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Visit of Canadian legislators to Marlin mine generates controversy
NISGUA
9/20/2012
Indigenous and community organizations have expressed outrage following the
August 29-31 visit of a delegation of Canadian lawmakers to Guatemala. The
three-day junket, according to information leaked to Mining Watch Canada and
later confirmed from official sources, was organized and paid for by the mining
firm Goldcorp Inc.. During the visit, four Members of Parliament-including
two members of the Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee-along
with one Senator, visited Goldcorp's Marlin mine in the western department of
San Marcos and met with the Energy and Mines Commission of the Guatemalan
legislature.
Representatives of the Council of Western Peoples (CPO)
responded to the visit in an August 30 press conference, criticizing the
lack of transparency around the closed-door eeting and denouncing that it
constituted an effort on the part of the Canadian officials to lobby for
legislation favorable to Canadian industry. The visit comes at a time of
intense public debate around Guatemala's mining law; in March, the CPO filed an
injunction-still to be resolved-demanding that Guatemala's current mining law be
declared unconstitutional. Among other arguments, the injunction contends
that the 1997 law was passed without the proper consultation and consent of
indigenous peoples as stipulated in existing legislation.
As cited by
Mining Watch, six months prior to the visit of the delegation of Canadian
lawmakers, Goldcorp Vice President Brent Bergeron declared in testimony to the
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development that he
would like to see the Guatemalan mining system reformed under official Canadian
tutelage. "In Guatemala, I would like to see them modernize their mining
regulations. That would add to the stability of the environment within
which we deal in Guatemala. Can I go as Goldcorp and start training the Ministry
of Energy and Mines? I can't do that. The credibility behind that is not right,"
he stated. "However, I think it makes a lot of sense to have a government
institution come in to take our experience here in Canada-the National Resources
Canada in terms of their experience-and bring that experience to Guatemala."
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