Human rights groups have recently condemned the excessive use of force against indigenous protesters and journalists in Guatemala’s El Estor municipality, Izabal department. The concerns follow President Alejandro Giammattei’s declaration on 23 October of a 30-day state of siege in El Estor, which allows for a military deployment and restricts constitutional guarantees. This followed protests staged by indigenous groups against the Fénix nickel mine, which, despite a constitutional court (CC) ruling suspending its operations last year, has continued to operate, according to these groups. The government’s response has subjected it to familiar complaints of criminalising public protest and protecting powerful mining interests.
The Giammattei government declared the state of siege following clashes between security forces and protesters who, led by local indigenous organisation Consejo Ancestral Maya Q’eqchi’, had been staging peaceful demonstrations since 4 October against the mine which is run by the Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel (CGN), a subsidiary of Swiss-based Solway Investment Group.
In June 2020, the CC upheld an earlier ruling ordering the suspension of the mine on the grounds that it violates the right to consultation with local communities. (In 1996 Guatemala ratified Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization [ILO], which entitles indigenous communities to free, prior and informed consent before the commencement of development projects that will directly impact them).
In a 23 October statement, human rights ombudsman Jordán Rodas complained the mine was functioning “illegally”. As regards the clashes, he also accused the security forces of repressing the public and journalists amid reports that the national police (PNC) fired tear gas at protesters. The mining & energy ministry (MEM), which claimed that 17 PNC officials had been injured in the same clashes, insisted that the mine’s suspension was still in effect but “activities such as the processing plant…in the area” were ongoing as they are “not related” to the CC ruling. As well as the continued operations of the mine, the exclusion of Consejo Ancestral Maya Q’eqchi’ from a “pre-consultation” meeting in relation to the Fénix project on 28 September, was also reportedly a contributing factor in the demonstrations which began on 4 October.
The government’s decision to declare a state of siege and the aftermath drew condemnation from civil-society groups such as the local human rights platform Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos (CDH) which in a 31 October statement outlined various complaints. These included the “disproportionate use of force” in response to the state of siege – concerns echoed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in a 4 November statement which condemned the excessive use of force by PNC officials and “indiscriminate use of tear gas”, and urged the Guatemalan government to carry out an investigation. CDH also said in its statement that 14 raids had been carried out on the homes of human rights defenders and cited press freedom violations amid reports of physical attacks and the destruction of journalists’ equipment – complaints that were echoed by US-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) which said that police raided at least one news outlet and the homes of at least two journalists in connection to those protests.
Other mines suspended
The CC had issued similar rulings against Canadian-owned Escobal silver mine in 2017 and the US-owned ‘El Tambor’ gold mine in 2016, also for failing to consult with local indigenous populations.
Rise in attacks against human rights defenders
According to the OHCHR report, the local human rights NGO Udefegua registered 844 attacks against human rights defenders – including 310 men, 297 women and 70 organisations – between 1 January and 30 September 2020, a sharp increase of 71% compared with the attacks registered over the same period in 2019. As of December 2020, 14 human rights defenders had been killed.
States of exception
According to a report published on 11 February 2021 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the human rights situation in Guatemala in 2020, last year the Giammattei government declared 11 states of exception establishing limitations on the rights to freedom of movement, peaceful assembly and due process rights.
The OHCHR report notes that the length, scope and geographic span of the restrictions to fundamental rights varied. Less restrictive “states of prevention” were used on seven occasions, affecting 80 municipalities.
Two states of calamity were declared: one of these was declared nationwide owing to the coronavirus (Covid-19) health emergency, and a second state was declared in 10 regions in response to the tropical storm Eta which struck in November 2020.
The same report notes that the more severe state of siege was declared twice in predominantly indigenous areas to respond to conflict situations. According to the OHCHR. in each of these instances the armed forces were deployed to perform citizen security tasks, including in indigenous territories where human rights violations were perpetrated during the 1960-1996 internal armed conflict. In some cases, the population was unaware of the exact scope of the measures adopted, which generated uncertainty and fear.