GUATEMALA CITY - Forty indigenous families occupying farmland have fled their homes in north Guatemala after an armed group set fire to several residences, a land rights group said on Sunday.
The families belong to the Q'eqchi' indigenous group and are former workers of the Cubilgüitz coffee farm laid off 15 years ago without full severance, Guatemala's Committee of Peasant Unity (CUC) said.
Since then, they have demanded land as compensation and occupied part of the farm in protest, CUC representative Maria Josefa Macz said.
"Last night, the 40 families were forced to leave their homes, their belongings and residences were looted, similar to the 1980s," the CUC said in a statement, referring to some of the bloodiest years of Guatemala's Civil War when villages often were burned.
It was not clear who was behind the attack. However, a little over a year ago, another group of people began to occupy the land and intimidate the former workers, the CUC said.
Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei said on Twitter he was concerned about the incident and authorities were investigating.