COMMUNICATION NETWORKS FOR SOCIAL MOBILIZATION
IN MARGINALIZED POPULATIONS:
THE CASE OF THE ANTIMINING MAYAN MOVEMENT IN GUATEMALA
By
Karina J. GarciaRuano

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Media and Information Studies – Doctor of Phylosophy
2013

ABSTRACT
COMMUNICATION NETWORKS FOR SOCIAL MOBILIZATION
IN MARGINALIZED POPULATIONS:
THE CASE OF THE ANTIMINING MAYAN MOVEMENT IN GUATEMALA
By
Karina J. GarciaRuano
This study analyzes the role of networked communication for social mobilization in marginalized
populations. Although the potential of the new technologies to build networks and mobilize
power has been shown in empirical research (e.g., Castells, 2007; Juris, 2008), the empowerment
of citizens to use these networked communications effectively cannot be taken for granted.
Marginalization conditions, such as poverty, sociopolitical exclusion, and limited access to
information and communication technologies (ICTs) may affect people's capability to
successfully use networked communication to voice their demands.
Using a combination of qualitative methodologies, this research develops a case study of
the Mayan movement against mining and natural resources exploitation in Guatemala to examine
under which conditions excluded populations, such as rural indigenous communities, use
networked communication to mobilize power. Specifically, ethnographic research was conducted
from November 2011 to December 2012 in Mayan communities in the Western highlands, where
the movement has mainly developed.
Results show that Mayan communities in Guatemala have implemented networked
communication using self-tailored, integrated communication toolboxes containing a
combination of interpersonal, traditional, and digital media that respond to their goals and
cultural values. Networked communication has proved crucial to the development of strategies in

two ways: a) internal strategies, empowering communities despite their marginalization through
strategic outputs, such as resource sharing, citizen journalism, and collective action coordination;
and b) external strategies, articulating support with allies at a local, national and international
level to gather external resources, exert more pressure to influence elites' decisions, and to get
protection against political persecution.
Networked communication was found to be successful in furthering mobilization goals
within the movement, but limited in influencing decision making outside the movement. On one
hand, networked communication showed empowers marginalized communities, reinforcing key
mobilization aspects, such as group cohesion, collective efficacy, and social capital. Moreover,
networks are used as a strategy of pressure and self-protection, aiming to gain support
internationally to exert more pressure and get protection nationally. On the other hand, repressive
measures used by political elites in Guatemala limit the opportunities of the Mayan communities
to further their mobilization goals. Ineffective dialogue and political persecution against
indigenous leaders dull the potential of the Mayan movement to influence corporate and political
decision-making, resulting in increasing social conflict, violence, and even deaths,
consequentially harming the already fledging Guatemalan democracy. This investigation
concludes proposing a “decalogue of empowering networked communication” for mobilization
in marginalized communities based on the Mayan case that may be applied in populations under
similar conditions in other sites of the world (i.e., emergent democracies, developing countries,
multicultural societies).

Para “Juditha” la grande, la aguerrida, la única

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Lucinda Davenport, for her neverending wisdom,
enthusiasm, and support. To my committee members, Dr. Manuel Chávez, Dr. Steve Lacy, Dr.
Jennifer Olson , and Dr. David Wiley, for all their guidance and enlightenment. Especial thanks
to Dr. Wiley for his involvement in this project, which he helped me to find, fund, and enjoy.
To professors Eduardo Gularte, Tom Hove, and Steve Wiley, for their valuable inputs to my
research. To Dr. Rick Cole and Dr. Charles Salmon, for supporting me with the assistantships
through which I developed my doctoral program.
To Michigan State University, MSU, for providing me with the resources to build my own
“Spartan Story”. Especial thanks to the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, the
Library, the Writing Center, and the wonderful gardens where I enjoyed the green and white!
To the Fulbright program, for the fellowship that allowed me to start this doctoral program.
To the Center of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the College of Communication Arts and
Sciences, and the Environmental Sciences and Policy Program at MSU, and the Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, for partially funding this project.
To the representatives of government agencies, corporations and other organizations who shared
their valuable information for this study.
A los líderes sociales en Guatemala, porque creyeron en el granito de arena que esta
investigación puede brindar para lograr el bienestar de sus comunidades. En especial a: Jose
Gomez, Johanna VonStrein, Lolita Chávez y Udiel Miranda.
A mis queridas casas de estudios de ayer que fundaron el conocimiento de hoy: Universidad
Rafael Landívar de Guatemala y Universidad Complutense de Madrid. A la Universidad del
Istmo, por apadrinarme en mi travesía hacia el doctorado.
A mis amigos (familia extendida), que alimentaron mis ánimos y esperaron mi regreso. En
especial a la Luckita, a mi querido Julio, a Cristi, a Aldinha y a Kike el viajero. A mis cómplices
de “cambiar el mundo”, en especial a Rosita, Samuel, Tomás y al latinoamericano Eduardo.
A Aldina Judith Ruano López, por la lucha, el ejemplo, la motivacion y el soporte en este camino
que muchas veces se hizo muy angosto y cuesta-arriba: Llegamos! A José Francisco García
Espinoza, herencia de amor por aprender y enseñar; artista, maestro, soñador. A Francisco Danilo
García Ruano, el cateto b de mi triángulo. A Raúl Salazar Vides, por las mariposas que
esparcieron magia en cada página de este manuscrito. A Matías, por ser la nueva luz de mi vida.
v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

ix

INTRODUCTION
Contribution of this study

1
3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
Social movements dynamics
Cycles of mobilization
Agenda building for bottom-up initiatives
Deliberative democracy, communication, and political agenda building
Communication for mobilization
Networked communication for mobilizing power

6
6
10
12
15
16
18

CHAPTER 2: THE MAYAN SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
Guatemala and indigenous social mobilization
Mayan rural communities in the western highlands of Guatemala
Mayan social movements in Guatemala
From protest to proposal
The mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala
Stakeholders of the Mayan movement
Relevance of the Guatemalan case study for this research

22
22
24
25
26
27
30
39

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH QUESTIONS

41

CHAPTER 4: METHOD
Qualitative methodologies
Data analysis
Data management

44
45
51
51

CHAPTER 5: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The goals: Historically rooted, strongly motivated, and gradually
and sustainably built
Same wine, different bottle
Motivation defeating marginalization
Gradual and sustained
The strategies: networking, from empower to power
Networking inside: Consultas comunitarias

53

vi

53
54
56
59
63
64

Networking outside: The movement goes global
The self-tailored, integrated communication toolbox
The old, the folk, the new
Information sharing, community journalism, and collective action
coordination.
The outcomes: Successful inside, limited outside
Strong and effective inside
Weakened and dulled outside
Measurable effects

66
72
72
75
78
78
81
84

CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Decalogue of empowering networked communication
Marginalization: both limiting and enhancing mobilization
Repression instead of concessions: A latent threat
Women and youth leadership: A blatant opportunity
Theoretical implications
Limitations and further studies

90
92
98
101
103
104
108

APPENDICES
Appendix A: Interview guides.
Appendix B: Participants interviewed during fieldwork.
Appendix C: Timeframe of relevant events.
Appendix D: Communication toolbox evolution.

110
111
113
115
124

REFERENCES

135

vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1:
Table 2:
Table 3:
Table 4:
Table 5:

Stakeholders of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in
Guatemala. 2012.

31

Strategic goals evolution of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement
in Guatemala. 2011 – 2012.

59

Participants interviewed during predissertation and
dissertation fieldwork. 2009 – 2012.

113

Timeframe of relevant events related to mining and natural resources
exploitation issue in Guatemala. 1996 – 2012.

115

Communication toolbox evolution of the Mayan socioenvironmental
movement in Guatemala. 2005 - 2012.

124

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1:

The message in the banner links the historical land conflict with current
antimining mobilization: “They have tried to cut our flowers, but spring
always comes back.” For interpretation of the references to color in this
and all other figures, the reader is referred to the electronic version
of this dissertation.
55

Figure 2:

Handmade mural painted in a wall of a public school in Chinique,
Quiché. The picture portrays a core value in Mayan culture:
harmony with Mother Earth. The text on top of the mural says:
“Chinique is a clean town, with water and forests for a healthy
and dignifying life for everybody.”

