PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula at media conference on IACHR request

Published by Brent Patterson on March 22, 2024March 22, 2024

PBI-Guatemala has posted on Facebook:

“PBI accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula at their press conference in which they report to the CIDH [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] that their opposition to the mining project in their region is ignored by the State. ‘We as Ch’orti’ people have the right to protect our territory.’”

The 36-minute video of that press conference can be seen here.

PBI-Guatemala has previously highlighted:

“The communities of Olopa are confronting the company American Minerals S.A., which was granted a 25-year antimony extraction license in 2012, without prior consultation with the communities. In 2016, when mining activities began, the communities became aware of the negative impacts of these activities on water and the environment, and demanded the closure of the project.”

PBI-Guatemala has also noted that the Indigenous [Maya Ch’orti’] Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque is also resisting Minerales Sierra Pacifico S.A. (a subsidiary of Vancouver, Canada-based Gold Group Management Inc.), a company has five exploration licenses for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc.

San Francisco, Quezaltepeque is situated about 20 kilometres south-west of Olopa, Chiquimula.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula since June 2021.