February Solidarity Update 2022

Luis Enrique Mendoza García, former high-ranking military officer, will face trial for genocide and crimes against humanity while attacks to judicial independence continue;  a call for mutual respect and transparency on the pre-consultations of the mining project in Xinca territory Flyer announcing the opening of the trial. [...]

September Solidarity Update 2019

News recap: Hear the voices of our Guatemalan partners who speak out against the current state of siege, take action to support Xinca land defenders, and read updates on the Maya Achí sexual violence case. Don't miss out on our monthly donor drive that we're launching today! Become a [...]

Indigenous people call on Pan American Silver to cease local interference out of respect for consultation process in Guatemala

(Vancouver/Victoria/Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Washington, D.C.) Ahead of Pan American Silver’s annual shareholder meeting in Vancouver today, the Xinka Indigenous Parliament released a statement calling on the company to stop attempts to engage with communities outside of the court-ordered consultation process over the Escobal silver project. They insist that the company’s community relations [...]

2019-05-08T18:27:21+00:00May 8th, 2019|Defense of life and territory|

Solidarity Update: January 2019

News recap: NISGUA is hiring!; Civil society reacts as political crisis escalates to a technical coup; Stand with Indigenous and campesino communities' right to self-determination; Pan American buys Tahoe Resources, inheriting Escobal Mine's legacy of human rights abuses; Court delays justice, but Maya Achí sexual violence survivors continue in struggle; Become an international accompanier [...]

Solidarity Update: December 2018

News recap: Organizations demand justice in wake of assassinations and ongoing violence in Ixquisis, TAKE ACTION to stand with communities working to protect community consultations, NISGUA Speaking Tour shares lessons from successful organizing in Chixoy-Copón Rivers Watershed, KCA sues Guatemalan State in international court, survivors of sexual violence in Military Zone [...]

More than 100 Organizations Denounce Murders, Violence against Peaceful Resistance of Ixquisis

Statement on the double assassination, physical aggression, and the dangerous situation faced by communities in the Ixquisis region, Guatemala We, the below signed organizations, collectives, and people, express our deep concern about the dangerous situation faced by the communities and human rights defenders of the Ixquisis region, San [...]

2019-12-25T00:45:32+00:00December 21st, 2018|Defense of life and territory|

Four lessons on human rights that we’ve learned from defenders of life

On International Human Rights Day, we recognize that the language of human rights has not always served to advance social justice. In many cases, it has functioned as a smoke screen for imperial institutions to validate or obscure their violence. The U.S. government used the rhetoric of human rights [...]

Solidarity Update: November 2018

News recap: NISGUA celebrates a successful fall speaking tour; Communities celebrate another year of resistance; Take action to stand with Indigenous Peoples to demand respect for Indigenous self-determination in Guatemala; ACODET releases statement in the face of attacks against water defenders; 2018: a year of horizontal exchange - a [...]

Displacement in Guatemala and How Transnational Solidarity Must Impact our Local Organizing for Housing and Land Rights

Washington, D.C. local, Clara Lincoln is a recent NISGUA accompanier through the Guatemala Accompaniment Program. She spent ten months accompanying land and human rights defenders in Guatemala. Since returning, she has collaborated with ONE DC, an organization fighting for the rights to housing, wellness, and economic equity for low-income [...]

Rivers for Life: ACODET Denounces Criminalization and Attacks on Water Defenders

In the past few weeks, water defenders in Guatemala have faced growing threats. Last Friday, Q'eqchi' community leader Bernardo Caal Xol was unjustly sentenced to seven years and four months in prison in Cobán. He was convicted of illegal detention and aggravated robbery, despite contradictory and insufficient evidence presented by the [...]

2019-12-25T00:49:06+00:00November 13th, 2018|Defense of life and territory|

2018 Speaking Tour: How to Stop a Dam with Indigenous Resistance

In these times of intensifying repression and political upheaval, our social movements urgently need to share concrete lessons and strategies for organizing to defend land and life. The Latin American solidarity movement has a powerful contribution to make in strengthening global justice struggles by facilitating direct exchange between leaders [...]

2018-10-31T21:46:26+00:00July 29th, 2018|Defense of life and territory, Tour, Xalalá Dam|

NISGUA Local: Building connections between global movements to defend life and territory

"We oppose any desecration of our sacred site.  Our sacred sites are not for sale.  We will not allow our ancestors to be disturbed.  This sacred site represents more than 5,000 years of our history and it also currently represents our living culture. We will not permit the desecration of a site [...]

Peaceful resistance movement and Xinca Parliament call for the permanent closure of the Escobal mine

Peaceful Resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa member from Santa Rosa de Lima speaks to the press during a conference held at their second permanent resistance camp in front of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court on November 29. Community members from Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa have been [...]

