#polochic

[xhosabits]

Miss SA & Miss World 2014 @RoleneStrauss and SAFTA Award winning @expressoshow presenter @KatlegoMaboe will serve as the Masters of Ceremonies for the @cintronworld @pink_polo_sa presented by @vodacom, on Saturday 3 November 2018 at @valdevieestate.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Rolene will be dressed by Elrico Bellingan, in an ensemble from the ElricoZarr Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2018/19 Collection, in partnership with Cintron Pink Polo, presented by Vodacom. “Rolene Strauss is the ultimate ElricoZarr woman with her sense of style and confidence. It's always a pleasure to work with such a beautiful and striking woman”, remarked Elrico, who will also be creating a bespoke fashion show at the event, as official Fashion Partner.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Trilingual Katlego Maboe – effortlessly transcends demographic borders with his on-point sense of humour and has grown year-on-year into a well-known TV presenter, singer, voice-over artist, MC, model and actor. Amongst his many accolades, Katlego has been named as one of the most stylish male celebrities in South Africa, and is a philanthropist, sportsman and musician.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #africanluxury #style #polochic #gameofroyalty #cintronpinkpolo2018 (at Val de Vie Estate) https://www.instagram.com/p/BmvorhglMnY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mcg7epxwxodp

[xhosabits]

Miss SA & Miss World 2014 @RoleneStrauss and SAFTA Award winning @expressoshow presenter @KatlegoMaboe will serve as the Masters of Ceremonies for the @cintronworld @pink_polo_sa presented by @vodacom, on Saturday 3 November 2018 at @valdevieestate.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Guests of the Cintron Pink Polo, presented by Vodacom, can look forward to a day in the picturesque Winelands filled with all things pink and polo-inspired – from the fashion to the food and drinks offerings, with many memorably moments in store.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Katlego Maboe comments: “I am honoured to be the host of this year’s Cintron Pink Polo, presented by Vodacom, in aid of an incredibly worthy cause, at the foremost estate in the country. Val de Vie Estate is synonymous with high profile and ultra-luxurious events that attract fine and fashionable individuals who always know how to have a good time. I especially look forward to bringing my family along to enjoy the sport of kings at this family-friendly event and know that we will make special memories.”⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #africanluxury #style #polochic #gameofroyalty #cintronpinkpolo2018 (at Val de Vie Estate) https://www.instagram.com/p/BmvNpu0FgC1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gu5qw3s3t717

[xhosabits]

Miss SA & Miss World 2014 @RoleneStrauss and SAFTA Award winning @expressoshow presenter @KatlegoMaboe will serve as the Masters of Ceremonies for the @cintronworld @pink_polo_sa presented by @vodacom, on Saturday 3 November 2018 at @valdevieestate.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Guests of the Cintron Pink Polo, presented by Vodacom, can look forward to a day in the picturesque Winelands filled with all things pink and polo-inspired – from the fashion to the food and drinks offerings, with many memorably moments in store.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Cintron Pink Polo, presented by Vodacom, pays tribute to the survivors of breast cancer and serves as a platform to raise awareness for a disease that is most prevalent in women, but also affects a high number of men.  For the first time in the history of this event, the Children Cancer Foundation South Africa (CHOC) will benefit from the Pink Food Truck Fair area where R100 per ticket sold will be donated to CHOC.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #africanluxury #style #polochic #gameofroyalty #cintronpinkpolo2018 (at Val de Vie Estate) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmu345KlMc6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=e1lxmzk3gtpg

[thecuratedbaby]

Enjoying life as a one year old #hannahgram #labordayweekend #preppybaby #polochic (at The Cottage Chestnut Hill)

[losdespojados]

Indigenous Q’eqchi’ families in Guatemala’s Polochic velley F have re-claimed their old lands from the sugar cane plantation Chabil Utzaaj (subsidiary of Grupo Pellas, also owner of the famous Flor de Caña rum) that violently evicted them four years ago. In 2011, Chabil Utzaj’s private security forces backed by national police and military, destroyed the homes and crops of 769 Q’eqchi’ farming families. After a massive protest in 2012, the government promised to re-locate the families on new lands. Three years later, only 140 families have be re-located, one group having been settled on a remote bankrupt farm with no road access (hence, they have effectively been cleared out of the Polochic valley, which was their home). The remaining families eke out measly livelihoods from menial labour (as cooks, cleaners, or day labourers on neighbouring farms); many suffer from malnutrition. Given these conditions, some of the dispossessed families who have not yet been compensated decided to take matters into their own hands and re-claim some of the lands they lost in 2011.

For more about this case, check our very own documentary about the 2011 evictions and other land-struggles in the same region: No More Evictions! The struggle for Indigenous Land in Post-War Guatemala. 

Also check out this video by Irish NGO Trocaire about the daily struggles faced by evicted families two years after the evictions. 

