Environmental Human Rights: News & Updates

The National Civil Police (PNC) and members of the Armed Forces are harassing and scaring those who publicly call for the release of jailed environmental defenders José Ángel Pérez and Alejandro Henríquez, who were arrested in May after participating in a vigil protesting the eviction of 300 families from the El Bosque agricultural cooperative.  Security forces visit people’s homes, follow them in vehicles, take photographs, and interrogate people. One of the questions they ask is whether these spokespersons for these organizations motivate them to protest against the government. "What's being set up is a witch hunt," said Carlos Flores, spokesperson for the Water Forum, as he denounced the government-led effort to dismantle civil society organizations and criminalize peaceful protest.

In July, Amnesty International declared some of these falsely criminalized environmental and human rights defenders as prisoners of conscience, including José Ángel Pérez, Alejandro Henríquez, and prominent human rights and anti-corruption attorney for the human rights organization Cristosal, Ruth López.

We call on the government of El Salvador to end the systematic persecution and incarceration of advocates for the environment, civil and human rights.

The ERC Capital group, owner of the Raaxhá Hydroelectric dam in Alta Verapaz, promotes the electric generation project as “clean sustainable energy.” The name “raaxhá” means “green water” in the local Maya Q’eqchi’ dialect.

But local Indigenous communities north of Cobán saw the threats to their water supply and rallied to stop its construction. In January 2020, the government of former President Jimmy Morales (whose 2016-20 administration was riddled with corruption) approved a permit for the project. The attorney general began a legal process against the director of MARN (Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources) for the illegal approval. Both the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) and the National Institute of Forests (INAB) noted negative findings in the environmental impact study. Both institutions—responsible for managing the Laguna de Lachuá National Park—foresaw the probable harms of water diversion.  

Indeed, since Raaxhá began their operations on the Icbolay River, there has been evident depletion of the river’s water supply with the operation of its hydroelectric dam, contaminating what remains of the water and negatively affecting individuals’ health and the environment. MARN’s complicity in the draining and denial of accessible water for local inhabitants is reflective of a larger pattern of prioritizing the economic development of corporations over the will and well-being of Guatemalans.  

Speaking up to denounce the irreversible damage to land and waterways caused by large scale mining operations is dangerous. There were more than 60 registered assassinations of environmental defenders in Guatemala between 2014 and 2024; the majority were in Izabal and Alta Verapaz Departments.

Marco Antonio Zuleta Quevedo worked as a ranger and forest firefighter to protect the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, the largest cloud forest habitat in Central America. He received death threats for reporting illegal resource extraction. On May 9, he was shot and killed while walking home in Usumatlán, Zacapa Department.

Misael Mata Ascencio was active in the anti-mining resistance formed by 54 communities in the Sierra Santa Cruz region of Izabal Department, where Río Nickel S.A. (a subsidiary of Canada-based Central America Nickel, or CAN) had filed more than a dozen mining exploration applications for nickel and other minerals. While working as a security guard on a farm in his community, he was beaten and shot to death on May 14.

In addition to urging authorities to continue the investigations, we ask that the government invest more time and resources to consult with Indigenous communities about their legitimate concerns regarding mining operations.

The Garífuna people, desendants of Indigenous peoples from the Caribbean and formerly enslaved Africans, have lived on the Atlantic coast since 1797. Despite having collective land title to many of their communities on the  northern coast, local mayors and other authorities have illegally sold and issued building permits to developers looking to get rich with tourist golf resorts, ports for cruise ships, and luxury retirement villages. The national government has mostly turned a blind eye, despite having been condemned three times by the Inter-American Court of Human rights for violating the Garífuna people’s right to collective land ownership in three separate communities.

One of the most notorious foreign investors is Randy Jorgensen of Canada. Late last year, more than 3,500 archaeological artifacts belonging to several Indigenous and pre-Columbian cultures—including sacred items likely taken from burial sites—were found in Jorgensen’s former property near Trujillo, Colón Department. Although the Attorney General did seize 233 of Jorgensen’s ill-gotten properties, Jorgensen has not been arrested or charged in relation to the property seizures. Furthermore, the Attorney General has taken to public action to investigate the illegal collection of cultural artifacts.

We echo the demands of OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) and call on authorities to:

(1) arrest Randy Jorgensen and conduct a full criminal investigation into the charges of land usurpation, money laundering, and illegal possession and trafficking of cultural artifacts

(2) protect the recovered cultural artifacts, with a commitment to returning them to the rightful Indigenous communities.

(3) fully enforce land titling decisions in favor of the Garífuna and hold accountable public officials who failed to protect Indigenous rights.

For almost two decades, the Indigenous Xinka people of Santa Rosa Department have been resisting El Escobal–a silver mining project in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores.  Since 2007, the Xinka have organized peaceful protests in opposition to the progression of El Escobal, aided by the State’s willingness to grant mining exploration and exploitation licenses without concern for Indigenous rights. Now, a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala (CC) has given them the opportunity to a formal consultation and presentation of their decision on El Escobal’s continuance.

Previous Xinka resistance to El Escobal was met with State violence and intimidation. On March 13, 2013, four Xinka community leaders were kidnapped and tortured by an armed group following a consultation in the village of El Volcancito. Shortly after, Xinka communities held a protest near the mine in opposition to the government granting El Escobal a 25-year mining license. This was met by violent eviction by the police, who employed rubber bullets, tear gas, and arbitrary detention. Escalation continued when former President Otto Pérez Molina declared a state of siege in four municipalities in the conflict zone, deploying 8,000 soldiers and police in the region. 

In 2018, after years of peaceful protests, criminalization, and legal battles, the CC issued a historic ruling. The court suspended the license for exploitation of El Escobal mine and ordered the State to conduct a consultation with the Xinka people in accordance with the International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. This consultation was the first in Guatemalan history formally conducted with an Indigenous people relating to an extractive project. Additionally, the CC recognized that the Guatemalan State had violated the Xinka people’s right to a free, prior, and informed consultation regarding projects that impact their territory, also established by ILO Convention 169. On May 8, 2025, the Xinka People’s Parliament of Guatemala presented the results of their consultation, saying NO to the reopening of El Escobal and stressing the Guatemalan State’s clear violations of their rights, identity, and spiritual connection to the land.