To the public, the Xinka People’s Parliament of Guatemala states:
In July of this year, the “Asociación Internacional Caritá Politica”, located in Rome, extended an invitation to the President and other members of the Xinka Parliament to participate in a meeting in Rome with Tahoe Resources and Minera San Rafael management, offering a “mediation service.” This invitation was shared with the communities located inside the Escobal project area of influence who decided to decline the invitation for various reasons, including the possibility that the meeting would be manipulated by the mining company and because “Caritá Politica” does not take an impartial stance; its website openly publicizes “the virtues of the Escobal mining project,” WITHOUT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE CONFLICT AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS that Tahoe Resources and Minera San Rafael have generated in communities.
In response to our refusal of the invitation, a new invitation was extended on September 18, 2018, to go to Rome from October 2 – 4. This invitation was also declined by legitimate representatives of the Xinka People (community authorities elected via communities’ own mechanisms), which is why the “Asociación Internacional Caritá Politica”, Tahoe Resources and Minera San Rafael, decided to carry out the activity with people who lack the legitimate representation of the Xinka People, and, in many cases do not live in the Escobal project area of influence. These actions are intended to make people think that there are agreements between the mining companies and the Xinka People.