On July 1, 2014, Guatemalan officials revoked the temporary residence permits of two human rights accompaniers with Peace Brigades International. In response to their expulsion, the Convergence for Human Rights (Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos), a network of Guatemalan social, environmental, human rights, feminist, campesino and territorial defense organizations [...]
URGENT: Cancellation of temporary residence permits of two volunteers of PBI Guatemala Peace Brigades International (PBI) Guatemala would like to bring attention to and share its grave concern following the cancellation of the temporary residence permits of two volunteers of the PBI Guatemala project working in the country. This [...]
Source: MiningWatch Canada - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network June 18, 2014 (Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Guatemala City) A civil lawsuit filed today in Vancouver against Tahoe Resources for negligence and battery in connection with a shooting at the company’s silver project in [...]
On June 4, NISGUA, along with 33 other organizations from around the world, submitted a letter to the Executive Directors of the World Bank calling on them to delay their vote on the approval of a $340 million loan for Guatemala. The signing organizations ask that the bank cease [...]
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 [...]
(Ottawa/Toronto) A sixteen year old Guatemalan girl, Topacio Reynoso, was murdered on April 13, 2014 near her home town of Mataquescuintla, Guatemala where she was head of a youth movement against mining. Her father, a leader in organizing a municipal vote on the mine, was shot in the same [...]
Merilyn Topacio Reynoso Pacheco, 1997 - 2014. (Photo: Danilo Zuleta) Two weeks have passed since the deadly attack against Alex and Topacio Reynoso, community leaders from Mataquescuintla, Jalapa who were actively opposed to Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala. Topacio, just 16 years old, was killed, [...]
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 [...]
Following the "emergency contract" for geological feasibility studies signed between Guatemala's National Electrification Institute (INDE) and Brazilian company Intertechne Consultores S.A. last November, communities organized against the Xalalá Dam publicized the controversial transaction and undertook strategic meetings in Guatemala City to draw attention to the contract. One Congressman and [...]
Join NISGUA and GHRC in calling on Secretary of State John Kerry to deny certification of DOS funds to Guatemala "We need more teachers and not military brigades." Photo: PrensaComunitaria Guatemala’s UN Truth Commission report not only attributes 93% of all human rights violations and acts of violence to [...]
Tired of being ignored and disrespected by the Guatemalan government, and determined to halt a hydroelectric project approved without their free, prior and informed consent, the men and women of Santa Cruz Barillas founded the peaceful blockade, Nuevo Amanecer on April 6, 2013. Nuevo Amanecer, or New Dawn, is [...]
We demand liberty for our leaders; they have not committed crimes Photo: ADH Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango Communiqué in Solidarity with the Civil Society Movement of Santa Cruz Barillas Today, March 4, 2014, we attended two hearings in which the cases would be presented of six leaders from Santa [...]
According to a secret contract signed between Guatemala's National Electrification Institute (INDE) and Brazilian Intertechne Consultores S.A., geological studies necessary to begin construction on the Xalalá dam are to begin in March 2014. Communities organized in defense of territory, who have opposed the dam's construction for years, denounced the [...]
Neither are San Rafael Las Flores, Nueva Santa Rosa, Mataquescuintla, Jalapa nor Santa Rosa de Lima. In 2005, the communities of Sipakapa carried out one of the first community consultations on mining in Guatemala, taking a stand against Canadian giant, Goldcorp Inc., and sparking a movement that has resulted [...]
The following is a summary of an in-depth report published by ACOGUATE on January 22, 2014 and translated by NISGUA. Read the full report, Pressure to Construct Xalalá Hydroelectric Dam; Local Opposition Remains Strong. Cultivated fields would be flooded by the Xalalá dam. Nearly two years after the Guatemalan [...]
The Departmental Assembly of Huehuetenango in Defense of Territory and for the Autonomy and Free Determination of the People – ADH – informs the national and international community: During 1981, 1982, 1983, the Guatemalan Army massacred the Achí communities that lived on the banks of the Chixoy River; 444 [...]
CALAS and Plurijul denounce mayor of San Miguel Ixtahuacán Photo: Breaking the Silence Press Conference Communiqué Article 4 of the political constitution of the Republic of Guatemala establishes that no person can be subjected to servitude or any other condition which undermines their dignity. On January 8, 2014, five [...]
UUCA delegates gather with NISGUA staff in Antigua. All photos: David McTaggart This past December, NISGUA organized and hosted a ten-day delegation with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (UUCA), home to NISGUA Sponsoring Community, Partners for Arlington and Guatemala (PAG). Twelve members of the UUCA congregation formed the [...]
On January 14, the people of Sipakapa joined together to take action in denouncing the granting of the Los Chocoyos mining exploration license to Goldcorp Inc. Earlier this month, the Sipakapa Maya Council, together with the Western People's Council (CPO), filed a legal complaint against the Ministry of Energy [...]
