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Published: Sunday, 23 May 2021 10:43
Guatemala Solidarity
Kevo Dell
The Peaceful Resistance of La Puya (La Resistencia Pacifica La Puya) published the above announcement regarding the encroachment of members of the National Police into their camp.
To the General Public, The Peaceful Resistance of La Puya states:
1. The company: The mineral exploitation license for Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala, EXMINGUA S.A. was suspended through a provisional writ awarded by the Supreme Court of Justice in 2015.
2. In 2016, the Public Prosecutor’s Office carried out proceedings as a result of an investigation into the mining company for illegal exploitation. On the 4th June, 2016, the Public Prosecutor’s Office carried out searches out in the facilities of the Progreso VII Derivada mining project, in the offices located in San José del Golfo and in the finca, Sobrana, in Agua Caliente, San Antonio la Paz, in the Department of El Progreso, leading to the immobilisation of: property (in project area), sacks of material extract, tools, among other things.
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Published: Saturday, 22 May 2021 10:36
Peace Brigades International
Brent Patterson
On May 21, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in the symbolic act of handing over machinery to the mining company caused by a judicial decision. However, the license continues to be suspended.”
Brief timeline and context
In March 2012 residents from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, just north of Guatemala City – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Vancouver-based Radius Gold Inc. El Tambor mine.
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Published: Tuesday, 26 February 2019 13:52
International groups denounce US mining company’s multi-million dollar claim against Guatemala and express solidarity with communities peacefully defending land and life at ‘La Puya’
(CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE LETTER)
The undersigned organizations stand in solidarity with Guatemalan communities in peaceful resistance to Kappes, Cassiday & Associates’ (KCA) Progreso VII Derivada gold project as the company brings a US$300 million arbitration claim against Guatemala to the World Bank´s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over alleged violations of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).
- We join in solidarity with the residents of San Pedro Ayampuc and San José del Golfo who are deeply concerned about the grave threat the mine poses to water supplies, ecosystems and the quality of life in the area.
- We express our dismay at how this suit represents a further attack on Guatemala’s judicial system. The Constitutional Court is already under pressure as a result of President Morales’ decision to defy the Court’s ruling and expel the UN-backed anti-corruption and anti-impunity body, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG by its initials in Spanish).
- We call on KCA and the Guatemalan government to refrain from intimidating the Constitutional Court justices and that the cases currently before them be allowed to play out and that decisions be made based on the rule of law. As part of this, we call on KCA to drop its suit.
- We call for the immediate demilitarization of the region, specifically the municipality of San José de Golfo where the military has been deployed since January 2018, roughly one month after KCA filed its case.
- We also support the call from the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya that CAFTA-DR be declared detrimental to the wellbeing of Guatemalan people and contrary to the Guatemalan Political Constitution, further considering that Guatemala has already had to pay $32.4 million dollars to two US companies (RDV and TECO) and is currently subject to other arbitration claims for hundreds of millions of dollars.
BACKGROUND
Since 2011, the communities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc have denounced the potential environmental and health impacts of the mine, as well as the violent imposition of the project against their will. For years they have maintained the peaceful encampment, known as ‘La Puya’, and have resisted repeated eviction attempts, suffering repression by state and private security forces. Despite an ongoing campaign of criminalization and defamation, and a renewed military presence in the region, the around-the-clock resistance camp continues today.
In 2016, Guatemala’s Supreme Court suspended KCA’s operations over failure to consult with Indigenous people in the area, which the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the company have appealed to the Constitutional Court. Instead of respecting Guatemala´s democratic and judicial processes, KCA has filed this claim, which in effect pressures the government to restart the mine, or otherwise pay the company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost potential profits.
CAFTA-DR, like thousands of other international investment agreements, gives transnational companies binding recourse to a perverse international arbitration system known as Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). ISDS claims are heard in tribunals such as ICSID and have been widely condemned for privileging corporate interests at the expense of local communities and the environment, while bypassing national courts and undermining the decisions of sovereign nations. Tribunals like ICSID are not courts of law, but rather secretive panels of highly-paid corporate lawyers who have no obligation to respect precedent of any sort in their decisions.
KCA is one of a growing number of transnational mining companies that have been launching malicious lawsuits against countries, especially in the Global South, in order to extract sizeable monetary awards. Even though they have failed to obtain community consent or the required permits to operate, companies allege a loss of investment as the basis for filing these suits. In KCA’s case, owner Daniel Kappes and the company’s legal representatives in Guatemala are currently under criminal investigation in Guatemala for illegally operating the mine, ignoring the initial court order suspending operations for lack of consultation. In their December 19, 2018 press release, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya also clarifies that the company never obtained a valid construction license.
We join in solidarity with the residents of San Pedro Ayampuc and San José del Golfo who are deeply concerned about the grave threat the mine poses to water supplies, ecosystems and the quality of life in the area. In particular, we echo their condemnation of the failure of KCA and the state to credibly evaluate the impact that the gold project would have on water supplies in a region with high levels of naturally-occurring arsenic.
We further express our dismay at how this suit represents a further attack on Guatemala’s judicial system. The Constitutional Court is already under pressure as a result of President Morales’ decision to defy the Court’s ruling and expel the UN-backed anti-corruption and anti-impunity body, CICIG. In related remarks, President Morales also chastised the Constitutional Court for suspending mining and hydroelectric projects, as it has done in the case of KCA and others for violations of Indigenous rights, calling it an “abuse of their role.” We call on KCA and the Guatemalan government to refrain from intimidating the Constitutional Court justices and that the cases currently before them be allowed to play out and that decisions be made based on the rule of law.
Undoubtedly, this corporate assault comes at a delicate moment in Guatemala and has the potential to further erode democratic institutions and the rule of law. On January 28, the Peaceful Resistance of la Puya held a press conference to denounce the presence of military personnel in San José del Golfo out of concern that their presence is intended to intimidate and provoke communities in resistance into thinking the mining company is back as a result of the international arbitration claim. The military has been deployed to the region since January 11th; one month after KCA filed its claim. We call for the immediate demilitarization of the area.
We also support the call from the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya that CAFTA-DR be declared detrimental to the wellbeing of Guatemalan people and contrary to the Guatemalan Political Constitution, further considering that Guatemala has already had to pay $32.4 million dollars to two US companies (RDV and TECO) and is currently subject to other arbitration claims for hundreds of millions of dollars.
(CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE LETTER)
