After two years and two months of peacefully blocking the entrance to U.S.-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) El Tambor gold mine, local residents of San Jose del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc were violently evicted by Guatemalan Police forces in order to introduce heavy machinery inside the industrial site. Led by the local women, members of the La Puya resistance prayed and sang until they were faced with tear gas. Numerous locals were injured and detained.
Only a few miles north of Guatemala City, the peaceful resistance at La Puya against the El Tambor gold mine celebrated its second anniversary. Since March 2nd, 2012, local neighbors from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc have maintained a 24-hour blockade into the mining project owned by Nevada-based Kappes, Cassiday & Assocaites (KCA). Despite continuous threats and an assassination attempt on a local leader, community members continue their resistance as they claim the industrial activity in their territories is illegal since they were not appropriately consulted before operations began.
The Police were successful in forcibly introducing the company’s machinery into the mine site. Nevertheless, locals claim they will continue what they deem a just and fair resistance in defense of life itself.
