Concerned Citizens Deliver Petition with 6,000+ Signatures to Pan-American Silver Headquarters, Demand Respect for Xinka Indigenous People’s Self-Determination in Guatemala, 13 November 2025

Today, a group of concerned citizens in Vancouver delivered a petition with over 6,000 signatures to the headquarters of mining company Pan American Silver calling for CEO Michael Steinmann to respect the Xinka Indigenous people’s clear decision to deny consent for the re-opening of the Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala. 

Since the Xinka People announced their decision in early May, Pan American Silver has ignored their denial of consent to reopen the mine, failing to report it to shareholders and mischaracterizing the consultation process as a negotiation toward re-opening the mine.

“We traveled to Canada twice in the last six months to share our struggle in defense of our territory and demand that Pan American Silver respect the Xinka People’s decision. They must stop trying to delegitimize our right to decide over what happens in our territory, considering that our decision has been clear. We are grateful and very pleased with the letter presented with the support of 6,000 signatures demanding respect for our decision," said Marisol Guerra and Marta Muñoz, two Xinka women leaders who were named as representatives of their communities to the consultation process, and represented the Xinka People during two delegations to Canada in 2025.

The petition signatories are calling on the company to publicly report on the results of the Xinka consultation process, and respect the Xinka people’s decision by permanently closing the mine...

The citizen group informed Pan American Silver ahead of time about the petition delivery and invited a company representative to receive it in person. Since the company indicated it would not send a representative to receive it today, the group delivered the petition directly to Pan American Silver’s reception counter where it was reluctantly accepted by a staff person and they were then promptly ushered out. Security guards then set up barricades outside of the building while the group handed out flyers to passersby...