2017-18. Mountain Wound. (Tierra sin Ellas) Multimedia.

Mountain Wound.

Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic (born 1972), known as Lolita, is a women's rights activist and Guatemalan indigenous leader, an international leader in the struggle to preserve natural resources. She was a finalist of the Sakharov Human Rights Prize in 2017 when she was living in the Basque Country in Spain, where she still remains with her youngest son, after suffering five murder attempts in her own country. This is the story of the absence that Lolita has left on her land, in her family and in her loved ones.

Check the MULTIMEDIA piece in REVISTA 5W.

Herida de Montaña.

Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic (nacida en 1972), conocida como Lolita, es una activista por los derechos de las mujeres, líder indígena guatemalteca y líder internacional en la lucha por preservar los recursos naturales. Fue finalista del Premio Sakharov de Derechos Humanos en 2017 cuando vivía en el País Vasco en España, donde aún permanece con su hijo menor, tras sufrir cinco intentos de asesinato en su propio país. Esta es la historia de la ausencia que Lolita ha dejado en su tierra, en su familia y en sus seres queridos.
View of Chixoy river, in the outskirts of Santa Cruz del Quiché, Quiché, Guatemala on October 26th, 2017. The Mayan people are very rooted in their land. In its tradition and beliefs, respect for nature is essential.
Erik, Lolita's husband kisses the earth as a way to show respect and ask the ancestors for permission to step on sacred mayan soil. October, 29th, 2017. Gumarkaaj-Utatlán, Quiché, Guatemala. Gumarkaaj-Utatlán, founded by King Kuucumatz in 1400, is the former capital of the Quiché Maya people. The archaeological site is a place still considered sacred and constantly visited to perform Mayan rituals. It is located as it is natural in the Mayan tradition, on top of a hill, raised above the rest of the land to have an advantage against invasions.
Virginia and Karen, Lolita's friend and daughter, embrace at Virginia's house, after getting emotional over the absence of Lolita. October, 29th, 2017. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Quiché, Guatemala.
The daughter of Virginia Hernández, cousin of Lolita, walks down the corridor of her house, after sunset. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
View of a tablecloth in the house of Herlinda Hernandez, cousin of Lolita, Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
Herlinda Hernandez, cousin of Lolita, holds a handkerchief, in her living room, after getting excited when talking about her cousin. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
The mother of Virginia and Herlinda Hernandez, Lolita's cousins, observe Herlinda, in her living room, after getting emotional when talking about her cousin's absence. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
Herlinda Hernandez, Lolita's cousin, Karen and her cousin, talk with complicity, in Karen and her father's cane room. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
Herlinda Hernandez, Lolita's cousin, tenderly holds Karen in Virginia's house, after getting emotional over the absence of Lolita. October, 29th, 2017. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Quiché, Guatemala.
A pot on fire, at the house of María Elena, sister of Lolita, in Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, in the Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
Maria Elena, sister of Lolita sits on the floor of her bedroom and cries as she observes Lolita's belongings for the first time since she left. Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, in the Department of Quiché, Guatemala . October 29, 2017.
Óscar, nephew of Lolita, plays with his daughter in the kitchen of his house in Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, in the Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
View of of Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango Church surrounder by market stalls, in the Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
View of an inscription at the entrance of the cemetery. María Elena, sister of Lolita and her family, visit the grave of her parents and other relatives, on the day of the dead, in the Cemetery of Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, in the Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
View of Maria Helena, sister of Lolita, at the cemetery, where she puts flowers and takes care of their parents grave on the day of the dead. The family tasks were distributed among the sisters, but since Lolita Chavez, a Guatemalan environmental activist, threatened with death and attacked five times, went into exile in Spain, her sister has had to take on all the tasks. November 1st, 2017, Chichicastenango, Quiché Province, Guatemala.
