Rosa did not hide her anger as she got up to speak, raising a jar of soil above her head. As she spoke her words, she sprinkled the soil on the ground in front of her.

“I speak in the name of all Guatemalans who are suffering hunger right now”, she declared [translation Naomi’s].

More soil fell to the ground.

“I speak in the name of those who are sick and do not have medicines. I speak in the name of families who don't have appropriate housing. I speak in the name of those who can't read and write. I speak in the name of the unemployed. I speak in the name of children, young people, adults, and old people. I speak in the name of the exploited. I speak in the name of the Madre Tierra, whom they exploit. … In the past they obliged our grandmothers and grandfathers to pay tribute. They divided up our pueblo [village]. They stripped and killed our grandparents. And they sent us away to live in the mountains. This government does not represent us – its laws are an expression of the dominant class, protected by armed forces. We call for the creation of a Pluri-National state and the making of a National Assembly that represents our constitutive peoples. We call for a national strike. … The Madre Tierra is the witness to our disfigurement, grandmother too wild to be tamed, and source of our future liberation. And so we will fight.” (Fieldnotes, San Luis, Guatemala, June 2018)