"‘Fighting a huge monster’: mine battle in Guatemala became a playbook for polluters", 18 August 2023

... Natural resources on Indigenous lands have been exploited since colonial settlers first attacked Latin America, creating wealth for a few while fuelling violence, displacement and poverty for most. But the Marlin mine, which made its owner, the Canadian gold-mining firm Goldcorp, billions of dollars before closing in 2017, was one of the earliest documented cases of a transnational corporation – and its state allies – weaponising the legal system against environmental defenders.

... Experts say that what happened here helped to establish criminalisation as a go-to tool for polluting industries and governments seeking to discredit and silence activists... It proved to be so effective that criminalisation spread across Latin America and is now deployed globally as part of a playbook of tactics to divide communities, and detract attention away from legitimate debate and protests about environmental and climate harms.

... “The violence and the criminalisation caused terror and put the brakes on the social movement at a critical moment. We were fighting against a huge monster, and we couldn’t stop them,” said Salomón Bámaca, who worked as a community promoter for the mine before organising against it.

... The company did not respond to specific allegations but in a statement said: “When Newmont purchased Goldcorp, Marlin was already in closure and reclamation. We continue to meet our post-closure commitments and obligations and will do so until they are completed.” ...

[Goldcorp (now Newmont) previously responded to requests from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre related to allegations of human rights violations linked to the Marlin mine. Their responses can be found here and here].