DECLARATION: “CLOSE THE MINE NOW”
(March 4, 2006)
Re: GLAMIS GOLD ‘OPEN PIT’ MINING in GUATEMALA
* PLEASE SIGN ON THIS DECLARATION individually and organizationally [caminando27@yahoo.es]
* Please re-distribute and publish this Declaration in your own publications, communities, and to your media and politicians. The signers of this Declaration do not expect the company, governments and World Bank to immediately accept the DEMANDS, as set out below, and respect the development, enviro- and human rights priorities of the local Mayan communities … but in the measure that more and more North Americans become aware about and involved in efforts to support these DEMANDS, the company, governments and World Bank will have to respond positively to these demands, even when they don’t want to
* For more information about this and other issues related to the negative impacts of the North American mining industry: info@rightsaction.org
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WE DEMAND THE CLOSURE
OF THE MARLIN MINE
IN SAN MARCOS, GUATEMALA
Historically, as Indigenous Peoples, we have been subjected to the pillage of our natural patrimony and our very territory, practices that began with the Spanish invasion, the creation of a racist, classist and exclusive Guatemalan State, and now with the neo-colonialism of the so-called developed North. As Indigenous Peoples, we have an integral vision of our Mother Earth, manifested in the respect and intimate relationship that exists between people and nature. This is our Cosmovision, in which human beings are not superior, but part of a whole. Our vision contrasts with the occidental logic of natural resource exploitation, based on the accumulation of capital by a few at the cost of the lives of many, in this case of Indigenous Peoples. The great consequence of this history is the state of poverty in which we find ourselves.
This neo-colonialism is now appearing by way of one of the most destructive industries known to humanity: the mining of metals. In our territory, the Marlin mine is being exploited by Montana Exploradora, S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian-US transnational mining company Glamis Gold Ltd. The mine is located in the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa, in the highlands of San Marcos. However, far from being an issue affecting solely the Mayan Sipakapense and Mam Peoples of San Marcos, the mine will affect the entire western highlands region of Guatemala because this area has been destined to become a mining district.
The mine is nothing more than a modern manifestation of the historic exploitation and domination of peoples by colonial and now neo-colonial powers, an example of the unjust global system. The consequences are already evident: environmental destruction, water shortages, cyanide and heavy metal contamination, diseases, corruption, militarization and the damaging of the social and spiritual fabric of millennial peoples; in short, exploitation and bad development.
The promoters of the mining industry – the World Bank, Glamis Gold and the governments of Guatemala, Canada and the United States – sell the Marlin mine as a "development" "project." In reality, however, the mine is simply a business that enriches an international corporation at the expense of the good development of communities, facilitated by the persistent and systematic corruption, impunity and lack of real democracy, both at the national and international levels.
The problems and violations of the rights of the inhabitants began with the very entry into San Marcos by the mining company, without consulting the population about the planned mining activities. In the same manner, the Environmental Impact Study, no more than a farce to justify the damages that the mining company knows it will cause, presents many errors, omissions and lies. For example, the document does not analyze the water resources in the region, nor is it accessible to the affected population, as the study consists of more than a thousand pages, many of which are in English.
Nevertheless, the International Finance Corporation, the powerful arm of the private sector within the World Bank, approved a 45 million dollar loan to Glamis Gold Ltd for the Marlin mine.
Aware of the grave problems that metallic mining will cause for Indigenous Peoples, a movement of peaceful resistance to mining activities has been growing in Guatemala. The government of Guatemala has responded to this movement with militarization and repression. On January 11, 2005, the government sent more than one thousand two hundred soldiers and four hundred police agents to Los Encuentros, Sololá, to protect the passage of a cylinder destined for the Marlin mine. The repressive State forces used tear gas and bullets against the Kaqchikel brothers and sisters who for weeks had been detaining the transportation of the cylinder in protest. Raúl Castro Bocel was murdered by State security forces and more than 20 were injured.
