In July 2019, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures on behalf of a prominent indigenous lawyer working with the Xinka Parliament. The lawyer had received a series of anonymous death threats, particularly after the public complaint by the Xinka Parliament against the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) for their alleged failure to comply with the 2018 Constitutional Court decision to suspend the Escobal mining licence pending community consultation.
According to the information sent to the IACHR by various NGOs, as well as Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office, the threats against the lawyer included a known local gunman supportive of the mining project reportedly threatening to kill him after the June elections. The lawyer was also repeatedly followed by cars and motorbikes as well as being subject to a campaign of defamation.
The precautionary measures which were issued on 3 July 2019 required that the Guatemalan State take measures to protect the lawyer to ensure his right to carry out his human rights work without being subject to threats or harassment.
In August 2021, a number of Canadian and US NGOs wrote to the IACHR with additional information of attacks against leaders of the peaceful resistance to the Escobal mining project (See Legal Artefact entitled, “2021 NGO letter to IACHR requesting extension of precautionary measures No. 487-19”). The organizations urged the IACHR to extend the 2019 precautionary measures to include leaders of the anti-mining movement who had suffered direct attacks and threats in apparent reprisal for their activities demanding the full inclusion of the Xinka Parliament in the consultation process regarding the Escobal mine. At the time of writing (September 2021), there was no further information available on the response of the IACHR or the Guatemalan authorities.
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, “The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights grants precautionary measures for Xinka Parliament's lawyer, Quelvin Jimenez Villalta”, dated 23 July 2019, online: https://rfkhumanrights.org/news/the-inter-american-commission-on-human-r..., accessed 15 September 2021.
Resiste Escobal, “Activists Call for Protection of Xinka Leaders Participating in Escobal Mine Consultation”, dated 18 August 2021, online: https://www.resistescobal.com/letter-iachr/, accessed 15 September 2021.
Earthworks, “Attacks on the rise during COVID-19 against Xinka leaders opposed to the Escobal mine”, dated 26 August 2020, online: https://earthworks.org/blog/attacks-on-the-rise-during-covid-19-against-..., accessed 15 September 2021.