On March 2, 2012, area residents, who had not been consulted about this mine, set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance to the mine site. Within weeks, on May 8, 2012, the women of the Peaceful Resistance… Read More ›
Mining
International legal experts gravely concerned at lack of protections for Indigenous peoples and human rights defenders in Guatemala
Peace Brigades International UK (PBI-UK) accompanied a group of international lawyers to Guatemala concerned at UN and civil society reports regarding human rights violations associated with agrarian conflict in Alta Verapaz. The International Delegation of Independent Lawyers travelled to Alta… Read More ›
Anti-Mining Networks Support Land Defense Movements in Central America
In Guatemala and Honduras, regional anti-mining networks have become key players in struggles to combat extractivism and the criminalization of activists. Giada Ferrucci and Pedro Cabezas write in NACLA on extractivism and resistance in Central America, focussing on Guatemala and… Read More ›
La Puya – A Mining Lawsuit In Guatemala Shows How Trade Courts Put Locals Last
A U.S. mining company is suing Guatemala over a shuttered project. The state relied on affected communities to mount a legal defense, but now it’s trying to bypass them to open the mine. Ana Sandoval writes in Foreign Policy In… Read More ›
Carlos Ernesto Choc Chub – Criminalised For Defending Rights
Criminalisation, and the use of ‘lawfare’, is being used increasingly against individuals, and groups, seeking to defend human rights in Guatemala. This is especially true with regard to those working to protect the environment. This can be seen through a… Read More ›
Wounds Reopened: The Impacts of Democratic Backsliding on Human Rights in Guatemala
GHRC/USA led an Emergency Human Rights Delegation to Guatemala to document the impacts of the democratic backsliding and destruction of rule of law on human rights defenders. The delegation met with, among others, defenders, lawyers, journalists, Indigenous land defenders, and… Read More ›
‘The Indigenous Women of Guatemala had the Courage to Break the Silence’
Josefina Salomón and Sergio Ortiz Borbolla spoke with Dr. Jo-Marie Burt, a Senior Fellow at WOLA, about the historic importance of two gender violence trials, that of the Maya Q’eqchi’ women of Sepur Zarco, and of the Maya Achi women… Read More ›
Fighting for Food Sovereignty in Guatemala
Chelsea Carrick writes in NACLA on Indigenous struggle and land rights in Guatemala, especially with reference to rising global food and consumer prices. On April 26 and 27, Guatemalans demonstrated throughout the country, blocking roads and demanding an end to… Read More ›
EJ Atlas: Lote Ocho – El Estor, Lake Izabal, Guatemala
After decades of resistance against HudBay minerals and other firms, including court cases in Guatemala and Canada, the local Mayan Q’eqchi’ community managed to stop nickel mining in 2020 officially. The Environmental Justice Atlas is a great resource and it… Read More ›
“Yes to life, no to mining:” An update on the Xinka resistance to the Escobal mine
NISGUA has published an update on the Xinka resistance to the Escobal mine. For over a decade, impacted communities have resisted the illegally-imposed Escobal mine. Tahoe Resources, a U.S.-Canadian company, first opened the mine, which is on one of the… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 