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Article

20 Aug 2021

Author:
MiningWatch Canada

Guatemala: IACHR, together with U.S. and Canadian organizations, fill letter supporting a request to extend precautionary measures for activists opposed to the Escobal mine

Resist Escobal

“Activists Call for Protection of Indigenous Xinka Leaders in Guatemala Mine Consultation”, 18 August 2021

…[S]ix U.S. and Canadian human rights and environmental organizations filed a letter with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) supporting a request to extend precautionary measures for activists opposed to the Escobal mine in Guatemala. The mine has faced strong local opposition from the day it started operations in 2011, opposition that has met violent repression, threats and defamation campaigns. Tahoe Resources sold the Escobal mine to Pan American Silver in 2019...It asks the IACHR to monitor the security situation of communities in resistance and Indigenous Xinka leaders who are participating in the consultation process; to extend precautionary measures for leaders Julio David González Arango, Juan Eduardo Donis, Pablo Adolfo Valenzuela Lima, Edwin Alexander Reynoso Bran, and Luis Fernando García Monroy; and to request request information from the Guatemalan government regarding risks to activists and measures being taken to ensure their safety. Since 2011, Xinka and campesino communities have organized to peacefully oppose the mine in southeastern Guatemala. Nearly 100 people were criminally charged for their role in the opposition, all eventually acquitted for lack of evidence. Today the mine is closed, pending consultation with the Xinka people as ordered by the country’s highest court in September 2018...In October 2020, the Xinka came to an agreement with the government regarding the participation of their elected representatives and the start of the pre-consultation phase. The security situation has deteriorated since then…Pan American Silver has expressed its intention to reopen the mine following the consultation process, revealing a clear lack of respect for Xinka people’s self-determination and their right to free, prior and informed consent, enshrined in international law...

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