On the Road for Justice: Celeste Gutierrez Speaks throughout the Maritimes

Celeste Gutierrez is a volunteer with CODIDENA in Nueva Santa Rosa. “Life or Mines: We have the right to a healthy environment.”

Celeste Gutierrez is a community organizer and member of CODIDENA, the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature from Santa Rosa. The group has been organizing in resistance to a silver mine, owned by Canadian mining company Tahoe Resources since 2010. Despite opposition, and violent attacks against communities in resistance, the mine has gone forward. Celeste will speak on CODIDENA’s work to educate the surrounding communities on the affects of mining projects, her experiences organizing community consultations in Santa Rosa, and the risks for human rights defenders in Guatemala.

See a video with Rafael Maldonado, lawyer with CALAS, speaking in Ottawa. Rafael, Celeste and Oscar Morales from the Committee in Defense of Life and Peace, San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa, are participating in a speaking tour throughout Canada to denounce the violations committed around Tahoe Resources’ Escobal Mine.

Celeste will tour the Maritimes from March 23-27. Events in Halifax, Tatamagouche, Antigonish and Fredericton.

March 23– Edgewood Oxford United Church, 3055 Connaught Ave., Halifax at 10:30 AM

March 24 (morning)– Amnesty Office, 6009 Quinpool Road, Suite 305, Halifax at 9:00 AM

March 24 (evening)- Tatamagouche Centre, Tatamagouche at 7:00 PM

March 25– Coady International Institute, Room 150, Antigonish at 7:00 PM

March 26– James Dunn Hall, room TBA, St. Thomas University, Fredericton at 5:30 PM

Thanks to the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation’s (ACIC) Speaking Tour Fund for helping make Celeste’s Maritimes tour a possibility!