COMMISSIONS: The Curse of Palm Oil in Guatemala: 15-20180213palm0104

IZABAL, GUATEMALA. February 13, 2018 – A woman hangs laundry in the shadow of a palm oil plantation. Indigenous Maya Q'eqchi communities such as Chapin Abajo along Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala, have no state presence. There is no police. Only a palm oil company provides jobs and health services. In the last 20 years, palm oil plantations in the region replaced former cattle ranches and has exacerbated the struggle for land rights in the Polochic Valley.

IZABAL, GUATEMALA. February 13, 2018 – A woman hangs laundry in the shadow of a palm oil plantation. Indigenous Maya Q'eqchi communities such as Chapin Abajo along Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala, have no state presence. There is no police. Only a palm oil company provides jobs and health services. In the last 20 years, palm oil plantations in the region replaced former cattle ranches and has exacerbated the struggle for land rights in the Polochic Valley.