Chixoy Dam/Rio Negro Massacres Archives

Beginning in 1994, and continuing today in a number of ways, Rights Action has funded and been involved in work - led by Mayan Achi survivors of massacres and genocide - to hold the Guatemalan government, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank accountable for the massacres and killings and violent evictions, dispossession, poverty and despair caused by the 1975-1985 Chixoy dam hydro-electric dam project.

We recommend also checking out The Rio Negro Project, a project, and website, by Nathan Einbinder

2000 May 06 - Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign Introduction

2000 June 14 - Dominga and Denese, and the story of the village of Rio Negro

2000 August 02 - Excerpts of Wolfensohn, Fischer, and Ladner Conversation about Chixoy Dam Project

2000 September 18 - Worst Case Scenario & M.Pancenza Multi-National Monitor article

2000 September 20 - Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign Demands

2000 September 28 - Guatemala News and Information Bureau interview with Carlos Chen Osorio

2000 September 28 - Call for a formal UN investigation into Chixoy Dam project

2000 October 07 - On the Record Advocacy Project

2000 October 09 - World Bank & Rights Action correspondences

2000 December 07 - “World Commission on Dams” [WCD] Final Report

2001 March 03 - San Francisco Chronicle Article

2001 March 03 - Princeton University report on World Bank Accountability

2001 March 13 - Rio Negro 19th Anniversary World Bank and IDB Call-In Day

2001 March 15 - Press Release from surviving victims of the Chixoy Dam / Rio Negro massacres

2002 May 13 - Chixoy 20th Anniversary

2002 December 02 - BIG BAD WOLF? Article by M. Pacenza

2003 January 31 - Book Release - The Rio Negro Massacres by Jesus Tecu Osorio

2003 February 17 - Searching for the Lost and Disappeared Children of Guatemala by Aaron Bates

2003 July 03 - Film Release, Discovering Dominga

2004 February 20 - Recap of the Year 2003: Denese Becker, aka Dominga Sic Ruiz

2004 February 22 - Rio Negro Trial - Guatemala: A Tiny Amount of Justice?

2004 July 30 - Chixoy - Back to the Future, article for Rights Action by S. Archer and T. Piper

2004 September 12 - Massacre survivors take control of World Bank and IDB funded Dam

2004 September 14 - Chixoy Dam Massacre Survivors versus Global Impunity

2004 September 20 - Campaign to encourage WB and IDB participation for reparations

2004 September 23 - Guatemala Gov’t Persecution of Chixoy Dam Massacre Survivors

2004 September 27 - Letter to the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank

2004 October 11 - "Continuing the Struggle for Justice and Accountability in Guatemala: Making Reparations a Reality in the Chixoy Dam Case", a report by COHRE in collaboration with Rights Action

2004 October 18 - Pronouncement of ADIVIMA

2004 December 01 - Amnesty International: Human Rights Defenders at Risk, Guatemala & Honduras

2005 January 20 - Carlos Chen, "Coordinator of Communities Affected by the Chixoy Dam", detained and jailed on trumped up charges

2005 January 23 - Conditional release for Carlos Chen

2005 February 03 - Urgent Action - Criminalization of People Who Struggle for Rights and Reparations

2005 March 21 - GUATEMALA UPDATE: Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign

2006 February 16 - Amnesty International Press Release

2006 September 11 - Xalala Project and Mother Jones Article

2006 November 12 - Action Alert: Xalala Dam Project

2008 April 23 - The never-ending (and incredible) struggles against Impunity: the "Genocide Trials" and the "Chixoy Dam Reparations Campaign"

2008 June 02 - Bittersweet legal decision in Rio Negro massacre case

2009 January 17 - Landslide Kills Dozens

2009 March 13 - Remembering the Women and Children of Rio Negro, by E. Smith

2012 January 04 - Al Jazeera Article, “Justice Delayed 30 Years in Guatemala” by L. Carasik and G. Russell

2012 February 05 - Petition sent to IACHR

2012 March 12 - 30th Anniversary of “Rio Negro” Massacre

2012 March 22 - G. Russell Article & Photo Essay, “Chixoy Dam Massacres and Forced Evictions”

2012 May 10 - Public Letter to Guatemalan Government, WB and IDB

2012 May 13 - “Guatemala’s Land Grab and Massacre”, Al Jazeera short film and article by D. Mercer

2012 July 06 - “The Rio Negro Hearing”, Article by L. Molina

2012 August 01 - A Chixoy Dam “Village Relocation” Dug Up 30 Years Later, by G. Russell

2012 October 02 - New Film, “ Chixoy Dam: No Reparations, No Justice, No Peace (Skeletons in the Closets of the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank)”

