"We Have to Protect the Investors": 'Development' & Canadian Mining Companies in Guatemala

Abstract

Neoliberal development schemes of mining, oil extraction, and hydroelectric projects, are embraced by post-conflict Guatemala as the way forward on the path to democratization. At the same time, the Canadian government's pro-business, pro-mining stance, through its Embassy's activities, is shaping the very nature of the "development model" for this Central American country. Neoliberal development models are often associated with human rights abuses and an unwillingness to incorporate local knowledge or allow for locally-driven, smaller-scale development. In this paper, based on fieldwork in the summer months of 2004, 2006, and 2008, we argue that large-scale resource development by Canadian mining companies and their Guatemalan subsidiaries on Maya traditional territories, lands to which they have limited rights, is negatively affecting local indigenous peoples' lives and realities. Through a rights-based approach to our analysis of 'development' we highlight the silenced voices of Maya community members in opposition to what they identify as unsound development practices and President Óscar Berger's need to "protect the investors" rather than the lives of his country's own citizens. Keywords: Canada; development; natural resources; Guatemala; indigenous; neoliberalism; mining