5 May 2005
This update includes latest news about the Marlin Mine project in Guatemala, as well as local reactions to the ratification of CAFTA.
by Lyra Spang, April 2005
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Current News
Bishop Ramazzini and other Representatives of the Movement against Mining meet with the IFC and the Directors of the World Bank. 14-16 April.
Alvaro Ramazzini, Bishop of the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, and two leaders of Guatemalan NGOS (Daniel Vogt of AEPDI and Mario Godinez of Ceiba-Friends of the Earth Guatemala) met with officials from the International Finance Corporation in April. They came to Washington DC during the World Bank's spring meetings to present their concerns about the Marlin mine and to ask that the IFC pressure Glamis to suspend the project. According to Bishop Ramazzini, a suspension of construction is necessary to ease the conflicts and tension surrounding the project, so that a process of dialog between the government, Glamis and the affected communities can begin.
IFC representatives present at the meetings included Rashad Kaldani, director of the IFC, the director of the IFC's environmental department and those officials in charge of the IFC loan to Glamis. The IFC representatives had just returned from a field trip to Guatemala to look at the Marlin project, where they had met with their counterparts at the Glamis Company. Mr. Kaldani rejected the idea of suspending the mine's construction, even temporarily, and insisted that the IFC did not have the power to stop the project, given that the loan had already been disseminated. However, they agreed in theory to a participative system of independent monitoring of the project, an idea that they had previously rejected.
Mr. Vogt and Godinez, along with Bishop Ramazzini, also met with various World Bank Directors, including Spain (which represents Central America on the board), Germany and Holland, as well as representatives of Canada, the United States, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, England and others. They also met with officials of the State Department, The Treasury, USAID and the EPA. In these meetings they presented their case and sought suspension of the project, at least temporarily, so that all involved actors could discuss the issue of mining in Guatemala and resolve the environmental and social problems associated with the Glamis project and mining in Guatemala in general. Various Directors expressed interest in learning more about the subject and asked to be kept informed about the project. CAFTA was another issue addressed by the representatives: The Bishop made a presentation about CAFTA in a teach-in at the United Church on the 13th of April with Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Otton Solis , presidential candidate for the Citizen Action Party of Costa Rica. He also met with representatives of Congress to discuss CAFTA's impact on the poor.
Leaders of the Sololá Blockade are subjected to Death Threats. April 5th.
Carlos Humberto Guarquez, Dominga Vásquez and her husband, Alfonso Guarquez, have been threatened with death following their opposition to mining in Guatemala. Carlos Guarques is the official representative of the group The Maya Foundation (FUNDAMAYA in Spanish) in the coalition The National Front Against Mining (Frente Nacional Contra la Minería). Mrs. Vásquez is the mayor of Sololá and her husband Alfonso Guarquez is a journalist who has reported on the opposition to mining. The 5th of April, a car that was owned by FUNDAMAYA was set on fire in the street near Sololá-the town where a blockade of mining materials in transit to the Marlin mine occurred in January that ended with two people being killed by Guatemalan troops. Five letters threatening the Guarquez brothers and Mrs. Vásquez were discovered next to the destroyed car. One stated: "The same will happen to you Mr. Carlos Humberto for interfering in these stupid social issues, tomorrow will be your day to disappear from this world. Every pig eventually gets slaughtered, also Ms. Dominga [Vasquez] and her husband Alfonso Guarquez". This has not been the first threat surrounding the issue of mining in Guatemala-Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of San Marcos, leader of the Guatemalan Catholic Church in the fight against mining, has also been threatened multiple times. For more information go here: Amnesty Webpage.
The National Front Against Mining wins a Concession from the Guatemalan Government. 1st of April.
In an unexpected win, the Frente Nacional Contra la Minería has forced the Guatemalan government to agree to a moratorium on mining concessions until a national dialog has been had about the subject of mining. Vice-President Eduardo Stein said " We would not do anything that the people do not want, so it is possible that we will have to temporarily postpone the development of the mining industry in Guatemala-perhaps for several years". The government has invited the Catholic Church to participate in a high commission to consider changes to the country's mining policies. The Church in turn has asked academics and community leaders to participate in the discussion. The Church and the National Front are seeking a permanent moratorium on open pit mining and the use of cyanide to process gold. They also want mining royalties to be higher- as of now they are only 1%, of which only .5% is designated to assist those municipalities affected by the mine. Bishop Ramazzini stated publicly that the negotiations had only just begun. Read more here: The Vermont Guardian.
