Full Report, 21Jul15 formatted - aug 10

In his above-mentioned analysis of the criminalization of the Mapuche movement, he argues that “many actors, state and private (non-state) are at play, weaving a web of relationships that serve different interests and finally agree that the answer to the demands of the Mapuche must be the full weight of the law as a punitive and efficient mechanism of social control in order to safeguard their cor. [...] Used in this way, the idea of the national interest obfuscates the challenge that resistance and opposition to mining poses to the current economic development model, which relies on the sacrifice of lands, livelihoods, ways of life and self-determination, in particular of Indigenous, peasant farmer and Afro-descendant communities. [...] But to ensure the wellbeing of communities and peoples in the face of the extractivist development model, we need to seriously wrestle with challenges to the impunity and the very legitimacy of existing economic, legal, and political frameworks while we work to build stronger solidarity with those people whose lives, families, and communities are on the line. [...] As of April 2014, the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines reported 89 approved exploration and extraction stage mining concessions and another 352 in the process of being considered.48 Prior to bringing its new mining code into effect, in 1995, Guatemala passed the Accord on Identity and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as part of the Peace Accords that concluded the 36-year civil war49 and, i. [...] More than half of the communities in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores, where the Escobal project is located, have declared opposition to the mine.101 In five neighbouring municipalities, in the departments of Santa Rosa and Jalapa, tens of thousands of people have participated in formal municipal referenda and voted against the project.102 Tahoe Resources, with the help of the Guatemalan.