PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque at its annual assembly

On January 8, PBI-Guatemala posted:

“On Sunday [January 7], #PBI accompanied the Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque at its annual assembly to elect the board of directors for the 2024 term.”

On Facebook, the community posted:

“GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY

Quezaltepeque held its ordinary assembly to elect the board of directors for the period 2024, until January 6, 2025 in which there was re-election of president Humberto de la Cruz Lopez, and other members were integrated for the integration of the board of directors, was accompanied by the indigenous council of Olopa, and the ancestral authorities of Quezaltepeque and international peace brigades PBI, the population is encouraged dra accompaniment wings actions to take this year, the indigenous community moves forward

The delivery of the rod of authority is scheduled on January 21 in the central park of Quezaltepeque

A united people will never be defeated and we will defend our territory.”

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained:

“The Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque is located in the municipality of the same name, in the department of Chiquimula. It belongs to the Maya Ch’orti’ people and is represented by a board of directors composed of 30 ancestral authorities elected annually by the 23 communities and 96 hamlets that make up the community.”

They add:

“Their struggle is for the land, 243 caballerías [1 caballeria = 78.58 hectares] bought between 1710 and 1805, in the name of the common people and natives of San Francisco Quezaltepeque. However, the majority of these lands are not recognised by the municipality, which is why their struggle revolves around the recovery of this ancestral land. They also defend their territory against the entry of extractive projects, especially mining.”

PBI-Guatemala has also highlighted that the Indigenous community “is resisting a mining company working in the municipality: Minerales Sierra Pacifico S.A. [that] has five exploration licenses for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc.”

This September 2023 media release notes that the “local company Minerales Sierra del Pacifico S.A., [is] a wholly-owned subsidiary of Radius…”

Radius Gold Inc. is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Notably, PBI-Guatemala also accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya that set up a 24-hour a day blockade in March 2012 in opposition to the Radius Gold Inc. owned El Tambor mine also known as the Progreso VII Derivada mine.

While Radius Gold sold this mine to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates in August 2012, Radius retains an economic interest in the mine. Radius Gold has noted: “Upon commercial production, KCA agreed to make quarterly payments to the Company [Radius] based on the then price of gold and the number of ounces produced from the property.”

Photo: PBI-Canada met with the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in May 2023.

We continue to follow this.