Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T09:03:19.137Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indigenous Rights, Resistance, and the Law: Lessons from a Guatemalan Mine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Amanda M. Fulmer ,
Angelina Snodgrass Godoy  and
Philip Neff
Amanda M. Fulmer
Affiliation:
Political Science Department of the University of Washington. amfulner@yahoo.com
Angelina Snodgrass Godoy
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Seattle. agodoy@u.washington.edu
Philip Neff
Affiliation:
University of Washington. phil.neff@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using a case study of a controversial mine in an indigenous area of Guatemala, this article explores the transnational dynamics of development and regulation of large-scale extractive industry projects in the developing world. It examines the roles played in the Marlin mine dispute by national law, international law, international financial institutions, and corporate social responsibility. It concludes that these legal regimes have a role in protecting human rights but have not addressed the fundamental questions of democratic governance raised by this case.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , Winter 2008 , pp. 91 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anaya, James. 2005. Indigenous Peoples' Participatory Rights in Relation to Decisions about Natural Resource Extraction: the More Fundamental Issue of What Rights Indigenous Peoples Have in Lands and Resources. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law 22: 7–17.Google Scholar
Anaya, James, and Williams, Robert A. Jr., 2001. The Protection of Indigenous Peoples' Rights over Lands and Natural Resources under the Inter-American Human Rights System. Harvard Human Rights Journal 14: 33–86.Google Scholar
Bank Information Center. 2007. About BIC. <http://bicusa.org/en/Page.About.aspx#> Accessed January 11, 2007.+Accessed+January+11,+2007.>Google Scholar
Barrick Gold Corporation. 2008. Barrick Responds to Pascua-Lama Chain Email. <http://www.barrick.com/CorporateResponsibility/KeyTopics/PascuaLama/BarrickRespondsbrtoChainEmail/default.aspx> Accessed February 13, 2008.+Accessed+February+13,+2008.>Google Scholar
Bhagwati, Jagdish. 2004. In Defense of Globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Business Wire. 2005. Glamis Gold Comments on Proposed Referendum in Guatemala. June 8. <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_June_8/ai_n13804652> Accessed August 29.+Accessed+August+29.>Google Scholar
Castagnino, Vincent. 2006. Minería de metales y derechos humanos en Guatemala: la Mina Marlin en San Marcos. Report. Guatemala City: Brigadas de Paz Internacionales. May. <http://www.peacebrigades.org/2068.html?&?&L=1> Accessed October 22, 2008.Google Scholar
Castillo, Mike. 2006. Consulta popular en Santa Eulalia. Prensa Libre, August 31. <http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/agosto/31/150541.html> Accessed August 28, 2007.+Accessed+August+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
Castillo, Mike, and Castellanos, Amafredo. 2006. Votan contra minería. Prensa Libre (Guatemala City), August 30. <http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/agosto/30/150443.html> Accessed August 28, 2007.+Accessed+August+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
Chen, Carlos. 2007. The Chixoy Dam Case. World Commission on Dams. <http://www.dams.org/kbase/submissions/showsub.php?rec=soc073> Accessed January 31, 2007.+Accessed+January+31,+2007.>Google Scholar
Christian, Aid. 2004. Behind the Mask: The Real Face of Corporate Social Responsibility. Report. London: Christian Aid.Google Scholar
Congreso de la República de Guatemala. 1998. Decreto No. 29–89. Ley de fomento y desarrollo de la actividad exportadora y de maquila. Guatemala City, May 23. <http://www.mineco.gob.gt/Presentacion/LeyesNormas.aspx> Accessed September 25, 2007.+Accessed+September+25,+2007.>Google Scholar
Congreso de la República de Guatemala. 1999. Decreto No. 48–97, Ley de minería. Guatemala City, June 11. <http://www.ccad.ws/documentos/legislacion/GT/DL-48-97.pdf> Accessed September 25, 2007.+Accessed+September+25,+2007.>Google Scholar
Congreso de la República de Guatemala. 2002a. Ley de consejos de desarrollo urbano y rural. Guatemala City, March 12. <http://www.mintrabajo.gob.gt/varios/compendio_leyes/varios/compendio_leyes/consejos_html/document_view> Accessed September 25, 2007.+Accessed+September+25,+2007.>Google Scholar
Congreso de la República de Guatemala. 2002b. Codigo municipal. Article 65. Guatemala City, April 2. <http://www.mintrabajo.gob.gt/varios/compendio_leyes/mtps/sistemas_informacion/operaciones/intranet/portal_extranet/ciudadania/codigo_html> Accessed October 22, 2008.+Accessed+October+22,+2008.>Google Scholar
Crush, Jonathan. 1995. Power of Development. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Daniel, Frank Jack. 2005. All's Not Gold for Guatemala's Mayans. Reuters, February 28.Google Scholar
Defensoria, Q'eqchi'. 2006. Land Conflicts in El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala and Rights of the Maya Q'eqchi' People. Report. November 19. <http://www.nisgua.org/themes_campaigns/index.asp?id=2790> Accessed August 29, 2007. Accessed August 29, 2007.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Defensoria,+Q'eqchi'.+2006.+Land+Conflicts+in+El+Estor,+Izabal,+Guatemala+and+Rights+of+the+Maya+Q'eqchi'+People.+Report.+November+19.++Accessed+August+29,+2007.>Google Scholar