The Government of Guatemala Ratifies DR_CAFTA- Citizens rise up in Protest.
The 10th of March the Guatemalan Government ratified the free trade agreement DR-CAFTA with the United States. Immediately after, thousands of Guatemalan citizens protested in disagreement. On the 14th of March the Indigenous, Rural, Union and Popular Movement (MICSP in Spanish), declared a national strike that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of Guatemala City and other towns, making road blocks across the country. Those protesting fear that the treaty will not better the economy, nor lower the poverty of the majority of the population. The National Police, with the help of the military, employed force against the protestors, killing one person and wounding others. The blockades extended to the Inter-American Highway that unites Honduras and Guatemala, stopping thousands of vehicles on their way between the two countries. Read more about CAFTA here: Washington Post
And more about the protests in Spanish here: Prensa Latina.
The Church officially denounces Open Pit Mining. 28th of January.
In a press release written at the Annual Episcopal Conference and published on the 28th of January, 2005, Guatemalan Bishops reaffirmed their position against open pit mining. They expressed their concern that the continuation of this type of mining would cause irreversible damage to health, to the availability of water, to the environment and to the daily livelihoods of many people. They commented that mining could prevent the sustainable development of the country and make the advancement of other sectors such as tourism and forestry more difficult. The Bishops also observed that without an open and inclusive dialog about the issue, mining could be the cause of violence and human rights abuses-especially to the weakest social groups. In conclusion, they called for a halt to mining concessions, open and impartial consultations in the affected communities, the inclusion of indigenous groups in the decision making process, a re-evaluation and reform of the country's mining regulations and policies, the creation of a just and independent consultative group on mining, and the implementation of ILO 169. Read the document in Spanish here.
News about Multilateral Development Bank Policy
Three Consultations have been announced for the IIM, now known as the CCRM (Compliance and Consultation Mechanism) of the Inter-American Development Bank. April 6. Originally, when the public consultation process for the new Compliance and Consultation Mechanism began, the bank only planned to do an electronic consultation. However, civil society demanded a more participatory process.
On the 24th of February a letter signed by 35 different groups was sent to the president of the IDB, Mr. Enrique Iglesias, and to the board of the bank. The letter asked that the consultation process for the new mechanism be at least as participatory as the consultations that the IDB performed for the new environmental policy. A list of four points included the recommendation that the bank consult those who had tried to use the old IIM (to be replaced by the CCRM) in the past.
On the 22nd of February, during the official meeting in Panama between civil society and the IDB, president Iglesias promised that the process would be open and participatory. After more than a month of inactivity, the legal department in charge of the CCRM set the dates for three consultations: the 25th of April in Washington DC, the 27th of April in Mexico City and the 4th of May in Brasilia. Despite Iglesias' promise that the process would be participatory and accessible like the environmental policy consultations, the department announced that it did not have funds to finance the participation of groups that would not afford the trip. Read more here
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) analyzed the CCRM and published their Comments. March 15.
Meanwhile, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has analyzed the draft document, creating a matrix that compares the new mechanism (CCRM) with similar mechanisms of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Although the mechanism is based on the Responsibility Mechanism of the ADB, it is much weaker, with restrictions that make it less accessible to the public. David Hunter, former Executive Director of CIEL and a professor at the law school of American University in Washington DC has written a short analysis of the CCRM, with comments about its weakest points and suggestions on how to improve the mechanism.
Blue Ribbon Panel presents recommendations on IDB Environmental Policy to President Iglesias. March 10.
On March 10, 2005 the Blue Ribbon Panel, a group of international environmental experts convened to review the IDB's environmental policy and make recommendations for change, presented its final report to President Iglesias. At the IDB's request the panel reviewed information from the bank as well as consulting outside sources during their 6 month work period. Two official meetings were conducted with civil society: one in Washington, DC, and one in Quito, Ecuador, where representatives presented case studies and made recommendations to the panel. The final report contains recommendations grouped together in four thematic areas: standards and harmonization; moving sustainability analysis upstream; civil society engagement; and systems and resources. Read here.