56

Figure 3:

Advertising piece from mining company's campaign. The messages
in Spanish say: “Development = education = better quality of life” (top),
“invest in Guatemalan future means responsible development with
people” (middle), and “For us at Goldcorp, the valuable thing
is development.”
57

Figure 4:

Two community volunteers during the consulta comunitaria in
San Juan Ostuncalco, Quetzaltenango, on february 18, 2011.

64

Visit of UN Indigenous rights Special Rapporteur, James Anaya.
Huehuetenango, 2010. Photo courtesy of The Esperanza Project.

70

Figure 5:
Figure 6:

Mayan communities have incorporated the use of ICTs along with other
community media for their mobilization purposes.
74

Figure 7:

Maya-K'iche' community assembly during the opening ceremony.
Communities share resources and information and make collective
decision-making, contributing to high levels of group cohesion.
Gumarcaaj, Quiché. March, 2012.

Figure 8:

Snap shot of a movement's post viralized on web sites, email,
and social networks sites. The main message was to join to a
collective action at the Constitutional Court organized by the Mayan
coalition, Western Peoples Council. “Public Hearing. Mining law
constitutional law. Date: July 19 2012, Time: 9:00 Am, Place:
Debates room of Constitutional Court. Address. Bring your ID.
ix

75

Western Peoples Council, CPO.” During the press conference,
the Mayan leaders expressed that even if they do not succeed
with this legal action, it helped them to articulate different groups
and to show others that Mayan peoples are united and strong.
Figure 9:
Figure 10:

80

Press conference showing high attendance of national and international
media. Guatemala city, 2012.

85

March after violent events in Barillas, Huehuetenango. Women and
young population represent an opportunity for a “revitalized” Mayan
leadership.

104

x

INTRODUCTION

This study examines the use of networked communication in a socioenvironmental movement
organized by marginalized populations in Guatemala. In the last decade, a rise of cases exist in
the developing world where communities in the periphery organize social movements to
challenge their governments about the environmental and human development costs of
irresponsible exploitation of natural resources (e.g., Akpalu & Parks, 2007; Holden & Jacobson,
2007; Horowitz, 2002; Imbun, 2006; Whiteman & Mamen, 2002; Root, Wiley, & Peek, 2002;
Ulloa 2001). In Central America, a movement led by Mayan rural communities in the highlands
of Guatemala started in 2004 against mining and natural resources exploitation. The indigenous
movement believes that mining activities violate their rights and beliefs about nature
conservation, development, and autonomy in their territory.
Taking advantage of the emergence of new spaces for political participation opened by
the recent return to democracy in 1985, the nascent environmental movement is defeating a past
of silence and a present of socioeconomic limitations using a combination of communication
tools to voice their needs. An amalgamation of community media, interpersonal communication,
and information technologies seem to provide the movement with the possibility to build multiscaled networks to mobilize support within and across the borders to influence political decisionmaking. Thus, the combination of marginalized local communities, powerful global corporations,
and spreading transnational networks creates a compelling scenario for the analysis of the
communications performed by social movements to influence political power that emerges
locally and resonates globally.
1

Using a multidisciplinary theoretical framework and a combination of qualitative
methodologies, this investigation examines how social movements in marginalized populations
use communication to gain political power and influence authorities' decision-making. For this
purpose, this research conducts a case study of the antimining social movement in Guatemala.
The social context of the country, characterized by high inequality indices, ethnic discrimination,
and an emergent democracy, is helpful to understand the conditions under which communication
facilitates the empowerment of marginalized population for political mobilization. Specifically,
the study analyzes the evolution and dynamics of the antimining movement in Guatemala during
an eight-year-time lag, examining the use of different communication tools (e.g., community
media, protests, information and communication technologies), with different stakeholders (e.g.,
communities, activists, government) at different scales (e.g., local, national, transnational). The
study then examines how and why these communications help the movement to succeed in their
goals and whether political mobilization results in significant reallocations of power within
society.
The study of the use of communication by marginalized populations in social movements
is important because it helps to understand how different types and forms of communication are
used by this particular segment of population. Particular limitations affecting peripheral
populations, such as high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and restricted access to media and
technologies can affect important aspects of social mobilization, such as strategic communication
skills and media usage.
Studies in political science (Offe, 1985), critical public relations (Dozier & Lauzen, 2000;
Karlberg, 1996), and information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Cartier, Castells, &
2

Qiu, 2005; Norris, 2001) have emphasized on the need of more research to understand how
resource and power differentials impact the capacity of marginalized groups to influence political
power.
Studying how and why communication enables political mobilization of disadvantaged
populations is also important to provide information that can be applied to strengthen the skills
and resources that can be used by these movements in their efforts to defeat silence and social
alienation. Open-pit mineral mining and the responses of grassroots movements has become a
highly sensitive sociopolitical issue of equity in sharing of benefits withing richer and poorer
states and among social classes within those states. Thus, the study of the antimining movement
in Guatemala provides a reference case about environmental movements that can help to
sensitize governments, corporations, and communities to the issue, and to enhance strategies for
effective mobilization, negotiation, corporate social responsibility, and conflict resolution.
Exploring the potential of communication for empowerment of marginalized people in
Guatemala will also offer important insights for governance in turbulent, polarized, developing
societies, as well as in more stable, developed environments.
Contributions of this Study
This investigation aims to contribute to the understanding of the role of communication
for the empowerment of marginalized populations in social movements dynamics. Results from
this investigation are expected to contribute to theory development in three directions. First, this
research aims to provide a communicative perspective of social movements, analyzing the role
of communication along different cycles of of the movement. This analysis will allow to outline
media typologies differentiating potential and limitations of diverse advocacy strategies (i.e.,
3

public relations and social mobilization) and various media types (i.e., community media,
protests, information technologies), used for different purposes, attaining different outcomes, in
different stages of the process.
Second, the present investigation also extends agenda-building theory by providing
empirical evidence from a context that has not being investigated before. Previous research in
developing countries (e.g., Pratt & Manheim, 1988) has shown that agenda dynamics may vary
depending on political (e.g., high urban-rural divergencies) and cultural features (small groups
decision-making practices). Some Guatemalan relevant features—developing country, social
marginalization, fledging democracy—offer a different analysis to those previously conducted in
industrialized societies and more mature democracies.
Third, despite of the highly prevalent academic research on social networks and ICTs,
there is sparse discussion on how networked communications can be affected by power
differentials and limitations in access to communication resources that generate power, such as
the ICTs. Thus, this study aims to provide empirical evidence for these tenets with results from a
social movement initiated by leaders of marginalized populations in Guatemala that helps to
reveal under which circumstances networked communication and ICTs do or do not facilitate the
empowerment of marginalized people.
The results from this investigation are also expected to have practical implications
relevant to social organizers, activists, communication strategists, and media designers. This
study provides specialized information that can be used by organizers and activists in Guatemala
to improve their communication performance, as a key component for enhancing their strategies
on organization, mobilization, and political impact in the country.
4

This research also may be a valuable reference for other countries. In the last decade,
open-pit mineral mining has become a highly sensitive sociopolitical issue around the world.
This research also may be a valuable reference for other countries, in sensitizing governments,
corporations, and communities to environmental justice issues in order to prevent exacerbating
the conflicts.
In addition, information from this study may be useful for policy making in general and
environmental policies in particular to spot relevant aspects that enhance policy-making
processes, more inclusive politics, and therefore, governance. Information on communication
and empowerment from this study might also help other indigenous rural communities under
similar conditions to those in Guatemala, providing them with relevant information to
counterbalance power differentials and further historically unattended demands.
Finally, results from this investigation can also be integrated into the teaching activities
performed by the researchers in undergraduate and graduate programs, filling a teaching/
research gap (Dozier & Lauzen, 2000; Dutta-Bergman, 2005) by covering content regarding a
traditionally underrepresented (a) sociopolitical sector (civil society, social movements), (b)
geographical region (Central America), and (c) ethnic group (indigenous communities).

