An update on gold and my old hometown

As you probably know, I've written in magazines (both at length, and a bit more briefly) and at various times on this blog about the gold mining operation taking place in the rural community of Guatemala where I grew up. In fact, I focused my grad school research on the issue, since I'm convinced it is hugely important and mostly overlooked. In a nutshell, a foreign mining giant is taking gold from a community that never gave it permission to begin in the first place. A few in the community do benefit, as does the company, its investors, and government officials with ties to the company's national subsidiary. Who loses? Everyone else in the community. It's obvious why if you read my earlier published work.

Today, Sipacapa -- my old hometown -- came up twice in my feed reader. The first was in connection with a community consultation on mining taking place nearby, one of hundreds such consultations that have taken place across the region (the first of which was held in Sipacapa in 2005), all resoundingly opposed to mining of any sort. The people in the rural highlands of Guatemala don't want these mines. In fact, as of last year, an estimated 600,000 Guatemalans had voted NO to mining in similar democratic community consultations made up of ordinary citizens, with very few voting in favor. It's not a fluke.

The other Sipacapa mention in my feed reader was from the mining company's newly released fourth quarter earnings report, which proudly boasts record earnings. Marlin, the mine near my old hometown, has been in the news because of the controversy it has caused, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (a body to which Guatemala is, in theory, legally bound) has called for suspension of operations because of its ongoing environmental and human rights abuses. But the company has been defiant, continuing its practices and assuring its investors that all is well, most notably in a section of the report with the heading, Commitment to Sustainable Prosperity Continues in Guatemala. The body of data and testimony, however, say that 'sustainable prosperity' is precisely the opposite of what the mine is doing for neighbors of the mine.

But the mine is quite profitable and investors, themselves increasingly prosperous, will be pleased with the report, I'm sure.

If you have investments, or if you're not sure what your money's tied up in through mutual funds, I ask you to please consider the people on the other end of the market equation. I'm sure there are investments in which everyone wins. With extractive industries, that's certainly not the case. And when all peaceful, democratic methods of opposition are systematically thwarted, what will those on the losing end of the equation do? I hope we won't need to find out.

[Photo credits: COPAE]

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