"Indigenous community takes Guatemalan land rights fight to international court", 09 February 2022

...The Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Agua Caliente Lote 9 is presenting its case against the State of Guatemala to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights...

Collective land rights in Agua Caliente Lote 9, located roughly 300 kilometers (186 miles) northeast of Guatemala City, are the core issue. However, the case also addresses a nearby nickel mining project that has been tied to conflict and violence for more than 60 years...

The Agua Caliente Lote 9 case will give the court an opportunity to rule on recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights to sovereignty over their natural resources, according to Crippa. He has been working on Indigenous collective land rights cases for years, including that of Agua Caliente Lote 9.

“We hope the court orders the state to establish legislative and other measures to recognize the right of communities to collective property over lands they possess and to use, develop, control and benefit from the natural resources that are in their territories,” Crippa told Mongabay.

Now owned by the Solway Investment Group, a metals and mining conglomerate based in Switzerland, the Fenix project in the Q’eqchi’ region includes mountaintop mining and ferronickel processing facilities near the shore of Lake Izabal.

The lake and associated waterways sustain important ecosystems and protected areas home to diverse fish, bird, reptile and mammal species...Pollution is a concern for many local residents whose livelihoods depend on subsistence agriculture and fishing...

Guatemala has complied with its obligations under national law to ensure the human rights of Agua Caliente community members are respected, according to the PGN, which laid out its response to all three points of controversy in the case...

“Fenix concession does not include the lands of Lote 9. This land is owned by representatives of the Aguas Caliente community. […] The company does not operate on the land of Lote 9,” the Solway Investment Group’s press office told Mongabay in a written statement...