Guatemalan indigenous people denounce Canadian mining company's impact on their lands

Record ID: 1671513

  • Title: Guatemalan indigenous people denounce Canadian mining company's impact on their lands
  • Date: 5th May 2022
  • Summary: SAN RAFAEL LAS FLORES, SANTA ROSA DEPARTMENT, GUATEMALA (MAY 3, 2022) (REUTERS) HOUSE IN RUINS / GENERAL VIEW OF ESCOBAL MINE CLOSE OF BROKEN AND FRACTURED HOUSE WALL HOUSE IN RUINS / ESCOBAL MINE DESTROYED HOUSE AND RUBBLE PEOPLE SITTING AT TABLE OUTSIDE A HOUSE XINKA PARLIAMENT MEMBER, BLANCA OLIVA, SHOWING CRACKS IN HER HOME CLOSE OF CRACKS ON THE WALL OLIVA IN OUTSIDE
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2022 01:40
  • Keywords: Argentina Guatemala Xinca indigenous mining territory
  • Location: SAN RAFAEL LAS FLORES, SANTA ROSA DEPARTMENT, GUATEMALA
  • City: SAN RAFAEL LAS FLORES, SANTA ROSA DEPARTMENT, GUATEMALA
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Topics: South America / Central America,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA001582804052022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In southern Guatemala's small town of San Rafael Las Flores, local indigenous activists have gathered with Argentine activists to discuss how their communities have been negatively impacted by mining.
    During the Regional Summit of Communities Impacted by Pan American Silver, indigenous representatives from Guatemalan Xinka and Mapuche Tehuelche communities and members of the Chubut Communities Assembly Union gathered to share how they believe mining has affected their lives.
    “I believe this fight is (to defend) the territory, for recognition, to defend our traditional social structures, to maintain the cultures, traditions, cosmovision, ways of life, and community organizations. I believe these multinational companies disrupt all of that,” Paola Coronado, an Argentine representative from the Mapuche Tehuelche Community in Laguna Fria and Chacay Oeste communities, told Reuters.
    Since 2017, San Rafael Las Flores communities in Guatemala have installed a nonviolent blockade to prevent vehicles from reaching the nearby Escobal mine, owned by the Canadian company Pan American Silver.
    Member of the indigenous Xinca Parliament, Blanca Oliva, says her house, like many in the community, started cracking because of quakes caused by the mine.
    In 2018, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ordered a ruling that established the need for a pre-consultation process with the communities living where the mine is located.
    “We can never say that mining companies will benefit us because we haven't seen that in the seven years of exploitation,” said local farmer and president of the environmental organization Guardianes de la Naturaleza, Juan Antonio Rodriguez.
    Since 2021 Guatemalan Mining and Energy Ministry authorities and Xinca Parliament representatives have been holding meetings to bring forth the consultation process and to evaluate the mine has on the communities.
    Pan American Silver said in a statement on Wednesday that they are listening to the requests of the indigenous communities.
    "We have engaged in an open, transparent, and honest dialogue with the communities near the Escobal Mine, addressing their concerns and supporting these communities."
    The company said Escobal is currently undergoing care and maintenance activities and a consultation process led by the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
    Escobal mine hasn’t been operating since 2017.
    (Production: Luis Echeverría, Rodolfo Pena Roja, Nina Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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