Tuesday, a lower court in Guatemala ruled that the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) violated the right to due process of an affected community member who filed his formal opposition to the company’s extraction license prior to it being announced in April, putting into question the legality of the license itself. Before granting the extraction license, MEM was required to resolve each of these objections by holding a hearing with each person, as per Guatemala’s mining law. However, less than an hour before MEM announced it had approved Tahoe’s license, the 200+ people who submitted objections were notified their complaints would not be heard. The Centre for Environmental and Social Legal Action (CALAS) in Guatemala helped one these individuals, Quelvin Jimenez of the indigenous Xinka Parliament, argue before the court that there had been a lack of due process in handling his complaint, and the court announced that it would uphold this appeal. Our Guatemalan partners are celebrating the announcement. Nonetheless, this struggle is far from over. In response to the ruling, Tahoe’s President announced, “The legality of the license is not in question and it remains fully effective.” The company has also said it would appeal the decision to Guatemala’s Constitutional Court.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 17:14:31 +0000
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