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“We were fighting a huge monster, and we couldn’t stop them”
Salomon Bamaca
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From 2004-2017, Goldcorp Inc. - mining giant from Canada, now owned by USA-based Newmont Corporation - operated a large cyanide-leeching, mountain-top removal mine in Mayan Mam and Mayan Sipakapan territories of western Guatemala. The World Bank was an early and crucial investor in and supporter of this mining operation.
Local communities suffered forced evictions, killings, repression and criminalization of community defenders, environmental destruction and health harms. No reparations were ever given to the villagers for all they suffered; no justice was ever done – in Guatemala or Canada – for the mining harms, violations and crimes that Goldcorp committed directly or indirectly.
After the inspiring defense-of-democracy-struggle from July 2023 to January 2024, the new government of President Arevalo is again being pressured by foreign governments and global resource extraction industries to ‘keep Guatemala open for business’.
As rumors swirl that Newmont Corporation might try to reinitiate gold mining in these same territories of western Guatemala, will the government finally investigate the harms and destruction left behind by Goldcorp Inc. in the Maya Mam and Sipakapan territories of western Guatemala?
Below
- “Gold Fever” documentary film, available for free
- “‘Fighting a huge monster’: Mine battle in Guatemala became a playbook for polluters” (article in The Guardian, by Nina Lakhani)
- “Who is the woman on the cover of TESTIMONIO? Ask Goldcorp Inc. (now Newmont Corporation), whose ex-workers tried to kill her” (by Grahame Russell)
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Gold Fever, 2013
“A frightening vision of the world’s insatiable hunger for gold.”
Cinema Politica
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“You can’t say the mining companies are responsible for the Ríos Montt slaughter [in Guatemala] but they are benefiting from the structures that were left in place after those many years of savagery and violence and repression.”
Noam Chomsky, Gold Fever
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Gold Fever (2013, 83 Mins) witnesses the arrival of Goldcorp Inc. (now owned by Newmont Corporation) to the remote Mayan village of San Miguel Ixtahuacan in Guatemala. Together with members of their community, and in the face of grave consequences, Diodora, Crisanta and Gregoria resist the threat to their ancestral lands.
View film
Directors: JT Haines, Andrew Sherburne, Tommy Haines
[email protected], www.northlandfilms.com
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‘Fighting a huge monster’: Mine battle in Guatemala became a playbook for polluters
by Nina Lakhani, The Guardian, 18 Aug 2023
“The Marlin mine was built in the early 2000s after the end of Guatemala’s brutal 36-year civil war as part of a wave of internationally financed extractive projects agreed, critics say, without proper consultation, environmental safeguards or economic benefits for local communities.”
“Natural resources on Indigenous lands have been exploited since colonial settlers first attacked Latin America, creating wealth for a few, while fuelling violence, displacement and poverty for most.”
“The Marlin mine, which made its owner, the Canadian gold-mining firm Goldcorp, billions of dollars before closing in 2017, was one of the earliest documented cases of a transnational corporation – and its state allies – weaponising the legal system against environmental defenders.”
“The violence and the criminalisation caused terror and put the brakes on the social movement at a critical moment. We were fighting against a huge monster, and we couldn’t stop them,” said Salomón Bámaca
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Who is on the woman on the cover of TESTIMONIO?
Ask Goldcorp Inc. (now Newmont Gold), whose ex-workers tried to kill her
By Grahame Russell, Rights Action
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“On July 7, 2010, two men, one who had worked at Goldcorp's Marlin mine, one who had previously worked there, tried to assassinate Diodora, shooting her in the right eye. The bullet exited by her right ear, permanently blinding her right eye and causing loss of hearing. A couple of weeks before the assassination attempt, company employees had told local men, in a meeting at the mine, that they could not expand their open-pit mine because Diodora would not sell her plot of land. Men in the meeting said, “We’ll take care of that.” Some apparently tried; Diodora survived.
“On July 20, 2010, David L. Deisley, Executive Vice President of Goldcorp, and General Counsel, wrote to Rights Action and ADISMI (Association for the Integral Development of San Miguel Ixtahúacan):
““I understand that the two men who allegedly committed the assault have been identified and were detained by the police, but were subsequently released. ... Both men are residents of San Miguel Ixtahuacán. One of the two was employed by Montana [subsidiary of Goldcorp Inc.], but his employment was terminated more than one year ago. The other man is employed by a contractor that provides underground mine development services to Montana at the Marlin mine. ... Both Goldcorp and Montana Exploradora de Guatemala condemn this violent attack and offer our sincere condolences to Ms. Hernandez and her family.””
“With condolences like these, who needs human rights violations?”
More information
Rights Action’s archive: Goldcorp Inc. in Guatemala
https://rightsaction.org/gc-guatemala-archives
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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
Credit-Card Donations: https://rightsaction.org/donate/
Direct deposits, write to: [email protected]
Donations of securities, write to: [email protected]
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