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January 22, 2024

U.S. Government Confirms that Swiss Companies, Solway Investment Group and Telf Ag, Bribed Ex-President and Ex-Minister of Mines and Energy (MEM) of Guatemala
By Grahame Russell, Rights Action, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
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Solway and Swiss government must pay reparations to Maya Q’eqchi’ people harmed due to over 10 years of this corrupt, repressive mining operation

Below: Prensa Comunitaria article

The U.S. government has now publicly confirmed what they knew all along, what Q’eqchi’ land and rights defenders (and many groups, including Rights Action) denounced years ago – that the Swiss company Solway Investment Group bribed Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei and minister of mines and energy, Alberto Pimentel Mata, to carry out a corrupted consultation process imposed on Q’eqchi’ communities so as to move ahead with their illegal “Fenix” nickel mining operation that Solway purchased from Hudbay Minerals in 2011. It appears that Russian investors have controlling interests in Solway, leading many to refer to it as a ‘Swiss-Russian’ company.

Photo @Moises Castillo

The illegal “consultation process” was carried out in late 2021, during a brutal military State of Siege imposed on the Q’eqchi’ communities of the nickel mining affected communities of El Estor.

In a calculated move, the U.S. government has imposed these sanctions on the now ex-president Giammattei and ex-minister Pimentel, while lifting sanctions against Solway Investment Group, Telf Ag and their subsidiary companies in Guatemala.

In this way, the U.S. government individualizes responsibility for the company-government corruption scheme in two Guatemalan ex-officials (that the U.S., Switzerland and Canada had maintained full relations with, while they were in office), while giving the Swiss companies (and their subsidiaries) a pass for having paid the illegal bribes, paving the way for more nickel mining in the region.

Reparations now!

Solway Investment Group owes full reparations to the Q’eqchi’ people of El Estor who suffered over 10 years of violent consequences of the corrupt partnership between Solway and the outgoing corrupt, military-backed government of ex-president Giammattei, … not to mention almost 50 years of the same abuses, and more, when this mining operation was owned by Canadian companies.

Solway Investment Group and the Swiss government must pay full reparations to all victims of their repression in El Estor from 2011 to the present day: the Solway company for reasons already mentioned, but the Swiss government as well, for having maintained full economic and political relations with decades of “Pacto de Corruptos” (covenant of the corrupt) governments, calling them "democratic allies", all while promoting Swiss interests (including Solway's interests) in Guatemala.

Rights Action has made these same arguments on many occasions regarding the government of Canada, and nearly 50 years of mining operations by Canadian companies resulting in the same - and more - abuses of power and human rights violations, including murder, evictions, rape, and more.
What to do: See below

Solway Investment Group Bribes to Former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei are Confirmed by U.S. Government
By Nelton Rivera, Prensa Comunitaria, January 17 2024
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Former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and former Minister of Energy and Mines Alberto Pimentel Mata have been sanctioned for receiving bribes from [Swiss companies Solway Investment Group and Telf Ag, both with Russian investors] and benefiting from state corruption. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department lifted sanctions on the subsidiary companies of Solway [and Telf Ag] in Guatemala implicated in those bribes.

On January 17, the U.S. State Department issued new sanctions, through the Global Magnitsky Act, against one of the ministers of the government of former President Alejandro Giammattei - Alberto Pimentel Mata who was in charge of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) during the period 2020-2024. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze all of Pimentel's assets in the United States and his visa was withdrawn and he is prohibited from entering the country.

The U.S. government confirms that Swiss company Solway Investment Group, owner of Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), Compañía Procesadora de Níquel (Pronico), and Swiss company Telf Ag, owner of MayaNíquel, made bribes directly to former Minister Pimentel and to former President Giammattei. [Russian investors have apparently controlling interests in both companies.]

On the same day, the U.S. announced sanctions against former President Alejandro Giammattei Falla for his involvement in State corruption and for receiving bribes from [Solway/Telf Ag]. His visa and his family members, including his three children: Ana Marcela Dinorah Giammattei Cáceres, Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Cáceres, and Stefano Giammattei Cáceres, have had their visas revoked.

