Contextualizing nickel mining in Guatemala: From Maya people under siege in 2021 to US-backed Canadian acquisition in 2023

(Originally posted elsewhere on 6 April 2023.)

You know about the Fenix nickel project in Guatemala? It’s a massive area where nickel is mined via mountaintop removal. The mines have been in operation since the 1960s. The Fenix mining complex was a major asset for the US-backed military coup leaders and dictatorship during the long and horrific Guatemalan campaign(s) against Maya people. Here, for 60 years, Indigenous residents have stood against environmental degradation and violent reprisals from security forces. In late 2021, to quell protestors, the federal military enforced a month-long “state of siege”.

Remember the news from March 2022, when a major investigation from The Intercept and multiple other international researchers and outlets looked into leaked corporate emails?

Remember the revelations from the leaked emails, about public officials and police working for the mining corporation to brutalize local communities resisting extraction?

Accessible, many citations, and with input from and interviews with local people. Here: Sandra Cuffe. “The Hidden Story of a Notorious Guatemalan Nickel Mine.” The Intercept. 27 March 2022.

Well, check out this news from April 2023.

The United States has stepped in to back a plan for Canadian corporations to acquire the mine.

A “substantial discount”.

The way that Newsw**k frames this revelation? Read the exclusive report for yourself, but basically: “The US needs stuff like nickel and lithium so that it can make more money and remain dominant in the future transition to, like, ‘green energy’ and electric cars. But China is outmaneuvering the US. China has better access to some of these resources. The US seeks cheaper sources of nickel and lithium. Therefore, the US has used its sanctions against Russian businesses as a convenient rationale to penalize sponsors/owners of the Fenix nickel project. The US ultimately wants access to the mine, so the US applies financial pressure, and forces the company into a situation where its best option is to simply sell itself to a Canadian mining company. And that Canadian mining company is basically under orders from the US government and US investors.”