| Resistance against open-pit mineral mining in Guatemala |
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To read the Third Report of the Monitoring and Analysis of Water Quality (in Spanish) , click here. The English version will be posted later.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Gen. 15.2
Since 2007, the Pastoral Commission Peace and Ecology (COPAE), part of the Pastoral Social service of the Diocese of San Marcos, conducts monitoring of surface water of the rivers Tzalá and Quivichil, close to the exploitation of the Marlin mining project, owned by Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, which in turn is a subsidiary of the Canadian company Goldcorp.
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| De Fotos de investigación |
That the mining activities of the Marlin Mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, exploited by Montana Exploradora, subsidiary of Goldcorp, constitute violations of human and indigenous rights and of Guatemalan law has been a known fact from the onset. Now, the excellent legal researchers of the mining resistance movement in the west of Guatemala, brought to light that the act of buying of the lands of San Miguel constituted a mere crime to Guatemalan law. The person accused of this crime is no one less than the current president of the Supreme court of Guatemala.
By Nathaniel D. Howard and J. David Henry
Above: Flower farm in La Linea, Sibinal (Photo: N. Howard)
In 1999, with Guatemalan government support, Glamis Gold Corporation began preliminary work on an open pit gold mine in the San Miguel Ixtahuacan region of western Guatemala. In November, 2006, Goldcorp merged with Glamis, and the Marlin Mine officially opened. The Marlin Mine has been impressively profitable for Goldcorp. Its corporate annual report states that in 2007 Marlin Mine produced 227,000 ounces of gold and 2.9 million ounces of silver for almost $204 million in revenue and $72.8 million in profits.
The chief benefits of the project to Guatemalans are employment of unskilled labor and tax revenue. A human rights assessment of the Marlin Mine recently stated that in 2008 the producing mine provided 980 of 1609 jobs (61%) to local residents. Based on the company’s agreement with the Guatemalan government, one percent of proceeds stays in the country as taxes and royalties.
Published at Oxfam America
Three new reports find human rights violations, water contamination, and other concerns at Marlin gold mine.
WASHINGTON, DC – International humanitarian organization Oxfam America cites three new independent studies as further evidence that Marlin gold mine in the San Marcos department of Guatemala should be suspended until community concerns are adequately addressed. The
studies support the government’s recent announcement that it would suspend operations the mine, owned by the Canadian company Goldcorp, following environmental and human rights complaints.
“Together, these reports indicate that Marlin Mine has had serious social and environmental impacts on surrounding communities. It’s time for the government to take action to suspend mining operations to protect the health, safety, livelihoods, and most importantly, the
rights of these communities,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.
By Håkan Mårtensson, sub General Secretary SweFOR, Christin Sandberg, vice-chairman Solidarity Sweden-Latin America, published at The Swedish Wire
"It is unacceptable that the Swedish citizen’s pension money goes to investments that lead to environmental degradation and human rights abuses", write leaders of NGOs Solidarity Sweden-Latin America and the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation. ??
Although the company Goldcorp Inc. violates indigenous peoples rights in Guatemala the public Swedish pension funds (AP fonderna) maintain their investment in the company. This position could be questioned.
A new survey, carried out by the network Global Justice Now (globalrattvisa.nu), shows that four out of seven parliamentary parties believe that environmental and human rights must prevail over the public pension funds goal of high profits. Meanwhile, new reports on how the Canadian company Goldcorp Inc., one of the companies that the Swedish citizens pension money is invested in, destroys the environment and violates the rights of indigenous peoples in Guatemala. ??
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| De 2010-07-18 |
Marlin mine (Photo: COPAE)
A month ago, the defenders of human and indigenous rights and local organizations in defense of their territory like FREDEMI (Miguelense Defense Front), member of CPO (Council of Peoples of the West) applauded Guatemala’s government's decision to suspend the Marlin mine. However, the same organizations refrained from making celebratory statements. The CPO urged the government to expedite the administrative process, for the suspension to take effect without further delay, so its commitment would go beyond mere speech. A month later we see why the CPO was concerned, up to this day, the mine's neighbors have not seen any sign of precautionary measures, while the government is looking for any argument to deny the allegations, supporting the mining company Goldcorp.
In this video, you can see doña María Hernández testifying (in Spanish) about the armed attack on her mother, community leader Teodora Antonia Hernández Cinto.
Also, some images of the victim shortly after the attack.
Read more in this article.
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| De Fotos de investigación |
Photo of Mrs. Theodora Antonia Hernandez Cinto
In San Miguel Ixtahuacán, in the last two weeks, we reported two armed attacks on two known people of the resistance against mining in that municipality. This is an apparent increase in the level of violence in a municipality that has been marked by social conflict as of the introduction of the Marlin mine of the company Montana exploradora, a subsidiary of Goldcorp, six years ago. These events are in contradiction with the supposed commitment of the government of Guatemala to "guarantee the life and physical integrity of the neighbors of the mine."
