Photos from the Book

FIGURE 1: Guatemala, 4 Main Mining-Related Community Defense Struggles. Produced by Kyle Kusch, 2019

Figure 2. Río Negro Massacres and the Chixoy Dam. Massacre survivor Sebastian Iboy Osorio explains to a delegation the repressive events that took place on that spot known as the Conacaste Tree on March 13, 1982. Río Negro, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala. May 17, 2014. Photo: James Rodríguez.

Figure 3. CREOMPAZ, Exhumation in Cobán’s former military base. Mass grave number sixteen inside the Guatemalan military base known as CREOMPAZ (UN’s Regional Centre for Training in Peacekeeping), formerly known as Military Zone 21, reveals dozens of bound, tied, and blindfolded human remains. The exhumation, which took place during 2012 and was carried out by the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG), rendered the human remains of 533 people, dozens of whom were women and children. Cobán, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. May 29, 2012. Photo: James Rodríguez

Figure 4. Eviction of Barrio La Revolución. Hired men from the nearby community of Mariscos burn homes at Barrio La Revolución. On January 7, 8, and 9, 2007, the Guatemalan Nickel Company, local subsidiary of Canadian Skye Resources, ordered the forced eviction of five Maya Q’eqchi’ communities around Lake Izabal in both El Estor and Panzós. Over eight hundred State security forces carried out the forced eviction, destroying and even burning many huts in the Indigenous communities who claim the territory as ancestral land. Barrio La Revolución, Chichipate, El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala. January 9, 2007. Photo: James Rodríguez

Figure 5. San Rafael Mine Signing. Then-Mining and Energy Minister Erick Archila (left) whispers to then-President Otto Pérez Molina during the signing of the official agreement between the Guatemalan government and Tahoe Resources and Goldcorp’s El Escobal silver project via its local subsidiary Minera San Rafael. The signing came two days after six local men were shot by the company’s security guards. Guatemala City, Guatemala, April 29, 2013. Photo: James Rodríguez

Figure 6. Protest During 2007 Goldcorp AGM. People protesting Goldcorp’s mining-linked violence and harms in Guatemala and Honduras gather outside the offices where Goldcorp’s annual general meeting is taking place with a sign that reads: “Goldcorp: No more mining terrorism!” Vancouver, Canada, May 2, 2007. Photo: James Rodríguez

Figure 7. Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine in San Marcos, Diodora. Diodora Hernández looks for a calf while shepherding her cows. On July 7, 2010, Diodora Hernández, who refused to sell her land, was shot point-blank in the face outside her home only a few metres from a fence that delimits Goldcorp’s Marlin mine. She asserts her refusal to sell is the reason she suffered the assassination attempt. The operations of Goldcorp’s Marlin gold mine in Guatemala’s western highlands have caused serious internal conflicts within the local Maya Mam communities, as well as causing repression, trumped-up legal charges against community defenders, and widespread environmental and health problems. San José Nueva Esperanza, San Miguel Ixtahuacán, San Marcos, Guatemala, May 14, 2016. Photo: James Rodríguez.

Figure 8. Formal Human Rights Violation Complaint submitted to the Canadian Government by Catherine Nolin, Grahame Russell, and UNBC Field School participants, 2010. Photo: Catherine Nolin

Figure 9. Defensora Documentary Film Poster (2013). Defensora is a moving and powerful documentary that sets out the context and backdrop to the precedentsetting Hudbay Minerals lawsuits. Filmmaker Rachel Schmidt completed Defensora just after the landmark decision of Superior Court of Ontario Justice Carole Brown, who ruled in July 2013 that Hudbay can be put on trial in Canada for gang rapes, a shooting-maiming, and a murder that Hudbay is allegedly responsible for in relation to their mining project in Guatemala. Photo Rachel Schmidt, director, Defensora Final HD (6kidsProductions, 2013, vimeo.com/329494479)

Figure 10 13 Brave Giants versus Hudbay Minerals, painting by Pati Flores. Patricia (Pati) Flores’ painting represents the thirteen Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ plaintiffs from Guatemala and their case against Hudbay Minerals. Used by permission

Figure 11. San Rafael State of Siege. Checkpoint between San Rafael Las Flores and Mataquescuintla during the first day of the Guatemalan government’s declared State of Siege in four municipalities in support of the mining operation of Vancouver-based Tahoe Resources. Numerous constitutional rights were suspended for thirty days. Mataquescuintla, Jalapa, Guatemala, May 2, 2013. Photo: James Rodríguez.

Figure 12. La Puya Resistance against Unwanted Gold Mine. Community defenders block the entrance gate to El Tambor gold mine, owned by EXMINGUA, local subsidiary of Canadian mining company Radius Gold (later of American company KCA). Since March 2, 2012, local neighbours from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc have blocked the entrance to the proposed mining site. Residents from the communities assert the industrial activity in their territories is illegal since they were not appropriately consulted before the mine began operating. La Puya, San Pedro Ayampuc, Guatemala, July 19, 2012. Photo: James Rodríguez.

Figure 13. Consultation in Santa Cruz Quiché. Residents of Cantón Pajajxit I, II, and III vote during the community consultation on the exploitation of natural resources. On a historic day, residents from the municipality of Santa Cruz del Quiché—one of Guatemala’s most important hubs and the birthplace of the Maya K’iche’ people—unanimously rejected the exploitation of natural goods and resources, in particular through mining and hydroelectric activities. Santa Cruz, Quiché, Guatemala, October 22, 2010. Photo: James Rodríguez.

Figure 14. Mineral Interests and Consultas in Guatemala, by Patricia Rojas, illustrates the extent of the consultas across Guatemala, and their proximity to communities rejecting particular industrial projects. Source: J. P. Laplante, “‘La Voz del Pueblo,’” 205.

Figure 15. Popular Participation in Consultas in Guatemala, 2005–2013, by Patricia Rojas, illustrates the extent of the consultas across Guatemala, and the percentage of municipal participation in seventy-six consultas between 2005 and 2013. Source: Laplante, “‘La Voz del Pueblo,’” 203.

Figure 16. Mining Conflictivity: CGN and Lote Ocho. From left to right: Carmelina Caal Ical, Margarita Caal Caal, Rosa Elbira Coc Ich, Amalia Cac Tiul, Lucia Caal Chun, and Olivia Asig Xol, all six women plaintiffs in the Caal vs. Hudbay legal case in Canada, here in their community of Lote Ocho. Lote Ocho, El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala, September 29, 2014. Photo: James Rodríguez.