5

CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
This investigation uses a multidisciplinary framework of theories in sociology, political
science, and communication to review the role, dynamics, and potential effects of networked
communication for the empowerment of marginalized communities with mobilization purposes.
In democratic systems, civil society builds bottom-up communications to voice demands
(Cobb &Elder, 1972) that should be addressed by political and economic elites, especially during
critical situations (Habermas, 1996). Networked communication may empower citizens to
mobilize power to influence political decision-making (Castells, 1996; Juris, 2008). However,
not all networked communication leads to empowerment. Communication and power
differentials may limit networked communication effectiveness to mobilize power (Castells,
2007; Karlberg, 1996; Ulloa, 2001). Thus, there is an unanswered question regarding the
conditions under which networked communication empowers marginalized populations to
mobilize power, which this research aims to answer. This chapter reviews the literature and
previous research relating to these arguments, which were used as a theory framework to
develop the present study.
Social movements dynamics
For the purposes of this study, socials movements are defined using the inclusive concept
proposed by Snow (2004), as collective challenges to systems of authority—not only restricted to
the state or the polity. Although the case proposed in the current research analyzes a social
movement that originally emerged challenging the national government, it is not the intention of
this study to anchor the analysis to a limited concept, but instead to consider other potential
6

evolutions of the movement challenging authorities in other indirect manners—through covert
means or by exiting the system, as in the case of separatist and communal movements such as la
comunalidad in Mexico (Meyer & Maldonado, 2010).
The present investigation seeks to understand the character and course of the antimining
movement in Guatemala as a process, observing how communication is used in different stages
of the process and what are the cycles they produce for the movement evolution. This analysis
allows to examine the potential and limitations of different types of communication for different
purposes, and what are the outcomes power dynamics they produce along the development of the
movement. For this purpose, this study uses the resource mobilization approach (McCarthy &
Zald, 1977) that studies movements evolution shaped by authorities and societal support or
constraint interactions with the movement. This approach analyzes social movements based on
the examination of the variety of resources that must be mobilized, the linkages of social
movements to other groups, the dependence of movements upon external support for success,
and the tactics used by authorities to control or incorporate movements.
The authors expand on Olson's (1965) and Oberschall's (1973) work on collective action
arguing that cost-reward and resource cumulation are central to understand mobilization. The
analysis highlights the need to observe beyond the confrontation of movement beneficiaries and
opponents because often the resources come from external sources. Thus, the cost-rewards
balance is crucial to explain the degree and types of mobilization at different stages of the
analysis. Recent research has provided empirical evidence to this contention, showing how
mobilization follows endogenous (local initiative and resources), exogenous (resources from
outside the movement), or networked (collaboration of local and external resources) channels in
7

order to mobilize resources and support (Salmon, Fernandez, & Post, 2011).
The resource mobilization approach also explains an organizational aspect for the
analysis of social movements related to collaboration-competition dilemmas. The existence of
less or more social movements organizations in a given social environment may traduce in
competitive or collaborative conditions to attain cumulated or limited resources, shaping the
movements in distinct manners. In addition, different ideological approaches (e.g., more reformor more revolution-oriented projects) result in different opportunities for alliances and can have
different effects in different stages, depending on factors such as political opportunities and
strategic objectives of the group. The ideological component and collaboration potential of social
movements have been empirically tested through framing alignment analysis (Benford & Snow,
2000; Snow, 2004; Snow & Benford, 1992). Results show that frame alignment (i.e., resonance
of ideas between the social movement and potential supporters) increases the potential of
collaboration and therefore, mobilization of resources.
Two main factors in the resource mobilization approach are of special relevance for the
current investigation are directly related to the role of communication in the social movements
dynamics. First, communication is crucial to mobilize resources directly from supporters by
engaging in collaborative relationships and alliances. And second, the use of mass media is a key
factor to bargain legitimacy and credibility of the group grievances with their opponents and gain
political power to influence responses from authorities. In addition, the model highlights the
need to study media coverage responding to different issue cycles, observing the change of the
level of political commitment and authorities responses as the issue changes over time:

8

“Social movements exist and may be maintained even when the media do not
focus upon them. Yet in a society where movement success in mobilizing resources
and in affecting authorities depends to some extent upon arousing constituencies
through the media, issue-attention cycles become predictors of movement and
organizational success.” (Zald & McCarthy, 1977, p.4)

The resource mobilization model also relies on keystone work developed by Lipsky
(1968), arguing that authorities respond to protest not only through fear of the direct political and
violence potential of the movement, but also because of the activation of reference publics (i.e.,
those groups to whom the decision makers are most sensitive) and elites, who in turn control
resources relevant to the authorities (e.g., large corporations). Recent research has found
evidence of the key role of media coverage in different issue-cycles of movements, especially
during protests and after authorities repressive responses, such as the case of Egypt and other
recent events in Africa and the Middle East (e.g., Khamis, 2011; Bowe, Blom, & Freedman,
2011).
Finally, the resource mobilization model includes authorities and societal response as
central factor for social movements analysis. The analysis should observe the constant interaction
of the movement with authorities (e.g., government) and other actors such as adversaries (e.g.,
corporations), who respond through control (e.g., repression) or concessions (e.g., partial or total
incorporation of some of the movement petitions). Research has shown that authorities and
societal responses vary in different social environments and respond to sociopolitical
circumstances and other contextual factors. For instance, Root, Wiley, and Peek (1999)
conducted a study of the environmental social movement in South Durban showing that with the
fall of the apartheid the government has to develop community consultations to solve social
9

problems. Although this mechanism is still vulnerable to be manipulated by the hegemonic
structures of the country, it has provided the grassroots with a mechanism of negotiation to scaleup action and draw public attention to their concerns.
The inclusion of societal responses in the resource mobilization model also suggests a
special manner to scrutinize the movement outcomes, both on the participants and upon the
governance of societies. This factor is particularly important because some studies evaluate the
failure or success of social movements efforts based on the achievement of big political or social
goals such as policy change. However, research has shown that social ties (e.g., associational
membership, personal network) have positive effects on participants' civic engagement, and in
turn enhances social capital (Rojas, Shah, & Friedland, 2011).
Since the main focus of the present study is to analyze the role of communication to
influence political power in social movements dynamics, the resource mobilization approach
particularly informs the study on the antimining movement in Guatemala with three main
contentions: (a) social movement dynamics and outcomes are shaped by authorities and societal
response (i.e., incorporation or social control), (b) media coverage reflects movement cycles and
is crucial for the movement's bargaining of legitimacy and credibility with its opponents,
becoming a predictor of mobilization success, (c) in order to mobilize resources, movements use
communication to develop multi-scaled mobilization and collaborative relationships with
internal and external sources.
Cycles of mobilization
Tarrow (1993) builds upon the resource mobilization approach to propose the analysis of
social movements through cycles that describe its evolution over time. Mobilization cycles are
10

defined as the “crucibles in which movements of madness are tempered into the permanent tools
of a society's repertoire of contention” (p. 284). Although the model acknowledges that
mobilization waves do not have a regular frequency or extend uniformly to entire populations,
there are five features that have shown to appropriately characterize social movements cycles:
(1) heightened conflict, (2) geographic diffusion, (3) appearance of new social movement
organizations (SMO), (4) frames of meaning, and (5) expanding collective action repertoires.
Social movements cycles are shaped by heightened conflicts that other scholars have also
defined as critical moments (Opp, 2009). In general, is the frequent occurrence of turbulence
across the social sector that brings it to the attention of elites and sets in motion a process of
adaptation or collapse. Regarding geographic diffusion, Tarrow (1993) posits that geographic
diffusion of the movement results from the alliances of different groups of supporters during the
peak of the mobilization waves. Moreover, to the extent that new social movement organizations
join the protest, contention will not cease and will be sustained even when another group leaves
the movement. Protest cycles are also shaped by frames of meaning that justify and dignify
collective action and around which support can be mobilized. Frames have a crucial role
introducing new cultural contents, that do or do not prevail among the political culture. Finally,
protest cycles are marked by interrelated collective actions and the responses of political elites to
them. Based on these factors shaping mobilization processes, Tarrow (1993) suggests the
operationalization of cycle as “increasing and then decreasing wave of interrelated collecting
actions and reactions to them, whose aggregate frequency, intensity, and forms increase and then
decline in rough chronological proximity” (p. 288).
This study relies on Tarrow's (1993) cycles analysis to investigate the dynamics of the
11

