Guatemala - Prevent further violence in the land disputes between Maya Q'eqchi' communities and a Canadian owned mining company
November 21, 2006
We are sending this strategic action in the hope that your letters and emails will prevent further violence in the land disputes between Maya Q'eqchi' communities and a Canadian owned mining company in El Estor, northeastern Guatemala.
The Defensoría Q'eqchi' (an indigenous rights organization) in El Estor has contacted the SJC because the violence is escalating quickly and they fear it will result in deaths. The SJC asks you to email Peter McKay and the Guatemalan Ambassador to Canada expressing your concern for the people living in these communities. Key points to include in your email or letter appear at the end of this email.
Summary
The 1996 Peace Accords outline several land reforms which the Guatemalan government has failed to implement. This has resulted in land disputes which the government resolves by force, calling in the military to forcibly evict those who are occupying the land, namely indigenous groups. Many groups are currently trying to gain legal title to their lands.
In September 2006, indigenous groups began occupying land that two Canadian mining companies, Inco and Skye Resources, both claim to own. Inco has granted land to Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), a subsidiary of Skye Resources, for the restart of nickel mining in El Estor. Inco and Skye Resources filed charges against the indigenous groups, but there was no police intervention until Nov. 12, 2006. To date, there have been forced evictions and a series of conflicts and skirmishes between indigenous groups, police, company employees, and townspeople that are outlined below.
Representatives of the Defensoria Q'eqchi' have both received calls and verbal reports that their homes and the office of the Defensoría were going to be burned, and that their lives were in danger.
Background
Contested Land Used for Mining:
Maya Q'eqchi' communities represent more than 90% of the population of El Estor, totaling over 35,000 persons, scattered over an area of nearly 3,000 km2. The Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines has granted more than 1,000 km2 of the area of El Estor to international mining companies for the purposes of exploration and exploitation of nickel using a strip mining process. Nearly all of these areas are lands on which indigenous communities live and work. Some have titles to their lands, but many are still in the process of collective titling of the lands they possess.
September 17, 2006, several groups of indigenous families began to occupy lands that Inco claims as its own. Inco has granted these same lands to Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), a subsidiary of Skye Resources of Vancouver, British Columbia, for the restart of nickel mining in El Estor. Since the occupations began, Skye officials have been adamant that the company would not negotiate with anyone who breaks the law. This has led to a stand off.
September 17, 2006 five groups numbering some 300 families occupied lands that the company claims as its own. Two of the groups have occupied lands near Cahaboncito in Alta Verapaz. Those groups claim that the same lands were taken from them when the mine project was begun over 40 years ago. Another group occupied lands near the village of Chichipate, 15 km to the west of the town of El Estor with similar historical claims. Two other groups, mostly of townspeople, occupied an area near the company airstrip and an area to the north of the abandoned company housing complex. Inco's and Skye's representatives in Guatemala filed charges against the groups in September. Until November 12, the authorities had not intervened in any of these land occupations, and the total number of those occupying the disputed lands had grown to nearly 1,000 families.
Police Confrontation:
November 11 A group of about 30 families occupied an area across the road from the company housing complex on the outskirts of El Estor. About an hour later, police clashed with the group. A few hours later there was a skirmish with some company employees and at one point a group of persons held a bus transporting CGN workers. In the late morning representatives from the Secretariat of Agrarian Issues met with the group's leaders and also leaders of the other occupying groups along with the police. Some community leaders stated tentatively that at least some of the occupied lands would be evacuated so as to initiate a dialogue with the mining company.
Forced Evictions and Increasing Violence:
November 12, Sunday morning A prosecutor from the Ministerio Público, Rafael Andrade, arrived in El Estor and with about 60 police notified the group on the outskirts of the town that they were breaking the law and had to abandon the site. Waldemar Barrera, head of the human rights ombudsman's office in Puerto Barrios (140 km from El Estor), telephoned Arnoldo Yat, Coordinator of the Defensoría Q'eqchi' to inquire about a possible forced eviction. Yat and Fr. Daniel Vogt, Director of the organization went to the site, questioned the prosecutor about his actions and tried to defused the situation so that violence would be avoided during the eviction. By midday, the group had left the site calmly carrying with them their makeshift materials. However, an ever-growing group of townspeople, some carrying machetes, began to gather and throw stones at a pickup truck from the company. Yat and Fr. Vogt left the scene when the group appeared to become violent in reaction to the police and the eviction carried out.
