September the 15th is Guatemala’s Independence Day and is celebrated by marches, formal activities, and patriotic symbols. You cannot avoid the proliferation of the national flag across the capital and in the towns. Like every nationalist project, it is the… Read More ›
Resource Extraction
Guatemalans’ Fight Against Rogue Canadian Mining Giant Heats Up
Guatemalan communities form the area of Santa Cruz del Quiche unanimously vote against resource extraction on their lands. | Photo: Courtesy James Rodriguez, MiMundo.org Communities in Guatemala have repeatedly voiced their opposition to a Tahoe Resources silver mine. The company… Read More ›
‘Together we move forward’ – La Puya
Peace Brigades International has recently published a report, “I Think, Therefore I Resist”, which describes grassroots experiences of alternative protection and promotion of human rights in the context of large-scale economic investment. The report provides recommendations to the international community… Read More ›
Guatemalan Environmental Defenders on the Front Line of a Global Struggle
Last month the killing of Honduran activist and winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize Berta Cáceres caused international outcry. Her highly publicised murder has called global attention to the many risks front line environmental defenders face every day, not only… Read More ›
Killing of Guatemalan activist in the Maya Biosphere Reserve raises alarm
Walter Manfredo Méndez Barrios. Photo courtesy of Defensores de la Naturaleza (Mongabay website) The violent death of an environmental activist and community leader in northern Guatemala two days ago has sparked consternation and concern among communities and organizations working in… Read More ›
‘La Puyita’ – La Puya goes to the Capital
“La Puyita” -‘Sorry for the inconvenience, we are fighting for the water of this and future generations – no to mining…’ The Comunidades en Resistencia at La Puya, have recently opened up a second point of resistance by taking their… Read More ›
News from La Puya
Yesterday, March 2, 2016,the Comunidad en Resistencia at La Puya celebrated their fourth year of peaceful resistance against the El Tambor gold mine. This anniversary was especially momentous, coming just after the Guatemalan Supreme Court’s February 22 ruling to suspend… Read More ›
No one is controlling Perenco…..
Sebastián Escalón writes, in PlazaPublica, that the oil company is operating since 2010 without having an approved Environmental Impact Study….. No one is controlling Perenco and the Office of the Counsel-General is requesting it to stop The environmental impact study… Read More ›
Guatemalan Court Upholds Ruling on Ecocide
Polly Higgins writes in the blog, ‘Eradicating Ecocide‘, about the recent court case in Guatemala where the African palm oil corporation, Empresa Reforestadora de Palma de Petén SA (REPSA), lost their appeal against the first ruling of its kind. The… Read More ›
Payada pa’ Satán – short film
Did you know that to produce a single gold ring generates 18 tons of toxic waste? Mega-mining is an chemical extractive industry which impacts all the world’s ecosystems, contaminating the reserves of freshwater, affecting the health of millions of people,… Read More ›