antimining movement in Guatemala. The mobilization cycles approach has been previously
investigated in diverse social contexts, such as urban social movements in Italy, France, and the
United States (e.g., Shorter & Tilly, 1974; Tarrow, 1989). The use of the model in the case study
in Guatemala will test the suitability of this theoretical framework in a different social context
and is expected to provide additional details from its application to rural environments and
marginalized populations in developing countries.
After analyzing the dynamics of social movements, the following section reviews
literature on agenda-building theory, the model of deliberative democracies, and network society,
discussing the role of communication to influence political power of social movements, which is
the main focus of the present study.
Agenda building for bottom-up initiatives
Based on resource mobilization dynamics, this investigation analyzes the course of the
antimining movement in Guatemala resulting from its interactions with the authorities (i.e.,
government) and other key societal actors involved in the issue (i.e., mining corporation, media,
allies). Thus, this section reviews literature that helps these interactive dynamics in a democratic
society.
Cobb and colleagues (Cobb & Elder, 1972; Cobb, Ross, & Ross, 1976) developed what is
known as agenda-building theory to explain the dynamics of participation of different social
actors for the construction of the political agenda in a democratic society. They define agendabuilding as the power dynamics between different political actors that define the emergence,
evolution, and decision-making regarding public issues in society. The authors proposed three
main models of agenda building based on who places the issue and the dynamics before final
12

decision-making (Cobb, Ross, & Ross, 1976). In the first model, the-inside-access model, the
initiative comes from the political leaders and they decide about it without circulating it through
the public. The second is the mobilization model, which is also introduced by the political
leaders, but circulates through the public for support or for implementation. The third model, the
out-of-the-elite initiative model, is a bottom-up model where the issue emerges from the side of
the public (i.e., civil society, public interests groups), aiming to mobilize supporters and
influence public opinion in order to influence political decision from authorities. This study will
focus in the third model because is the one that corresponds to the characteristics of the social
movements dynamics such as the one being studied in the present investigation.
In the bottom-up process of agenda building, organizers use advocacy communication
aiming to mobilize support. Given the limited resources, social movements rely mainly—and
sometimes totally—on public relations strategies (Karlberg, 1996; Tarrow, 1993), that allow
them to create and maintain relationships with key supporters, build alliances locally and
globally, and obtain media attention to permeate the public opinion debate and gain power to
influence elites decisions. These strategies use a variety of communication channels (e.g.,
informational materials, massive protests, community gatherings, electronic messages) that the
movement assess as accessible and useful to reach its goals.
Although the relevance of public relations for activism and social movements, there is
paucity of research addressing the particular needs of these groups, and scholars have pointed out
a latent bias of research that mostly generates information that enhances corporate
communications (Karlberg, 1996; Dozier & Lauzen, 2000). For instance, studies on the
development of public relations in Latin America have shown that the development of public
13

relations has mainly responded the needs of corporate and political organizations (Molleda &
Moreno, 2008). Specifically in Guatemala, previous research has found that social conflicts
between political or economic elites and activist groups often become a crisis given the lack of
information that guides effective communication management (Garcia-Ruano, 2009).
Karlberg (1996) argues that although the prevalent definition of public relations prescribe
symmetrical, two-way communication (Grunig, 1989), activists have to confront structural
disadvantages (e.g., lower socioeconomic status, limited media access, lack of specialized
communication skills) compared to the privileged conditions economic and political elites they
aim to challenge. There is a need for more research that better equips activists and social
movements on how to defeat their structural limitations and increase their communication
effectiveness. This type of research should address questions that allow first, a better
understanding of the conditions of the disadvantaged populations, and then, how they can
optimize their communication resources and skills. The present study aims to fill this research
gap by providing empirical evidence on the potential and limitations confronted by marginalized
communities in Guatemala in developing advocacy communication to influence traditional
power in the country.
Agenda-building theory informs the present study providing a theoretical framework to
understand the dynamics bottom-up initiatives from the side of the civil society, and how
opposing interest groups try to influence political decision-making within a democratic system.
In addition, agenda building suggests the analysis of advocates' discourses (advocate agendas)
and news media coverage (media agenda) to assess advocates' success to influence on policymaking and political decisions processes.
14

Deliberative democracy, communication, and political agenda building
Scholars studying environmental social movements in the developing world (e.g., Akpalu
& Parks, 2007; Pieck, 2006; Root, Wiley, &Peek, 2002; Ulloa, 2001) have highlighted the need
to use theoretical frameworks that take into account resource and power differentials among
different political actors for mobilization purposes (e.g., access to information, liaison with
political officers, relationships with the mass media, wealth).They suggest the use of theoretical
perspectives that recognize the power imbalances between grassroots movements and their
competing actors. Thus, this study uses relies on Habermas's (1996) work on the dynamics of
deliberative democracy, which acknowledges power differentials between social actors and also
explains how traditionally disadvantaged actors can develop agency and reverse the normal
circuits in the public sphere.
Habermas (1996) posits that despite the structural disadvantages of the civic society
compared to the political and economic systems (i.e., economic resources, media access, high
level of organization), at critical moments the civil society can reverse the normal circuits of
problem solving of public issues. Since social movements do not possess power inherently, they
derive it from the social and cultural capital that they accumulate in their aim to gain public
influence to put their ignored demands forward (Habermas, 2006).
Habermas describes the rise of social movements as social escalators that emerge in
situations of crisis when the power holders fail to address the needs from civil society. He
describes that the public sphere traditionally performs as a filter of the pool of opinions that after
being publicly debated get consolidated into considered opinions, which are the base for political
decisions, reached legitimately. But when civil society perceives that the state is not considering
15

its opinions, they get organized and perform collectively. Usually they abandon the
communicative mode of their actions (rational, mutual-understanding oriented actions) and
perform strategically (persuasive, pressure-oriented actions) momentously until they reach
attention from the state to be listened. This is what has been named as the warning function of
the public sphere (Hove, 2009), where the organization of social movements is like an alarm
system for the state to readdress important issues that have been overlooked.
Despite of the disadvantage of being at the periphery of the power dynamics—compared
to the political and economic systems who are closer to the center—this is also an advantage
because it provides them with sensitivity in detecting and identifying new problem situations,
which is an important source of legitimacy and potential political power.
Communication for mobilization
Consistent with agenda-building theory (Cobb & Elder, 1972), Habermas's (1996, 2006)
model of deliberative politics recognizes the central role of communication in the process of
political decision-making. The whole idea of deliberation is based on the conception of
interactions between different social systems through communicative actions, that is, actions of
rational communication oriented to mutual understanding as mechanism for political decisionmaking in society. Only in critical situations the social actors perform strategic actions as a
persuasion mechanism of pressure to call for attention of the other actors and engage into
dialogue again to make their opinions to be heard.
Specifically relevant for social movements, Habermas (2006) finds that communication is
the main source of power through which traditionally underprivileged social actors in the
periphery of political communication dynamics (i.e., civil society) acquire visibility, prominence,
16

reputation, and moral status of their social and cultural capital to gain public influence. .
In the deliberative model, the mass media play a crucial role for both the filter and
warning function of the public sphere (Habermas, 2006). They are main channels of the public
debate. They help to sort and resonate the public opinions to chose those considered opinions
from which the state make decisions under legitimate circumstances. Since published opinions
on the media represent potential to gain public influence for political decision-making, the
capacity of actors to permeate the media channels to promote their positions represent the power
or capital they have at their disposal. Politicians and special interests groups (e.g., business
corporations) have privileged access to media because are seen as important suppliers of
information. However, public interest groups from civil society are in the weakest position given
their limited access to communication resources and techniques (for a comprehensive analysis
see Dozier & Hauzen, 2000). However, they can reach media access by exerting public influence
through strategic interventions in the public sphere, where they accumulate visibility,
prominence, reputations and moral status for their social capital.
There are two main conditions in the exchanges between social systems and the media
that can also be used as detectors for the discovery of causes for lacks of legitimacy:
independence of the media from the social systems in their environment and civil society must
empower citizens to participate in and respond to a public discourse that in turn, must not
degenerate into a colonizing mode of communication. Habermas (2006) provides examples of
pathologies of political communication such as the state monopoly of public broadcasting in
Italy and the ties of access and participation in mediated communication largely correlated with
social status and cultural background, which yet still prevalent, has been loosen in the last
17