November 12, as the day passed, the police went to the site occupied by the airstrip, and forcibly evicted its occupants using tear gas. At 7:00 pm, they went to Chichipate where they likewise fired tear gas into the settlement to evict its inhabitants. In all of these incidents, there were verbal reports of one policeman hurt by a thrown stone, two or three persons arrested and two disappeared (both later discovered, one of whom was seriously beaten allegedly by the police discovered by the ombudsman's representative on Monday the 13th, the other reappeared on his own). Groups of people erected roadblocks and burned a kiosk used for training sessions at the office of community relations of the company.
Indigenous Rights Activists Threatened:
On Monday November 13, representatives from the human rights ombudsman's office and the Defensoría went to the evicted sites and interviewed witnesses about the actions of the police and prosecutor. In the afternoon, there were clashes with groups and police and in the late afternoon, the community relations building and the recently renovated but not yet occupied hospital of the company were burned. The police remained in their station as a mob roamed through the town and set fire to one of the local mayor's houses (used for social events). Both Arnoldo Yat and Fr. Vogt received calls and verbal reports that their homes and the office of the Defensoría were going to be burned, and that their lives were in danger.
On November 14 a large number of police came to El Estor and restored a tense calm. That same day, 4 of the groups agreed to leave the land they had occupied and dialogue with CGN. Previously the company had stated that its condition for dialogue was the abandonment of the occupied sites.
In the afternoon of the 15th, Arnoldo Yat and Fr. Daniel Vogt were summoned to appear at the Ministerio Público's office in La Tinta on Friday the 17th to declare as witnesses regarding the disturbances that had occurred.
Community Meeting Disrupted by Armed Police:
Previous to the disturbances, the Catholic bishop of the local diocese of Izabal, Gabriel Peñate, had convened a meeting inviting the Secretariat of Agrarian Issues, the Presidential Human Rights office, the human rights ombudsman's office, Defensoría Q'eqchi', NGOs and community group leaders, as well as CGN, to a meeting for dialogue on November 16 at the local Catholic parish. CGN did not participate. Shortly after the meeting had begun two machine gun armed police arrived and inquired who had convened the meeting. When the bishop stated his responsibility, the police called him away and questioned him about the nature of the meeting stating that they were acting on orders. The results of the meeting were to reconvene still another meeting to try to convince CGN to dialogue, as well as to assure the community leaders that there were several institutions working to find a non violent and just resolution to the problems at hand.
Indigenous Rights Activists Accused of Instigating Conflict:
On the morning of the 17th upon arriving at the Ministerio Público's office, Fr. Vogt and Arnoldo Yat, accompanied by a representative of the ombudsman's office and their lawyer, met Sergio Monzón, General Manager of CGN as he was leaving the same office accompanied by three other men. Greetings were exchanged. Upon entering, Fr. Vogt and Yat met with the prosecutor, Rafael Andrade, the same person who had conducted the forced evictions several days before. He said that Monzón and his companions wanted Fr. Vogt and Yat to be arrested because they are the "intellectual authors" of the whole conflict regarding the company's lands. The prosecutor stated that Monzón and his companions also wanted Fr. Vogt and Yat to be detained immediately under the provisions of laws regarding organized crime. Andrade further stated that although Fr. Vogt and Yat had been called as witnesses, they were being investigated as suspects because there was information that was not in the charges filed, which indicated that the Defensoría had fired arms during the disturbances and also instigated the conflict. Andrade stated that he was conducting a full investigation and that for the moment Fr. Vogt and Yat would not be arrested, but that they were under suspicion. Both gave their testimonies as to the events that had transpired.
Request
Please contact the Guatemalan ambassador to Canada and include at least some of the following in your letter:
- A personal reason for your letter
- A request that the government of Guatemala bring together the CGN and the communities to find a just solution to the disputes;
- A thorough, independent investigation of what has happened;
- Legal punishment for those who are responsible;
- The careful monitoring of the situation in coordination with security forces to insure the protection and respect of the rights of all persons in El Estor without discrimination.
2. Please send a copy of your letter to Peter Mackay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with a covering letter expressing your concern over the activities of Canadian mining companies working in poorer countries.
3. Send a copy of both to your own MP
Addresses
His Excellency Carlos Humberto Jiminez Licona, Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala
130 Albert St., Suite 1010,
Ottawa, ON, K1P 5G4
Tel. 613-233-7237 Fax 613-233-0135
email: embassy1@embaguate-canada.com
The Honorable Peter MacKay,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex St.,
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G2
Tel. 613-992-6022 Fax 613-992-2337
Email: Mackay.P@parl.gc.ca
(name of MP),
House of Commons,
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6