Tekuanes - Xinka Water Guardians

Tuesday, March 10 — 12:30 PM

NR | Documentary | 1h 3m | 2024 | Mexico, Guatemala

Part of the Spring 2026 Latin American Studies film festival, Agua Matters: Environmental Justice in Latin America

In 2010, in the context of resistance to a mining project, communities of the Xinka people, environmental groups, and the local diocese organized a “community laboratory” to train young scientists in water monitoring techniques. The goal: to determine why water sources in communities near the mine were drying up or disappearing. Almost immediately, the organization of young environmentalists became a cornerstone of “the Resistance,” a socio-political movement against extractive mining and governmental corruption and collusion. Declared extinct for the third time in their history, the Xinka people would rise again, guided by science and spirituality, to defend their territory, their ancestral and mysterious worldview, and their right to an identity.

Directed By: Ignacio Decerega 

Written By: Ignacio Decerega