Open Letter to Canadian Government & Central America Nickel Inc.
Q’eqchi’ people resisting illegal mining by yet another Canadian company in Guatemala
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Canadian Embassy in Guatemala
Ambassador Olivier Jacques
13 Calle 8-44 Zone 10, Edificio Edyma Plaza, Guatemala
gtmla@international.gc.ca
http://www.guatemala.gc.ca
+(502) 2363-4348
https://www.facebook.com/CanadainGuatemala
https://twitter.com/CanEmbGuatemala
CC:
Central America Nickel Inc.
1010 Sherbrooke W., Suite 2200
Montreal QC, H3A 2R7
Mark Billings, CEO, mb@centralamericanickel.com
Dan Hrushewsky, Chairman of the Board, dh@centralamericanickel.com
info@centralamericanickel.com / https://www.centralamericanickeluaex.com
Guatemalan Ministry of the Environment
Ana Patricia Orantes Thomas
10ª calle 7-43 zona 1, edificio torin, tercer nivel, oficina no. 35
June 16, 2025
Dear Ambassador Jacques:
The undersigned concerned individuals, scholars, human rights organizations, environmental organizations, and representatives of the tourism sector in Rio Dulce are writing to express our serious concerns over mining activities planned to be carried out by the Canadian company Central America Nickel (CAN) via their subsidiaries Rio Nickel S.A. and Nichromet S.A in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Guatemala.
As you will see in the news articles and timeline below, opposition to mining in this region is vehement and virtually unanimous by Indigenous Q’eqchi’ Maya communities. Moreover, community members, tourism sector representatives, environmental experts, public health authorities, leading scholars, and human rights NGOs see any form of mining in the Santa Cruz Mountains as a fundamental threat to Indigenous sovereignty, to human rights, and to the local water supply.
The May 13, 2025, killing of Indigenous Q’eqchi’ leader Misael Mata Asencio, who was engaged in efforts to document mining activities in his community, makes these concerns all the more urgent. For reference, please see:
Mining resistance member Misael Mata Asencio killed in Guatemala within week of hike to look at mining exploration wells. By Peace Brigades International, May 20, 2025
Water defense motivates pushback against mining in Guatemala. By Romi Fischer-Schmidt, Ojaja, June 5, 2025
Under the frameworks of ILO Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), it is important to highlight the extent of well-documented Indigenous community opposition to mining in the region. Opposition stems from the long history of mining-related harms in the area, as well as the fact that the Sierra Santa Cruz includes large protected areas where much of the region’s freshwater originates.
60 years of mining harms and violence in the Eastern Q’eqchi’ region
It must also be emphasized that this proposed mining operation comes in the wake of 60 years of environmental harm and human rights violations associated with mining activities in the communities of Panzos, Livingston, and El Estor, all predominantly Maya Q’eqchi’ communities. For decades, this harmful and sometimes violent mining activity was dominated by Canadian companies INCO (International Nickel Company), Skye Resources, and Hudbay Minerals.
In December 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Guatemala is responsible for the lack of adequate consultation surrounding mining activity and for acts of violence and harassment to the detriment of an Indigenous community and ordered reparation measures.
Harms and violence to communities have included: exposure to the serious pollution caused by the El Fénix nickel mine in El Estor; the contamination of Lake Izabal and other local water sources, threatening fishers’ source of income; criminalization of community leaders; assassinations; land theft; arson; and gang rape.
These allegations have been substantiated by a series of high-level court cases, both in Guatemala and in Canada. In October 2024, Hudbay Minerals Inc. (which owned the Fénix mine near El Estor from 2008 to 2011) settled three, 14-year long lawsuits brought by Indigenous Q’eqchi’ victims’ families in a court in Toronto, Canada. The victims sought justice for several abuses during that period, including the 2009 killing of Adolfo Ich Cháman, the 2009 shooting and paralysis of Germán Chub Choc, and the 2007 forced eviction of the Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Lote Ocho, including the gang-rapes of eleven women by company security personnel, Guatemalan soldiers and police.
Given this violent and tumultuous recent history, the Q’eqchi’ communities in the area are simply unwilling to risk more harm to their environment and human rights from another Canadian mining company.
A Timeline of Recent Events in Rio Dulce, Highlighting Opposition and May 13 Murder
December-early January, 2024: The environmental permits issued to Rio Nickel, a subsidiary of Canadian-owned Central America Nickel (CAN), were granted in the final weeks of former President Giammattei’s administration, in a process marred by irregularities. As you know, President Giammattei’s corruption is widely documented, leading the U.S. State Department to place him on the notorious “Engel List” of corrupt and anti-democratic actors. Under these conditions, Indigenous communities allege that the environmental permits were granted improperly, violating the principle of free and prior informed consent safeguarded by both ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP, which is affirmed by both Canadian and Guatemalan law. The lack of transparency with which permits were granted and the nature of recent events on the ground should raise serious human rights and environmental concerns.
On January 28, 2025, authorities from Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) were called to a congressional hearing, at which it was disclosed that Rio Nickel, S.A. (a subsidiary of Canada-based Central America Nickel, or CAN) has more than a dozen mining exploration applications for nickel and other minerals, almost all of them located in the Sierra Santa Cruz region.
In meetings held between local residents and municipal authorities of Livingston and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), Carlos Roberto Rodas Velásquez (MARN’s departmental representative) indicated that the MARN has not received Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies from the Rio Nickel mining company. In response to CAN’s mining license application, more than 50 Maya Q’eqchi’ communities mobilized to block the major highway connecting Rio Dulce to Peten.