Doan, David B. 1998. The Mineral Industry of Guatemala. Reston, VA: United States Geological Survey.Google Scholar
Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
European Corporate Governance Institute. 2007. About the Institute. <http://www.ecgi.org/organisation/about_ecgi.htm> Accessed February 5, 2007.+Accessed+February+5,+2007.>Google Scholar
Ferguson, James. 1994. The Anti-Politics Machine. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Ferguson, James. 2006. Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Thomas. 2005. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Frynas, Jedrzej George. 2001. Corporate and State Responses to Anti-Oil Protests in the Niger Delta. African Affairs 100, 398: 27–54.Google Scholar
Gagnon, Georgette, and Ryle, John. 2001. Report of an Investigation into Oil Development, Conflict and Displacement in Western Upper Nile, Sudan. Ottawa: Canadian Auto Workers Union, Steelworkers Humanity Fund, The Simons Foundation, United Church of Canada, Division of World Outreach, and World Vision Canada.Google Scholar
Gálvez Sinibaldi, Alfredo. 2006. General Director of Mining, Ministry of Energy and Mines. Author interview. Guatemala City, August, 28.Google Scholar
Glamis, Gold. 2006. Press Release. July 18. <http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060718/0145408.html> Accessed February 16, 2007.+Accessed+February+16,+2007.>Google Scholar
Gould, John A., and Winters, Matthew S.. 2007. An Obsolescing Bargain in Chad: Shifts in Leverage between the Government and the World Bank. Business and Politics 9, 2: 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grandin, Greg. 2004. The Last Colonial Massacre. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, Charles R. 2005. Neoliberal Multiculturalism: the Remaking of Cultural Rights and Racial Dominance in Central America. Political and Legal Anthropology Review 28, 1: 10–28.Google Scholar
Hale, Charles R. 2006. Activist Research v. Cultural Critique: Indigenous Land Rights and the Contradictions of Politically Engaged Anthropology. Cultural Anthropology 21, 1: 96–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemphill, Thomas A. 2004. Corporate Citizenship: the Case for a New Corporate Governance Model. Business and Society Review 109 (September): 339–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holt-Giménez, Eric, and Spang, Lyra. 2005. Beyond the Leaks and behind the Spins: a Review of the Cao Report on the Marlin Mine. September 13. <http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2333.aspx> Accessed August 29, 2007.+Accessed+August+29,+2007.>Google Scholar
Inamdar, Amar. 2006. Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisory Ombudsman, International Finance Corporation. Author interview. Washington, DC, August 16.Google Scholar
International Finance Corporation (IFC). 2007. ILO Convention 169 and the Private Sector: Questions and Answers for IFC Clients. Washington, DC: IFC. March. <http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/p_ILO169/$FILE/ILO_169.pdf> Accessed October 24, 2008.+Accessed+October+24,+2008.>Google Scholar
International Finance Corporation. Compliance Adviser/Ombudsman (CAO). 2005. Assessment of a Complaint Submitted to Cao in Relation to the Marlin Mining Project in Guatemala. September 7. <http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/html-english/complaint_marlin.htm> Accessed August 28, 2007.+Accessed+August+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
International Labour Organization (ILO). 1989. C169 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989. ILOLEX Database of International Labour Standards. Geneva, June 27. <http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm> Accessed October 28, 2006.+Accessed+October+28,+2006.>Google Scholar
Krastev, Ivan. 2002. The Balkans: Democracy without Choices. Journal of Democracy 13, 3: 39–53. Quoted in Randeria 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MadreSelva. 2006. Staff members, legal and program departments. Author interviews. Guatemala City, August 28.Google Scholar
Manz, Beatriz. 2004. Paradise in Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror, and Hope. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mayan rights organization. 2005. Representative. Author interview. San Marcos, Guatemala, September 10.Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle. 1988. Legal Pluralism. Law and Society Review 22, 5: 869–96.Google Scholar
Montana Exploradora. 2004. Marlin Mining Project: Public Consultation and Disclosure Plan. February 24.Google Scholar
Morales, Alfredo. 2006. Se quejan de daños. Prensa Libre, June 7. <http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/junio/07/143555.html> Accessed August 28, 2007.+Accessed+August+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
Municipalidad de Concepción Tutuapa. 2007. Comunicado. Februrary 13. <http://www.resistencia-mineria.org/espanol/comunicados/comunicado_consulta_concepcion_tutuapa.pdf> Accessed August 29, 2007.+Accessed+August+29,+2007.>Google Scholar
Newell, Peter. 2005. Citizenship, Accountability and Community: the Limits of the Csr Agenda. International Affairs 81, 3: 543–57.Google Scholar