decades.
Thus, Habermas's political deliberation model is useful to understand (a) the interactions
between social movements arose from the civil society, the state, the competing economic
system, and the media; (b) the conditions under which social movements can permeate their
voices in the public sphere through communicative and strategic actions; and (c) the process for
political deliberation between different actors to reach legitimacy in the political decisions and
the pathologies that can distort this process.
Networked communication for mobilizing power
Castells (1996, 2007a, 2011) has developed a stream of research on what he calls the
network society, proposing that the advent of the Internet and information and communication
technologies (ICTs) allows the development of both many-to-many and one-to-one horizontal
communication channels, i.e., mass-self communication. This new communication environment
opens opportunities for autonomous processes of social and political mobilization that have the
potential to bypass political or business control of communication. This section discusses
research showing the potential and limitations of networks and ICTs to empower marginalized
populations to influence political agenda-building.
Castells (2011) proposes a network theory of power. He argues that the media have
become the social space where power is decided. The development of interactive networks of
communication supported by new technologies has generated a new form of communication over
the Internet and wireless communication networks. Using these networks insurgent politics and
social movements are able to intervene more decisively the communication space, a space of
power. Castells (2011) states that a main source of power in a networked society is the potential
18

of social actors for programming and switching networks. That is, the capability to create and
connect networks. This feature is particularly relevant for empowerment and mobilization
purposes in social movements, whose power greatly depends on the membership, mobilization
and alliances they build. The network power is what allows the civil society to connect multiscaled communications from local and translocal to national and global spaces (Castells, 2007a),
which has proved crucial for activist efforts in the last decades (e.g., Juris, 2008; Sassen, 2004,
Bowe, Blom, & Freedman, 2011).
Although the potential of the new technologies to build networks and circumvent
traditional power structures has been confirmed in empirical research (e.g., Castells, 2007b;
Juris, 2008; Khamis, 2011), the empowerment of civil society and social movements and their
influence on political decision-making do not have to be assumed. The social and power
structures may limit or enhance the networks power potential. Environments with high
socioeconomic disparities affect networked communication access and usage, and therefore, its
empowerment potential (Murdock & Golding, 1989; Norris, 2001; Cartier, Castells, & Qiu,
2005).
For instance, Cartier, Castells, and Qiu (2005) studied the use of ICTs (i.e., cellphone) in
marginalized urban immigrants communities in China. They found that although mobile phones
create networks that broaden economic opportunities for the immigrants, these benefits do not
mean they have gained political power because they are seldom connected to the state's
modernization policies to promote articulation of shared experiences. Institutional constraints on
the formation of networks beyond the scope of informal relationships and association
fundamentally disempower marginalized populations:
19

“While translocal networks allow people to sustain existing relationships, they
may also distract people’s attention from local problems. Mobility and translocal
networks therefore may not always work in the long-term interests of the haveless, as the socio-political consequences of have-less ICTs almost always depend
on specific power relationships at the grassroots as well as the content conveyed
on these networks of connections.” (p.26-27)

Thus, the relative autonomy of the content and process of communication allowed by the
networked communication does not necessarily lead to social change (Castells, 2007b). The
potential of new information technologies to empower peripheral populations depends on the
access to those technologies, but also on the manner that these channels are used to convey
relevant contents and social structures that enhance group cohesion, leadership and collective
efficacy among marginalized groups.
Habermas (2006) also posits that although the Internet has potential to empower the
public and counterbalance the seeming deficits that stem from the asymmetrical character of the
mass news media media, the discourses developed online need to permeate into the news media
in order to become part of the formal dynamics of public opinion and have an impact on elites
decision-making:

“In the context of liberal regimes, the rise of millions of fragmented chat rooms
across the world tend instead to lead to the fragmentation of large but politically
focused mass audiences into a huge number of isolated issue publics. Within
established national public spheres, the online debates of web users only promote
political communication, when news groups crystallize around the focal points of
the quality press, for example, national newspaper and political magazines.”
(Habermas, 2006, p.423).

Thus, theory and research on networked communication informs this investigation
20

regarding (a) the potential of the new horizontal, many-to-many networked communications to
intervene and shift traditional power structures; (b) the potential of networks power through
programming and switching functions to create and build partnership at local and global scale;
and (c) the limitations of the networked communications used by marginalized populations to
translate into actual relocation of power in society. The present study particularly builds upon
these arguments, aiming to provide empirical evidence that helps to fill an existing research gap
on the potential and limitations of networked communication used by marginalized populations
to mobilize and effectively influence political power in society.

21

CHAPTER 2
THE MAYAN SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT IN GUATEMALA

In order to provide the context for the case study developed in this investigation, this chapter
discusses background information about Guatemala, the mining issue, the Mayan communities
in the West of the country, and the socioenvironmental movement's antecedents and actors.
Guatemala and indigenous social mobilization
Guatemala is a clashing environment (Sosa, 2009). Its high levels of social conflict is the
result of a blatant political and social exclusion. The country is characterized by poverty,
inequality, racial discrimination, and decades of coups, dictatorships, and a recent civil war. With
the Peace Accords signed in 1996, the State committed to strengthen participation and promote
the inclusion of historically marginalized populations, especially indigenous.
With the advent of democracy, Guatemala reached relative sociopolitical steadiness and
started a new model toward an open, industrialized economy. However, the slow pace of the
postwar recovery and insubstantial follow-up of the Peace Accords have reinforced old problems
and brought new ones. According to the United Nations Development Programme (2009), 56.2
percent of the Guatemalan population lives below the poverty line (less than $2 a day) and 69
percent of the population is illiterate. Guatemala’s GINI coefficient (measure of inequality of
income of wealth) is 55.1, the sixth country with highest level of inequality in the Latin
American region, and the thirteenth in the world, with the lowest side of the gap affecting mainly
the rural Mayan population (about 40 percent of the population in the country).
The new democratic period brought higher levels of different kinds of freedom, including
press freedom and freedom of speech. However, most of the media only reach audiences living
22

in urban areas. The Internet access in the country is 16 percent concentrated in urban populations
(International Communication Union, 2011). Cellphone and radio are the two communication
technologies with higher access levels in rural population (CEPAL, 2005). However, both
traditional mass media and the new cellular and Internet industry have been criticized as a
manipulative oligopoly because are managed responding to traditional elites interests. Experts
recurrently questioned how the myriad of voices, that are the foundation of a democratic system,
are supposed to develop in a country where powerful elites rule through the political, economic,
and media systems, seemingly without checks, and without a real plurality (Rockwell & Janus,
2002). Thus, a new challenge for the emergent democracy in Guatemala is to give voices to the
segments of population traditionally excluded, and also assure that those voices are been heard
for policy and political decision-making.
The signature of the Peace Accords in 1996 opened the possibility to change the country's
history of marginalization and start the transition towards a more inclusive State. To start a
process of inclusion of historically marginalized populations, especially Mayan rural
populations, the Peace Accords included commitments, such as: a) recognition of traditional
authorities of indigenous peoples; b) promotion of indigenous social and political participation,
and c) recognition of customary laws of the indigenous people. In addition, the State ratified
international conventions that promote the right to consultation and autonomy of indigenous
peoples (e.g., International Labor Organization, ILO, Convention 169).
Unfortunately, nearly two decades after the signing of Peace Accords, their
implementation has not progressed effectively (Luján, 2004). There are more spaces for excluded
populations to express their demands. However, their complaints and grievances are rarely heard
23

by the power elites (Sosa, 2009). The exclusion of marginalized populations, therefore, remains
latent.
Mayan rural communities in the western highlands of Guatemala
The present study analyzes how the Maya groups in the western highlands of Guatemala
have handled their marginalized situation to develop a socioenvironmental movement against
mining and natural resources exploitation. Several elements of sociopolitical exclusion take place
in Mayan rural communities in Guatemala: ethnic discrimination, antecedents of exploitation and
civil war, and poverty. This marginalization conditions have accumulated historically, from the
conquest and Spanish colonization until the present times. Typically, these are rural villages
dedicated to agriculture, commerce, and in some cases, handicrafts. However, these activities do
not provide opportunities for integral development in the absence of adequate rural development
policies in the country (Rosada & Bruni, 2009).
The exclusion of rural Mayan population is evident in their low social indicators of
formal education, health, employment, and access to media and technology, among others. The
Peace Accords signed in 1996 were intended to solve these depriving conditions of the Mayan
population but have failed to comply with this political agenda so far (Lujan, 2004).
These exclusion conditions make these populations a breeding ground for social conflict.
Constant attempts social upheaval has caused political persecution and repression of people of
these communities. Despite the repressive political measures, protests and mobilization in the
western highlands have prevailed. Women and peasants have led the movements, especially
associated with the vindication of human rights, land, and lately, the defense of the territory
(Warren, 1998).
24

