By: Nancy Sabas
Marlin Mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Guatemala. Photo taken by Matthew Kok |
Mining operations in Guatemala are not a recent issue. In 1998, two years after the signing ofthe peace agreement following a harsh civil war,the Foreign Investment Law removed the restrictions on trade with Guatemala, which attracted transnational companies to enter the country. Among the various companies, Goldcorp, a Canadianextractive company with high interest in exploiting gold, stands out.
After a license granted by the Guatemalan government, the Marlin mine, operated by Montana Exploradora,a subsidiary of Goldcorp, began its operations in the community ofSan Miguel in western Guatemala. This was done without prior community consultation, even though it isan obligatory requirement of various international and national laws. In 2009, Goldcorp stopped appearing in the Canadian JantziSocial Index forethical investment due to the controversial use of cyanidein their operations. Currently the Marlin mine is considered the most lucrative minethat Goldcorp owns worldwide.
During our trip, we visited the community and interviewed community members to hear their side of the story.
MCC Thrift store group listening to Crisanta´s story about resistance. Photo taken by Matthew Kok. |
I met Crisanta Pérez, a Mayan Mam woman with 6 children who lives withdetermination her philosophy of caring for Mother Earth and defending her territory. Crisanta resists and denounces Goldcorp’s environmental and community violations.. Despite facing intimidation, 14 arrest warrants andcriminalizations for her work in defense of her territory and human rights, Crisanta stands firm. When we asked a how the resistance movement inSan Miguel was born, she explained, ”There are many men who work as miners in the company. Our community is divided in opinions, and although some of the men disagreewith the mining operationsin the community, they do not takea position because they are workingthere. It is for this reason that the resistance movement in San Miguel against mining started from the women.¨
As an indigenous woman, Crisanta facesvarious levels of oppression., however, she resists the roles imposedby a patriarchal hegemonic system, and has become a public figure,with a voice, empowered with knowledge about her rights and equipped to assertively demand the vindication of environmentallysustainable traditional practices, in line with the Mayan worldview. In addition, Crisanta tirelessly denounces the massive exploitation of resources.
Crisanta Pérez and her daughter. Photo taken by Matthew Kok. |
¨Transnational companies are destroying the most valuable thing we have, Mother Earth.¨ Crisanta explained during our visit.
With her focus from the periphery, Crisanta defies the ruling capitalist logic that sacrifices the sacred elements (Mother Earth) and whose goal is the strictaccumulation of wealth. The positionof inequality that Crisanta has, alongwith other Mam women, enables her to integrate a more holistic perspective in line with her worldview and allows her to critique the mining operations from a Maya Mam light. These women, based on their condition of oppression, have the ability to see with clarity from the base. This viewpoint enables them to understand the world from their ancestral worldview, as well as the reality of the mestizo (the Guatemalan State), and the dominant white (Goldcorp).This understanding contrasts the power groups’ viewpoint who understandand legitimize their knowledge as the only valid form of knowing. The women have become privileged epistemic subjects, for not being ¨contaminated¨with only one way of knowledge that comes from an advantageous socialposition.
MCC Thrift store group with members of the Catholic Parish of San Miguel Ixtahuacán. Photo taken by Matthew Kok. |
¨On the threshold of the third millennium, liberation strategies must ensure that human freedom is not achieved at the expense of other species, that freedom of one race or gender is not based onthe increasing subjugation of other races and genders. In each of these struggles for freedom, the challenge is to include the other¨. Vandana Shiva.
Crisanta signing for me her book ¨The struggle of Ms. Crisanta against Goldcorp¨. Photo taken by Matthew Kok. |
Father Erick from the Parish of San Miguel Ixtahuacán. Photo taken by: Matthew Kok |
Photo taken by Matthew Kok |
Photo taken by: Matthew Kok |
Maudilia López from the San Miguel Ixtahuacán parish. Photo taken by: Matthew Kok |
Crisanta, member of the Parish. Photo taken by : Matthew Kok |