During my walks around the city of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, I am continually acosted by young boys who want to shine my shoes. The shoes are so covered with dust, and who knows what else, from trekking around San Miguel and Sipacapa that the boys cannot tell that they are not the type of shoes you polish. They are a metaphor for what the people of those municipalities have to put up with.
A couple of days before I left San Miguel, I finally had the chance to visit the Marlin mine. It takes up about 100,000 hectares, which have been completely deforested, and is scarred by a huge hole in the middle, which gets bigger by the day. While I was there, workers from the mine were cutting down more trees around the outside, preparing for further expansion into land abutting the current property. In the middle of the mine property is a huge lake filled with contaminated water (because they use water and cianide to process the ore).
Locals say that lake was never there before, and that they keep making it bigger. The mine says it can contain the water, but can that really be true? Can they really keep the lake from getting into the groundwater or rivers? One independent study has already been done that shows one of the local rivers is contaminated with runoff from the mine.
Worse, the mine uses some preposterous amount of water daily. I have read 250,000 gallons. A day. During the dry season, which is 6 months, that water is not being replenished. So in conversations with the locals, they told me that their underground springs are drying up. I saw only one of the dried up ones, but they say that 6 have dried up in one town alone. These springs are their water source for crops and animals. They also told me that trees are dying, and I had already noticed that. It is weird...just driving around the area you can see dried up trees.
The mine paid 4,000 quetzales (about $530) per cuerda (I have no idea what a cuerda is, but it is a small plot) of land. Even though the government and the mine already knew that there was gold and silver on the land, the people were never informed, so they sold their land for market price, but for far, far less than what it was really worth. They also say that the mine pressured them into selling..told them that they had already signed agreements with the government, and if the people did not sell, they would be forced off.
The bottom line is that if the water depletion continues, the people around the mine will be forced to dislocate, and where do you think they will go? I had a meeting on Friday with representatives from the diocesan peace and ecology commission and with the organization representing indigenous rights in the area, because they wanted to talk about whether permanent accompaniment would be feasible, because they have all been threatened with violence by members of the mine security force, and the Guatemalan military is in San Miguel, and the US military is in San Marcos.
Anyway, during the course of the meeting the guy from the diocese told me that in the San Marcos region they are also facing US-funded aerial crop spraying that is killing all the plants in its path, according to local campesinos who have lost their crops. The military says they are combatting the Mediterrean fruit fly. So they just fly overpeoples´ land and spray everything, without the knowledge and consent of the people living there. Just like Colombia. I am sure they suspect coca or marijuana, and are using the fly as an excuse.
It feels like the same story everywhere I go. And the US government is never the good guy, much as we wish and think we are. We are not the only evil party...the Guatemalan government comes off pretty bad, too, not to mention the World Bank and Canadian mining companies. But the US government is my government, and we are a democracy, and therefore I am responsible.
Showing posts with label Marlin Mine Guatemala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marlin Mine Guatemala. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
"Development" and Mining in Guatemala
Hereis the story of the Marlin Mine.
Goldcorp, the Canadian company that owns it, spends about $207 per ounce of gold in production costs, meaning all the costs associated with this particular mine in Guatemala. The price of gold on the world market right now is $665 per ounce. They are producing over a million ounces a year. You do the math.
They call it a development project for the local community. However, they employ about 800 local people, and about 500 more from the outside. Local people receive as a salary on average 2,500 Quetzales per month,or about $300. This will not bring them out of poverty. Compare that wage to the profit the company is making. And the company is leaving a giant hole in the ground and an environmental disaster in its wake, once the mine ceases to be productive, in about 10 years.
The World Bank funded this project to the tune of $45 million, because it would bring "development" to Guatemala. Yet I have read several reports showing that the World Bank violated it own policies in funding this project, because it does not actually benefit the local community. Also, the World Bank´s own documents show that Goldcorp did not need the loan. They only wanted it to give the project more prestige, as a so-called development project. The United States is a major funderand major controller of the World Bank.
Here is some more interesting information. The area where I am, and where the mine is located, is economically poor, campesino, and indigenous. Most people have small plots of land which they farm in order to feed themselves, but they do not plant enough to sell on the open market. The reason for this is that it is more expensive to grow the crops than the money they receive for them. The reason market prices are so low is because United States agricultural policies subsidize US farmers so that they grow too much and flood the market. So the campesinos are living on their land, but not living on the crops.
How are they living? Almost everyone from Guatemala has a relative in the United States, and these relatives send back "remesas", or monthly payments to their families. This is what people here are living on. And their relatives in the US had to make the dangerous trip through the desert, only to arrive in the US as "illegals", taking whatever low-paying jobs that are available. But the Guatemalans are leaving in the first place because US policies essentially force them out. In other words, our agricultural policies favor our own farmers but cause poverty elsewhere, and so-called development projects enrich big companies that do not need the money while paying low salaries to local people. Then we penalize those who flee searching for a better life by making them illegal and forcing them into low-paying jobs.
