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The Xinka are an Indigenous people who live in what is now southern Guatemala. In 2014, the mining firm Tahoe Resources opened a massive silver mine in their territory without their consent amidst the violent repression of peaceful protestors. It was a clear violation of their right to self-determination, an injustice the Xinka Parliament has been fighting ever since.
In 2017, thousands of community members set up opposition camps around the mine. Shortly after, a Guatemalan court finally recognized that the Xinka’s rights had been violated and suspended operations at the mine. The court mandated a thorough consultation process with the Xinka People to determine whether or not the mine, now owned by Canadian company Pan American Silver, should be allowed to reopen.
In order to work, the consultation process has to be free of coercion and intervention by the company. And it has to respect Xinka peoples’ customs and traditions in accordance with international law. As of right now, in the final stretch of the consultation process, that’s not happening.
In November, the Xinka Parliament denounced Pan American Silver and the municipal government of San Rafael las Flores, where the Escobal mine is located, for attempting to spread disinformation about the project and derail the consultation process. The statement explains how the mayor of San Rafael las Flores, in coordination with Pan American Silver, falsely claimed that a visit to the mine and a presentation on the mine’s operations and impact on the region was part of the official consultation. This was a direct attack on the good faith and free nature of the process that the Xinka People have fought to protect for nearly six years. Xinka leaders are also denouncing other problematic activities, including contacting teachers to organize school trips to the mine and coordinating informal meetings with community leaders.
The company knows better. On its website, Pan American Silver acknowledges that the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) is responsible for leading the consultation process with the Xinka People through the Xinka Parliament, their legitimately elected authority. The company’s role is limited to providing information requested of it within the formal consultation space. But it hasn’t lived up to this either.
Xinka authorities say that Pan American Silver withheld information necessary for the Xinka’s experts to fully analyze the mine’s operations and environmental impact: “During the official information-sharing process, Pan American Silver did not present various reports that were requested of the company, and that the government does not have copies of.”
In order to have a complete and accurate scope of the mine’s impact on communities, the Xinka Parliament’s environmental experts carried out their own field work and data analysis, in addition to reviewing the information provided by the company and the government. At a February 2024 consultation meeting, the Xinka Parliament’s environmental experts presented this analysis to the government and the company. The Parliament and Xinka leaders are now sharing this information with communities.
Throughout the process, Xinka authorities have repeatedly called on Pan American Silver to halt its social outreach activities in the region, which generates tension, contributes to insecurity for Xinka leaders and undermines the free nature of the process.
Pan American Silver has heard this before. And the path forward remains simple: Pan American Silver must back off. The company must stop its campaign to undermine the free nature of the consultation process and respect the Xinka Peoples’ rights.