BTS is thrilled to announce that Crisanta Perez will be joining us for the BTS Annual Gathering at Tatamagouche Centre June 12-14. Please join us (register here)! Crisanta will also be speaking throughout the Maritimes. Agenda is below.
If you have read or heard about Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine, you know Crisanta Perez. Featured in The Business of Gold, Gold For Life, or Gold Fever, Crisanta is the voice and face of resistance in San Miguel Ixtahuacan. She is a courageous mother, grandmother, community leader. She is a petitioner before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, along with others who point out that they were not consulted, let alone gave consent, to a massive open-pit gold mine in their backyard. She is an elected member of the local development council and is part of ensuring that the Guatemalan state comply with the order to provide potable water for communities around the Marlin Mine. She’s been criminalized and targeted but remains unwavering in her commitment to protect the land and resources that she and her Maya Mam community depend on for life.
Bio for Gregoria Crisanta Perez – Get to know Crisanta in this short video here. Read a book about Crisanta here.
Crisanta Pérez is an indigenous Maya Mam woman and community leader. She is an active member of FREDEMI, an alliance of community organizations from the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, San Marcos, that works to promote indigenous rights to land and water, as well as accountability to gold mining giant Goldcorp Inc. which has been exploiting gold from the Marlin Mine for the past ten years. Crisanta is also the vice-president of the local development council (COCODE) of her community and petitioner before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission for a case that was presented in 2007 regarding indigenous community rights to consultation.
In 2008, Crisanta was criminalized after she brought down the electric power lines going to Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine that were illegally put up on her land. Four years later, she was absolved and the electric towers were taken down. She has shown a great commitment to advocating for the rights of her community, in particular access to clean water and women’s rights in relation to the presence of international mining in indigenous communities. She is also a wife, mother, and grandmother who is driven by the desire to ensure the protection of land and water for future generations.
AGENDA:
Crisanta will speak in Ottawa, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and Tatamagouche.
See you there!
And, don’t forget to register here for the BTS gathering and don’t miss the opportunity to hear her speak!
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