[losdespojados]

Late last year, Los Despojados released No More Evictions!, a half-hour documentary about the struggles of indigenous Q'eqchi' people in the Polochic valley and surrounding highlands against the twin threat of sugar plantations and mining. Our video was shot in 2012, one year after the infamous Polochic evictions. Our video ends with a mention of how the Guatemalan government is failing to live up to its promise, made in 2012 after a massive protest by campesinos and indigenous people from across the country, to resettle the evicted families. As a follow-up, today we present you Food not Fuel, a short 6-minute piece shot in 2013 by Irish NGO Tocaire that follows up with one of the affected families, two years after the evictions. 

Across the developing world, food crops are being destroyed to make way for biofuels. Actor Aidan Gillen (The Wire, Game of Thrones, Love/Hate) travels to Guatemala with Irish development agency Trócaire to meet the Rio Frio community who were evicted off land in the Polochic Valley to facilitate the expansion of a sugarcane plantation. He finds out how European demand for biofuels is resulting in land grabs, higher food prices and hunger.

As a further update, there's a piece by Aisling Walsh, also working for Trocaire, written in late 2014, three and a half years after the evictions. Walsh writes first about a census of evicted families who live in shelters built by Trocaire, awaiting the land that the government had promised in 2012:

It found that 54% of children from the evicted communities are suffering from chronic malnutrition and 2.5% were suffering from severe malnutrition. Most families are surviving on a diet of corn tortillas and bean and eat fewer than three meals a day.  They have little or no space to grow food, are often denied access to rivers for fishing and they are prevented from either working or renting new land by the same land-owners that evicted them.  The families continue to experience poor treatment and discrimination at health centres. Most children do not attend school, either because the schools refuse to enroll them, they face bullying, insults and discrimination from teachers and pupils, or the schools are simply too far away. [...] Juana, no longer able to cope with the situation of constant insecurity in 8 de Agosto, has moved to a nearby village where one of her sons lives with his family. She has been able to rent a small house with the money she makes from the sale of hand-woven bags but still hopes that she and Manuel will eventually be able to live together again on their own plot of land.  Read full story.

A number of families have indeed been resettled, but their prospects aren't quite rosy:

However, it became clear on visiting the newly formed community, ‘The Soldiers of St Stephen’ last week that government support has not stretched far beyond handing over the land. The 30 families were left without food or shelter for 20 days following the initial resettlement and now have to make do with basic shelters made from tin, plastic and wooden sticks.

In essence, Chabil Utzaj, the Nicaraguan-owned World Bank-backed sugar company got the land it wanted, but did not need the labour that used to live off that land. The dispossessed farmers have been pushed out of the valley and either make their living as an urban underclass or on marginal (in terms of quality) and marginalised (in terms of access to infrastructure and services) land on the periphery of advancing global capitalism. 

[modernmayans]

Pedro tend his family's cows. Visit this Kickstarter page and pre-purchase your book now! http://kck.st/1tsJ32y

[guatepolitics]

Three years after their eviction in Polochic Valley, 629 families are still waiting for justice

(via Oxfam)

Though the Government of Guatemala has returned land to 140 families unjustly evicted from the Polochic Valley nearly three years ago -- thanks to your support! -- 629 families are still waiting for their land.

On the third anniversary of the evictions, it is urgent to push the Guatemalan government and its president, Otto Perez Molina, to fulfill their commitments and return the land to the families. Only 30 of the families have actually been able to return to their lands, and plant and harvest. All the other families are still without their land, three years later.

People power pushes the Government

On Saturday, 19 October 2013, the Government of Guatemala returned land titles to 140 families, out of the original 769 evicted in March 2011. This achievement was the product of Vamos al Grano campaign, the GROW Campaign, and 107,000 people from 55 countries in the world that joined forces to push for justice. Thank you to all the people and organizations involved!

President Otto Perez Molina personally delivered the title to the first 140 families. Attending the ceremony were representatives of all communities evicted from Polochic Valley, members of the Peasant Unity Committee (CUC), other social organizations and members of Oxfam. In addition, 600 titles to other communities that are not part of the group of families evicted were delivered during the event.

This success demonstrates the importance of local partnerships in order to achieve national change, while still working on global advocacy.

The fight is not over, as 629 families are still waiting for justice. We will continue to push the government to fulfill its commitment to a worthy and comprehensive resettlement for all 769 families evicted, ensuring dignified transfer, food assistance, housing, productive projects and education and health services.

What happened in Polochic Valley?

On Monday 22 April 2013, the evicted families of Polochic Valley handed over the petition to the Guatemalan Minister of Agriculture. The Government subsequently stated that it intended to remedy the situation. It declared that the demands made by the peasant farmer organizations from Polochic were not only valid and legitimate, but that it supported them.

The 769 families had been violently evicted in March 2011 from land where they had always lived.

A report published by the United Nations in Guatemala supports the main demands of the peasant organizations in the country, and calls on the Government to stop forced evictions until there is legislation on this issue. The report also calls on the Government to honor the commitments made to the Polochic peasant farmers.