El jueves 22 de junio, la policía antidisturbios utilizó gases lacrimógenos para dispersar a las comunidades que protestaban contra los impactos negativos del proyecto minero Escobal de Tahoe Resources. Durante tres semanas, representantes de seis municipios vecinos han tomado la decisión de detener sólo el tráfico relacionado con la empresa [...]
Since June 7, communities have maintained a 24-hour encampment along the highway in the municipality of Casillas, 15 kilometers from the Escobal mine of U.S.-Canadian company Tahoe Resources. Blocking only mine-related traffic, they are denouncing the negative impacts they experience on a daily basis since Tahoe Resources came to the [...]
For more than five years, communities surrounding Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala have opposed the project operating in their territories. Through 18 community and municipal referenda, multiple legal actions, and different sits-ins, encampments, and protests, impacted communities continue to show that Tahoe Resources has no social license for its project. [...]
News recap: A strong grassroots movement continues to resist Tahoe Resources; Six police officers tasked with the custody of Tahoe's former head of security found guilty on charges related to his escape; Supreme Court of Canada gives way for Tahoe Resources to face civil suit in Canada for violence; Youth activist [...]
Featured photo credit: Jorge Tobías Pineda Herrera Since June 7, 2017, communities surrounding Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala have maintained a 24-hour peaceful protest of mine-related traffic. They are denouncing the constant tremors they believe are the result of mining activities, the constant heavy truck traffic, and the [...]
12 de junio de 2017 (Ottawa/Oakland/Tatamagouche/Toronto/Washington D.C.) El lunes se emitió una alerta para inversionistas advirtiendo que los históricos desarrollos con respecto a la demanda contra Tahoe Resources en Canadá es tan sólo uno de los indicadores de serios riesgos en relación a su mina argentífera Escobal en Guatemala. El [...]
June 12, 2017 (Ottawa/Oakland/Tatamagouche/Toronto/Washington D.C.) An investor alert released today warns that historic developments in the lawsuit against Tahoe Resources in Canada is just one indicator of serious risks surrounding its Escobal silver mine in Guatemala. On Thursday, June 8th, the Supreme Court of Canada denied Tahoe Resources leave to [...]
Featured photo credit: CALAS With files from the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network. On June 1, Guatemala trial Judge Verónica Ruíz convicted six members of the National Civil Police for breach of duty. All six officers were responsible for the custody of Alberto Rotondo Dall’orso, former head of security for [...]
Comunicado de Prensa (CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA/OAKLAND/TORONTO/OTTAWA/TATAMAGOUCHE) – Mientras en los tribunales de Columbia Británica avanza una demanda civil contra Tahoe Resources por violencia es su mina Escobal en Guatemala, organizaciones de derechos humanos instan a reguladores de la Superintendencia de la Bolsa de Valores de la provincia de Columbia Británica, [...]
Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP) – Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) – Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) – MiningWatch Canada – Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) (Guatemala City/Oakland/Toronto/Ottawa/Tatamagouche) – While a civil lawsuit moves forward in British Columbia courts against Tahoe Resources [...]
This fall, we’re excited to welcome Alex Escobar Prado as the featured speaker for this year's tour, "Guatemalan Youth in Defense of Land and Life!" Alex is an activist, educator, and a member of the Guatemalan environmental justice organization Youth Organized in Defense of Life (JODVID). Born out of the [...]
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, [...]
Comunicado de Prensa 17 de mayo de 2017 (Guatemala / Oakland, CA / Tatamagouche, NS) - El miércoles se entregó una carta al Ministerio Público de Guatemala en nombre de más de 2.900 personas que solicitaban una investigación inmediata y exhaustiva del asesinato de Topacio Reynoso Pacheco, de 16 años, [...]
Photo credit: Roderico Díaz. News recap: Honoring the life of Miguel Ramírez Matóm, witness in the Ixil genocide trial; Take action: Denounce impunity for attacks against environmental defenders; Communities in the Ixcán commemorate 10 years since the referendum that said ‘no’ to resource extraction; Announcing our fall tour: "Guatemala youth in defense of [...]
Photo: Holly Sheenan. News recap: Celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Sepur Zarco verdict; Civil suit continues against the Ministry of Energy and Mines, in an attempt to cancel Las Lajitas license; Hundreds respond to calls for urgent action on the murder of environmental defender Sebastián Alonso Juan; Protect sacred sites: Respond [...]
On January 24, residents from the municipalities of Casillas and San Rafael las Flores filled the courtroom to hear arguments in a civil suit against the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) that seeks the cancellation of a mining concession in their communities. Casillas resident Bernabé Rivas appealed to [...]
30 de enero de 2017 (Guatemala/Montreal/Ottawa/Reno/Tatamagouche/Toronto/Washington, DC) Organizaciones de la sociedad civil canadienses y estadounidenses reciben con entusiasmo la decisión del Tribunal de Apelaciones de Columbia Británica que Vancouver constituye el foro más adecuado para conocer una demanda civil contra Tahoe Resources por violencia hacia manifestantes pacíficos en contra [...]
January 27, 2017 (Guatemala/ Montreal/Ottawa/Reno/Tatamagouche/Toronto/Washington, DC) Canadian and US civil society organizations wholeheartedly welcome a British Columbia Court of Appeals’ decision that Vancouver is the preferred forum for a civil suit to be heard against Tahoe Resources concerning violence against peaceful opposition to its silver mine in Guatemala. Announced [...]
Four years ago, residents of the southeastern Guatemalan municipality of Mataquescuintla held a municipal referendum in which 98.42% of participants voted against the presence of resource extraction projects in their territories. This past Friday, the municipality re-affirmed its commitment to uphold that decision and continue to stand up against [...]
