Central America
Guatemalan town locked in battle against nickel mine
AFP
The inhabitants of El Estor, a town of mostly indigenous Mayans in eastern Guatemala, are living under a “state of siege”, watched over by armed soldiers after their years-long fight against a nickel mine took an ominous turn.
El Estor’s subsistence fishermen, mainly of the Mayan Q’eqchi’ indigenous group, say the Fenix mine is polluting Lake Izabal, diminishing stocks of fish that were abundant just a generation ago.
The mine’s owners deny the allegation, saying adequate environmental protections are in place.
Frustrated, residents mounted a protest against the mine on Sunday that was put down by security forces using tear gas.
The confrontation left four police officers wounded, and resulted in the government declaring a state of siege, complete with a month-long protest ban and a night curfew enforced by 1,000 police officers and soldiers deployed among the community of 100,000 people.
For three weeks before Sunday’s clashes, residents of El Estor had blocked truck access to the mine operated by the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN), a subsidiary of the Swiss-based Solway Investment Group.
“This company is bringing us death,” said Cristobal Pop, 44, a fisherman and protest leader who told AFP he will not be deterred by what he sees as the government’s “intimidation” measures.
“I have four children and they will bear the brunt” of the nickel mining operation, he said.
“My children’s future depends on me.”
– Fewer fish, more jobs –
Pop said that when he was a child, Lake Izabal — Guatemala’s largest — was replete with fish.
He says numbers have dwindled since the Fenix mine resumed nickel extraction and processing in 2014.
In 2017, a red slick spread over the lake, which the community blamed on mining pollution.
In resulting protests, Pop was imprisoned and his comrade Carlos Maaz shot dead.
This month, the community resumed demonstrations, accusing CGN of continuing to mine at Fenix despite a 2019 Constitutional Court order for it to suspend operations.
The court ruled in favor of local communities, who said they had not been consulted about the opening of the mine or its effects on them.
The government was ordered to open fresh consultations, but the people of El Estor say they are being excluded.
For its part, Solway said in a statement Sunday it was adhering to the court order. Extraction at Fenix has stopped, it said, but its processing plant was not affected by the ruling and continues to operate.
The company insisted it was doing all it can to minimize the environmental impact of its activities, investing in social infrastructure, and that its El Estor operations provided jobs for more than 1,900 people “and hundreds of local contractors.”
– A community divided –
Guatemala, Central America’s largest economy, exported 56 million kilograms (123 million pounds) of ferroalloys and ferronickel, mainly to China, in 2019, according to World Bank data.
Guatemala’s earnings from the metal grew from $10 million in 2018 to $54 million last year, and this year had already reached $62 million by August, according to Central Bank figures.
El Estor resident Abelino Chub told AFP the Fenix mine was dividing the community.
“Unfortunately, the pro-mining group only sees the money… but not the level of damage that this company is generating,” he said.
At the CGN headquarters, company president Dmitry Kudryakov told AFP the contamination allegations amounted to mere “speculation.”
He insisted the company adhered to international environmental standards, and said the 2017 red stain was a result of bacteria caused by sewage and fertilizer pollution of the Polochic River that flows into the lake.
Central America
El Salvador to host World Cup qualifiers vs. Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán
El Salvador’s national football team will host its final round World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán, the honorary president of the National Sports Institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, announced Thursday via a statement on his X account.
The official explained that this decision comes after the American rock band Guns N’ Roses, originally scheduled to perform at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday, October 4, will now hold their concert at Estadio Jorge “El Mágico” González. This change allows both of La Selecta’s qualifying matches to be played at the “Coloso de Monserrat.”
“After a series of efforts and in response to popular demand, we are pleased to announce that our senior national team’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches next October (Oct. 10 vs. Panama and Oct. 14 vs. Guatemala) will take place at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement reads.
Bukele also thanked the event promoters and the band for agreeing to the stadium change. “We sincerely thank Guns N’ Roses and StarTicket for agreeing to move the concert originally scheduled for October 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement adds.
Additionally, Bukele expressed gratitude to the FESFUT Regularization Commission for their efforts with CONCACAF to make this possible, and he urged fans to stay tuned to official channels to purchase tickets and support La Selecta in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Central America
Honduran president Xiomara Castro suspends activities due to influenza
Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Thursday that she has “temporarily” suspended her public activities due to a severe influenza virus.
“A strong influenza virus requires me to rest, trusting that I will be fully recovered for the grand celebration of our National Independence Day” next Monday, Castro stated on the social media platform X.
The president had planned to participate in several inaugurations across the northern, central, and eastern regions of the country throughout the week. She added that “these events will be rescheduled for new dates.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s government expels bishops, priests, and nuns in religious persecution
At least 261 religious figures, including the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, have been expelled as part of the persecution by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against the Catholic Church, reported the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más in its report Faith Under Fire.
The report details that among those expelled are bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, along with approximately 140 priests, over 90 nuns, ten seminarians, and three deacons from different dioceses in the country.
“Since the expulsion of Nuncio Sommertag in March 2022, relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican have significantly deteriorated,” the NGO noted.
The report also documents the closure of 5,609 non-profit organizations, of which 1,294 were religious, including churches, universities, schools, clinics, and humanitarian organizations. Most of these had their assets confiscated by the Sandinista government. Additionally, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR shut down 54 media outlets, including 22 religious radio stations and TV channels.
Repression has extended to other religious denominations, with forced disappearances and criminalization of evangelical pastors, control over temples, media censorship, fiscal pressure, property confiscation, and the cancellation of legal status for the Moravian Church. Pastor Rudy Palacios remains in detention as part of this pattern of persecution.
The NGO emphasized that churches, especially the Catholic Church, played a key role in the 2018 national dialogue, denouncing abuses and providing refuge to injured protesters, which fueled the government’s hostility.
In 2023, Pope Francis described Ortega’s regime as a “blatant dictatorship”, to which the Nicaraguan president responded by dissolving the Society of Jesus and labeling the Church as a “mafia” and “anti-democratic.”
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