Guatemala: opposition to mining, threat to national security

upsidedownworld.org reported San Rafael Las Flores has become a strange place where everyone is wary of each other and distrustful. Since May 2013, after the surrounding municipality of Santa Rosa declared a State of Siege, that’s how things have been. In the streets, the parks, and the small corner shops, people cautiously observe everything that passes in front of them. The alert is spontaneous. Outsiders do not pass through unnoticed. Read Article

The San Rafael Las Flores mine conflict created something more than a State of Siege in response to residents’ opposition to the exploitation of their lands. It was the starting point for the Government’s trial of a new, secretly launched security strategy that terms movements opposing extraction as threats to national security.

Source: Plaza Pública