… As the case moved towards trial, Fiorante obtained a wire transcript taken by Guatemalan police of Tahoe’s former chief of security Alberto Rotondo speaking about the incident, saying “it’s with bullets that they learn.” …
Guatemalan Indigenous People Bring Their Mine Battle to BC, A Vancouver-based company wants to reopen a silver mine in Xinka territory by Andrew MacLeod, June 5, 2025, The Tyee
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s legislative bureau chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on X or reach him at email hidden; JavaScript is required.
At the end of a consultation process that has taken seven years, the Parliament of the Xinka People in May said no to the reopening of a Canadian-owned silver mine in their territory in Guatemala.
The Xinka are waiting to hear whether Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines will respect the community’s decision on Vancouver-based Pan American Silver’s bid to restart the Escobal mine about 75 kilometres southeast of Guatemala City.
Two Xinka representatives visited British Columbia last week to raise awareness and deliver a clear message to Pan American Silver, with the support of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.
“We already said we don’t want this mining project in our territory,” said Marisol Guerra, president of the Xinka commission of women and a delegate in the consultation process. “The community already decided, so we aren’t asking, we are demanding that they respect our decision.”
The Xinka Parliament represents about 260,000 Indigenous people.
Nobody from Pan American Silver was available for an interview.
A spokesperson said in an email the company has heard from the Guatemalan minister of energy and mines that the ministry has received the statement from the Xinka Parliament and is working to address the points raised in it ahead of a meeting expected in early June.
The ministry has said it will maintain a dialogue between participants until the process has concluded, the company’s spokesperson said. “Pan American Silver continues to participate in the process in an open, respectful, inclusive and transparent manner.”
Guerra said representatives of Pan American Silver participated in the consultation process as observers and were obliged to provide information about the mine, but the company should not present itself as a full participant.
“The way the company presents the process, from our point of view, is an act of bad faith and an effort to misinform about what it’s all about, both in Guatemala and internationally,” she said.
“The court has been very clear that it’s a process between the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Xinka people.”
Opposition to the mine goes back more than 15 years, beginning with concerns about how tremors that seemed related to mining were damaging nearby homes.
In 2017, with Xinka resistance camps already blocking access to the mine, Guatemala’s highest court for civil cases ordered Escobal shut down while the government consulted local communities.
The opposition has at times been met with threats and attacks from supporters of the mine.
Xinka representatives have said there have been assassinations, shootings and false allegations that have led to innocent people spending time in jail before being cleared.
Marta Julia Muñoz, a Xinka Parliament delegate who was also in B.C. last week, said the attacks and persecution have been frequent since 2010 and that last year a former president of the Xinka Parliament fled due to threats.
Guerra said that as recently as 2023 an important leader was killed and that many of the Xinka leaders are living in exile outside Guatemala.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said it was an “outrageous, heartbreaking story” and that the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, or UBCIC, will continue to be in solidarity with the Xinka people.
“It’s extremely upsetting to hear of this extreme violation that is happening in their country, their territories,” Phillip said at a news conference alongside Guerra and Muñoz. “It is absolutely unacceptable that Canadian mining companies can go around the world and absolutely trample on the rights of Indigenous people.”
Companies – aided by lawyers and judges, politicians and regulators – are allowed to ravage our rights, environment, drinking water, air, land, communities and more, in Canada, so why not globally?
Phillip called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to speak out on the situation and for Pan American Silver to be held to account.
PM Carney is a Harper con, he is not a liberal and in my view, doesn’t appear to give a shit about Canada’s environment, water, communities, or our safety. In my view, he cares about power and the economy (which dies without safe communities, water and no safe air to breath). Canada is burning up in extreme droughts and wildfires caused by humanity’s fossil fuel pollution (Alberta’s some of the dirtiest in the world). When all is burnt, what will the economy and GDP have left to feed off of?
If Carney cared, he would not be pimping fossil fuel projects, certainly not more mega pipelines, and he would have retaliated against USA hard with high tariffs on our oil and gas.
Carney is full throttle ahead to enable rape of us, Canada and elsewhere by corporations in the name of making the economy and us strong again, while making deals with vile orange Nazis south of our border, and pimping “decarbonization” of Canadian fossil fuel pollution which I expect he knows is an industry con to steal taxpayer money and keep polluting more and more.
“Decarbonization” creates more carbon than it removes and uses vast amounts of energy and creates pollution to fail.
This quote below by the PM Office from First Ministers’ statement on building a strong Canadian economy and advancing major projects, June 2, 2025:
“First Ministers agreed that Canada must work urgently to get Canadian natural resources and commodities to domestic and international markets, such as … decarbonized Canadian oil and gas by pipelines”
In light of Carney’s pro polluter, pro destroyers of earth’s livability, I don’t think Carney will speak out against a Canadian mining company’s crimes in Guatemala. I would love to be wrong.
Guerra said they understood from Phillip that many communities in Canada face similar threats of being forced to accept industrial projects they may oppose. “He let us know that we’re not alone, that he and the UBCIC would help to find ways to ensure our voice is heard and respected,” she said. “It really is very satisfying to know that people such as him that are so important here are allies.”
A statement from the Canadian Embassy in Guatemala would be helpful, she added.
There are several Canadian mines operating or proposed in other parts of Guatemala despite local opposition, she said.
“We are saying that Canadian companies in our country don’t represent any kind of development,” she said. “On the contrary they are companies that are bringing a lot of harm. They aren’t welcome in any part of our country, not just our territory.”
Pan American Silver acquired the Escobal mine, along with four others including gold mines in Canada and Peru, as part of a $1-billion takeover of Tahoe Resources completed in 2019. When Pan American took over Tahoe, the Guatemalan court had already ruled that the mine must be closed during consultations with local people.
That process is governed by the International Labour Organization’s Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. The convention contains measures similar to those in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that require governments to consult with Indigenous people on matters that directly affect them and says the goal should be reaching consent or agreement.
Once the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines makes its response, it is up to the court to verify the process, Guerra said.
“Truly they don’t have the last word in the court or the government,” she said. “It was already a decision of the people, so they need to accept what the people have said.”
Asked if she has faith in the process, she shrugged. “We hope yes, they’ll respect our decision, but still we can’t guarantee what’s going to happen. We don’t know.”
The process has been further complicated by the arrest in April of Luis Pacheco, who as vice-minister of sustainable development with the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines was responsible for the consultation process.
He faces charges of “terrorism and illicit association” stemming from his 2023 leadership of protests that shut down Guatemalan highways for three weeks as part of an effort that ensured Bernardo Arévalo became president after winning that year’s election.
The Associated Press quoted Arévalo, now president, saying Pacheco’s unfounded arrest was “spurious” and “criminalizes principles and rights that are guaranteed.”
Last year Business in Vancouver quoted Pacheco’s predecessor, Oscar Pérez Ramírez, saying the “most likely” outcome was that the Escobal mine would reopen with measures in place to address the concerns raised in the consultation process by Xinka delegates and experts who participated in the process.Raping industries and their enablers like Alberta’s AER call it Synergy.
It is unlikely such a compromise would satisfy the Xinka people who have been both firm and consistent in their opposition.
*Story updated on June 5, 2025 at 2:30 p.m. to correct information on the number of people represented by the Xinka Parliament.