Corporate Influence, Indigenous Rights, and the Battle for Silver in Guatemala

Nearly a decade ago, 20 Guatemalan civilians marched toward the third-largest silver mine in the world in protest of its environmental impact. The security personnel guarding the project shot at and wounded six of them.

Hayley Woodin Hastings was the first international journalist to visit the Escobal mine, and her Pulitzer Center fellowship supported her return to produce an in-depth print piece on the pressures and politics surrounding one of the world’s top silver reserves. She traveled to Guatemala in July 2023.

The Guatemalan government is currently involved in a court-ordered and historic engagement process with Indigenous community leaders—a years-long process that has meant the mine's new owner has been unable to extract an ounce of silver from the valuable asset it acquired five years ago. The Escobal project may serve as a bellwether for how Central and Latin American governments handle extraction, corporate influence, Indigenous rights, and environmental protection in the 21st century.

This Pulitzer Center-supported project features a definitive piece of journalism that examines the significance of this mine, which lies at the heart of tensions between Indigenous efforts to reclaim ownership over natural resources, and acute demand for metals needed to facilitate a transition to a cleaner global economy.