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Early this summer, I participated in a University of Montana trip to Guatemala examining environmental and social justice issues in the country.

While there, I gained a much deeper understanding of their recently ended 36-year civil war (Peace accords were signed in 1996), the hand our government played in starting it, and why the country is facing many of the same problems it did 50 years ago.

Many may think that Guatemala is just a small, even insignificant, country with nothing to do with the U.S. Many more may not even know where it is. But this small country is one heartbreaking example of the damage our government’s policies of intervention in other nations’ affairs have caused over the years and why we all, as citizens of one of the most powerful nations on Earth, have a responsibility to be informed and the power to create change.

In northern Guatemala, where the Chixoy and Copón rivers meet, a total of 36 villages are under threat of “development.” That development comes in the form of the Xalalá hydroelectric dam project that would create a 7.5-kilometer reservoir over the homes of 2,338 people. The communities that would be affected have been presented with no resettlement or compensation plans and in fact have been told very little about the project in general. In the meantime, bids for the dam are streaming in from across the globe, including from corporations in Taiwan, Colombia, Brazil, Spain and, of course, the U.S.

Virginia-based AES Corp. represents the main U.S. bidder and is already involved in a similar project on a World Heritage Site in Panama and Costa Rica. Although the U.S. government is not directly involved in it, this dam project is illustrative of the persistent attitude of colonialism that continues to pervade U.S.-Latin American relations. The colonial mindset, both on the part of the colonized and the colonizers, knows only exploitation as a means to wealth. The Xalalá dam will not bring prosperity to this wounded country; it will only bring temporary cash to a select few, and more suffering to the afflicted many.

As Americans, when confronted with issues of U.S.-sponsored wrongdoings like this one, we all may be inclined to crawl under the covers, or back into our insulated lives, but I am imploring you to ignore that first instinct. If I learned anything in my travels throughout Guatemala it is that we, as American citizens, enjoy considerable power. We are the consumers, we are the public and we hold the ability to demand change out of our own government and even private corporations.

Whether it is through writing a representative or refusing to buy a certain brand, there are small steps that we can each take every day to make that difference. So shake off that apathy, stay informed, be passionate and inform others. These are the first steps to change and we are the ones who can make a difference for those 2,338 people in a remote region of little Guatemala. In the end we are the ones who will have to force that change, no one else.

Montana James is a senior in political science and international development studies at the University of Montana. She writes from Missoula.

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