Militarization and repression has also been felt in the highlands of San Marcos, in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, where on March 23, 2005, an employee of the private Israeli security company hired by Glamis Gold, the Golan Group, shot and killed young inhabitant Alvaro Benigno Sánchez, leaving four children without their father. Glamis’ subsidiary Montana managed to pressure Alvaro Sánchez’ father to accept some money, promising in exchange not to pursue legal action.
Both crimes remain in complete impunity.
Faced with this situation, the communities of Sipakapa organized a Community Consultation process on mining in the entire municipality. The Community Consultation took place on June 18, 2005, in accordance with the Law of Urban and Rural Development Councils, the Constitution of the Republic and the International Labor Organization’s Covenant 169 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. In accordance with the rights established in the latter, the Community Consultation was developed according to the Mayan Sipakapense judicial system established in the norms, values and principles that form part of the identity of the People of Sipakapa.
With the overwhelming NO to mining expressed in the Community Consultation (11 communities against mining, one in favour and one abstention), the population demonstrated clearly that the People of Sipakapa do not want mining activity in their territory. This local action has set a precedent, moving from dysfunctional representative democracy to a true participatory democracy, strengthening the movement to construct a multicultural, pluriethnic and multilingual country. Furthermore, we have since carried out a constructive process to develop our alternative development plan, based on encouraging and strengthening our indigenous farming economy, grassroots participation in decision-making and agro-forestry.
For all of the above, we, organizations and individuals, express our solidarity with the struggle of the People of Sipakapa and WE DEMAND:
* Of Glamis Gold – The IMMEDIATE closure of the Marlin mine. At the same time, we demand integral mitigation measures and reparations for all damages, to be directed and controlled by an independent commission comprised of representatives of the affected communities and other individuals or institutions that the communities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa consider advisable.
* Of the World Bank – The IMMEDIATE withdrawal of the International Finance Corporation’s loan to Glamis Gold, the recognition of the validity and binding nature of the Community Consultation process in Sipakapa, and funding for mitigation and reparations for the affected communities. We also exhort the World Bank to overturn its policy of participating in, supporting and financing the destructive extractive industries.
* Of the Government of Guatemala – An IMMEDIATE halt to the granting of mining licenses (prospecting, exploration and exploitation) and the revocation of existing licenses until there exists a mining policy based on the territorial, environmental and social security of communities and a community consultation process, in accordance with national legislation and international conventions.
* Of the Governments of Canada and the United States – An IMMEDIATE radical change in the policies of promoting, facilitating and financing Canadian and US mining companies’ activities, businesses that facilitate, benefit and contribute to grave human rights violations to Peoples around the world.
* Of consumers and investors – Radical changes from the local (awareness and changes to their role within the unjust global system and responsibility for the negative impacts of their consumption and investments), to the national (actions and advocacy with respect to the foreign policies of governments and corporations) and international (actions and advocacy with respect to the multilateral “development” banks and institutions, controlled by powerful neo-colonial countries).
We are committed to carry out actions in order to make our position heard.
Sipakapa, San Marcos, Guatemala, March 4, 2006.
ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS:
* Movimiento de Trabajadores Campesinos (MTC) – San Marcos, Guatemala
* Asociación de Desarrollo Integral Maya AJ’CHMOL (ADIMA) – San Marcos, Guatemala
* Asociación de Pueblos Indígenas de América – Sipakapa, San Marcos, Guatemala
* Asociación de Desarrollo Integral Maya Sipakapense – Sipakapa, San Marcos, Guatemala
* Rights Action/Derechos en Acción – Guatemala/Canada/US
* Caracol Producciones – Guatemala
* Asociación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo de la Comunidad CEIBA – Guatemala
* Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH) – Guatemala
* Movimiento Nacional de Derechos Humanos – Guatemala
* Centro Vocacional ‘Benito Serra’ – Guatemala
* Friends of the Earth International
* Amicus Foundation – Canada
* Guatemala News and Information Bulletin (GNIB) – USA
* Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) – USA
* Indigenous Environmental Network – USA
* Global Response – USA
* Land is Life – USA
* Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) – Ghana
* Friends of the Earth Ghana – Ghana
* BanglaPraxis – Dhaka, Bangladesh
* Center for Environmental Law and Community Rights Inc/Friends of the Earth – Papua New Guinea
* Comité Regional Ambientalista del Valle de Siria – Honduras
* Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH) – Honduras
* Mártires de Guaymas – Honduras
* Central de Patronatos de La Venta, Gualaco (CEPAVEG) – Honduras
* Comité del Valle de Agalta (COVA) - Honduras
* Movimiento Madre Tierra – Honduras
* Comité de Familiares de los Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Honduras (COFADEH) – Honduras
* Asociación Comunitaria de Desarrollo de Colomoncagua (ACODECOLO) – Honduras
* Fundación de Promotores de Cooperativas (FUNPROCOOP) – El Salvador
* ACOOPASMECAL del Alto Lempa – El Salvador
* Collectif Guatemala – France
* Hellenic Mining Watch – Greece
* Support Group for Indigenous Peoples (KWIA) – Belgium
* A SEED Europe – Netherlands
* Collectiu de Solidaritat amb la Rebellió Zapatista – Barcelona, Cataluña
* MISEREOR, German Episcopal Conference for Development Cooperation – Germany
* Urgewald – Germany
* The Corner House – United Kingdom
INDIVIDUAL ENDORSEMENTS:
* Marco Vinicio López (MTC) – San Marcos, Guatemala
* Rolando López (Aj’chmol) – San Marcos, Guatemala
* Mario Tema – Sipakapa, San Marcos, Guatemala
* Roberto Marani – Sipakapa, Guatemala/Italy
* José Antonio Noval Alvarez (Parroquia de Esquipulas Palo Gordo) – San Marcos, Guatemala
* Melvin Salvatore (ETESC) – Huehuetenango, Guatemala
* Candelaria Montejo (ETESC) – Guatemala
* Miguel Angel Albizures (CALDH) – Guatemala
* Fermín Tuy Bocel (COCODE) – Sololá, Guatemala
* Enrique Pérez (CUC) – Guatemala
* Gabriel Ajú Mendoza – Guatemala
* Sandra Cuffe (Rights Action) – Canada/Honduras
* Grahame Russell (Rights Action) – Canada/US
* Bill Howson – Canada
* Roberto Miranda – Ottawa, Canada
* Brad Boyce – Calgary, Canada
* Egla J. Martínez – Canada
* Andrew de Sousa (NISGUA) – USA
* Brigitte Gynther – Immokalee, Florida, USA
* Leonardo Alvarado (University of Arizona) – Tucson, Arizona, USA
* Sonja Swift – California, USA
* Eleanor Price Ledogar – New York City, USA
* Julie Stewart – New York, USA
* Barbara Millman – Lakewood, California, USA
* David Weisberg – Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
* Paula Palmer (Global Response) – Colorado, USA
* Emma Kreyche (Global Youth Connect) – USA
* Noble Wadah (Friends of the Earth) – Ghana
* Selvin López (OFRANEH) – Honduras
* Antonio Oliva (COVA) – Honduras
* Onelia Ramírez (Equipo Docentes) – Honduras
* Alexis Benítez Reyes (Mártires de Guaymas) – Honduras
* Dra. Cristina Rivera (FUNPROCOOP) – El Salvador
* Marcos Escalante (ACOOPASMECAL) – El Salvador
* Dubán Villalobos (ADIPRON) – El Salvador
* José Luis González (Coordinadora Diriangen) – Nicaragua
* Sebastien Godinot (Amis de la Terre) – France
* Stephan Brües – Wuppertal, Germany
* Roger Rivera Pineda – Barcelona, Cataluña
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* PLEASE SIGN ON THIS DECLARATION individually and organizationally [caminando27@yahoo.es]
* Rights Action is organizing 2 speaking tours with Glamis Gold mining affected community leaders from Guatemala and Honduras, April-May 2006. To organize events in your community, and host these speakers: info@rightsaction.org, 416-654-2074
* For more information about this and other issues related to the negative impacts of the North American mining industry: info@rightsaction.org