Q’eqchi’ communities ask Inter-American Commission to urgently intervene in response to resumption of Fenix Mine
The Guatemalan government has given Solway Investment Group (Switzerland) the green light to re-open Fenix Mine. “Lives, health, and safety are at risk. This is a serious and urgent situation. If these measures are not granted, the communities established in this area will suffer irreparable harm.”
Mining – Before / After
Q’eqchi’ communities ask for precautionary measures from Inter-American Human Rights Commission in response to resumption of the Fenix Mine in Guatemala
May 27, 2026, by Simón Antonio Ramón
https://prensacomunitaria.org/2026/05/comunidades-qeqchi-piden-medidas-cautelares-a-la-cidh-por-reinicio-de-explotacion-minera-en-el-estor/ (Translation: Rights Action)
Indigenous authorities from the Maya Q’eqchi municipalities of Panzós (Alta Verapaz) and El Estor (Izabal) are demanding the government suspend operations at the Fenix Mine due to serious environmental risks, criminalizations, and corruption associated with the company.
[Operated by the Guatemalan Nickel Company (Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel), the Fenix Mine is owned by Solway Investment Group (Switzerland) and its U.S.-based subsidiary Fénix Nickel Company.]
Foto: Simón Antonio Ramón
“Lives, health, and safety are at risk. This is a serious and urgent situation. If these measures are not granted, the communities established in this area will suffer irreparable harm,” said attorney Olivia Sian of the Law Office for Indigenous Peoples (Bufete para Pueblos Indígenas) at a press conference in Guatemala City.
The communities reported these risks to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and requested precautionary measures.
“Consultation” during military state of siege
Humberto Cuc, an ancestral authority from southern El Estor, stated that several petitions were submitted to President Bernardo Arévalo opposing “the resumption of mining activities within our ancestral territory, without prior consultation having been conducted in accordance with international standards, as ruled by the Constitutional Court (CC) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).”
Cuc said that the effects of mining operations will undermine their rights in the long term by failing to meet international standards. “These violations of our collective rights have been ongoing and systematic, putting our survival as an indigenous people at risk,” he denounced.
Although the Constitutional Court ruled that the public consultation organized by [Solway Investment Group] and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) during the state of siege and two states of prevention, between October and December 2021, was illegal, the current government, despite serious allegations of corruption, deemed the consultation valid.
Meetings behind closed doors
The Q’eqchi’ authorities, who traveled more than 270 kilometers, stated in a press release that they had learned that the Private Secretary to the President, Ana Glenda Tagher, had met behind closed doors with certain individuals facing criminal charges, with a former U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, and with representatives of the mining companies, and are therefore asking President Arévalo to ensure that any dialogue initiated is conducted with the open participation of indigenous and ancestral authorities opposed the mining companies.
The MEM, on the other hand, has spoken of increased oversight of mining operations but has not confirmed whether it will comply with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ ruling in the case of the Agua Caliente Lote 9 community, in which the Court ordered the Guatemalan government to conduct free, prior, and informed consultations with all affected communities in the four municipalities covered by the Fénix mining project.
Green light for Solway Investment Group to re-open Fenix Mine in Guatemala
60-year nightmare of mining in Maya Q’eqchi’ territories of El Estor to continue
June 1, 2026, by Rights Action (and collaboration with Aj Ral Ch'och')
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/green-light-for-solway-investment-group-to-re-open-fenix-mine-in-guatemala
60-year nightmare of Fenix Mine in Q’eqchi’ lands
1964-2004: INCO (Canadian owner) and EXMIBAL (Guatemalan subsidiary)
2004-2008: Skye Resources (Canadian, incorporated by former INCO directors) and CGN (Compania Guatemalteca de Niquel, new name of EXMIBAL)
2008-2011: Hudbay Minerals (Canadian, purchased Skye Resources and Fenix Mine) and CGN
2011-2022: Solway Investment Group (Swiss) bought the Fenix Mine from Hudbay Minerals
2024: Under direct pressure from the U.S. government, Solway Investment Group incorporated the new subsidiary Fenix Nickel Company in the U.S. which became the legal owner of CGN and PRONICO
More info
El Estor: Humberto Cuc, autoridad ancestral del sur de El Estor, +502-4916-5681
Canada/U.S.A.: Grahame Russell, Rights Action, grahame@rightsaction.org
Guatemala : Observatorio de Industrias Extractivas, https://oiegt.org/
Background