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Canadian Embassy in Guatemala
Ambassador Olivier Jacques
13 Calle 8-44 Zone 10, Edificio Edyma Plaza, Guatemala
CC:
Central America Nickel Inc.
1010 Sherbrooke W., Suite 2200
Montreal QC, H3A 2R7
Mark Billings, CEO
[email protected]
Dan Hrushewsky, Chairman of the Board
[email protected]
[email protected] / https://www.centralamericanickeluaex.com
Guatemalan Ministry of the Environment
Ana Patricia Orantes Thomas
10ª calle 7-43 zona 1, edificio torin, tercer nivel, oficina no. 35
June 16, 2025
Dear Ambassador Jacques:
The undersigned individuals and human rights and environmental organizations, and Q’eqchi’ communities, including the tourism sector in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, are writing to express our serious concerns over mining activities to be carried out by subsidiaries (Rio Nickel and Nichromet) of the Canadian company Central America Nickel (CAN) in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Guatemala.
As you will see in the attached eyewitness report, news article, and timeline below, opposition to the mining operation in this region is vehement and virtually unanimous by Indigenous Q’eqchi’ communities. Moreover, community members, environmental experts, public health authorities, and leaders in the tourism sector see any form of mining in the Santa Cruz Mountains as a fundamental threat to Indigenous sovereignty, to human rights, and to the local water supply.
The May 13 killing of Q’eqchi’ land and rights defender Misael Mata Asencio makes these concerns all the more urgent.
- Mining resistance member Misael Mata Asencio killed in Guatemala within week of hike to look at mining exploration wells. By Peace Brigades International, May 20, 2025
- Water defense motivates pushback against mining in Guatemala. By Romi Fischer-Schmidt, Ojaja, June 5, 2025
Under the frameworks of ILO Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), it is important to highlight the extent of Indigenous community opposition to mining in the region. Opposition stems from the long history of mining-related harms in the area, as well as the fact that the Sierra Santa Cruz includes large protected areas where much of the region’s freshwater originates.
60 years of mining harms and violence in the Q’eqchi’ region
It must also be emphasized that this new potential mining operation comes in the wake of 60 years of environmental harm and human rights violations associated with mining activities in the communities of Panzos, Livingston, and El Estor, all predominantly Maya Q’eqchi’ communities.
For decades, this harmful and sometimes violent mining activity was dominated by Canadian companies INCO (International Nickel Company), Skye Resources, and Hudbay Minerals.
In December 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Guatemala is responsible for the lack of adequate consultation surrounding mining activity and for acts of violence and harassment to the detriment of an Indigenous community and ordered reparation measures.
Harms and violence to communities have included: exposure to the serious pollution caused by the Fenix nickel mine in El Estor; contamination of Lake Izabal and other local water sources, threatening health and fishers’ source of income; criminalization of community leaders; assassinations; land theft; arson; and gang-rapes.
These allegations have been substantiated by a series of high-level court cases, both in Guatemala and in Canada. In October 2024, Hudbay Minerals Inc. resolved a 14-year lawsuit brought by Q’eqchi’ victims’ families in Canada. The victims sought justice for serious violence suffered during that period, including the 2009 killing of Adolfo Ich Chaman, the 2009 shooting and paralysis of German Chub Choc, the 2007 forced eviction of the Q’eqchi’ community of Lote Ocho, including the gang-rapes of eleven women by company security personnel, Guatemalan soldiers and police.
Given this history, the Q’eqchi’ communities in the area are simply unwilling to risk more harm to their environment and human rights from another Canadian mining company.
Timeline of Recent Events in Rio Dulce, Highlighting Opposition and May 13th Murder
The environmental permits issued to Rio Nickel, a Canadian subsidiary, were granted in the final weeks of former President Giammattei’s administration, in a process marred by irregularities. As you know, President Giammattei’s corruption is widely documented, leading to him being placed on the notorious “Engel List” of corrupt and anti-democratic actors.
Under these conditions, Indigenous communities allege that the environmental permits granted improperly, violating the principle of free and prior informed consent safeguarded by both ILO Convention 169, and UNDRIP, of which is affirmed and required by Canadian and Guatemalan law. The lack of transparency with which permits were granted and events are unfolding on the ground raise serious human rights and environmental concerns.
On January 28, 2025, authorities from Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) were called to a congressional hearing, at which it was disclosed that Rio Nickel, S.A. (a subsidiary of Canada-based Central America Nickel, or CAN) has more than a dozen mining exploration applications for nickel and other minerals, almost all of them located in the Sierra Santa Cruz region.
In meetings held between local residents and municipal authorities of Livingston and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), Carlos Roberto Rodas Velásquez (MARN’s departmental representative) indicated that the MARN has not received Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies from the Rio Nickel mining company. In response to CAN’s mining license application, more than 50 Maya Q’eqchi’ communities mobilized to block the major highway connecting Rio Dulce to Peten.
By April 7 of this year, 54 mainly Q’eqchi’ communities again set up roadblocks on the main highway leading from Rio Dulce north to the Peten with the message: “No to Mining!” A month later, on May 13, Environmental Indigenous Q’eqchi’ Leader Misael Mata Asencio was killed, just days after participating in a community expedition to document the presence of bore holes and other evidence of mining activities in around the Cerro 1019 where mining licenses have been concentrated.
Most believe his killing was in conjunction with his outspoken opposition to mining in the region. Mata Asencio’s killing and the irregularities in the permitting process warrant serious alarm by all concerned about the rule of law, human rights, and the environment in Guatemala.
Then on May 23, thousands of community members showed up to a peaceful mass march and public assembly to once again demand that their local authorities not allow mining to take place in the Sierra de Santa Cruz. The outcome of this public assembly was a firm commitment from MARN to conduct a thorough review of the environmental licenses granted to Rio Nickel and present their findings at a public meeting in Rio Dulce no later than June 16, 2025. We are fast approaching that date.
It is unconscionable that, with the recent killing of an environmental leader in the area and overwhelming opposition to mining in the Sierra Santa Cruz, this project would be allowed to move forward. We thus echo the demands of the Maya Q’eqchi’ communities of the Sierra Santa Cruz the Guatemalan government:
- End all mining operations in the Santa Cruz region of El Estor, Panzos, Livingston
- Support an investigation into the May 13 killing of Misael Mata Ascencio
- Support the creation of a commission to determine an appropriate governance structure by which the natural resources of the Santa Cruz mountains can be protected and held under the stewardship of the Q’qchi’ communities in the region, consistent with the ILO Convention 169.
Mr. Ambassador, the undersigned believe that this is not only a Guatemalan issue but also very much a Canadian issue, given the long history of harmful and sometimes violent Canadian mining in the region, and given that yet another Canadian company is now trying to initiate mining operations in the face of widespread opposition.
The Canadian government and Embassy must express support for the rights and the demands of the Maya Q’eqchi’ communities, as set out above. The Canadian government must express its concerns about the mining-linked harms and violence already happening in this region and make these concerns directly known to the Central America Nickel company.
Sincerely,
{PLEASE ADD NAMES BELOW}
Voces y Manos por el Buen Vivir (Guatemala & U.S. NGO)
Michael Bakal, PhD, post-doctoral researcher, UC Santa Cruz
Observatorio de Industrias Extractivas (OIE)
Rights Action (Canada & USA)
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