First modification:
In the municipality of El Estor, in eastern Guatemala, the mining activity of the mining company Guatemala Níquel Co., a subsidiary of a Swiss company, has aroused the anger of fishermen and indigenous communities in the area. It is a conflict that has lasted for years since the mining company began its activity in 2014.
In Lake Izabal, the largest in all of Guatemala, fish are no longer as abundant as in the past. Or at least that is the complaint of the fishermen in the area, who say that since the company Guatemala Níquel Co., a subsidiary of the Swiss Solway Investment Group, began its extractive activity in 2014.
Since then, the conflict has been latent. So last week, part of the community demonstrated in the streets of El Estor, a municipality next to the lake. The protests turned violent and the Guatemalan government decreed a state of siege since last Sunday.
The curfew and the presence of more than a thousand soldiers are some of the measures that have governed the area this week. And they have been criticized by the protesters as a criminalization of their struggle, which they legitimize by seeing the contamination occurring from the mine.
“It is a company that brings us death in the long run,” says Cristóbal Pop, president of the Fishing Union. And he adds: “The place is turning into a desert, we depend on the water sources.”
The conflict has divided the population. It is a dispute that confronts economic interests with environmental care and the preservation of waters with the generation of employment and money derived from exploitation.
“The company does not affect us. The mining company helps the townspeople because, for example, some work there and others do not, but they also benefit because the money that circulates here stays in the town,” says Emilio Jalal Tzoc, a fisherman in the area.
According to the indigenous community, the company continues to work even when a Guatemalan court ordered the suspension of its activities, as it did not consult with the community before generating exploitation.
However, the mining company has responded that these accusations are false and that the ruling had no effect on its activities.
“The issue of closing our operations is simply not on the table, because there are no reasons for it,” concludes Dmitry Kurdrykov, president of the mining company.
The conflict is far from settled. The Guatemalan government published a statement in which it stated that the court order, one of the strongest claims of the community, does not apply to the mining company.
With AFP and AP
.