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3rd Letter

Summary: We sent this letter in response to their 'form' letter. In this letter, we reiterate our main points and petitions, and we respond to the World Bank's offhand comments about the United Nations "Truth Commission".

August 24, 2000
Donna Dowsett-Coirolo
Director Central America Country Management Unit
Latin America and the Caribbean Region
The World Bank
1818 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20433

Re: Chixoy Dam in Guatemala

Dear Donna Dowsett:

We write in response to your June 30, 2000 letter, written in response to a letter we sent May 22, 2000. The May letter followed an April 18, 2000 meeting between representatives of the World Bank, our respective organizations, and Carlos Chen, a representative of the survivors of the former community of Rio Negro, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, that we brought to Washington to meet with the WB and the Inter-American Development Bank.

We are disappointed with your letter. Firstly, what you sent us was basically a generic letter. We are expecting much more professional consideration from the WB. Out of respect for those affected by the Chixoy dam, we are very much hoping to engage in a serious dialogue.

Secondly, your letter did not respond to the issues we had raised in our letter to you.

In this letter --which will be made public--we respond to certain issues you did address in your June 30, 2000 letter, and then reiterate some points that you did not respond to.

Your June 30 letter raises three issues we wish to address:

I. the United Nations Commission for Historical Clarification ("CEH"),
II. concern that the WB underwrote a project in a country governed by a brutal US-backed military regime, to be carried out in an area known to have extremely high levels of State repression,
III. and the completion of the "resettlement plan".

I. CEH

We are pleased to hear of your respect for and commitment to the United Nations Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH) and its recommendations. We hope this leads to a proper commitment, on behalf of the WB, to fully, openly and honestly examine its role in the Chixoy Dam project and the related repression.

We assume that the WB is aware that the CEH featured the March 13, 1982 massacre in Rio Negro as one of its exemplary cases. That case study concluded that the repression suffered by those who resisted displacement due to the Chixoy dam was the primary cause of the subsequent repression they suffered. Rio Negro was the only community that resisted displacement, and 440 of its inhabitants were killed in massacres. We call your attention to some recommendations made by the CEH:

1. It calls for measures to preserve the memory of the victims. This recommendation contemplates public apology to the victims.
2. It calls for reparatory measures. This section discusses the need for material, financial, psycho-social and moral reparations to be made to the surviving victims.
3. It calls for the observance of human rights. The CEH recommends adherence to international mechanisms for the protection of human rights and administrative measures related to public officials responsible for human rights violations.

We call on the WB, due to its role in the design, promotion and implementation of the construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam, to respond to the recommendations of the CEH.

II. Loans to a Genocidal Government

As you pointed out in the June 30, 2000 letter, the CEH found that there was widespread repression in Baja Verapaz, particularly in Rabinal, at the time that the Guatemalan government was receiving full support from the WB for the Chixoy Dam. The CEH identified 26 massacres that took place in Baja Verapaz; of those 20 occurred in Rabinal. The WB should never have supported this project in the first place, and then should never have continued supporting it as State repression went from bad to worse.

Furthermore, it is clear that the people of Rio Negro suffered much more repression than the rest of Rabinal. As determined by the CEH, close to 23% of the population of Rabinal was killed during the repression (over 5,000 people out of a population of 22,000 in Rabinal). In Rio Negro, over 55% (440 people out of a total of 740 people) of the population were killed. It was the Chixoy Dam Project, as confirmed by the CEH report, that put Rio Negro in conflict with the Guatemalan military regime.

It goes without saying that we are extremely concerned that the World Bank would have made loans for a project to be carried out in the climate of extreme repression that existed in Guatemala, and particularly in the area where the dam was built. We call on the World Bank to examine its policies, or lack there of, which regard to financial support of governments engaged in human rights violations.

III. Resettlement Plan

In your June 30, 2000 letter you mentioned the existence of program of activities to fulfill the promises of the resettlement plan. This plan was agreed upon by the WB and Guatemalan government, in consultation with the affected parties shortly after the 1996 fact-finding mission led by Ms. Gloria Davis. The above information raises several questions and concerns.