Most of the social movements of the new democratic era in Guatemala have emerged in
the Mayan populations of the western highlands. Likewise, most groups of the Mayan
socioenvironmental movement have emerged and spread in this area (Map, 2012). Since many of
these Mayan communities have some experience of sociopolitical mobilization of the past five
decades, a specific objective of this study is to analyze what is the additional input of the use of
networked communication to the repertoire of effective mobilization in these communities.
Mayan social movements in Guatemala
Mayan populations in Guatemala have been subject to different types of marginalization:
socio-economic, ethnic, and political. While it is true that with the advent of democracy in the
1980's there have been an emergence of movements in defense of Mayan rights that had been
censored and persecuted in times of dictatorship and militarism, their leaders repeatedly claim
that their demands are not addressed by decision makers. In other words, now they have a voice,
but nobody listens.
This systematic and structural exclusion suffered by Mayan populations in Guatemala,
added to some group divisions reduce their ability to empower and effectively influence policy
decisions (Sosa, 2010). Some studies argue that the Spanish conquest was facilitated by the
internal struggle between two of the strongest Maya groups (Luján, 2004). These studies also
hypothesize that the disappearance of the Mayan empire was the result of fights between
antagonistic groups. Currently, multiple studies have indicated that one of the factors that has
affect the effectiveness of Mayas social movements in Guatemala is precisely the failure to cope
with the internal rivalry between the various ethnic groups (Ramos & Sosa, 2008). Among other
consequences, this division limits their ability to unify their voices to gain more power to
25

influence political decision making. Moreover, when the political contenders notice this lack of
cohesion between indigenous groups, they take advantage of the situation to bypass their claims
and demands (Sosa, 2010).
From protest to proposal
Even with a history of exclusion, repression, and discrimination, Mayan populations in
Guatemala have found ways to rebuild their identities and renew their fights demanding effective
responses to cumulative problems from the past (Ramos & Sosa, 2008). Different movements of
peasants, war widows, and rural development organizations reiterate their demands for land,
autonomy in their territories, and compensation for the victims of the war (mostly indigenous
people, approximately 150,000), among others.
Some recent studies show a transformation in the contemporary indigenous
proclamations and demands: they have moved from protest to proposal (Moreno, 2010; Sosa,
2009). Indigenous movements resurged in the late 1980s opposing any policy or decision that the
government imposed on them. However, some groups have taken a step forward and propose
concrete alternatives. In the process, they develop identity defining processes they use to
determine their positions, decisions and actions. It is no longer only with resistance movements
populations but specific expressions of who they are and what they want (Sosa, 2009).
Moreno (2010) notes that in the past two decades a process of "Mayan cultural
revitalization" has emerged. Through the analysis of Mayan literary production, the author has
identified the intention of Mayan populations to overcome repression and silence where
authoritarianism have submerged indigenous peoples for centuries. The emergence of
indigenous movements such as the Zapatistas, have brought favorable conditions for
26

Mesoamerican native populations to regain their voices. Moreno (2010) points out that the
Mayan people are reviving their values, traditions, and worldview in order to self define
themselves and discard the labels that have been imposed by stereotypes of dominant social
models. Similarly, Ramos and Sosa (2008) found that current socio environmental Mayan
movements are result of a revitalization of traditional values that not only motivates new
protests, but also inspire renovated proposals.
The revitalization of indigenous identity and values is not an unique phenomenon to the
Guatemalan indigenous. Cases in the Americas, such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile also show
similar evidence (see http://www.conflictosmineros.net/). The common denominator is not only
the revitalization of indigenous groups and movements, but also the values that underlie their
struggles. Central Mayan concepts, as the defense of Madre Tierra (Mother Earth) are equivalent
to the Pacha Mama Quechua concept of main importance to many Andean indigenous peoples in
South America. Similarly, the proposal of a“buen vivir” (good living) is a holistic idea
promoted through indigenous struggles, especially by environmental activists, from North to
South America.
The Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala
The Mayan movement against mining and exploitation of natural resources in Guatemala
began as a local struggle that has grown nationally, and has achieved global resonance. It is part
of the new wave of social movements that emerged with the country's return to democracy. The
movement began in Mayan communities in the Western highlands in 2004. Communities of San
Miguel and Sipacapa, department of San Marcos, began protests when the government granted
the exploitation license to Montana, Corp., a subsidiary of transnational Goldocorp to start gold
27

and silver extractions at the Marlin mine. This project became the first open-pit mineral mine in
Guatemala. The granting of this exploitation license was a result of the new Mining Law
amended in 1997, which included changes such as the reduction of mining royalties to two
percent of the profits in order to attract investors.
Despite permanent protests against the opening of the Marlin mine, the project continued
and became the first of the numerous conflicts associated with natural resource exploitation in
Guatemala. Mayan communities against mining in San Marcos mainly argued that the mining
project: 1) contravened the right of indigenous people to prior consultation and information, 2)
had adverse impacts on health and the environment, especially water, in their communities, and
3 ) was contrary to their Mayan worldview care of Mother Nature conservancy. The peak point
at of the conflict against the Marlin mine was a farmer killing while participating in a roadblock
in 2005. All these cumulative incidents set a highly negative tone of the conflict: high rejection
of communities against corporations and government, perceived as allied enemies, and
increasing levels of conflict. Data from the Human Rights Ombudsman showed that by 2011,
there were over 80 cases of conflicts associated with mining projects in the country (Mapa de
conflictividad, 2009).
The mobilization against mining and natural resource exploitation was gradually
spreading. New national indigenous mobilizations started despite no mining projects where
situated on its territory, as a preventative measure to set their posture against potential projects in
the future. Gradually, other social and environmental movements in the country joined the
movement (e.g., CALAS, Colectivo Madre Selva, SAVIA) who served as a resonance box to
generate more public opinion attention.
28

One of the first actions performed by the protestants in Sipacapa, San Marcos against the
Marlin Mine was a consulta comunitaria, community consultation, in 2005. Based on ancestral
collectivist traditions and supported by the ILO Convention 169, the communities developed a
local consultation process to express their opinion regarding mining in their territory. The results
of "No to Mining," were almost unanimous. Progressively, other Mayan communities, mainly in
the West of the country, got organized and by the end of 2012 had developed 61 consultas
comunitarias in different communities. Moreover, despite no extractive project had installed
inside their territories, communities of different Mayan ethnic groups have organized local
consultations. The consultation exercise became not only a mechanism for dissemination of
information, but also a collective action that has raised membership and group cohesion around
this issue among different Mayan groups, which were split for decades.
In less than five years of mobilization, different Mayan groups in different parts of the
west country, were not only joining the movement, but articulating their work. In 2008 these
groups created the Western People Council, CPO, which portrays a united voice of Mayan
communities against mining and natural resources exploitation. Their motto is “the defense of
the territory, Mother Earth, the collective rights, and the good living.” The CPO has led most of
the mobilization in the Mayan communities of the western highlands of the country through a
horizontal and participative organization, based on ancestral collectivist values. The council
seeks not only to reach more cohesion within the different Mayan groups, but also to extend their
mobilization efforts beyond the communities' borders. Besides the articulation with other local
and national organizations, the Mayan movement against mining and exploitation of natural
resources also began to develop international networks of support. Non governmental
29

