Goldcorp In Guatemala: Despite The Despites, The Struggle For Human Rights And The Environment Continues

By Grahame Russell, Rights Action co-director

Tensions mount again, as Goldcorp tries again to expand its "Marlin Mine" into the Mayan-Mam community of Sacmuj (municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, department of San Marcos, near the Mexican-Chiapas border).
And this,
Despite years of investigations (by local groups, national and international NGOs, the International Labor Organization and Organization of American States) documenting environmental and health harms and other human rights violations caused by Goldcorp's "Marlin" mine in western Guatemala,
Despite calls from local, national and international organizations to suspend the "Marlin" mine and undertake a complete and impartial human rights and environmental assessment,

Despite Sacmuj community resistance to the expansion of Goldcorp's mine onto their lands in June 2009, that resulted in the burning of company equipment and the laying of trumped up criminal charges against impoverished villagers (this incident is documented in the film "The Business of Gold in Guatemala: Tale of a Conflict Foretold"),

Despite the attempted assassination of a Sacmuj villager in July 2010. Two local men - a former and an actual employee of Goldcorp's "Marlin" mine - shot Diodora Antonia Hernandez Cinto in front of her isolated rural home. The bullet entered her right eye, and exited by her right ear, leaving her blind in that eye; she remains in stable condition, recovering from the operation and has not yet returned home,

Despite the fact that no justice has been done for the attempted assassination of Diodora Antonia Hernandez Cinto,

Despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights has ordered the government of Guatemala and Goldcorp to suspend the mining operation
.......
COMPLICITY OF CANADIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, SHAREHOLDERS & INVESTORS



The situation of on-going harms and violations, of social tensions and divisions, of company and government pressures and repression has gone far beyond that of "not knowing".



For years, many groups have denounced the harms and violations to the governments of Guatemala and Canada, to the World Bank (an early major investor in and beneficiary of Goldcorp's mine), to Goldcorp's shareholders in Canada and the USA, to investors in Goldcorp (such as the Canada Pension Plan, and many other funds), to the Toronto Stock Exchange, etc.

No public official, shareholder, company director or investor can say "they didn't know" about the on-going harms and violations.

ACTION IN CANADA & USA

Guatemala organizations, from the mine-affected communities to the national level, are doing their best - despite the deeply entrenched impunity and corruption of Guatemala's legal and political systems, despite on-going threats and repression - to denounce the harms and violations and to slow down the process of harms and destructions to people's lives and the environment.

At the same time, this is a "Canadian problem". All the vital corporate, investors and public policy decisions that affect and benefit Goldcorp (while harming the local communities and environment) are taken in Canada and the USA.

If North American voters, investors, shareholders, and consumers of gold do not demand accountability, justice and reparations for the harms and violations, Goldcorp (and similar global companies) will continue to operate in ways that contribute to harms and violations in Guatemala (and countries around the world) with impunity.
Tags: mining Guatemala human rights Maya San Miguel Ixtahuacan