Guatemala is a predominantly rural country with high poverty rates and enormous inequalities in land access and distribution—only 8.5% of the land is in the hands of indigenous peoples and local communities—which was a central issue in the armed conflict that plagued the country for 36 years. Although the Peace Accords established measures to guarantee access to land for indigenous and peasant populations, the country’s agrarian institutions remain weak and inadequate, with a land-reform process that has been underway for more than 25 years and whose authorities have been appointed without following the proper procedures.

In recent years, profound transformations have taken place in rural areas driven by the expansion of extractive and energy industries, as well as the spread of monoculture plantations, which are exacerbating land concentration and environmental damage. As a result, thousands of conflicts and serious violations of the rights of indigenous and peasant populations have been recorded, such as illegal evictions, criminalization, and violence against land defenders. The data is alarming: in 2021 alone, UDEFEGUA recorded 1,002 attacks, including 11 murders in Guatemala.

The government of President Bernardo Arévalo in 2024—characterized as social democratic, environmentalist, and progressive—presents a unique opportunity to recognize the land rights of the populations who live on and from the land, by including the guarantee of this right as one of its goals, understanding land “as living territory, the cultural habitat of the human groups settled there, in support of a full life and good living.”

Despite the adverse political context, CNT Guatemala has managed to open spaces for dialogue with FONTIERRA, MAGA, and the Secretariat of Agrarian Affairs—before the latter’s dissolution—to contribute to the resolution of agrarian conflicts. Recently, under Arévalo’s presidency, three member organizations of the CNT and the ILC LAC—CCDA, UVOC, and Nuevo Día—signed a historic Agrarian Agreement with the government to peacefully resolve agrarian conflicts and promote community development.

Furthermore, since its inception, the CNT has been part of the Platform for the Women’s Economic Development Act, a national coalition comprising more than one hundred women’s groups working to secure the passage of this law. And since 2022, it has been part of the Escazú Guatemala Alliance, a multisectoral coalition dedicated to raising awareness and seeking the ratification and implementation of the agreement in the country.

In response to the problem of evictions faced by the country’s indigenous communities, the CNT has raised public awareness of the need for the state to address this situation through various actions, notably the “Stop Evictions in Guatemala” campaign, launched in partnership with Land Rights Now.