Guatemalan FILM "Sipakapa is not for sale"- "Sipakapa no se vende"

dublin | arts and media | event notice Sunday May 07, 2006 00:25 by Guatemalan-film

LASC Thursday Night Talk & Film Screening: Sipakapa is not for Sale (May 18, Dublin)

LASC Thursday Night Talk & Film Screening: Sipakapa is not for Sale (May 18, Dublin)
With Miren Maialen Samper, who is going to return to Ireland soon from volunteering in Guatemala and other LASC activists who have lived and worked there.

A Thursday Night Talk & Film Screening
on 18 May 2006 7.30pm
at LASC, 5, Merrion Row, Dublin 2

"SIPAKAPA IS NOT FOR SALE / SIPAKAPA NO SE VENDE"
by Caracol Producciones, Guatemala, November 2005

This documentary analyses the debate on mining exploitation in Guatemala and demonstrates the dignity of the Sipakapan People as they fight to defend their autonomy in the face of encroaching neo-liberal "development" megaprojects.

This 55 minute documentary (with English sub-titles) is about the struggle of the Sipakapense-Mayan people, in San Marcos, Guatemala, in defense of autonomy, locally controlled development and environmental well-being, against the harms and violations associated with the open-pit gold mining operation of the Glamis Gold mining company.

In 2005, Montana Exploradora, subsidiary of the Canadian/US transnational company Glamis Gold, received 45 million US dollars in financing from the World Bank to exploit an open-pit gold mine in Guatemala. There was never any consultation with the local Mayan Sipakapense and Mam communities about the 'concessioning' of their lands and territories to a global mining company that, furthermore, is using the most harmful method of gold mining – open pit, cyanide leaching processes.

In accordance with ILO Convention 169, the Constitution of Guatemala and the Municipal Code, a Community Consultation was held in Sipakapa on 18 June 2005, to establish whether the population would accept or reject mining exploitation in its municipality. The result was a resounding NO to mining.

"Sipakapa is Not for Sale" contrasts the daily life and struggle of the Maya Sipakapan people with the arguments of representatives of the mining company that operates in their territory. It analyses the debate on mining exploitation and demonstrates the dignity of the Sipakapan People as they fight to defend their autonomy in the face of encroaching neo-liberal "development" megaprojects.