The IDB Environmental Policy consultation period ends; Comprehensive list of civil society recommendations sent to the Bank. March 8.
On March 8th, 2005, a table of all the consolidated comments and recommendations made about the IDB's draft environmental policy and safeguards during the public consultation period was sent to the IDB for review. This list, signed by a selection of the many CSO participants, includes comments from all the public consultations: Barbados, Washington DC, Brussels, Panamá, Rio de Janeiro and Lima. It is hoped that IDB directors will take these recommendations as well as the report from the Blue Ribbon Panel into account as the policy is reviewed. Read the comments here.
Projects and Programs: Bank Actions
Global Bank Projects
The World Bank approves a Grant of 8 Million Dollars to support the Fight against HIV/AIDS in Central America. 29th of March.
The World Bank has approved a regional grant of 8 million US dollars to support the creation of a regional program to combat the HIV epidemic in Central America-specifically the countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Marcelo Bortman, director of the project, stated: " The project will reinforce the capacity of the Central American regional to better address the HIV/AIDS epidemic by implementing decisive actions that are more than what each country can do separately". The program focuses on the prevention of the disease through the following activities:
- The establishment of a specialized regional laboratory with the technologies and capacity to function as the center of quality control for all the national HIV/AIDS labs in the region.
- The development of a system of epidemiological surveillance with the collaboration of all involved countries to obtain current data about the disease in each country and the whole region. Studies and surveillance will be carried out in each country to determine the most vulnerable social groups and the statistics will be published.
- The strengthening of regional capacity to respond to the epidemic. This component will seek to strengthen leadership and political involvement to formulate a regional action plan with unified strategies and policies meant to slow the epidemic.
- Reduce the vulnerability of the population to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases through capacity and knowledge building programs, and the support of new sub-projects undertaken by local NGOs.
In a study made in 2001, Belize, Honduras, Panama and Guatemala were four of the six countries with the highest levels of HIV/AIDS in Latin America. Belize, which is not included in the program, has the highest level of infection in Central America: 2%. Guatemala has a level of infection of 1%, which could possibly rise to 2% in the next ten years if a strong national prevention program is not put in place.
A Failed State? Three stalled Projects to strengthen and modernize the Guatemalan Government.
Guatemala currently has three institution building projects awaiting approval by the Inter-American Development Bank. They are: GU-0143-The Modernization of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, proposed in 1999; GU-015- The Program of Modernization of the Electoral Supreme Court and the Civil Registry, proposed in 2001; and most recently, GU0177, the Second Stage of the Program to improve the Administration of Justice, proposed in June of 2004. The projects form part of an effort to improve the accountability, transparency and competitivity of a state destroyed by civil war, and to strengthen the relevant institutions of government. The Second Stage of the Program to Improve the Administration of Justice continues the work of reforming the justice system through the following actions:
- A better integration in the provision of judicial services, through the establishment of mechanisms of participation of civil society, and the development of models of judicial management that incorporate the issues of gender, indigenous justice and the improvement of capacity to investigate crimes.
- The strengthening of the Management Capacity of the relevant organizations (The Judicial Organism, the Public Ministry, the Institute of Public Penal Defense and the Ministry of Governance).
- Education and formation of the human resource in a broad sense, incorporating legal university education, the permanent capacity building of Judicial officials and the development of a citizenship that is educated about the law and the legal system.
The project to modernize the Congress exists to implement the declarations made in Guatemala's peace treaties in 1996, which emphasize the strengthening of the legislative branch in the new democracy. To do this, the Organic Law of Congress must be reformed and the Master Plan for Legislative Modernization, written by Congress in 1996, must be put into practice. The Program of Modernization of the Electoral Supreme Court and the Civil Registry was proposed to make the civil registry effective and create a more transparent and open Supreme Court, with the intention of preventing corruption and promoting the participation of citizens in the government. But both projects were proposed more than three years ago and so far neither have been approved, while projects focusing on physical infrastructure have been raced through the project cycle. This gives the impression that institutional capacity building in a post conflict country is not something that the Inter-American Development Bank considers very important. Read the following project documents in Spanish to learn more:
Regional Bank Projects
The BCIE (Central American Bank for Economic Integration) lends $500,000 Dollars in Technical Aid to Guatemala. 12th of January.
