Article: Mining Conflict

Guatemala mines policy under attack.

By Colin Harding, The Tablet

GUATEMALA'S BISHOPS are locked in acrimonious dispute with the government over development policy in general, and open-cast gold mining in particular.

While the conservative administration of President Oscar Berger has been encouraging foreign investment in mining, the population of the rural San Marcos region, in south-western Guatemala, complain that their interests have not been taken into account. Most of them are poor, ethnic Mayan farmers, who fear the mining will poison their water and destroy their farms and forests. Prominent among their supporters is Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of San Marcos.

Matters came to a head on 11 January, when one person was killed and more than 20 injured in clashes with riot police after protesters set up a roadblock to prevent heavy equipment reaching a Canadian-owned mining concession. The government was incensed that Bishop Ramazzini did not try to dissuade the protesters, and the president accused the bishop of being a rabble-rouser and inciting the demonstrators - which Bishop Ramazzini denied.

On Monday, President Berger and Bishop Ramazzini met and reached an understanding: the president agreed to revise the terms of future mining concessions, and both committed themselves to working together on the issue in future. However, a protest march against the mining projects was still due to take place in San Marcos on Thursday.

Mining was a prominent issue at the Guatemalan bishops' annual assembly, which opened on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Cardinal Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, Archbishop of Guatemala. The cardinal said that the government's failure to take account of the possible impact of large-scale, open-cast mining on the environment and people's lives was irresponsible. This view has brought the Church into unusual alliance with organized labor: José Pinzón, general secretary of the country's largest trade union organization, CGTG, said last week that the government's mining policy was "against the interests of the vast majority of Guatemalans" and would benefit only foreign companies.

Underlying the Church-State confrontation are radically differing views of the meaning of economic development. The government argues that foreign investment is essential to exploit Guatemala's natural resources and to create jobs for the indigenous majority of the 12 million population - who, since colonial times, have been poor, downtrodden and excluded.

The Church's view is that open-cast mining cannot be the key to sustainable development for a country like Guatemala, which should instead be looking to activities such as forestry and eco-tourism. Aside from the environmental issues, the bishops argue that most of the jobs created by mining developments will be temporary. The mineral processing will use so much water and harmful chemicals that the long-term damage to settlements and farms, from which most local people must still derive their living, will far outweigh any short-term benefits.