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  • Writer's pictureThe Gender Security Project

Guatemalans Fight Extractive Industries

By Edgardo Ayala


One of the voting centers of the popular consultation held on Sunday, Sept. 18 in Asunción Mita, a town of 50,000 people in eastern Guatemala. The majority of the people who voted said no to the Cerro Blanco mine, due to its environmental impacts. CREDIt: Edgardo Ayala/IPS


The majority of the Guatemalan population continues to oppose mining and other extractive projects, in the midst of a scenario of socio-environmental conflict that pits communities defending their natural resources against the interests of multinational corporations.


The most recent rejection of mining projects in this Central American country took place on Sunday Sept. 18 in the town of Asunción Mita, 350 kilometers southeast of the capital of Guatemala, in the department of Jutiapa.


The ā€œNoā€ vote wins

Here, through a citizen consultation, 88 percent of the more than 8,503 people who voted said ā€œnoā€ to the operations of the Cerro Blanco gold mine, owned by Elevar Resources, a subsidiary of Canada’s Bluestone Resources.


ā€œIn my view we can’t allow this to go ahead, we are getting older, but we don’t want the children and young people to suffer from the environmental impact of the mine,ā€ said Petronila HernĆ”ndez, 55, after voting at a school on the outskirts of Asunción Mita.


HernĆ”ndez added to IPS that ā€œwe don’t agree with the mine, it affects our water sources, we carry the water from the water source, and the mine contaminates it.ā€


HernƔndez was accompanied by her daughter, Marilexis Ramos, 21.


ā€œHopefully our ā€˜No’ vote will win,ā€ said Ramos during the voting. At the end of the afternoon the counting of votes began, and by Monday Sept. 19 the results began to be clear.

Mother and daughter live in the Cerro Liso hamlet, on the outskirts of Asunción Mita, very close to the mine.


The majority of the Guatemalan population continues to oppose mining and other extractive projects, in the midst of a scenario of socio-environmental conflict that pits communities defending their natural resources against the interests of multinational corporations.


The most recent rejection of mining projects in this Central American country took place on Sunday Sept. 18 in the town of Asunción Mita, 350 kilometers southeast of the capital of Guatemala, in the department of Jutiapa.


The ā€œNoā€ vote wins

Here, through a citizen consultation, 88 percent of the more than 8,503 people who voted said ā€œnoā€ to the operations of the Cerro Blanco gold mine, owned by Elevar Resources, a subsidiary of Canada’s Bluestone Resources.


ā€œIn my view we can’t allow this to go ahead, we are getting older, but we don’t want the children and young people to suffer from the environmental impact of the mine,ā€ said Petronila HernĆ”ndez, 55, after voting at a school on the outskirts of Asunción Mita.


HernĆ”ndez added to IPS that ā€œwe don’t agree with the mine, it affects our water sources, we carry the water from the water source, and the mine contaminates it.ā€


HernƔndez was accompanied by her daughter, Marilexis Ramos, 21.


ā€œHopefully our ā€˜No’ vote will win,ā€ said Ramos during the voting. At the end of the afternoon the counting of votes began, and by Monday Sept. 19 the results began to be clear.

Mother and daughter live in the Cerro Liso hamlet, on the outskirts of Asunción Mita, very close to the mine.


In February, IPS reported on the struggle of indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ communities in the municipality of El Estor, on the outskirts of Lake Izabal, in the department of the same name in eastern Guatemala.


The only active mine in Guatemala operates there, as similar projects have been blocked by the communities through citizen consultations or by court rulings, after the communities requested injunctions complaining about the lack of such votes, which are required.

The nickel mine in El Estor has been operated since 2011 by the transnational Solway Investment Group, headquartered in Switzerland, after purchasing it from Canada’s HudBay Minerals.


ā€œAlmost 100 consultations have been held, in 100 municipalities around the country, and in all of them mining and hydroelectric projects, mainly, have been rejected,ā€ said JosĆ© Cruz, of the environmental collective Madreselva.


