Smear campaign launched against opponents to Tahoe Resources’ Escobal project, after mine licenses suspended

The following article was co-written by MiningWatch Canada and the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).  Following the suspension of two of Tahoe Resources’ mine licenses in Guatemala on July 5, Tahoe Resources’ suppliers, workers and the Guatemalan Industrial Association have engaged in a smear campaign [...]

2017-12-08T21:14:48+00:00July 18th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Tahoe Licenses Suspended for Lack of Consultation with Indigenous Communities, While Company Denies Indigenous Presence and Opposition 

July 7, 2017 (Oakland/Reno/Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Toronto) On Wednesday July 5, the Guatemalan Supreme Court of Justice announced that it was temporarily suspending two of Tahoe Resources’ mining licenses until a suit against the Ministry of Energy and Mines is resolved for discrimination and lack of prior consultation with Indigenous Xinka communities [...]

2019-12-27T18:11:18+00:00July 10th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Solidarity Update: January 2017

Photo: Francisco Simon, Prensa Comunitaria News recap: Former Kaibil, accused of participating in Dos Erres massacre, arrested in Maryland; Elderly protester killed in the Ixquisis region, Huehuetenango; Former Guatemalan Minister of Energy and Mines arrested in Miami, awaits extradition; As Trump takes office, we stand in our commitment to internationalism. This [...]

CALAS busca aumentar medidas de seguridad después del asesinato del miembro de personal

Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández de López, Fiscal General de la República, Jefe del Ministerio Público Correo: fiscalgeneral@mp.gob.gt 15 Avenida 15-16 zona 1, Barrio Gerona, 8o nivel, Ciudad de Guatemala FAX: + 502.2411-9124/ + 502.2411-9326 Francisco Manuel Rivas Lara Ministro de Gobernación de la República Correo: smvasquez@mingob.gob.gt 6 Avenida 13-71 [...]

2019-12-25T01:30:50+00:00December 20th, 2016|defensa del territorio|

CALAS seeks increased security measures after staff member is murdered

Today NISGUA, along with other environmental and social justice organizations from the Unites States and Canada, sent a letter to Guatemalan Attorney General and the Minister of the Interior asking that necessary actions be taken to guarantee the safety of the staff for the Guatemalan Center for Legal, Environmental and Social [...]

2019-12-27T18:44:13+00:00December 20th, 2016|Defense of life and territory|

Solidarity Update: December 2016

Photo: CPR Urbana News recap: Lucas García to be tried for the disappearance of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen; Staff member from the environmental justice law firm CALAS is murdered; The municipality of Mataquescuintla re-affirms 2012 referendum results that voted ‘NO’ to mining; “Guatemalan women healing towards justice” tour build U.S.-Guatemala connections in [...]

Mataquescuintla reaffirms its commitment to uphold the results of the 2012 consultation that rejected mining

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 [...]

2019-12-27T17:14:10+00:00November 16th, 2016|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Murder of Young Assistant from Guatemalan Environmental Organization is Evidence of Escalating Risk to Human Rights Defenders

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 [...]

2019-12-27T18:39:20+00:00November 16th, 2016|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Indigenous Xinca and campesino communities stand in resistance to extractive biomass project

More than 30 Xinca and campesino communities from the municipalities of Quesada and Jutiapa in southeastern Guatemala are resisting a biomass energy plant that will burn eucalyptus trees for electricity. Representatives from the communities have formed a resistance camp, maintaining a constant present at two different entrances to the project site [...]

2017-12-11T11:33:48+00:00September 27th, 2016|Defense of life and territory|

Tahoe Resources’ Former Security Manager Turns Fugitive

(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, [...]

2019-12-27T18:40:24+00:00December 1st, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

In wake of Guatemala corruption scandals, Tahoe Resources’ Escobal license faces legal challenge

On July 12, 2015, the Guatemalan Center for Environmental and Social Legal Action (CALAS) filed criminal charges against former Minister of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), Erick Archila, and former mines director at MEM, Fernando Castellanos. CALAS is accusing Archila and Castellanos of violating the Constitution and [...]