Oxfam America. 2005. Rodolfo Pocop: an Indigenous Perspective on Mining in Guatemala. September 15. <http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/camexca/news_publications/feature_story.2005-09-15.1253640764> Accessed August 28, 2007.+Accessed+August+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
Pérez, Sonia. 2007. Minería: consulta en Sipacapa no es vinculante. Prensa Libre, May 9. <http://www.prensalibre.com.gt/pl/2007/mayo/09/170357.html> Accessed May 26, 2007.+Accessed+May+26,+2007.>Google Scholar
Perlez, Jane, Johnson, Kirk, and Sengupta, Somini. 2005. Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions. New York times, October 24.Google Scholar
Plant, Roger. 1998. Issues in Indigenous Poverty and Development. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.Google Scholar
Procurador de los Derechos Humanos de Guatemala (PDH). 2005. La actividad minera y los derechos humanos en Guatemala. Guatemala City: PDH.Google Scholar
Project to Promote ILO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. 2003. ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 1989 (No. 169): A Manual. Geneva: ILO.Google Scholar
Ramírez, Alberto. 2003. Cierran planta de Duke Energy. Prensa Libre, December 11. <http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2003/diciembre/11/75703.html> Accessed August 28, 2007.+Accessed+August+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
Randeria, Shalini. 2003. Glocalization of Law: Environmental Justice, World Bank, Ngos and the Cunning State in India. Current Sociology 5, 3–4: 305–28.Google Scholar
Republic of Guatemala. 1993. 1985 Constitution with 1993 Reforms. <http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Guate/guate93.html> Accessed October 28, 2006.+Accessed+October+28,+2006.>Google Scholar
Robinson, William. 2003. Transnational Conflicts: Central America, Social Change, and Globalization. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Garavito, César A., and Arenas, Luis Carlos. 2005. Indigenous Rights, Transnational Activism, and Legal Mobilization: The Struggle of the U'wa People in Colombia. In Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality, ed. Santos, Boaventura de Sousa and Rodríguez-Garavito, . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 241–66.Google Scholar
Sacalxot, Martín. 2006. Defensor de Pueblos Indígenas, Procurador de los Derechos Humanos. Author interview. Guatemala City, September 4.Google Scholar
Salim, Emil. 2003. Final Report of the Extractive Industries Review. Independent report prepared for the World Bank Group. Jakarta. December.Google Scholar
Sánchez Albavera, Fernando, Ortiz, Georgina, and Moussa, Nicole. 2001. Mining in Latin America in the Late 1990s. Santiago, Chile: ECLAC. August.Google Scholar
Santos, Boaventura de Sousa. 1987. Law, a Map of Misreading: toward a Postmodern Conception of Law. Journal of Law and Society 14, 3: 279–302.Google Scholar
Santos, Boaventura de Sousa, and García, Mauricio. 2001. El caleidoscopio de las justicias en Colombia: análisis socio-jurídico. Bogotá: Siglo del Hombre Editores/Ediciones Uniandes/Facultad de Derecho, Centro de Investigaciones Sociojurídicas (CIJUS).Google Scholar
Schenk, James. 2006. Sustainable Development Manager for Glamis Gold. Author interview. Antigua, Guatemala, September 5.Google Scholar
Schulting, Gerard. 1997. Ilo Convention 169: Can It Help? Abya Yala News: The Journal of the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center 10, 4. <http://saiic.nativeweb.org/ayn/schulting.html> Accessed October 22, 2008.Google Scholar
Shamir, Ronen. 2004. Between Self-Regulation and the Alien Tort Claims Act: on the Contested Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. Law and Society Review 38, 4 (December): 635–64.Google Scholar
Sic, Vinicio. 2006. Energía pide revocar privilegios a Montana. Siglo Veintiuno, April 4. <http://old.sigloxxi.com> Accessed February 28, 2007.+Accessed+February+28,+2007.>Google Scholar
Sieder, Rachel. 2006. El derecho indígena y la globalización legal en la Guatemala de posguerra. Alternidades 16, 31: 23–27.Google Scholar
Sieder, Rachel. 2007. The Judiciary and Indigenous Rights in Guatemala. International Journal of Constitutional Law 5, 2: 211–41.Google Scholar
Slack, Keith. 2006. Senior Policy Adviser, Oxfam America. Author interview. Washington, DC, August 15.Google Scholar
Solano, Luis. 2005. Guatemala petróleo y minería en las entrañas del poder. Guatemala City: Infopress Centroamericano.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, Joseph E. 2006. Making Globalization Work. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Swepston, Lee. 1990. A New Step in the International Law on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples: Ilo Convention No. 169 of 1989. Oklahoma City University Law Review 15, 3: 677–714.Google Scholar
Szablowski, David. 2007. Transnational Law and Local Struggles: Mining, Communities and the World Bank. Portland, OR: Hart.Google Scholar
Universidad Rafael Landívar. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales. 1998. El sistema jurídico maya: una aproximación. Guatemala City: IDIES.Google Scholar
World Bank. 1997. World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World. New York: Oxford University Press. Quoted in Randeria 2003.Google Scholar
World Bank Group. 2003. Guatemala Poverty Assessment. <http://www.worldbank.org/guatemalapoverty> Accessed April 23, 2007.+Accessed+April+23,+2007.>Google Scholar