November 16, 2016 (Ottawa/Toronto/Vancouver/Reno/Washington/Guatemala) North American organizations are dismayed and deeply troubled by the execution-style murder of 22 year-old Jeremy Abraham Barrios Lima, assistant to the director of the Guatemalan Centre for Legal, Environmental and Social Action (CALAS), on Saturday in Guatemala City. A group of Canadian and US [...]
The Center for Environmental and Social Legal Action of Guatemala (CALAS) denounces the murder of Jeremy Abraham Barrios Lima, assistant to the General Director Yuri Melini. Below is the translated urgent action and original statement in Spanish. CALAS - Urgent Action Public Statement MURDER of JEREMY ABRAHAM BARRIOS LIMA [...]
The following article was written in collaboration with the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala, the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, MiningWatch Canada, and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. In February 2016 houses in the village of La Cuchilla in the municipality of San Rafael Las [...]
PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) Today, the British Columbia Court of Appeals in Vancouver, Canada will revisit a procedural motion in the case of seven [...]
Community members from La Cuchilla in the municipality of San Rafael las Flores are concerned about major cracks in the foundation of their houses that have developed since Tahoe Resources' began mining operations at the neighboring Escobal mine. They claim that the cracks are due to explosions and an increase [...]
News recap: National and international human rights defenders threatened as transitional justice advances; Communities celebrate the release of political prisoners from Huehuetenango; SEC complaint says Tahoe Resources failed to disclose widespread opposition to Escobal silver mine. This and more in this month's Solidarity Update.
News Release August 11, 2016 (GUATEMALA CITY/OAKLAND/TORONTO) - The US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) is being asked to investigate a Canadian mining company with offices in Reno, Nevada and operations in Guatemala. The Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), based in Canada, will submit a thirty-five-page report on [...]
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA Se pide a la Comisión de Bolsa y Valores de Estados Unidos que se investigue la no revelación de juicios secretos de una compañía minera canadiense 11 de agosto de 2016 (GUATEMALA/OAKLAND/TORONTO) – La Comisión de Bolsa y Valores de Estados Unidos (SEC) recibirá una petición [...]
News Release: Source: Mining Watch Canada - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) (Ottawa/Guatemala City) Today, a letter from Guatemalans living in the vicinity of Gunpoint Exploration’s ‘El Escorpión’ project was sent to the company raising concerns about inadequate disclosure in company filings, particularly considering overwhelming results [...]
News recap: Psychologist Maudi Tzay joins NISGUA this fall on tour in the United States; Eight former military to stand trial for charges in the CREOMPAZ case; Urban activists return to Central Square for the Day for Heroes and Martyrs; Seven political prisoners from Huehuetenango go to trial. This and [...]
News recap: Final arguments heard to determine whether CREOMPAZ case will be sent to trial; More than 99% of participants vote ‘NO’ to resource extraction in Quesada municipal consultation; Guatemala’s highest court upholds suspension order for El Tambor Mine; Announcing our 2016 Fall tour: “Guatemalan Women Healing Toward Justice.” This [...]
In the fall of 2015, Llan Carlos Dávila from the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) toured the U.S. to speak about CODIDENA’s efforts to stop the development and expansion of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala. Dávila spoke about popular education, grassroots action, and the organizing of [...]
On Friday, April 22, communities from across Guatemala marched into the capital in protest of an economic development model that prioritizes corporate interests over the rights of communities to water. The activity coordinated the arrival of four marches entering at different points of the city; some organizations and individuals joined [...]
One of the pillars of international human rights accompaniment is the backing of a strong and active international network that commits to ongoing education of the international community about the human rights context of those we accompany, monitors the specific situations of those human rights defenders, and is ready [...]
(Guatemala City/Ottawa/Tatamagouche) On Monday, plaintiffs in the criminal case against Tahoe Resources’ former security manager, Alberto Rotondo, were informed that he had escaped police custody. Rotondo is accused of having ordered private security guards to attack peaceful protestors outside the Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala on April 27, 2013, [...]
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) – Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) – MiningWatch Canada – Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) – Projet Accompagnement Québec Guatemala (PAQG) (Guatemala/Ottawa/Washington/Tatamagouche) Fifty-five international organizations are calling for an investigation into the second armed attack in as many years [...]
On Saturday, October 17, armed assailants shot at six people in Mataquescuintla, Jalapa, Guatemala, where communities have organized in peaceful resistance to Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine project. Among those injured was Alex Reynoso, an environmental defender and member of the Mataquescuintla mining resistance movement in southeastern Guatemala. Alex remains [...]
Criminalizing protest and free speech across borders NISGUA’s Tahoe on Trial speaking tour kicked off yesterday by going right to the U.S. source - Tahoe’s U.S. headquarters in Reno, Nevada. We were honored to join local indigenous leaders and activists organized with the Nevada Progressive Leadership Alliance (PLAN Nevada) [...]
For the past five years, communities impacted by Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala have stood up to peacefully defend their lands and livelihoods. The Diocesan Committee in the Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) has led this movement – organizing and carrying out community referenda in which more than [...]
We are excited to announce that NISGUA’s 2015 speaking tour will feature the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) - the grassroots organizers behind widespread opposition to Tahoe Resources' mine in Guatemala. The two-week tour begins October 12 in Reno, Nevada and will travel through Midwest and the [...]
Article written in collaboration with MiningWatch Canada and the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network. If the militarized security strategy that Tahoe Resources has used to put its Escobal silver mine into operation isn’t enough to raise questions about the ethics of the company’s operations in Guatemala, the recent resignation of Guatemalan President [...]