Outraged yet?
The Guatemalan miltary and the private security forces from the mine maintain a strong presence in San Miguel in order to prevent civil unrest over this injustice. The US military also maintains a presence here, and most people think this is why. The dispute that people fear could turn violent is over who has control over the land: big companies with the backing of big government, or poor campesinos who have lived here for countless generations.
I have noticed that it is the same in every underdeveloped country: the land remains in the hands of a few rich people, and US policies favor that. An interesting side note is that the US helped to overthrow the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 because the new government had promised--and was carrying out--land reform and redistribution. Calling it communism, the US helped arrange a military coup that lead to more than 30 years of civil war, fought over the issue of land.
My friends in Colombia will recognize this story as very similar to what has been going on there. The wars are over who has control over the land and its resources, with the backing of big money from the United States, because it seems to me that in the end, we are determined to control the resources of these countries in order to maintain our own very high standard of living. The people making the money from the Goldcorp mine are employees and investors in the United States and Canada. Colombia is one of the largest recipients of United States foreign military assistance.
Goldcorp, the Canadian company that owns it, spends about $207 per ounce of gold in production costs, meaning all the costs associated with this particular mine in Guatemala. The price of gold on the world market right now is $665 per ounce. They are producing over a million ounces a year. You do the math.
They call it a development project for the local community. However, they employ about 800 local people, and about 500 more from the outside. Local people receive as a salary on average 2,500 Quetzales per month,or about $300. This will not bring them out of poverty. Compare that wage to the profit the company is making. And the company is leaving a giant hole in the ground and an environmental disaster in its wake, once the mine ceases to be productive, in about 10 years.
The World Bank funded this project to the tune of $45 million, because it would bring "development" to Guatemala. Yet I have read several reports showing that the World Bank violated it own policies in funding this project, because it does not actually benefit the local community. Also, the World Bank´s own documents show that Goldcorp did not need the loan. They only wanted it to give the project more prestige, as a so-called development project. The United States is a major funderand major controller of the World Bank.
Here is some more interesting information. The area where I am, and where the mine is located, is economically poor, campesino, and indigenous. Most people have small plots of land which they farm in order to feed themselves, but they do not plant enough to sell on the open market. The reason for this is that it is more expensive to grow the crops than the money they receive for them. The reason market prices are so low is because United States agricultural policies subsidize US farmers so that they grow too much and flood the market. So the campesinos are living on their land, but not living on the crops.
How are they living? Almost everyone from Guatemala has a relative in the United States, and these relatives send back "remesas", or monthly payments to their families. This is what people here are living on. And their relatives in the US had to make the dangerous trip through the desert, only to arrive in the US as "illegals", taking whatever low-paying jobs that are available. But the Guatemalans are leaving in the first place because US policies essentially force them out. In other words, our agricultural policies favor our own farmers but cause poverty elsewhere, and so-called development projects enrich big companies that do not need the money while paying low salaries to local people. Then we penalize those who flee searching for a better life by making them illegal and forcing them into low-paying jobs.
Outraged yet?
The Guatemalan miltary and the private security forces from the mine maintain a strong presence in San Miguel in order to prevent civil unrest over this injustice. The US military also maintains a presence here, and most people think this is why. The dispute that people fear could turn violent is over who has control over the land: big companies with the backing of big government, or poor campesinos who have lived here for countless generations.
I have noticed that it is the same in every underdeveloped country: the land remains in the hands of a few rich people, and US policies favor that. An interesting side note is that the US helped to overthrow the democratically elected government of Guatemala in 1954 because the new government had promised--and was carrying out--land reform and redistribution. Calling it communism, the US helped arrange a military coup that lead to more than 30 years of civil war, fought over the issue of land.
My friends in Colombia will recognize this story as very similar to what has been going on there. The wars are over who has control over the land and its resources, with the backing of big money from the United States, because it seems to me that in the end, we are determined to control the resources of these countries in order to maintain our own very high standard of living. The people making the money from the Goldcorp mine are employees and investors in the United States and Canada. Colombia is one of the largest recipients of United States foreign military assistance.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Introduction to the Marlin Mine
I have now moved from Antigua to the village of San Miguel, located in the western highlands, with a population of a few hundred.
San Marcos is the regional center in the highlands. The region is sparsely populated, poor, and mostly indigenous. It is also full of mineral resources. When I got to San Marcos, one of the first things I noticed was 2 humvees of US soldiers driving around. I wondered to myself what US soldiers were doing here, when we are fighting 2 wars and supposedly have troop shortages, and as far as anyone knows, we are not at war with Guatemala.
