Guatemala: Mining Community Health organized People's Court

This post is part one of a series of two posts.

"The people of San Miguel is no longer the same since the miners arrived," wrote reporter for the magazine Jeovany Ibáñez & Motor World Press Freedom in 2008. Your article resonates to this day, while the community of San Miguel continues his fight to bring Goldcorp [in] to justice by the negative impact of the Marlin mine [in] in the community.

The photojournalist James Rodriguez MiMundo.org resulted [in] parts of the article by Ibanez in 2008:

Often, experts believe that the open pit mining is one of the most destructive industrial activities in terms of environmental degradation, social and cultural impact ... In San Miguel and Sipakapa, San Marcos, intensive mineral exploitation has left its mark . Local residents from Agel, San José Nueva Esperanza and Ixcaniche remember fondly a gorgeous mountain, famed for its diversity, where you could find several species of birds and butterflies. Today, all that remains of that place is an enormous crater with contaminated rubble.

Earlier this year, was held in Toronto a peaceful demonstration in support of those communities affected by mining. YouTube user RachelBlumeSmall shares a video:

On April 26, 2012, the day of the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian mining company Goldcorp, a group of people gathered in Toronto in solidarity with Guatemalan communities that have been negatively impacted by a mine of Goldcorp. We brought the human rights record and environmental Goldcorp to the streets of Toronto's financial district, and the front-page news in Toronto!

This long struggle against Goldcorp was a significant victory in July 2012. On 14 and 15 July 2012, members of the community of San Miguel community joined with M4 (the Mesoamerican movement against extractive mining model) and the Network of Solidarity for the injustices of Mining [in] to organize [in ] the 'International People's Tribunal of Health'. The Court's website explains [in]:

Preliminary findings of this research indicate that the health of community members has been threatened by the Marlin mine, operating subsidiary of Goldcorp.

This study, still under development, is one of many studies have indicated that the health and welfare of the majority of the Maya Mam people of San Miguel has been threatened by local mining operations through its impact on quality water, exposure to pollutants, security, human rights violations and indigenous sovereignty. Human rights groups and journalists also report violence against women, political persecution and criminalization of resistance leaders, social division and economic inequality have also increased since the Marlin mine was established in the region.

The site adds:

The community members want an opportunity to voice their concerns and share their knowledge about how the Goldcorp mining industry has impacted the community. Nationally and internationally, asking that their concerns are taken seriously and that legislators, health advocates and policy makers take action to end the carelessness and corporate impunity.

Before the Tribunal, the group created a series of videos based on the work of photojournalist James Rodriguez. The Health Blog Court explained [in]:

These videos show some of the local struggles in San Migual Ixtahuacán of which we hear first-hand during the testimony of the community.

The Court also filmed testimony of individual members of the community of San Miguel. These testimonies are available on the YouTube channel MiningInjustice .

In the next post in this series, we examine closely the reports of the Court of Health. See also the judgment of the Court. Stay tuned to this space.

The photo used as thumbnail image was taken by James Rodriguez. Used with permission.

Written by Silvia Viñas · Translated by Gabriela Garcia Calderon Orbe · View original post [en] · Comments (0)
Share it: Meneame · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper