Anti-mining movements in Guatemala: the elites' influence on the outcome of conflicts and the response from the government

• In Event: Environmental Governance Trends in Latin America: Resources, Conflicts and Exclusion/Inclusion

Abstract

Based on on-going research, the aim of this paper is to analyze and explore the links between different elites (economic, political, media, military) and the government vis-a-vis social movements to shed light on the increasingly violent responses to protests against extractive industries in Guatemala. We discuss how certain claims and notions are excluded from the way in which the government responds to extractive conflicts. We first look at the claims and tactics of social movements to then focus on the strategy of the elites and the government. Movements demand recognition by the state, representation as political actors, participation in environmental governance, and memory of the civil war. Our findings suggest the existence of a concerted strategy from the elites and the government, which includes discursive alliances that builds heavily on an anti-communism ideology that was prevalent during the civil war. This narrative justifies and legitimizes the increasing use of violence and repression, as well as other counter-insurgency tactics to confront popular demands of participation. Furthermore the strategy includes the manipulation of royalties from mining activities in an effort to pacify, silence and divide social movements against the extractive industries.

Author

• Mariel Aguilar-Støen, University of Oslo