions of the Pact of Corruption under the protection of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the deputies of the political parties that make up the Pact.
- We reject the selection of three candidates for governors in all departments of the country, the vast majority of people selected are recycled and linked to the pact of corrupt, organized crime, drug trafficking, and contractors of the State. We hope that President Arevalo will take into consideration the popular discontent with the selection of these three candidates.
For women’s rights…
No more corrupt people in state institutions
For the construction of democracy and a true rule of law…
Indigenous and peasant women in permanent struggle.