The high number of consultations expresses the level of struggle of the population and the companies’ interest in the country’s natural resources.


ā€œThe only mining project currently operating is El Estor,ā€ Cruz told IPS. And it is still active thanks to a ā€œmockā€ consultation, manipulated by the company, which apparently endorsed the mine.


The Oxec I and Oxec II hydroelectric projects have also been a source of socio-environmental conflict.


The first plant began operations in 2015 and the second has been under construction since two years later. Both are owned by the Energy Resources Capital Corporation, registered in Panama.


In 2015, local Q’eqchi indigenous communities launched a struggle against the two hydroelectric power plants on the Cahabón River, located in the municipality of Santa MarĆ­a de Cahabón, in the department of Alta Verapaz in northern Guatemala.


After suffering persecution for his active participation in defense of his people’s territories, Q’eqchi leader Bernardo Caal was imprisoned in January 2018 and sentenced the following November to seven years in prison by a court ā€œwithout any evidence,ā€ as denounced at the time by Amnesty International, which considered him a prisoner of conscience.


However, he was released in March 2022 for good behavior and because there was essentially no evidence against him.


Projects that pollute across borders

Although the victory of the ā€œnoā€ vote in Asunción Mita represents an achievement for local residents, the project still presents a pollution risk, not only for this town of 50,000 people, but also for neighboring El Salvador.


Asunción Mita is located near the border with El Salvador.


Environmental organizations in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have warned that heavy metal pollution from the mine would end up impacting the OstĆŗa River on the Guatemalan side.


The waters of that river, in turn, would reach Lake Guija, on the Salvadoran side. And a segment of that lake is reached by the Lempa River, which provides water to more than one million people in San Salvador and neighboring municipalities.


The Lempa River is 422 kilometers long and its basin covers three countries: It originates in Guatemala, crosses a small portion of Honduras and then zigzags through El Salvador until flowing into the Pacific Ocean.


El Salvador passed a law in March 2017 prohibiting mining, underground or open pit, but the proximity to the Cerro Blanco mine makes it vulnerable to pollution.

ā€œWe are concerned, our main source of water is under threat,ā€ Salvadoran activist Dalia GonzĆ”lez, of the Green Rebellion movement, told IPS.


GonzƔlez added that the governments of Guatemala and El Salvador have an important role to play in protecting natural resources and the health of the local population.

ā€œBecause the effects of the mines cross borders,ā€ said the young activist on the banks of the OstĆŗa River, where she had arrived along with Salvadoran environmentalists and journalists after witnessing the consultation process.


GonzƔlez called on Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to engage in a dialogue with his Guatemalan counterpart Alejandro Giammattei to find a solution to the problem of pollution that would also affect El Salvador.


ā€œThe situation is serious and requires urgent action,ā€ said the Salvadoran activist.

After learning the results of the citizen consultation in Asunción Mita, the company behind the Cerro Blanco mine, Elevar Resources, called the process illegal, according to a press release made public on Monday Sept. 19.


The company’s managing director, Bob Gil, said, ā€œthis consultation process is clearly illegal and full of irregularities,ā€ according to the statement.


In the company’s view, the process was flawed by what it called ā€œanti-mining groupsā€.

ā€œWe are disappointed with the actions of these groups who use biased referendums to create doubt and uncertainty regarding responsible mining projects such as Cerro Blanco,ā€ he added.


The consortium said the aim is to continue developing the project and to produce 2.6 million ounces of gold during the life of the mine.


Due to the problems it has had with the tunnels and the heat that prevents it from working and extracting the minerals, in November 2021 the company submitted a request to the authorities to transform the current underground mine into an open-pit mine.


The company ā€œspoke of updating the Environmental Impact Study, but what was needed was a new study, because it was a completely different project,ā€ said Madreselva’s Cruz.


This post appeared first on IPS News.

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