According to indigenous leaders and human rights defenders, the Guatemalan government has not conducted a new consultation in accordance with international standards, as ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2023. Among the orders issued in the international ruling is the requirement to conduct a new environmental impact assessment that takes into account the mining project’s areas of influence and ensures community participation in the process. […] Consultation with Indigenous Peoples: A Long-Standing Conflict
Although the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) granted the Fénix mining company a 25-year license in 2006 to extract nickel, cobalt, iron, chromium, and magnesium, the process was carried out without prior consultation with the affected Indigenous communities. In 2020, after years of legal proceedings, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala temporarily suspended the license and ordered that a process of pre-consultation and consultation—as provided for in Convention No. 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO)—be carried out with the peoples living in the area of influence. Although this consultation process took place in 2021, during the administration of former President Alejandro Giammattei, it was conducted while a state of emergency was in effect, which indigenous representatives and advocates believe violated the freedoms of the communities involved. According to Humberto Cuc, a human rights advocate and coordinator of the ancestral authorities in El Estor, there was hope that the current administration of President Arévalo would invalidate the 2021 consultation. However, this did not happen. “We wanted this government to demonstrate its ability to conduct a genuine consultation process on the ground and with a high degree of transparency,” explains the indigenous leader. When President Bernardo Arévalo took office in 2024, he did so with strong support from the indigenous population, who were among his main allies in the Semilla Movement, the political party that helped him win the election. It is precisely because of this strategic alliance that representatives of indigenous peoples say they are surprised by the validation of a referendum held by the Giammattei administration—which the current government has labeled part of the “pact of the corrupt,” referring to an alleged network of politicians, businesspeople, and military officials who have co-opted institutions in the country, particularly the judiciary. “We had our most recent discussion with the Private Secretariat [of the Presidency], headed by Ana Glenda Tager, who said she could not conduct a consultation, but that they agree with the consultation that was carried out during former President Giammattei’s term,” Cuc explains to Mongabay Latam regarding the conversations with the current administration. “Consultation” during military-imposed State of Emergency
Juan Castro, an attorney with the Law Firm for Indigenous Peoples, agrees that this decision came as a surprise to the communities that have been demanding a consultation on the project for years. He even stated that the process is currently being challenged in court. “El Estor was occupied by the military. There were no guarantees; no free and fair consultation took place; some meetings were held privately in other locations. There is even a petition filed with the Inter-American Human Rights System,” explains the advocate. The mining company issued a statement asserting that it hired an independent Q’eqchi’ consultant who held meetings with the communities and rights holders. “The communities were taken by surprise because they had been engaging in good-faith dialogue with the President. However, by abusing that trust [of the indigenous communities], it seems to me that these activities are being imposed right now,” adds Castro. […] Swiss government silent
Mongabay Latam attempted to contact the Swiss-based mining companies but received no response to the email addresses provided by the companies as their contact information. For that reason, it reached out to the Swiss Embassy in Guatemala to try to locate company spokespeople. The embassy declined to comment and added that it does not comment on specific cases or proceedings that may be under review, but noted that companies have a responsibility to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse impacts on people and the environment, as well as to act transparently in their projects both within and outside the country. […] Lack of Environmental Impact Studies
With the mining project back on track, some of the potential environmental impacts of the industry center on water, air, and soil quality, according to Guadalupe García Prado, director of the Observatory on Extractive Industries (OIE), an independent research platform focused on mining and oil projects in the country. “There is a risk of expansion because the area has become a territory disputed by several companies. With the resumption of operations, there are environmental risks related to water pollution, tailings, and air quality—an issue that has not been studied in depth, but that definitely exists given everything that is produced during the processing of ferronickel,” he warns. Another key issue is the management of mining waste, which has been the subject of complaints since 2017. “It’s a little-explored issue, and it’s not regulated in Guatemala either. It’s a regulatory gap and one of the major issues because they have their tailings right next to Lake [Izabal] and don’t have any kind of protection like other mines do,” the executive explains to Mongabay Latam. […] Humberto Cuc remembers when, in February 2017, a red stain appeared on Lake Izabal—on which fishermen and communities in the region depend—near the nickel mine’s operations area. “The lake is like a nation to us. We live around the lake because it provides the moisture we need to plant our native seeds; if it weren’t for the lake, we wouldn’t be able to plant, we wouldn’t be able to live. It holds great wealth; we would give our lives to defend it because it is on our territory,” the indigenous leader explains to Mongabay Latam. Although local indigenous communities demanded investigations and analyses of the mine waste in the lake, Guatemalan authorities claimed at the time that the discoloration was caused by microalgae and that the water pollution was not the result of the company’s operations, failing to acknowledge the presence of mine wastewater. García warns that the resumption of mining operations for unprocessed nickel and ferronickel—both key to steel production—is taking place at a time of intense competition for these minerals on the international market, especially within the arms industry. “There are even mines on the other side of the lake that are also extracting nickel and selling it to Chinese companies. Interest in nickel has been growing and coincides with the rise in the mineral’s price,” explains García, adding that since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2021, the increase has continued: “In 2014, the price per metric ton of processed nickel was $14,000, and by 2023 it had reached $25,000. “Nickel is a metal widely used in weapons; at one point, it was even called a ‘war mineral,’” he states. In 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that any decision regarding the continuation or modification of the Fénix mining project must be supported by prior, free, informed, and culturally appropriate consultation with the Maya Q’eqchi’ community of Agua Caliente Lote 9. According to the international body’s ruling, the process was to include comprehensive and accessible information on the impacts resulting from the exploitation of the territory, water resources, and people’s health. “The process must ensure that a new environmental and social impact assessment is conducted by technically qualified and independent entities. The results must be reported to the community, and full access to the relevant documentation must be provided in its entirety. All of the above must be carried out before the community makes a decision regarding the mining activity,” states the resolution. However, attorney Castro maintains that Guatemalan authorities continue to violate this ruling to this day. “We are facing a systematic violation of the communities’ human rights. It is within this context that [the mine’s reactivation] is taking place, because no consultation has been conducted,” he explains. | 