In June 2010, for five days, Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights (UN), James Anaya was in Guatemala to begin his investigation of violations of indigenous rights. The team of COPAE was in his tracks, on the 16th and 17th, when his helicopter took him to San Miguel Ixtahucán, San Marcos and to Zaculeu, Huehuetenango. The Rapporteur was received by thousands of indigenous people. There was word of a historic moment for the Maya people. In this post, we present the events of his visit to San Miguel.
Video: COPAE
James Anaya, an American of indigenous origin, is the second UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Rights. He could be seen as the most important representative of the indigenous people worldwide, a people that unfortunately isn´t well represented in the world. His visit was requested by several organizations and communities that reported violations of human and indigenous rights around the issue of mining in Guatemala.
On June 16th and 17th, the Special Relator on Indigenous Rights of the United Nations (U.N.), James Anaya, visited San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Huehuetenango as part of an investigative excursion in Guatemala. He was received by thousands of indigenous people from the many towns of western Guatemala.
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| De 2010-05-31 Fotos de la Mina Marlin |
The Marlin Mine`s Tailings Pond (Photo: Copae)
On June 23, the president of Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, stated that the government will comply with the precautionary measures that were dictated by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The main preventive measure was the suspension of the Marlin mine in San Miguel Ixtahacán. The Council of Peoples of the West (CPO) applauds the decision, insisting that the government take the necessary steps to comply, so for once there should be more to it than words.
The independent journalist Tracy Barnett was in San Marcos for a week in June 2010. For her "Green News Portal for the Americas", called "The Esperanza Project", she wrote a series of articles on mining and resistance. One of these, we are presenting here below. This article is about the fifth anniversary of the Community consultation of Sipakapa and coincidingly, it is about the Q 8 million, about $980,000 U.S., that the municipality of Sipakapa excepted from the mining company Montana Exploradora (Goldcorp).
(Above: A poster produced by COPAE, the Pastoral Commission on Peace and Ecology, displayed around the region: “I am Sipacapan and I care for my territory because: Where there is mining, there are contaminated rivers. Scientific studies demonstrate that the water of the Quivichil and Tzala rivers are contaminated with high levels of heavy metals and should not be used. ALL MINES CONTAMINATE.”)
On May 20, 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), being an organ of the Organization of American States (OAS), ordered the Guatemalan state to take precautionary measures in favor of 18-Mam-Maya communities that submitted a complaint to the committee in 2007. These communities reported that mining company Montana (Goldcorp) at the Marlin Mine is causing human rights violations in the municipalities of San Miguel and Sipakapa in the department of San Marcos. Among the preventive measures that the IACHR order, is the immediate suspension of the Marlin mine to prevent further damage and to ensure that life and human dignity will not be harmed anymore. On June 2, 2010, the President of Guatemala stated that he will not comply with the request for IACHR because he said "there is no basis for such a suspension."
Complaints of the communities
In 2007, 18 Maya-Mam communities (they are: Tres cruces; Escupijà; Pueblo Viejo; la Estancia; Poj; Sipacapa; Pie de la Cuesta; Cancil; Chual; Quecà; Quequesiguàn; San Isidro; Canoj; Ajel; San josé Ixcaniché; San José Nueva Esperanza; San Antonio de los Altos; y Siete Platos ) denounced the mining activity of the company Montana Exploradora (Goldcorp) that is exploiting gold and silver as of 2005 in the department of San Marcos. The petitioners allege that the mining concession was issued and mining began without the prior, complete, free, and informed consultation of the affected communities of the Maya people. Moreover, they maintain that the mining has produced grave consequences for the life, personal integrity, environment, and property of the affected indigenous people, since the Tzalá River and its tributaries are the only sources of water for consumption and subsistence activities. According to the request, a number of water wells and springs have dried up, and the metals present in the water as a result of the mining activity have had harmful effects on the health of members of the community.(Source)
A study presented by Environment and Health researchers from the University of Michigan, representing Physicians for Human Rights, said that in the blood and urine samples taken from a group of people living in areas near the Marlin Mine they found levels of metals that could be toxic and that in time may be increasing, endangering the health of residents and the environment.
This study also confirms the findings of two recent reports by the Pastoral Commission Peace and Ecology-COPAE-, which found the presence of metals in the water of the rivers Quivichil and Tzalá, which in some months were in large quantities, which could be harmful for the health of the people of the area.
The American experts say that the situation is pretty worrying as the Marlin Mine had been operational for only four years at the time of the investigation. They also mention that they learned by past investigations throughout the world, that the environmental and health effects of mining will only be increasing over time. Therefore, they warned that pollution is expected to increase in the future, and that these effects could last for many years.
All countries recognize the validity of human rights. "But where can we demand the respect for such rights or condemn its violators if the latter are foreign companies and if the scene of crime is Guatemala? In May, in Madrid, the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (TPP) did the job that Guatemalan and international judges should be doing. The TPP sentenced Goldcorp Inc. and its shareholders for violations of human rights.
A TPP is a court that does not go by the legal authorities of the states or by international organizations, but rather a TPP fits within a framework of international civilian organizations, because of a lack of national or inter-state juridical action. The last TPP was held as an alternative event to the bi-regional summit of Latin American countries and the European Union in Spain. The intention was to do a trial on violations of human rights by European actors. That is, in this court there were only cases that involved European companies and investors.
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