organizations, activists, international press and academics in other countries have joined the
networks of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala, engendering a movement
that fights locally and resonates globally.
Stakeholders of the Mayan movement
The Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala involves a great range of
stakeholders at multiple levels, from the bottom up and from local to global. The movement
emerged from civil society groups in Western Maya communities of the country. These
communities started building alliances with other groups locally, such as Mayan organizations in
different regions, local activists, religious organizations, and NGOs (e.g., Consejo de Pueblos de
Occidente, CPO, and Comisión Pastoral Paz y Ecología, COPAE); and expanded to networks of
support globally, such as activists, religious and human rights NGOs (e.g., Observatorio de
Conflictos Mineros and the ecumenical organization for ecological justice and human rights,
Kairos). Given the transnational nature of the issue at the center of the protest (multinational
mining industry), the movement also involves a great range of stakeholders at multiple levels,
from local to global, such as: national economic elites, including local subsidiaries of mining
corporations and extractive industry associations; national political elites, including local and
national government officials and legislators; international economic elites, including mining
companies headquarters; international political elites, including international government
organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Bank and the Inter-American
Commission of Human Rights; and local, national and international news media. Table 1
includes a summary of the institutional profile (organizational mision /functions, positioning,
main public communication channels) of the actors associated with the Mayan
30

socioenvironmental movement as a framework of reference for further analysis in this study.

Table 1. Stakeholders of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala. 2012.

Stakeholder

Description

Government and State Agencies
Ministerio de It is the government agency that manages the energy and mining sectors. Its
Energía y
institutional objectives are: (a) to satisfy the energy and mining requirements
Minas, MEM within quality standards across the country; (b) to promote the diversification of
energy supply, with a focus on renewable energy sources (c) to promote the
(Ministry of efficient and productive use of energy resources and mining (d) to adopt the
Energy and necessary measures for the conservation, development, and utilization of natural
Mines)
resources –renewable and nonrenewable—efficiently; and (e) to create the
appropriate conditions to promote investment from domestic and foreign capital
in the energy and mining sectors.
Under the O. Perez Molina administration (2012 - current), the MEM has
implemented some changes: (1) the creation of the sustainable development unit
as strategy to manage to social conflict associated with mining and energy
industry, (2) the “voluntary royalty agreement” with mining companies (increase
in royalties from 1% to 5%), which has been criticized as an obscure strategy
because evades substantive changes directly in the mining law, (3) continuation
of licensing process for mining and hydroelectric projects that the previous
government had put in hiatus due to increased social conflict, arguing that the
ministry has to observe the law and continue the licensing processes.
Positioning: The MEM has maintained an enfilade position with corporations
and industry chambers during the two administrations covered by this study
(2008 - 2012, 2012 – present), which has been strongly criticized as exclusionary
by the Mayan communities. The MEM has stated their interest of dialogue with
the communities. However, there is no concrete evidence of this stance. Chief
officers have expressed they are not entitled to the information and mediation
role and that the company must negotiate directly with communities. Some
officials delegitimize social protest and community consultations, blaming the
international community of being "financing the conflict."

31

Table 1 (cont'd)
Predominant public communication: (a) advertising through mass media
showing mining as a development option for the country, focusing on royalty
and tax revenues and job creation, (b) publicity through press conferences. It
should be noted that the current MEM minister's family owns one of the main
media networks in the country.
Ministry responsible for environmental and natural resources management in the
country. Institutional objective: to protect, preserve and use natural resources
rationally, fostering a culture of respect and harmony with nature in order to
Ministerio de
forge a competitive, supportive, equitable, inclusive and participatory
Ambiente y
management of natural resources in the country. It is the institution responsible
Recursos
for conducting the environmental impact reports required for mining licensing.
Naturales,
MARN
Positioning: During the government of A. Colom (2008-2012), MARN tried to
further effective environmental audit to mining and had conflicts with the MEM.
(Ministry of
Under the current administration, (O. Pérez Molina, 2012 - present), MARN has
Environment
maintained a low profile and it has been criticized for its lack of professional
and Natural
standards and for holding an enfilade position with the MEM, mining
Resources)
corporations, and industry chambers.
Predominant public communication: MARN has remained predominantly silent.
It is the governmental institution responsible for the promotion and protection of
Comisión
human rights in Guatemala. Regarding the mining and natural resources conflict,
Presidencial the Commission monitors social conflict events and coordinates the activities of
de Derechos the ministries and institutions of the executive to meet the State's commitments
Humanos,
in international agreements. COPREDEH officials have asserted that the
COPREDEH institution has no funds or political support to ensure conflict resolution.
(Presidential
Commission
for Human
Rights
Defense)

Positioning: The position of COPREDEH is not evidently enfilade with any
other actor and has remained largely silent.
Predominant public communication: predominantly remained silent to the public
opinion. The communication with the communities is mainly through "dialogue
tables" (multisectoral tables for negotiation) and private meetings.

Corporations and industry associations
Montana

Montana Exploradora de Guatemala is a subsidiary of Goldcorp, Inc. , a gold
32

Table 1 (cont'd)
mining corporation headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. It is the company that
owns the Marlin mine, the first project of chemical open-pit metal mining in the
country, which began operations in 2005 in the department of San Marcos.
Under the current law, the company should pay 1% of royalties for mining
activities plus tax. However, in 2012 Montana signed a voluntary agreement with
the Guatemalan government to increase the royalties to 5%.

Exploradora
de Guatemala,
Positioning: Both the headquarter and the subsidiary companies have stated they
subsidiary of
are open to dialogue and negotiation with the communities. The company
Goldcorp, Inc.
opened a local unit of community relations. They have also requested a more
effective role of the Guatemalan government for information and negotiation
with the communities.
The communication used is mostly advertising, showing mining as a
development opportunity and promoting social responsibility projects (schools,
health centers, tree planting and training).
Other mining
and
extractive
industry
companies

Gremial de
Industrias
Extractivas –
Camara de
Industria
(Extractive
industries
association –
Industry
chamber)

There are other mining, hydroelectric, and natural resources exploitation
companies operating in Guatemala. However, the present study focused on the
Mayan communities in the western highlands of the country, and directly
followed the Mayan movement that arose as a reaction to the Marlin Mine
project in San Marcos, which has extended now to communities with even no
mining projects, where the population is mobilized as a precautionary measure.
This association is comprised of mining companies in the country. It is affiliated
to the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala. They have recently launched a
sustainable development unit, which is in charge of community relations
management.
Positioning: They show a unified position representing the extractive companies
in the country. They periodically denounce that the communities are not open to
dialogue. They request an effective mediation role of the state and more
protection to the rule of law in the country.
The communication used is mostly advertising, framing the mining and
development opportunity for the country because it provides income to the
national treasury and employment opportunities. In recent months, the chamber
is also using press releases, and campos pagados (paid spaces) in the mass media
to state their position, pointing out their openness to dialog and requesting the
government to observe the law and protect the mining licenses already granted.
33

Table 1 (cont'd)
National and Local Activists and NGOs
It is an environmentalist NGO in Guatemala. Its organizational objective is to
strengthen environmental management, citizen participation, and respect for the
collective rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to the environment. Its
Centro de
director, Yuri Melini, an expert on environmental issues, is one of the most highAcción Legal,
profile activists in the country. He suffered an attack in September 2008
Ambiental y
attributed to his work as an activist.
Social (Center
of Legal,
Position: CALAS has publicly denounced negative mining impacts in the
Environmenta
country but has not appeared as a formal member of the Mayan
l and Social
socioenvironmental movement.
Action) –
CALAS
Public communication: (a) digital media (social networks, mainly), (b) mass
communication campaigns, and (c) publicity on the mass media.
Colectivo
Madre Selva It is an environmental NGO. The group focuses on ecological problems in the
following areas: forest management, human rights associated to water,
(Madre Selva hydroelectric projects, mining, ecological risk management, and community
Collective)
consultation and participation.
The group gained popularity though the active public participation of its former
director, Magaly Rey Rosa, famous for her weekly newspaper column.
Currently, the collective has worked more directly with mining projects in the
middle east of the country.
Currently, the collective works along with local movements against mining and
natural resources exploitation mainly in the central, southeastern regions of the
country.
Position: Madre Selva has publicly denounced negative mining impacts in the
country but has not appeared as a formal member of the Mayan
socioenvironmental movement.
Public communication channels: (a) digital media (social networks, mainly), (b)
communication campaigns at local level, (c) collective actions and public
demonstrations, and (d) publicity on the mass media, mainly through press
conferences and press releases.
34

Table 1 (cont'd)
The COPAE is a pastoral project of the Catholic Church that started in San
Comisión
Marcos. Its organization mission is to accompany the demands of the local
Pastoral Paz y people related to natural resources (e.g., mining and hydroelectric projects).
Ecología,
COPAE
Position: This organization was a pioneer in social and environmental activism
in the western highlands, under the leadership of archbishop Alvaro Ramazzinni.
(Pastoral
COPAE directly and publicly supports the Mayan movement.
Commission
of Peace and Public communication channels: Mainly used digital media (mainly
Ecology)
organizational website and social networks), community gatherings, and
publicity through press conferences.

