Tensions mount again, as Goldcorp tries again to expand its “Marlin Mine” into the Mayan-Mam community of Sacmuj (municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, department of San Marcos, near the Mexican-Chiapas border).

And this,

Despite years of investigations (by local groups, national and international NGOs, the International Labor Organization and Organization of American States) documenting environmental and health harms and other human rights violations caused by Goldcorp’s “Marlin” mine in western Guatemala,

Despite calls from local, national and international organizations to suspend the “Marlin” mine and undertake a complete and impartial human rights and environmental assessment,

Despite Sacmuj community resistance to the expansion of Goldcorp’s mine onto their lands in June 2009, that resulted in the burning of company equipment and the laying of trumped up criminal charges against impoverished villagers (this incident is documented in the film “The Business of Gold in Guatemala: Tale of a Conflict Foretold”),

Despite the attempted assassination of a Sacmuj villager in July 2010. Two local men – a former and an actual employee of Goldcorp’s “Marlin” mine – shot Diodora Antonia Hernandez Cinto in front of her isolated rural home. The bullet entered her right eye, and exited by her right ear, leaving her blind in that eye; she remains in stable condition, recovering from the operation and has not yet returned home,

Despite the fact that no justice has been done for the attempted assassination of Diodora Antonia Hernandez Cinto,

Despite the fact that the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights has ordered the government of Guatemala and Goldcorp to suspend the mining operation, which they refuse to abide by, ... .

Despite all the despites, Goldcorp is again trying to expand its mining operation in the lands of the small community of Sacmuj, and the vulnerable, poor villagers continue to resist – in defense of their lives and environment.