After US sanctions, mining company suspends work

One of three mining companies operating in Guatemala sanctioned by the United States for bribing local officials announced Wednesday that it has suspended its operations indefinitely until they can “correct their situation.” The suspension comes less than a month after being sanctioned.

The company Mayaniquel Sociedad Anónima said in a press release that the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designation announced on November 18 was wrong, for which reason it was forced to suspend operations indefinitely. The company operates in the departments of Alta Verapaz and Izabal.

In November, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Russian national Dmitry Kudryakov and Irina Litviniuk, of Belarusian origin, mining company executives, for allegedly running “multiple bribery schemes over several years, involving politicians, judges, and government officials.” ”.

Two days after the sanctions, the two foreigners left Guatemala for Panama. Guatemala later announced that it was withdrawing the permanent residency it had granted them.

The Treasury Department’s sanctions were extended to the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN), the Nickel Processing Company (ProNiCo) and Mayaniquel, subsidiaries of Solway Investment Group, a Russian-owned company that has exploited Guatemalan mines since 2011, said the Treasury Department.

Solway denied having a relationship with Mayaniquel or being a Russian company. He also said that he had removed the two sanctioned from the direction of his company and that he launched an internal investigation to determine what happened.

Mayaniquel, for its part, indicated that it had taken actions to minimize the negative effects of this situation on employees, contractors and suppliers, as well as the beneficiaries of its social programs.

The sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Law They persecute those who commit serious human rights violations and corruption around the world, the US agency said.

As a consequence of the sanctions, all properties and interests of those sanctioned that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). .

Mining companies in Guatemala have received strong support from Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, who has declared several states of siege in the El Estor municipality in Izabal, where CGN and ProNico operate, to quell community demonstrations against the companies and has dispatched police and military to ensure that they can continue to function.

El Estor is a municipality of just over 70,000 inhabitants located in front of Lake Izabal -in the north of Guatemala-, a very poor area where there are few paved roads and where most of those who live outside the small municipal area do so in houses of wood and sheets. The inhabitants usually subsist on fishing and trade. The area is in constant conflict – several people have even died – due to the operation of the mines.

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