The monitoring committee of the community consultation in the Ixcán writes to the public opinion, social organizations, indigenous organizations and human rights protection organizations with the purpose of informing about the situation created by the plans for the construction of the Xalalá hydro-electric dam. Last November 7, the National [...]
Please show your support for mining-affected communities in the area of Tahoe's Escobal project! Take action with this online petition directed at President, CEO and Director of Tahoe Resources, Kevin McArthur. (Versión original en español abajo) (Guatemala City/Ottawa) Contrary to Tahoe Resources’ recent claims, tens of thousands of people oppose [...]
While community opposition to Tahoe Resources’ Escobal project grows and wins support from the Constitutional Court, the company remains on the defense trying to convince investors that it enjoys “strong local community support.” However, the record of local votes in neighboring communities and municipalities, betrays a different reality. More [...]
Jalapa has said NO to mining. Photo: Xinka Parliament On Sunday, November 10, in a community consultation in the municipality of Jalapa, 23,152 people said NO to chemical metal mining. Members of Santa María Xalapán and other indigenous Xinca communities in Jalapa requested the popular vote in order to [...]
The time has come to support community resistance to the Escobal mine by echoing their voices internationally. Take Action! Write Kevin McArthur, President of Tahoe Resources, to demand the company respect communities' right to self-determination and leave Guatemala! Since communities surrounding Tahoe Resource's Escobal silver mine first organized community [...]
Last week, NISGUA had the honor of participating in the fifth gathering of the Latin American Network against Dams and for Rivers, Communities and Water. Before arriving at the meeting site in Retalteco, Petén, NISGUA staff accompanied an 18 person international delegation visit to communities in the Ixcán region [...]
“In order to suffer what we have suffered, we must be committed. We have to imagine ourselves like pencils; if we aren't worn down, then we aren't doing our part” - Community leader from Jalapa arrested in September for protesting against Tahoe Resources' Escobal silver mine Just over one [...]
On September 28, conflict erupted again in Northern Huehuetenango in response to the imposition of Spanish-owned Cambalam hydro-electric project in Santa Cruz Barillas. Despite ongoing criminalization and repression, community members continue to demand respect for the 2007 community consultation rejecting large-scale development projects in their territory.During his September 3 [...]
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 [...]
"The Council of Ancestral Authorities of the 31 communities of Momostenango welcomes you to the good faith community consultation" (All Photos: NISGUA) On Sunday September 1, the municipality of Momostenango held the third community consultation in the department of Totonicapán. In all three referenda in Totonicapán, as well as [...]
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 [...]
The Council presents their demand on September 3, 2013. Photo: CPO THE COUNCIL OF MAYA AND XINCA PEOPLES DENOUNCES THE GUATEMALAN STATE IN THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS On February 28, 2013, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court dismissed the Council’s challenge of unconstitutionality filed against the mining law on [...]
On Tuesday, August 27, Saúl Aurelio Méndez Muñoz and Antonio Rogelio Velásquez López, community leaders opposed to the imposition of the Cambalam hydroelectric project, operated by Hidro Santa Cruz, property of Spanish company Hidralia S.A., were arrested outside of a Guatemala City courthouse. Saúl and Antonio had traveled to [...]
On August 21 – 23, leaders and representatives of twenty Maya Q'anjob'al communities in northern Huehuetenango and Chiapas, Mexico, gathered in San Juan Ixcoy, Huehuetenango to discuss the ongoing imposition of large-scale development projects on their territory and to continue generating strategies for unified resistance moving forward. The three [...]
On July 22, a Canadian court ruled that Hudbay Minerals will stand trial in Canada for violence, including murder and rape, carried out by employees of its former Guatemalan subsidiary, Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel S.A. (CGN). The struggle to hold this Canadian mining company responsible for human rights abuses [...]
CALAS and the Xinca Parliament announce the suspension of Tahoe Resources' mining license on Wednesday morning. Photo: Prensa Libre (Ottawa/Guatemala City) On Tuesday, the Civil and Mercantile Division of Guatemala’s First Court of Appeals notified the Centre for Environmental and Social Legal Action (CALAS) that it is upholding an [...]
On Monday July 8, Guatemala's Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the six victims and co-plaintiffs in the case, filed a formal accusation against Alberto Rotondo, former security manager for Minera San Rafael, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian mining company Tahoe Resources. Rotondo was employed by the company when he [...]
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 [...]
In a televised program broadcast from outside Tahoe Resources’ conflictive Escobal mine project, President Otto Pérez Molina announced a proposed two-year moratorium on the granting of new mineral mining licenses. A similar moratorium put in place under the Colom presidency was lifted under the Molina administration, allowing for the [...]
Since the May 2 declaration of a state of siege in four municipalities surrounding Tahoe Resources' mine, 12 members of the Committee in Defense of Life and Peace of San Rafael had their homes raided by police and military forces, five community members have been arrested and charged, and [...]