March is a key moment for the beginning of a new solar cycle in the Maya calendar—a time of renewal, balance, and planting begins. It’s a reminder that the processes that sustain life require memory, patience, and community. From Guatemala, this month invites us to continue walking alongside those [...]
Costs and implications for investment: Are there viable solutions, and what can we bring in from local communities? Last December, defenders of life and territory received some truly inspiring news: the US mining company Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) lost its multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the Guatemalan state. This news [...]
You can find the statement in Spanish further below. Statement from the Peaceful Resistance La Puya to the Guatemalan and International Community in response to the decision of the International Arbitration Tribunal (CIADI) in KCA v. Guatemala In response to the decision in favor of Guatemala in the international [...]
Over the last several decades, transnational resource extraction companies have flocked to Central America. Licenses to construct hydroelectric dams, exploit minerals, or build the necessary infrastructure to make these types of projects possible are being granted by national governments in the region at an alarming rate. With little transparency, [...]
International Organizations Reiterate Support for Guatemalan Communities and Institutions Upholding Rule of Law and Respect for Human Rights in the case of the communities of La Puya and El Tambor Mine The undersigned human rights and environmental law organizations applaud recent efforts by Guatemalan courts to enforce domestic laws and international [...]
Take action: Stand in solidarity with La Puya On Friday, May 23, the communities in resistance of La Puya were violently evicted from their blockade at the entrance to El Tambor gold mine. This attack comes after more than two years of peaceful resistance to the project, and repeated [...]
Late Sunday night, around 10:30PM, father and daughter activists involved in the resistance against Tahoe Resources' Escobal Mine, Edwin Alex Reynoso and Merilyn Topacio Reynoso, were attacked by unknown suspects. Alex and Topacio were on their way home from Matequescuintla after attending an activity there. Topacio was shot and [...]
The National Police, at the service of US mining company Kappes Cassiday and Associates (KCA), have been carrying out acts of intimidation and threatening eviction against communities in resistance at La Puya, just north of Guatemala City. Early April 9, a local company contracted by KCA, Transmac S.A., arrived [...]
On September 7, six unknown men shot and killed eleven in San José Nacahuil, in the municipality of San Pedro Ayampuc. Today, NISGUA submitted a letter, signed by over a dozen international organizations, to President Otto Pérez Molina to express our solidarity with the community of San José Nacahuil [...]
Sources: Western Peoples' Council (CPO) - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - MiningWatch Canada – Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) (Guatemala City/Ottawa/Washington) Tuesday, Guatemala's Western Peoples' Council of Mayan organizations (CPO) filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) alleging that the [...]
On Tuesday, July 9, Santos Fidel Ajau Suret, a member of the ongoing peaceful resistance at La Puya, was assassinated. The MadreSelva Collective released the following communique denouncing his assassination. Translation by NISGUA, in Spanish here. Urgent Communique We denounce the cowardly assassination of Santos Fidel Ajau Suret, activist [...]
Yolanda Oquelí (foreground) meets with Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina and Minister of The Interior Mauricio Lopez Bonilla. Photo: Giles Clarke In an uncharacteristic move, President Otto Pérez Molina and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) invited members of the peaceful resistance of La Puya to a high [...]
On Sunday, March 3, 2013 the communities of La Puya celebrated the one-year anniversary of non-violent resistance to the Tambor (Progreso VII) mining project, owned by US company Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA). During this year of struggle and resistance hundreds of citizens from the municipalities of San José [...]
Following over nine months of non-violent peaceful resistance to the El Tambor mining project and increased intimidation and threats during the past month, the situation at La Puya escalated last Friday, December 7th, when over 300 National Civil Police (PNC) agents and 50 patrol trucks arrived, threatening to evict [...]
For the past nine months, men, women and children from San José del Golfo, San Pedro Ayampuc and their surrounding communities have maintained a constant, non-violent presence in protest of the onset of mining activities in their territories. Beginning on Tuesday, November 13, an estimated 70 people claiming to [...]
On June 13, activist Yolanda Oquelí was attacked and shot three times on her way home from a protest. We join others in denouncing the attack and expressing our concern for Yolanda's safety and well-being, as well as the safety of other organizers and community members from the area. [...]