I found out that there are around 1000 of them, and that they are here for "humanitarian reasons". No-one in San Marcos believes this, and it has served to dramatically increase the fear among the people who live here. People have all kinds of guesses about why they are here, none of them good. The Catholic Diocese of San Marcos sent an open letter to President Bush complaining about it, but I doubt anyone ever paid much attention.
From San Marcos I went to Sipicapa, where I spent 2 days. To get to San Marcos, I took a fairly decent bus from Guatemala City, the capital. But to get to Sipicapa, I had to take what folks in Antigua call "chicken buses", but up until this ride I had never seen any chickens on them! The chicken buses are old, beat up, and repainted yellow school buses that get driven down from the US when we are done with them. This ride was packed with people, chickens, and even a small herd of sheep roped to the top. Being the only gringa for hundreds of miles, the conductor let me ride in the front, where I shared a seat made for two, situated over a tire, with a pregnant woman, her toddler, and an old man on crutches. It was a good adventure.
I was dropped off at a crossroads, where the road turned off for Sipicapa, but the bus went another way. There I waited to get picked up. I was not too worried about being found, being the tall gringa in pink (stop laughing).
In Sipicapa I stayed in the parish house with 2 Italians. There are always Italians in every accompaniment...I think I mentioned that before. Anyway, the Italian in charge of parish pastoral work is a lay person, what we would call a lay pastoral coordinaor, or something like that. He has been in Guatemala 11 years,and at this parish for 7, appointed by the bishop. Through his Italian connections he has managed to build a school and formation center, and the school trains teachers to do bilingual education, in Spanish and Sipacapense. The Sipacapenses are a small indigenous community that only live in this one place. Roberto, the Italian in charge of the place, is also heavily involved in diocesan support of the resistance of the indigenous communities to the gold mine next door. The other Italian, Manuel, is teaching at the school.
There are 3 municipalities, what would be a county for us, within the region of San Marcos, that are affected by the mine and are involved in resisting it. They are Sipicapa, Concepcion, and San Miguel. As I mentioned earlier, I am in San Miguel. Sipicapa already has accompaniment, and I think there is no-one doing accompaniment in Concepcion. The diocese is doing awesome work supporting the communities here, putting out a lot of information, educating folks about the mine, etc. Like in Colombia, the Catholic Church is active and on the right side, at least in this diocese. For this they have been called "communists" in the press.
One of the main thing the diocese has been doing is organizing the community consultations that allow the indigenous communities to vote on whether they want the mine or not. So far they have done 14 in all the communities surrounding themine. Only one has voted for it. They still have not done one in San Miguel, whereI am, because San Miguel is the municipality most affected by the mine, and people have received threats and harassment, and so the people are afraid that if they did a consultation, there would be violence.
The mine established itself in San Miguel about 2 years ago, without doing any community consultation, which is contrary to Guatemalan law. So the consultations have taken place after it is already a fact. The reason that people do not want it is because it has caused enormous environmental destruction. It is an open pit gold mine, meaning a huge hole in the ground, that uses cianide as part of its processing. It has caused a huge dust problem, but aside from that, so far 57 houses have been cracked or damaged in some severe way, and people are reporting illness, animal deaths, and contaminated water.
Representatives from the mine came in and bought up property without the people knowing what was going on---ie that there was gold underneath. So they sold their property for a song compared to what it was really worth, and they feel deceived. And the final problem is that the company, based in Canada but with heavy US investment as well, only has to pay 1% taxes to the Guatemalan government, while making hundreds of millions in profits so far. So the people feel that their resources are being exploited in a way that benefits a foreign company, but not in a way that benefits them.
It has created some jobs, but not as many as promised, and not enough to outweigh the disadvantages, according to most people. Many of the best jobs go to foreigners, or to people from outside of the area. And according to the diocese, the mine bribes local officials and organizations to keep them from opposing it. So the indigenous feel they are alone in this, except for the diocese, but are planning on mounting as much of a resistance as they can. And they are very clear about it being non-violent.
There was a big protest in January over some big part being transferred to the mine, and the people blocked roads. The police opened fire, and 20 people were injured, one person killed, and 14 arrested. Soyou can see what they are dealing with.
This is what I have put myself in the middle of. I am helping them by putting together a complete report of what is going on in San Miguel. One exists for Sipicapa, which is more organized, thanks to the Italians, but not for San Miguel. And I am accompanying the indigenous organization that is providing leadership to the resistance in San Miguel. I have told them I can be here a month, and then I need to return to the US. But the reality is that there is enormous potential here for a much larger project, and I am going to have a hard time leaving. I am thinking about the possibilities.
San Marcos is the regional center in the highlands. The region is sparsely populated, poor, and mostly indigenous. It is also full of mineral resources. When I got to San Marcos, one of the first things I noticed was 2 humvees of US soldiers driving around. I wondered to myself what US soldiers were doing here, when we are fighting 2 wars and supposedly have troop shortages, and as far as anyone knows, we are not at war with Guatemala.