"The Department of State has credible information indicating that Giammattei accepted bribes in exchange for the performance of his public duties during his tenure as President of Guatemala, actions that undermined the rule of law and government transparency," the State Department statement said ([link removed]) .

"Pimentel used his official position to exploit the Guatemalan mining sector through bribery schemes, including schemes related to government contracts and mining licenses," cites another State Department statement ([link removed]) .

On October 31, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had named Pimentel Mata and his family members, as well as Vice Minister Oscar Rafael Pérez Ramírez, to the Engel List for their involvement in acts of corruption in the State of Guatemala.

Illegal, imposed "good faith consultation"

Solway, which operates several mining projects in Alta Verapaz and Izabal, gave bribes to Pimentel to control, direct and obtain a favorable result in the “good faith community consultation” that the Constitutional Court (CC) had ordered the MEM to carry out.

Two years later, Pimentel Mata and Pérez Ramírez carried out the consultation in December 2021, during a military State of Siege and repression against the Q'eqchi people. The consultation was carried out with the participation of the mining company in El Estor.

This imposed consultation was annulled by the CC in April 2022 (The community consultation carried out in El Estor should be reversed because the CC declared it illegal ([link removed]) ). The resolution issued by the CC re-ordered the suspension of operations of the Fénix mining project until a community consultation was properly carried out with all the communities affected by the mine in El Estor in Izabal, and Panzós, Cahabón and Senahú in Alta Verapaz.

In addition to this CC resolution, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recently ruled against the State of Guatemala for the case of the community of Lote 9 Agua Caliente and ordered it to repeat the community consultation along the same lines as the CC's decision (State of Guatemala and the Solway company receive a setback with the Court's decision ([link removed]) ).

U.S. sanctions lifted for mining companies

The same day that the United States informed about the new sanctions against the ex-president and ex-minister of mines and energy, the three subsidiaries in Guatemala of Solway Investment Group and Telf Ag (MayaNíquel, CGN and Pronico) were removed from OFCA's database of sanctioned companies and individuals ([link removed]) .

Alejandro Giammattei is accused of having been bribed by Russian businessmen linked to the Mayaníquel subsidiary, who intended to take over the concession of the Santo Tomas de Castilla Port, through a concession to the company Atlantic Bulk Cargo, S.A. (ABC).

The Guatemalan Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption FECI had initiated a criminal investigation against Giammattei, known as the "Magic Carpet" case [alleging that former president Giammattei received a “gift” of a rug from the mining investors, and rolled up inside was the money], but the case did not move forward since the former president was protected by Attorney General Consuelo Porras.

This “Magic Carpet” criminal investigation led to the forced exile of former FECI chief prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval in July 2021. It also resulted in the political imprisonment of journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, director of elPeriodico from July 29, 2022 until today.

[…]

Join Rights Action’s

EDUCATIONAL FACT-FINDING DELEGATION TO GUATEMALA, May 4-12, 2024
TESTIMONIO: Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala
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More information
* Prensa Comunitaria: @PrensaComunitaria, [link removed]
* Lawyer Rafael Maldonado (Constitutional Court decision, suspending Solway mining operation): [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [link removed]
* Journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [link removed], [link removed]

Send letters to
* Solway Investment Group: Baarerstrasse 8, 6300 Zug Switzerland, +41417400400, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , www.solwaygroup.com
* Embassy of Switzerland in Guatemala: +502 2367 5520, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Embassy of Switzerland, Canada: +1 613 235 1837, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Swiss Embassy, United States: +1 202 745 7900, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) ,
* [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* European Union of Human Rights in Guatemala: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Background
* Corruption of Guatemalan State by Solway Investment Group, [link removed]
* Archives: 60 Years of Q'eqchi Resistance to Mining, [link removed]
* “Mining Secrets” documents confirm corruption of Guatemalan State by Solway Investment Group mining company, [link removed]

Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

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Direct deposits, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
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