We, the undersigned Canadian civil society organizations, wish to express our deep solidarity with the Xinka people and their struggle for self-determination concerning the future of the Escobal mine, owned by Vancouver-based Pan American Silver. The Indigenous Xinka people have denied consent for the restart of the mine in the culmination of a seven-year consultation process ordered by Guatemala’s Constitutional Court in September 2018.
The Xinka parliament made its decision public in a press conference in front of the Guatemalan presidential palace on May 8, 2025 and called for the results to be respected.
Following an in-depth analysis of the actual and projected impacts from the mine, the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala concluded in its press release, “It is clear that the State has not been able to guarantee our rights to health, life, a healthy environment, water, housing, freedom of expression, identity, our language, our culture, and our territory. For this reason, the Xinka people do not consent to the mining project “El Escobal.”
Following a challenging, seven-year consultation process marked by exclusion of the Xinka delegates to the consultation for two years, lack of cooperation by the company and Guatemalan government to enable in-depth evaluation of the current and potential impacts from the mine, including failing to provide funds for a team of technical experts to support the Xinka as ordered by the Constitutional Court, along with intimidation, attempts at coercion, threats and the killing of a Xinka leader, Xinka communities continue to defend water and life over mining.
Since 2011 a movement led by the Peaceful Resistance of Santa Rosa, Jalapa and Jutiapa organized to peacefully oppose the Escobal silver mine over concerns about water contamination and depletion in the largely agricultural region, as well as social, cultural, and spiritual impacts, and lack of respect for their self-determination.
The Escobal mine was forced into operation in early 2014, following a campaign of legal persecution, military surveillance, police repression and private security attacks that culminated in a military state of siege around the same time that the Ministry of Energy and Mines approved the final permit for the mine and dismissed community complaints that had been filed under the mining law. By this time, tens of thousands of people had voted in municipal and community referendums against the installation of the mine.
Since June 2017, the Peaceful Resistance have maintained two 24-hour resistance camps to prevent mine traffic from reaching Escobal. The camps also aim to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court decisions in 2017 and 2018 that suspended the project for lack of prior consultation and discrimination.
The Escobal Mine is an underground silver mine located in southeastern Guatemala. The mine was put into operation by Tahoe Resources and is currently owned by Canadian mining company Pan American Silver that lists on the Toronto and New York Exchanges.
We, civil society organizations and representatives of social movements, stand in solidarity with the Xinka Parliament. We call on Guatemalan authorities, Pan American Silver and the Canadian government to:
- Affirm the Xinka People’s collective rights to free, prior and informed consent, their self-determination and autonomy in accord with the 2018 Constitutional Court decision and international law by respecting the results of the consultation process.
- Ensure the safety and security of Xinka defenders and members of the Xinka Parliament of Guatemala, including, in the case of Canada, to take the necessary steps in accordance with Voices at Risk: Canada's Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders.
Signatories,
- Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA)
- Americas Policy Group (APG)
- Common Frontiers
- MiningWatch Canada
- Indigenous Law Research Unit
- Le Journal des Alternatives
- Grandmothers Advocacy Network
- Laboratoire Lagopède, UQAC
- Rights Action
- Mining Injustice Solidarity Network
- Shake Up The Establishment
- Le Groupe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Territoires d'Extractivisme (GRITE)
- Victoria Central America Support Committee (VCASC)
- Mining Justice Action Committee, Victoria, BC
- Victoria Peace Coalition, Victoria, BC
- Mining Justice Alliance
- BC Casa-Cafe Justicia
- Codevelopment Canada
- Inter Pares
- Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique latine (CDHAL)
- Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network
- Breaking the Silence North Shore Nova Scotia Committee
- Breaking the Silence Antigonish Committee
- Antigonish committee of Breaking the Silence
- BTS-Fredericton local committee
- Martha Justice Ministry, Sisters of St. Martha
- Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network