PBI-Guatemala accompanies Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa march against the Los Manantiales heavy metal antimony mine

Published by Brent Patterson on October 10, 2025 October 10, 2025

On October 8, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:

“#PBI accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa Chiquimula on a peaceful march to denounce the fact that the Los Manantiales mine continues to operate despite an injunction demanding its suspension, reforestation and clean-up.

The municipal mayor accompanied the action and reaffirmed: No to mining, no to tree felling!”

On November 29, 2019, Prensa Comunitaria reported: “The mining activity of the company Cantera Los Manantiales, which operates in Olopa, Chiquimula, and has been extracting metals since 2012, was provisionally suspended by the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), because Ch’orti’ communities denounced that the license was granted in violation of the prior consultation process and the environmental impact study does not have a favorable opinion from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN).”

That article also noted: “The Nuevo Día association took over the legal representation of the community members in 2015, when they began to notice pollution effects in the streams and streams that serve for their daily consumption, these water sources flow into the Jupilingo River, where the mining company sends its mining waste, along with this the inhabitants of the three closest communities recorded, at least 2 people sick with purple, a rare skin disease, according to Jeremías Hernández, a companion of the affected communities and a member of Nuevo Día.”

The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council

PBI-Guatemala has previously explained: “The Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa are fighting for recognition as indigenous communities, the recovery of their spirituality, the defense of their territory and the right to free, prior and informed consultation before the entry of mining projects into their territory. They also seek to minimize the negative impacts of mining activities on the health of the people in their communities, denounce illegal logging and fight against gender violence in their communities.”

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International began accompanying the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa in June 2021, following their request based on the serious increase in security incidents, defamation and criminalization processes.