Photos from the land

Here are some shots of the beautiful land owned by the indigenous community

and here the some of the effects of La Flor de Mayo's invasion of the property

Legal documents posted

We have posted some legal documents on Facebook (there are more to come)

Popoyo Land Dispute (shown as a Facebook group)

Popoyo Salinas (shown as a member)

One of the documents we posted is a falsified one made by La Flor de Mayo, which we uploaded with this explanation:

"Above (Below) is a copy of a falsified legal document that Philip Christopher distributed around Las Salinas de Nahualapa back in 2006. In what can only be described as a propaganda campaign, Christopher leafleted Las Salinas and surrounding areas with this paper in an effort to undermine the community's faith in their trusted representatives Geovanny Laoisiga and Luis Guzman. The document states that on the 10th of May 2006, Loaisiga and Guzman received the equivalent of US$15,000 as a down-payment for the lease of the disputed property to La Flor de Mayo SA. It also states that they have pledged to cease with all 'false charges' (juicios impuestos) being brought against La Flor de Mayo in local courts and with local authorities.

Members of the community, seeing the signatures of Loaisiga and Guzman, at first believed that this was a legitimate document. Outraged and feeling betrayed, they went directly to the home of Loaisiga with the document in hand and demanded an explanation for how he could have sold the community out like that. Loaisiga was incredulous. He couldn't believe that Christopher would try to pull such an underhanded and nasty trick. Loaisiga did his best to prove to his neighbours that the document was false and that somebody must have scanned his and Guzman's signatures and attached them to the manufactured agreement. He then tracked down Marlon Pastora Orozco and Francisco Lopez Fernandez, the two lawyers representing La Flor de Mayo SA who had supposedly signed the document as witnesses of the agreement. Loaisiga showed them the document that was in circulation in Las Salinas, which they didn't recognize: both of the men denied any knowledge or involvement in the creation of this document, and were shocked to discover their own names and signatures at the bottom of the page. This they confirmed by signing the back of Laoisiga's copy, restating in writing that they did not participate in any such proceedings.

Loaisiga and Guzman have regained the trust of the community, and remain committed to standing up to the bully tactics of Philip Christopher and La Flor de Mayo in whatever form they may take. This is but one example of how Christopher has tried to divide the community and their willingness to continue with their struggle, but it is quite telling. The community remains strong and united, as their continuing campaign indicates, and tactics like these will continue to be exposed for what they are."

Hanging in there

Despite the 2006 court order in favor of the indigenous community, Philip Christopher has continued to tear down the fence that divides the beachfront belonging to the indigenous community and La Flor de Mayo's land (Finca Popoyo project). He and his workers have been using weapons, mostly shooting upward but in occasions against the members of the indigenous community.

Since the incidents in August the people of Las Salinas de Nahualapa had stayed away from their land at Playa Sardinas, fearing death. However, seeing that Philip Christopher continues with his idea to develop his project while ignoring the community's rights, updating Finca Popoyo's website and showing the land (in December 2008), the members of the community have gone back to the land and keep shifts to cover its surveillance 24/7.

We are happy to see that the community continues to show energy in the long-lasting struggle to protect its land. We hope that no aggressions will follow at the imminent arrival of Philip Christopher, back from his country after the Winter holidays.

31^st of December, 2008 – Update

The past few months in Las Salinas has seen the community continuing with their campaign and fighting to have their voices heard by the Nicaraguan authorities. After the attack on the community representatives at the end of August (see below), Philip Christopher left the country for a brief period. During this time, the community stayed off their land (the beachfront property at Popoyo that Christopher is trying to steal) but continued appealing to the local authorities to put the findings of the court into effect and order La Flor de Mayo to stop encroaching on community land.