2018-01-10T20:06:57+00:00July 13th, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Communities defend right to clean water, continue to speak out against Tahoe’s dirty mine

In honor of World Environment Day, communities impacted by Tahoe Resources' Escobal mine did what they have consistently done since the mining company came on to their lands - stand up for land, water and life against mega-development extraction. The situation is critical: just over a year into the [...]

2018-01-10T20:12:58+00:00June 12th, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Wiretap transcripts raise troubling questions about Tahoe Resources’ militarized security detail

Source: Amnesty International Canada – MiningWatch Canada - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) April 7, 2015 (Guatemala City/Ottawa/Vancouver) Wiretap transcripts ordered by Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor of Tahoe Resources’ former head of security, Alberto Rotondo, in connection with an April 27, 2013 shooting outside its Escobal [...]

2019-12-27T18:41:14+00:00April 7th, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Tahoe Resources’ former security manager to be tried in Guatemalan court

Source: Center for Environmental, Social and Legal Action (CALAS) - MiningWatch Canada - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) (Guatemala City/Ottawa) On Wednesday, a Guatemalan judge decided that Tahoe’s former security manager, Alberto Rotondo, should stand trial for his role in a shooting attack on peaceful [...]

2019-12-27T18:41:45+00:00December 18th, 2014|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

‘On the Road for Justice’ Speaking Tour to Bring Attention to Guatemala Mining Conflict, Need for Remedy in Canada

(Ottawa) How is it that when community leaders wrongfully targeted in the wake of violence connected with Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver mine in Guatemala they spend months in jail, while the company’s former head of security, accused of ordering guards to open fire on protesters last April, is first given [...]

2017-12-08T22:05:25+00:00March 18th, 2014|Tour|

Communities denounce forced labor in San Miguel Ixtahuacán

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 [...]

2019-12-27T17:39:27+00:00February 7th, 2014|Defense of life and territory, Huehuetenango|

Comunidades denuncian sometimiento a servidumbre en San Miguel Ixtahuacán

CALAS y Plurijur denuncian al alcade de San Miguel Ixtahuacán. Foto: Rompiendo el Silencio Comunicado Conferencia de Prensa La Constitución Política de la República establece en el artículo 4° que, ninguna persona puede ser sometida a servidumbre ni a otra condición que menoscabe su dignidad. Cinco comunidades de San [...]

2019-12-27T17:34:12+00:00February 7th, 2014|defensa del territorio, Huehuetenango - ESP|

Jalapa says NO to mining! Guatemalan Constitutional Court hears case related to Tahoe Resources’ mining license

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 [...]

2019-12-27T17:21:04+00:00November 19th, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Mining license approved in wake of violence, investigation into murder pending

Today, NISGUA and the International Coalition against Unjust Mining in Guatemala (CAMIGUA), presented a petition with over 4,000 signatures to Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz asking her to launch an investigation into the murder of Xinca leader Exaltación Marcos Ucelo. Ucelo was abducted, together with three other [...]

2019-12-27T18:43:22+00:00April 8th, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Exploitation License Granted for Tahoe Resources Escobal Project in Context of Escalating Violence

Communities in the departments of Santa Rosa and Jalapa have been peacefully resisting the proposed Escobal silver mine, operated by Minera San Rafael, Guatemalan Subsidiary of Canada's Tahoe Resources for more than three years. Since 2011, residents have carried out eight community consultations in which more than 35,000 people [...]

2019-12-27T18:30:48+00:00April 5th, 2013|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Criminalization and Violence Erupt in the Shadow of the Escobal Mine

In recent weeks the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores has seen growing conflict around the installation of the Escobal silver mine, owned by the Canadian corporation Tahoe Resources. Local community organizers and allies from the Center for Legal, Environmental and Social Action (CALAS) denounced in August a wave [...]

2019-12-27T18:22:24+00:00September 25th, 2012|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|
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