Peace Brigades International began accompanying the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in November 2012.
The story of the Peaceful Resistance begins with the Vancouver, Canada-based mining company Radius Gold securing an exploitation licence from the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines in 2011.
Prensa Comunitaria has explained: “In 2011, the MEM [Ministry of Energy and Mines] issued an exploitation license to the entity Exploraciones Mineras de Guatemala [the Guatemalan subsidiary of Vancouver-based Radius Gold], called Progreso VII Derivada, for the exploitation of gold and silver in an area located between the municipalities of San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc, without consulting the communities. There are Kaqchikel and Xinka indigenous people in the area, who opposed the project from the beginning.”
On March 2, 2012, residents from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, about 30 kilometres north of Guatemala City – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Radius Gold Inc. owned El Tambor mine also known as the Progreso VII Derivada mine.
By August 2012, the Canadian company sold El Tambor to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).
More specifically, Radius Gold says of this sale: “KCA agreed to repay approximately US$400,000 owing to the Company (US$100,000 paid upon signing and approximately US$300,000 to be paid once KCA has commenced shipment of gold produced from the property). Also upon commercial production, KCA agreed to make quarterly payments to the Company based on the then price of gold and the number of ounces produced from the property.”
On Sunday May 7, 2023, PBI-Canada and PBI-Guatemala visited with Doña Licha and the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya at a roadside site that it has maintained at the entrance to the “El Tambor” Progreso VII Derivada gold mine.
We continue to follow this struggle.