By April 7 of this year, 54 mainly Q’eqchi’ communities again set up roadblocks on the main highway leading from Rio Dulce north to the Peten with the message: “No to Mining!” A month later, on May 13, Environmental Indigenous Q’eqchi’ Leader Misael Mata Asencio was killed, just days after participating in a community expedition to document the presence of bore holes and other evidence of mining activities in around the Cerro 1019 where mining licenses have been concentrated.
May 13, killing of Misel Mata Asencio: Many believe his killing was in conjunction with his outspoken opposition to mining in the region. Mata Asencio’s killing and the irregularities in the permitting process warrant serious alarm by all concerned about the rule of law, human rights, and the environment in Guatemala.
Then on May 23, thousands of community members showed up to a peaceful mass march and public assembly to once again demand that their local authorities not allow mining to take place in the Sierra de Santa Cruz. The outcome of this public assembly was a firm commitment from MARN to conduct a thorough review of the environmental permits granted to Rio Nickel and present their findings at a public meeting in Rio Dulce no later than June 16, 2025.
It is unconscionable that, with the recent killing of an environmental leader in the area and overwhelming opposition to mining in the Sierra Santa Cruz, this project would be allowed to move forward. We thus echo the demands of the Maya Q’eqchi’ communities of the Sierra Santa Cruz to the Guatemalan government:
• End all mining operations in the Santa Cruz region, including El Estor, Panzos, and Livingston
• Support an investigation into the May 13 killing of Misael Mata Ascencio
• Support the creation of a commission to determine an appropriate governance structure by which the natural resources of the Santa Cruz mountains can be protected and held under the stewardship of the Q’eqchi’ communities in the region, consistent with the ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP.
Mr. Ambassador, the undersigned believe that this is not only a “Guatemalan issue,” but also very much a “Canadian issue”, given the long history of harmful and sometimes violent Canadian mining in the region, and given that yet another Canadian company is now trying to initiate mining operations in the face of widespread opposition. As you will see from the attached signatures, leading experts from around the globe have their eyes on this issue, including environmental experts, human rights organizations, and leading scholars from the United States, Guatemala, the UK, Mexico, and Canada.
As this matter involves Canadian corporate conduct in Guatemala, it directly implicates Canada’s commitment to responsible international engagement and could affect local perceptions of Canadian diplomacy. As a first-order action, in accordance with the commitments laid out in the Voices at Risk: Canada's Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders, we urge you to work with your Guatemalan counterparts to ensure the safety and security of Q'eachi’ communities, especially community leaders who have publicly opposed mining in their territory.
We also urge you to issue a formal public statement condemning the murder of environmental defender Misael Mata Asencio.
We appreciate your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Voces y Manos por el Buen Vivir (Guatemala & U.S. NGO)
Michael Bakal, Ph.D, post-doctoral researcher, UC Santa Cruz
Catherine Nolin, PhD, Professor of Geography, University Northern British Columbia
Grahame Russell, Rights Action
Camila Rich, Rights Action
Observatorio de Industrias Extractivas (OIE)
Alexandra Pedersen, Ph.D, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Queen’s University (Canada)
Mining Watch Canada
Martin Stoner, Macalester College Class of 2025
Jen Moore, Associate Fellow, Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)
Pamela Yates, Film Director, Skylight Pictures
Liza Grandia, PhD. Associate Prof. Native American Studies, UC Davis. Founder, Q’eqchi’ Scholars Network
Bernard Triomphe, PhD, System Agronomist, Mexico
Joshua Hoerger, MD, MPH
Besty Hale, Pangea Giving Circle
Keith Uriarte, Rotary Club of Oakland, CA
Dr. Francisco J. Rosado May GLOCAL BEJ José Ma. Morelos, QUintana Roo, Mexico
Moeed Malik, University of Northern British Columbia
Mackenzie Ostberg, University of Northern British Columbia
Kelsey McKeon, University of Northern British Columbia
Luthian Thielmann, University of Northern British Columbia
Nick Copeland, PhD. History Dept. Virginia Tech, Guatemala Scholars Network
David Paredes, Red de Soberanía Alimentaria de Guatemala (RedSag)
Kathryn Albrecht, San Antonio, New Mexico, U.S.A.
The Environmental Network for Central America (UK)
M. Christian Hansen, NH-VT Guatemala Accompaniment Project
Neil M. Gong, Assistant Professor, Sociology Dept. UC San Diego
Brisna Caxaj-Rowe, Plataforma Canada Guatemaltecxs Exiliadxs por Terrorismo de Estado
Gerald Rowe, Montreal Elders for Environmental Justice
Ulises Fuentes, Todos Por Guatemala
Thomas Kemple, Professor, Central, Eastern & Northern European Studies, University of British Columbia
Martin Mowforth, on behalf of Environmental Network for Central America (UK)
Sunny Robinson, Latin America Caribbean Working Group of Mass Peace Action, Cambridge MA
Mark L. Taylor, Professor of Theology & Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary
Lazar Konforti, Guest researcher, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS), San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chis., Mexico
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, Canada
Miwa Takeuchi, PhD.
Lisa Maya Knauer, PhD. Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Lesvia Vela, Montreal
Guatemala Solidarity Network (GSN) UK
Kevin O'Dell, UK
Jorge Garcia-Orgales, Canada
Kay Gimbel, Canada
Eric Mills, Canada
Brydon Gombay, Canada
Jacqui Stephens, Canada
Sandra Hartline, Canada
Karine Vanthuyne, Canada