Protest Pays Off in Guatemala as World Bank-Funded Project Dies

By teleSUR

28 December 16

The World Bank was funding the hydroelectric project despite human rights abuses and the strong opposition of local residents.

panish mining giant Hidralia has abandoned its hydroelectric project Cambalam in Santa Cruz Barillas, in the department of Huehuetenango, under pressure of local social movements, it announced via a communique issued Monday.

“Hidro Santa Cruz S.A. (affiliated with Hidralia) will not continue (its activities) in Guatemala and is currently in process of extinction,” stated the company.

The decision followed months of negotiations with the government, with the firm finally admitted that it could not meet the technical and economic requirements to move the project forward.

But above all, the company lacked “the support of a significant part” of local residents, stressed the statement.

Since 2009, Hidro Santa Cruz had planned a series of hydroelectric projects on the Q’am B’alam river that surrounds the town of Santa Cruz Barillas. “The river and its three waterfalls are considered sacred by the Q’anjob’al community, whose ancestors named the river “yellow tiger” in the Q’anjobal language after the animal that was said to drink from its waters,” reported Cultural Survival. The community uses the area for “ceremonial, recreational, and agricultural purposes.”

In 2015, at least three social leaders who peacefully mobilized against the project were arrested and had to testify before the World Bank, one of the project’s major funder, while several human rights groups complained about repeated abuses in the area. A total of 13 social leaders were killed in 2015 — six more than the previous year. Almost 5,000 attacks have been recorded since 2000 — almost one per day.

According to the U.N., Guatemalan authorities have allowed hydroelectric projects and other projects exploiting the country’s natural resources without respecting the right to prior consult guaranteed to Indigenous peoples.