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration has given $500,000 dollars in technical aid to the government of Guatemala to finance feasibility studies for three large infrastructure projects. BCIE's press release calls it " One of the biggest grants that the bank has ever granted a Central American country." The director for Guatemala in the bank, Alfredo Skinner Klée, declared "…this demonstrates that the bank has deposited a great trust in the government of Oscar Berger, that will develop these great works of infrastructure in the country, because the BCIE will always be disposed to help those investment initiatives that try to better the quality of life for all Guatemalans".
The three projects chosen to receive this technical cooperation include the first phase of the of an Inter-Oceanic Corridor, which is a Plan Pueblo Panamá project-PPP being an integration initiative directed by the IDB and financed by the IDB and the BCIE. The corridor will link the east coast and west coasts of the country, creating a "dry canal" to transport good from the Pacific to the Atlantic without having to use the Panamá Canal. Representatives of civil society in the region say that the social and environmental impacts of this project need to be considered before starting construction. The two other projects are the Port Pesquero of Champerico in the Guatemalan Pacific, where the construction of an industrial fishing port is planned, and the cleanup and reclaiming of the lake Amatitlán, a lake located 32 kilometers from Guatemala City where the IDB wants to finance the construction of a geothermal plant. The IDB is also considering helping to finance the cleanup project with a 20 million dollar loan. This collaboration between the BCIE and the IDB is normal. The two are the architects of the Plan Pueblo Panamá and the BCIE receives loans and lines of credit from the IDB to finance the more controversial projects in the Plan. Read the press release in Spanish here: BCIE Website.
Read more about Plan Pueblo Panamá: BIC PPP Website.
Civil Society Actions
Diverse Groups form the National Front Against Mining. 22nd of March.
On the 22nd of March, 2005, representatives of a diverse group of organizations, including the Catholic Church in Guatemala, the indigenous group FUNDAMAYA and the NGO MadreSelva decided to unite in a coalition named La Frente Nacional Contra la Minería (National Front against Mining). The group represents indigenous, religious, union and popular movements against mining and the concession of land in the west of the country. Today nearly 10% of Guatemalan territory has been given away in mining concessions and 90% of that land belongs to indigenous communities. Read the article here in Spanish: Prensa Latina Website.
Representatives of the Communities affected by the Marlin Mine met with the CAO and the IFC, the CAO decides to visit the Site. 4-7 March.
The 4th of March three representatives of the village of Sipacapa, Ixtahuacán, in the department of San Marcos, visited the office of the CAO-the Compliance and Advisory Ombudsman-the office that investigates complaints about projects financed by the International Finance Corporation. They wanted to know the status of their claim, which was recently presented to the CAO by the NGO MadreSelva. The claim was about the investment of the IFC in the Marlin mine-a loan of 45 million dollars, approved in June of 2004. The representatives said that the Guatemalan government never truly consulted them about the concession or the mine. Glamis claims that it organized consultations with the towns before beginning construction of the mine. Locals say that these consultations were really presentations promoting the mine and that they were not told about the negative impacts of the project. The IFC supports the claim of Glamis, although their participation in the project was a contentious issue for the World Bank Board. After meeting with the representatives of the claim, the CAO decided to investigate the project. They plan to visit the department of San Marcos at the end of April to verify if the case merits further investigation. Read more about the mine here: BIC Website.
The Union of Guatemalan Workers (UNSITRAGUA) presented a Claim of Violation of Convention 169 to the International Labor Organization. 20th of January.
The 20th of January the Union of Guatemalan Workers (UNSITRAGUA in Spanish) sent an official claim to the International Labor Organization (ILO), denouncing the Guatemalan government for violating convention 169 about indigenous rights. The union claims that the violations occurred when the government changed the mining laws of the country and began to give concessions to foreign countries without consulting indigenous communities. The construction and operation of the Marlin mine, opposed by the majority of the indigenous population in the region, also could be in violation of the convention. The convention was ratified by Guatemala in 1996 as part of the peace accords that ended a civil war that lasted for over 30 years.
General Resources: Web pages
Banks
The Guatemalan Press (In Spanish)
Civil Society
In Guatemala
- Rights Action Guatemalan regional office: email
In the United States
Canada:
Friends of the Earth Canada email:
Mining Watch Canada email:
More Resources about Mining in Guatemala