1. Would it be possible for us and/or the affected communities to receive a copy of the said agreement between the WB and Guatemalan Government?
2. To what "resettlement plan" do you refer? This question arises due to the existence of at least two "resettlement plans" of which we have knowledge. The first "resettlement plan" was a series of conditions, identified in pre-project studies, which were, as we understand, incorporated into the loan agreement. This contained much more just conditions than the second "resettlement plan". The second "resettlement plan" was a series of promises made by INDE to the community which they were forced to accept, due to the repression and intimidation. This "resettlement plan" was and is in violation of national and international legal standards regarding expropriation of private property.
3. Your letter asserts that the "resettlement plan" has now been implemented. After multiple interviews with affected parties, it is abundantly clear that the conditions of neither of the known "resettlement plans" have been fulfilled.
4. To our knowledge, no "resettlement plan" has ever been elaborated which responds to legal or moral rights of those displaced.
5. Today, 18 years after the construction of the Chixoy dam and the slaughter of over 50% of the population of Rio Negro, the community requires much more than the completion of the faulty "resettlement plan." Full compensation, plus reparations, as recommended by the CEH, are in order.

ISSUES NOT ADDRESSED

Your June 30 letter did not address issues we set out in our May 22 letter:

I. inadequate community consultation throughout the Chixoy Project to date and the related request for WB-IDB financial support; and
II. a petition for the release of World Bank documents which contain information related to the project.

I. Community consultation

Throughout the Chixoy Dam Project there were extremely inadequate measures for those negatively affected by the project to voice their concerns and advocate for their interests. At this point, it is not necessary to list the failures leading up to and during the implementation stage of the project - this has already been well documented.

More recently, there has been inadequate efforts to allow the surviving victims to properly present the totality of what they lost or had stolen from them and, based on that, negotiate proper compensation and just reparations.

For this reason we solicit:

1. A response to the request for funds necessary for the community to undertake a truly participatory consultation regarding their losses and their needs.
2. We would be very interested in knowing when and with whom WB Vice President David de Ferranti's consulted, as mentioned in your June 30 letter. Sadly, often in such visits not all points of view are heard.

II. Release of Documentation

This brings us to reiterate our request for the release of all WB documentation related to the Chixoy Hydroelectric Project. Of particular interest would be some of the reports and agreements listed in the "Project Completion Report on Guatemala-Chixoy Hydroelectric Power Project (Loan 1605-GU)," namely:

• The Loan Agreement (LA) and Guarantee Agreement (GA) for both the original loan and secondary loans related to the project.
• The Environmental Protection Plan for the project (produced with support from an IDB technical assistance grant of $1.5 million).
• The January 1977 agreement with the Instituto de Antropologia e Historia to carry out archaeological investigations in the area.
• Agreements between INDE and the Direccion General de Servicios de Salud and the Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social.
• The programs for resettlement and compensation (submitted January, 1979; approved June 1979) and documents explaining on what basis this program was judged to be flawed in concept (1984).
• The updated resettlement program adopted as one of the conditions for the supplemental loan (approved March, 1985).
• The program for erosion control (December 31, 1979).
• "Back-to-Office" reports of the resettlement expert employed on this project.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter. We are confident that we can work together to ensure that those who suffered the consequences of the Chixoy Dam Project may once again live with dignity and that we can learn the lessons of history so that such an experience is never repeated.

Sincerely,

Annie Bird & Grahame Russell
Rights Action (US)
1830 Connecticut Av, NW
Washington DC 20009
USA
info@rightsaction.org

Rights Action (Canada)
509 St. Clair Av. W., Box 73527
Toronto ON
Canada, M6C-1C0
t: 416-654-2074
grussell@rightsaction.org

Jaroslava Colajacomo
Reform the World Bank Campaign-Italy
Via Ferraironi 88/G
00172 Rome, Italy

39-24404212
jaro@cambio.it

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PLEASE CONTACT THE WORLD BANK NOW

[And please cc your communication to grussell@rightsaction.org] Whether they deal with Rights Action, or directly with the affected community, please demand that they take this issue of proper compensation and just reparations seriously.

Thank-you.

Don't hesitate to contact us with your questions, criticisms and comments. Rights Action info@rightsaction.org