PBI-Guatemala accompanies La Puya resistance opposed to a mine once owned by a Vancouver-based company

On October 17, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Today we accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya.”

PBI-Guatemala adds, “The struggle and the work does not cease, so every day they rededicate their territorial defence under the motto ‘Yes to life, no to mining!’”

Residents from the communities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya – have been fighting against the Progreso VII Derivada-El Tambor mine located just north of Guatemala City since March 2010.

On March 2, 2012, they set up a peaceful, 24-hour a day blockade to the entrance of the mine. They did so because they had neither been informed nor consulted about the mine, they had concerns about water contamination and the amount of water the mine would use in an already dry region, and to protect the environment. 

On May 23, 2014, the blockade was violently evicted by riot police with flash bombs and tear gas. The Center for International Environmental Law notes, “Those who refused to move were beaten. The eviction left 20 community members injured and 7 hospitalized.”

CIEL adds, “Protestors regrouped the following day, and they held a mass for those injured in the eviction on the following Sunday.”

And the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission has highlighted, “Even after the blockade was violently broken up by riot police [in May 2014] and machinery was escorted onto the mine site, members of La Puya continue to maintain a 24-hour presence in moral opposition to the project.”

In July 2015, a Guatemalan court ruled in favour of La Puya, ordering EXMINGUA – the Guatemalan subsidiary of Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (that bought the mine from Radius Gold in August 2012) – to suspend all activities at the mine until a community consultation was held. Then in February 2016, the Guatemalan Supreme Court ruled to provisionally suspend the mining licence due to a lack of prior consultation.

In December 2018, KCA filed a $300 million claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank arbitration mechanism.

The company cites community protests and unjust treatment by the state as a violation of the terms of the Free Trade Agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States.

The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) has highlighted, “Although Radius Gold sold its shares in the local Guatemalan subsidiary Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala S.A. (EXMINGUA) to KCA in August 2012, it retains an economic interest in the mine.”

NISGUA notes, “The company’s 2013 audited financial statements state that three quarters of the cost of the sale transaction will be paid to Radius once gold shipments commence from the property and that Radius also anticipates quarterly payments from KCA based on gold production.”

PBI-Guatemala began providing accompaniment to the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in November 2012.