2012 October 23 - Inter-American Court of Human Rights Decision

2012 November 15 - Sign-on Letter to the WB and IDB concerning reparations they owe

2012 December 10 - New Report by Jubilee Debt Campaign (UK)

2013 January 17 - Chixoy Dam Justice and Reparations, Delayed 31 Years and Counting

2013 March 13 - Profiting from Genocide: The World Bank & IDB’s Bloody History in Guatemala

2013 May 7 - Development or Armed Robbery?

2013 July 8 - In Guatemala, the Forensic Team Makes Positive I.D. of one of the "Chixoy Dam" Massacre Victims, 31 Years Later

2013 October 19 - Letter to the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank

2014 January 14 - U.S. Senate Considering Withholding Funds from World Bank (WB) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Until Chixoy Dam Reparations Plan Paid for and Implemented in Guatemala

2014 January 17 - U.S. Government Calls On World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank To Ensure Reparations Plan For Chixoy Dam Victims

2014 January 20 - U.S. Government Holding World Bank and IADB Accountable to Ensure Reparations for Chixoy Dam Victims in Guatemala

2014 February 02 - Washington Post Article, “U.S. Pushes For Outside Oversight Of World Bank”

2014 February 27 - Investing in Repression and Suffering

2014 March 13 - 32nd Anniversary of One of the Four Chixoy Dam/ Rio Negro Massacres

2014 April 14 - Gilberta Tun Osorio, a Child of the Chixoy Dam Massacres and Forced Evictions, Is Detained in the USA

2014 May 29 - Protest in Guatemala City Demanding Reparations Now!

2014 July 05 - Letter to World Bank: No Loans To Guatemala Until Reparations Paid To Victims Of Chixoy Hydro- Electric Dam Massacres And Forced Evictions

2014 July 19 - A Funeral for Two-year old Manuel, 32 Years After the Chixoy Dam/ Rio Negro Massacre That Killed Him

2014 September 03 - The World Bank And Inter-American Development Bank's Chixoy Dam Project: Still Killing Mayan Guatemalans 32 Years Later

2014 October 17 - Chixoy Dam Reparations To Be Paid Finally, ... Maybe!

2014 November 09 - Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina Ratifies Law To Implement Chixoy Dam Reparations Plan

2015 January 27 - “United States Requires Prosecution of Military Officers for Human Rights Violations”, Presa Libre Article

2015 April 19 - “Guatemala: The World Bank, a Hydroelectric Dam and Massacres” Telesur Article by G. Russell

2015 October 19 - “33 Years Later, A First Measure of Reparations Paid to Victims of the Chixoy Dam Massacre and Eviction”, by G. Russell

2017 March 13 - “The Reading of the Names, the Calling Forth of Massacred Loved Ones in Rio Negro”, by G. Russell & with photos by L .Konforti

2017 May 17 - “It sounded like Christmas day fireworks going off,…and we knew the Army had killed them all”, book project & research trip by G. Russell

2017 June 12 - “Chixoy Dam, Displacement and Development: Perspectives from Río Negro, Guatemala”, by N. Einbinder

2019 March 13 - 37th Anniversary - Reading of the Names: Calling Forth of Massacred Loved Ones in Rio Negro” ~ as war criminals could soon walk free in Guatemala

2020 December 23 - Remembering and honoring Teodora Chen Another surviving victim of the Rio Negro-Chixoy Dam massacres has died

2021 March 13 - “March 13, 2021 - 39th anniversary of Rio Negro massacres in Guatemala, carried out by the US-backed genocidal military regimes on behalf of the World Bank and IDB’s Chixoy hydro-electric dam project”, by G. Russell

2022 May 14 - Article by G. Russell on the 40th anniversary of one of the Chixoy Dam/Rio Negro massacres in Guatemala

2022 October 14 - Chixoy dam reparations in Guatemala 40 years and still unpaid; COCAHICH communique

2023 January 10 - Help Make the World Bank & Inter-American Development Bank Pay!; Statement from Rep. Jesus García

2023 March 13 - 41st Anniversary of the Chixoy Dam/Rio Negro Massacres; Skeletons in the Closets of the World Bank & Inter-American Development Bank. They Must Pay Reparations