I found out that there are around 1000 of them, and that they are here for "humanitarian reasons". No-one in San Marcos believes this, and it has served to dramatically increase the fear among the people who live here. People have all kinds of guesses about why they are here, none of them good. The Catholic Diocese of San Marcos sent an open letter to President Bush complaining about it, but I doubt anyone ever paid much attention.
From San Marcos I went to Sipicapa, where I spent 2 days. To get to San Marcos, I took a fairly decent bus from Guatemala City, the capital. But to get to Sipicapa, I had to take what folks in Antigua call "chicken buses", but up until this ride I had never seen any chickens on them! The chicken buses are old, beat up, and repainted yellow school buses that get driven down from the US when we are done with them. This ride was packed with people, chickens, and even a small herd of sheep roped to the top. Being the only gringa for hundreds of miles, the conductor let me ride in the front, where I shared a seat made for two, situated over a tire, with a pregnant woman, her toddler, and an old man on crutches. It was a good adventure.
I was dropped off at a crossroads, where the road turned off for Sipicapa, but the bus went another way. There I waited to get picked up. I was not too worried about being found, being the tall gringa in pink (stop laughing).
In Sipicapa I stayed in the parish house with 2 Italians. There are always Italians in every accompaniment...I think I mentioned that before. Anyway, the Italian in charge of parish pastoral work is a lay person, what we would call a lay pastoral coordinaor, or something like that. He has been in Guatemala 11 years,and at this parish for 7, appointed by the bishop. Through his Italian connections he has managed to build a school and formation center, and the school trains teachers to do bilingual education, in Spanish and Sipacapense. The Sipacapenses are a small indigenous community that only live in this one place. Roberto, the Italian in charge of the place, is also heavily involved in diocesan support of the resistance of the indigenous communities to the gold mine next door. The other Italian, Manuel, is teaching at the school.
There are 3 municipalities, what would be a county for us, within the region of San Marcos, that are affected by the mine and are involved in resisting it. They are Sipicapa, Concepcion, and San Miguel. As I mentioned earlier, I am in San Miguel. Sipicapa already has accompaniment, and I think there is no-one doing accompaniment in Concepcion. The diocese is doing awesome work supporting the communities here, putting out a lot of information, educating folks about the mine, etc. Like in Colombia, the Catholic Church is active and on the right side, at least in this diocese. For this they have been called "communists" in the press.
One of the main thing the diocese has been doing is organizing the community consultations that allow the indigenous communities to vote on whether they want the mine or not. So far they have done 14 in all the communities surrounding themine. Only one has voted for it. They still have not done one in San Miguel, whereI am, because San Miguel is the municipality most affected by the mine, and people have received threats and harassment, and so the people are afraid that if they did a consultation, there would be violence.
The mine established itself in San Miguel about 2 years ago, without doing any community consultation, which is contrary to Guatemalan law. So the consultations have taken place after it is already a fact. The reason that people do not want it is because it has caused enormous environmental destruction. It is an open pit gold mine, meaning a huge hole in the ground, that uses cianide as part of its processing. It has caused a huge dust problem, but aside from that, so far 57 houses have been cracked or damaged in some severe way, and people are reporting illness, animal deaths, and contaminated water.
Representatives from the mine came in and bought up property without the people knowing what was going on---ie that there was gold underneath. So they sold their property for a song compared to what it was really worth, and they feel deceived. And the final problem is that the company, based in Canada but with heavy US investment as well, only has to pay 1% taxes to the Guatemalan government, while making hundreds of millions in profits so far. So the people feel that their resources are being exploited in a way that benefits a foreign company, but not in a way that benefits them.
It has created some jobs, but not as many as promised, and not enough to outweigh the disadvantages, according to most people. Many of the best jobs go to foreigners, or to people from outside of the area. And according to the diocese, the mine bribes local officials and organizations to keep them from opposing it. So the indigenous feel they are alone in this, except for the diocese, but are planning on mounting as much of a resistance as they can. And they are very clear about it being non-violent.
There was a big protest in January over some big part being transferred to the mine, and the people blocked roads. The police opened fire, and 20 people were injured, one person killed, and 14 arrested. Soyou can see what they are dealing with.
This is what I have put myself in the middle of. I am helping them by putting together a complete report of what is going on in San Miguel. One exists for Sipicapa, which is more organized, thanks to the Italians, but not for San Miguel. And I am accompanying the indigenous organization that is providing leadership to the resistance in San Miguel. I have told them I can be here a month, and then I need to return to the US. But the reality is that there is enormous potential here for a much larger project, and I am going to have a hard time leaving. I am thinking about the possibilities.
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