2019-12-27T17:44:17+00:00November 30th, 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|

Immediately following police violence on Thursday, community members return to peaceful encampment in Casillas

On Thursday, June 22, riot police used tear gas to disperse communities protesting the negative impacts of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine. For three weeks, representatives from six municipalities neighboring the mine have maintained a peaceful encampment along the highway in the town of Casillas, 15 kilometers from the entrance to [...]

2020-01-01T21:24:48+00:00June 27th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Communities maintain peaceful demonstration in protest of negative impacts of Tahoe Resources’ mine in Guatemala

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 [...]

2020-01-01T21:25:17+00:00June 15th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Lawsuit against Tahoe Resources cleared for trial in Canada, ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ with regard to risks 

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 [...]

2020-01-01T21:25:34+00:00June 12th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Yes to life! Communities in the Ixcán commemorate 10 years since the referendum that said ‘no’ to resource extraction

Ten years ago, community members from the Ixcán exercised their ancestral traditions and rights as indigenous peoples, holding a municipality-wide community referendum in which 89.7% of the 21,555 participants in the referendum voted against allowing resource extraction companies into their territories. On April 20, 2017, Ixcán communities celebrated 10 [...]

2018-07-02T16:58:16+00:00May 5th, 2017|Defense of life and territory, Xalalá Dam|

Guatemalans appeal case against Tahoe Resources in Canadian court

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 [...]

2019-12-27T18:39:30+00:00November 1st, 2016|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

US Securities and Exchange Commission asked to investigate mining company’s failure to disclose secret lawsuits

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 [...]

2019-12-27T18:40:09+00:00August 11th, 2016|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Guatemalans Demand Answers from Distastefully-Named Gunpoint Exploration

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 [...]

2019-12-27T17:46:34+00:00July 6th, 2016|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

International organizations call on KCA to suspend operations

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 [...]

2019-12-27T18:44:44+00:00May 24th, 2016|Defense of life and territory, La Puya|

More than 99% of participants in the Quesada municipal consultation oppose mining

This weekend, the municipality of Quesada, Jutiapa held a consultation in which 99% of voters expressed their firm opposition to resource extraction activities taking place in their territories. Consultations organized at the community and municipal levels have been one of the many ways Guatemalans have organized in defense of [...]

2019-12-27T17:14:27+00:00May 11th, 2016|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

Communities Rise Up: Report-back on NISGUA’s delegation to communities organized in resistance to Tahoe Resources

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 [...]

Crumbling political support for Tahoe Resources in Guatemala

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 [...]

2018-01-10T20:01:25+00:00September 11th, 2015|Escobal, Justice and accountability|

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|

Norwegian Fund Divests from Tahoe Resources, Canadian and U.S. Investors Urged to Follow Suit

Tuesday, February 3, 2015 (Ottawa/Guatemala) North American shareholders in Tahoe Resources should follow the Norway's Council on Ethics’s lead and divest say Canadian and U.S. organizations. They urge Canadian and U.S. investors to make use of a report published last week that recommends the exclusion of Tahoe Resources from [...]

2019-12-27T18:41:29+00:00February 3rd, 2015|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

“We are a peaceful people” – Mataquescuintla celebrates 2nd anniversary of municipal referendum against mining

"Second Anniversary, Municipal Consultation as requested by Residents." Photo: CPR Urbana “Authorities will come and go, but it’s the responsibility of the people to uphold this decision,” says Moisés Divas to a large crowd gathered in the central park in the municipality of Mataquescuintla, Jalapa, located less than six [...]

2019-12-27T17:19:36+00:00November 19th, 2014|Defense of life and territory, Escobal|

NISGUA Fall Tour 2014

FULL ITINERARY: SEATTLE, WA.; OCTOBER 2-6 Area Contact Phil Neff: phil.neff@gmail.com OCTOBER 2 Seattle University, 1:30-2:30pm 901 12th Avenue Bannan Building, Room 102 Seattle, WA 98122 Traditions Fair Trade Café; 7-8:30pm $5-15 Sliding Donation 300 5th Avenue SW Olympia, WA 98501 OCTOBER 3 Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural Center, 5:00pm [...]

2018-01-11T20:14:15+00:00September 18th, 2014|Tour, Xalalá Dam|

Comunidades de Santa Rosa y Jalapa lanzan campaña contra la expansión de Tahoe Resources

--> Comunicado de Prensa: Comunidades Organizadas en Defensa del Territorio y la Naturaleza de Santa Rosa y Jalapa Valla anti-minera ubicada en Mataquescuintla, Jalapa. Photo NISGUA Desde el año 2012 a la fecha, en nuestros municipios se han realizado Consultas Municipales a Solicitud de Vecinos, en las cuales más [...]

2019-12-27T17:33:10+00:00September 8th, 2014|defensa del territorio, Escobal (ESP)|
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