Ambassador Hugo Eduardo Beteta
Embassy of Guatemala
2220 R St. NW.
Washington, DC 20008
August 18, 2025
Dear Ambassador Beteta:
We are writing to express our deep concern for the distressing assassinations of environmental defenders that occurred within five days of each other in May.
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 (240,000 hectares) and home to nearly 600 animal species, 2,000 flora, and around 280,000 people. His devoted care for this reserve was evident in his efforts to report illegal mining and resource extraction, despite receiving death threats. On May 9, he was shot and killed while walking home in Usumatlán, Zacapa Department. Weeks earlier, he had filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) after receiving death threats by phone.
This event stands tragic on its own, but five days later another troubling assassination occurred. Misael Mata Ascencio was working as a farm security guard in the community of Las Flores (Livingston municipality, Izabal Department) when two men took him by surprise, beat him, took his gun, and shot him twice. A dedicated territorial and environmental defender, Misael Mata Ascencio participated in the anti-mining resistance formed by 54 communities in the Sierra Santa Cruz, 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. The mining operations would contaminate the water sources that supply the 54 communities between Livingston and El Estor. Sadly, he did not live to learn the good news announced in late July by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN). The government canceled ten mining permits that were granted to Río Nickel in 2023.
Speaking up to denounce the irreversible damage to land and waterways is dangerous. There are reports of more than 60 registered assassinations of environmental defenders in Guatemala between 2014 and 2024; the majority were in Izabal and Alta Verapaz Departments.
We call on the Guatemalan government to:
(1) continue the investigations of the assassinations of Marco Antonio Zuleta Quevedo and Misael Mata Ascencio and hold the material and intellectual authors accountable
(2) invest more time and resources to consult with Indigenous communities about their legitimate concerns regarding mining operations
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai Christine Stonebraker Martínez
Co-coordinators
copies:
Julio Roberto Luna Aroche, Director General de Minería, Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MEM)/ General Director for Mining, Ministry of Energy and Mining ~ via email
Lic. José Alejandro Córdova Herrera, Ombudsman for Human Rights (PDH) ~ via email
IACHR: Andrea Pochak (Rapporteur for Guatemala) and Arif Bulkan (Rights of Indigenous Peoples), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ~ via email
OACNUDH: Mika Kanervavuori, Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos en Guatemala (UN)) ~ via email
US State Department: Tobin John Bradley (US Ambassador to Guatemala) and Guatemala Desk Officers in Washington, DC ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio (Husted and Moreno) ~ via email
US Representatives from Ohio (Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes) ~ via email
20 MAY 2025_Agencia Ocote_Guatemala
