Diplomacy at a Canadian Mine Site in Guatemala

Abstract

This paper critically examines the Canadian government’s response to violent conflict at Canadian-owned extractive sites in Guatemala. Considering the trans/national-local context of a Canadian-U.S. owned silver mine in southeastern Guatemala, I piece together both the formal/overt and informal/banal ways that the Canadian government reneges on transparency related to government practice. To do this, I carry out a critical reading of hundreds of pages from Access to Information requests and email correspondence from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and explore how Canada relates to and interacts with a Canadian mining company before, during and after a violent shooting at its Guatemalan project site. I argue that the Canadian embassy, and GAC’s regular communication and contact with Tahoe Resources and its subsidiary, Minera San Rafael, under the guise of ‘diplomatic relations’—and charity events—points to a particular form of state-corporate symbiosis which seems to ignore vital socio-political and historical context.