Maria Helena, sister of Lolita, puts flowers and takes care of their parents grave on the day of the dead. The family tasks were distributed among the sisters, but since Lolita Chavez, a Guatemalan environmental activist, threatened with death and attacked five times, went into exile in Spain, her sister has had to take on all the tasks. November 1st, 2017, Chichicastenango, Quiché Province, Guatemala.
María Elena, sister of Lolita and her family, look at a lantern lit in the sky, during the celebration of the Day of the Dead, in the Cemetery of Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, in the Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
María Elena, sister of Lolita, spreads flower petals in her mother's grave, during her visit and other family graves, on the day of the dead, in the Cemetery of Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, in the Department of Quiché , Guatemala. October 29, 2017.
View of Lolita's family photos at Maria Helena's house (Lolita's sister). October, 29th, 2017. Chichicastenango, Quiché, Guatemala.
Josefa, Lolita's spiritual guide, stands with her children, in the back of her house on October 30th, 2017, in Chinique, Quiché, Guatemala. Lolita helped to empower Josefa after she was raped, from which the youngest of her children was born and for which Josefa has finally obtained justice.
Josefa cooks in the kitchen of her house. Josefa Nix Santiago, daughter of a murdered fighter of the guerrilla and friend and activist comrade of Lolita Chávez, met her as a result of her rape at the hands of the man who would later become her husband. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 30, 2017.
The mother of Florentina, friend and companion of fight of Lolita Chavez, ignites the fire in his house. El Quinto, Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 30, 2017.
View of Florentina's mother while sewing by the fire. Florentina, friend and comrade of Lolita Chavez, a Guatemalan environmental activist, threatened with death and attacked five times before going into exile in Spain, lives from the corn harvest in the small town of "El Quinto", in the Province of Quiché, Guatemala.
View of wood at "El Quinto" sawmill on November 1st, 2017. El Quinto, Quiché, Guatemala. Multinational logging companies besiege the Quiché people, since they want to take over their territories to cut down trees indiscriminately. With a logging permit of one truck per day, they manage to pass up to 40 trucks per day.
View of Ruben Samayoa, an environmental activicst and Lolita's comrade at the K'iche Peoples Council (CPK), in front of his house on October 26th, 2017 in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Quiché, Guatemala.
Rubén Samayoa and Miguel Rojas, fighting partners of Lolita Chavez in the CPK, sit down to talk in Rubén's home kitchen. The chair on the left is the place Lolita used to take, until her absence. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 26, 2017.
Miguel Rojas, Lolita Chavez's fighting partner in the CPK, cries excitedly, during a conversation with Rubén Samayoa. Santa Cruz del Quiché, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 26, 2017.
Corn plantation in El Quinto, Department of Quiché, Guatemala. October 30, 2017.
A worker cuts wood at "El Quinto" sawmill. On October 31st, 2017. El Quinto, Quiché, Guatemala. Multinational logging companies besiege the Quiché people, since they want to take over their territories to cut down trees indiscriminately. With a logging permit of one truck per day, they manage to pass up to 40 trucks per day.
View of an anti-corruption poster, during the concentration of the CPO (Council of Peoples of the West) against corruption. Santa Cruz del Quiché Main Square, Department of El Quiché, Guatemala. October 26, 2017.
A quiché woman shouts anti-corruption slogans during a demonstration by the K'iche Peoples Council (CPK) on October 26th, 2017 in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Quiché, Guatemala.
View of a bouquet of flowers at the foot of a tree, rest of a Mayan ceremony, in Q'umarkaj, archeological site, sacred to the Quiché Maya, located in the southwest of the department of El Quiché, in Guatemala. October 29, 2017 .
Karen, Lolita Chávez and Eric Medrano's daughter, who's studying criminology in City of Guatemala, sits after a sacred mayan ceremony at Gumarkaaj-Utatlán, Quiché, Guatemala, on October, 29th, 2017. Gumarkaaj-Utatlán, founded by King Kuucumatz in 1400, is the former capital of the Quiché Maya people. The archaeological site is a place still considered sacred and constantly visited to perform Mayan rituals. It is located as it is natural in the Mayan tradition, on top of a hill, raised above the rest of the land to have an advantage against invasions.