Comité de
Unidad
Campesina,
CUC
(Peasant
Unity
Committee)

Organization comprised of associations, committees, cooperatives, unions, trade
associations, and other community-level organizational forms and indigenous
peasants of the country. It is organized at a national and local level. Its main
leader, Daniel Pascual has identify as a formal ally of the Mayan
socioenvironmental movement, participating in in various demonstrations and
other public events.
Position: The CUC has openly supported the Maya and socioenvironmental
movement.
Public communication: Mainly used digital media (social networks, mainly) and
press and press conferences for its public communications.

International NGOs and IGOs
It is the international financial organization that granted the loan for the Marlin
Mine project and other transnational extractive projects. In recent years, it has
promoted transparency initiatives primarily taxes and royalties derived from the
World Bank, extractive industry.
WB
Public communication: The WB has not performed public communications
related to the mining and natural resources exploitation.
Office of the The OHCHR mission statement includes: a) to observe the human rights
United
situation in order to advise the authorities in the formulation and implementation
35

Table 1 (cont'd)
of policies, programs and measures to promote and protect human rights in
Guatemala, b) to advise the Guatemalan state and, in the areas of its competence,
representatives of civil society, NGOs and individuals, c) to promote observance
Nations High of human rights and the implementation of the recommendations made by
Commissioner international bodies and human rights mechanisms, and d) to report about the
for Human
activities of the Office and the general situation of human rights in the country.
Rights,
OHCHR
Position: The OHCHR has repeatedly reported the need for dialogue and
recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in the country.
Public communication is mainly performed through press releases, press
conferences, and participation at forums and other public events.
It is an international ecumenical social organization based in Canada. It has
developed several initiatives to support the socioenvironmental movement in
Kairos,
Guatemala, such as signatures collection to denounce the disrespect of the rights
Organización of indigenous peoples by the Marlin mine.
Ecuménica
Public communication: Kairos uses the Internet through its website, enewsletters, and email list.
There is a network of about 300 organizations that currently support the Mayan
Other ONGs y
socioenvironmental movement from other countries.
activistas
internacionale
Public communication: Mostly digital media (websites, social networks, and
s
email).

Regarding state and government agencies, Guatemala has two specific offices in charge
to coordinate and monitor mining licenses and the corresponding environmental impact reports:
the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources, MARN , respectively. In 2012, the MEM opened a Sustainable Development unit
especially oriented to manage community relations in projects related to mining and energy.
36

Social activists have reiteratively denounced that these are “cosmetic” tactics rather than genuine
dialogue and negotiation initiatives. The activists perceive that the government does not respect
public will, and on the contrary, leaders suffer political persecution. Likewise, some corporation
executives complain that the government does not perform an effective role in informing and
mediating between companies and communities and that the communities demands are endless
due to the absence of the state to meet the social services in these areas.
The MARN remains in a low profile and has been accused of corruption and lack of
professionalism, despite the key role that should play in the evaluation of the environmental
impact (which also includes social impact) of mining projects. A key governmental agency for
the defense of indigenous groups, the Presidential Commission for Human Rights, COPREDEH,
lacks the resources to fulfill its mission and has shown no political power to influence political
decision-making.
Regarding national and local NGOs and activists, the Mayan socioenvironmental
movement has built networks of support mainly with other local Mayan groups. Some of the
Mayan local groups organized the Consejo de Pueblos de Occidente (Western People Council),
CPO, considered the most effective Mayan organization in the country nowadays. For some
public demonstrations, the Mayan movement is also supported by some peasant organizations
historically associated with the land property conflict in the country (i.e., National Indigenous
and Peasant Coordination, CONIC, and Peasant Unity Committee, CUC ) and some high-profile
environmental activism (i.e., CALAS Foundation, and Madre Selva Collective). There are two
urban activist leaders with a high profile in the public opinion, Yuri Melini (CALAS) and Magali
Rey Rosa (formerly Madre Selva, now SAVIA), however, they are not formally part of the
37

Mayan movement.
It should be noted that one of the most influential local non governmental organizations
supporting the Mayan movement in Guatemala has been the Catholic Church, particularly local
pastoral missions. For example, the Pastoral Commission of Peace and Ecology, COPAE, has
played a key role in the mobilization against the Marlin Mine in San Marcos, which is
considered a cornerstone for the whole antimining movement in the country. The former
archbishop of San Marcos, Alvaro Ramazzinni, now archbishop of Huehuetenango, is
particularly acknowledged as a social advocate of the antimining protests.
At the international level, there are about 300 non-governmental organizations and other
international supporters of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement. Although the movement
started recognizing the importance of these networks with international organizations for their
mobilization purposes, these networks are not always publicized as a strategic action in response
to public opinion campaigns trying to discredit the alliances between international actors and
local Mayan organizations.
Among the International Governmental Organizations, IGOs, the World Bank, WB, is the
financing institution of most of the mining projects in Guatemala. However, the bank limits its
public interventions mainly to audit the transparency of the collection of taxes and royalties from
the projects. International Human rights organizations, such as United Nations agencies, have
launched reports calling the Guatemalan state to open dialogue and listen efficiently the
community demands. However, these IGOs restate that their role is only to recommend, and is
the Guatemalan state who has to effectively make the decision. In 2010-2011 the Human Rights
Commission of the Organization of American States, OAS, issued an injunction against the
38

Marlin Mine, which was the only occasion on which the Guatemalan government has complied
with a ruling of an IGO.
Analyzing the communication used by the different actors, in general, corporate and
government groups mostly use advertising communication through mass media. On the other
hand, activists and organizations supporting the movement tipically use digital media, especially
email, social networks and websites, and recently, they started using publicity to generate press
coverage (through press conferences and public events such as marches, sit-ins and mass walks).
Reviewing the alliances and positions of the different organizations described above, on
the one hand, there is evidence suggesting that corporations and industrial chambers act in
coordination with key government agencies, such as MEM and MARN. On the other hand,
although the Maya socioenvironmental movement has multiple allies at the national level
(Mayan organizations and opinion leaders, as Melini and Rey Rosa) and expanding allies at the
international level (activists and NGOs in other countries), their actions are more dispersed and
less coordinated at the present time. However, as it will be discussed in the results section, the
present study found that the Mayan movement is precisely getting stronger in their networked
organization. Indeed, part of its strategic actions is the "articulation" of support with local,
national and global actors.
Relevance of the Guatemalan case study for this research
The investigation of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala is a suitable
case study for the analysis of the communication and power dynamics of social movements in
marginalized populations because it is based on a movement initiated by indigenous
communities with a history of discrimination and living at the low-end of high socioeconomic
39

inequalities. These circumstances set a suitable scenario to examine the conditions under which
the use of communication does or does not empower disadvantaged populations to influence
political power. In addition, the case in Guatemala involves multiple actors from local, to
national and global spaces, which permits the analysis of the multi-scaled networks that have
been used to explain the potential of local actors in global politics in global cities (Sassen, 2004),
in an alternative rural, non-industrialized context. It is the length and relevance of the natural
resources exploitation issue in Guatemala that makes it possible to analyze the different
communication and power dynamics in different cycles of the process that, otherwise, would not
be possible in a spurious, unimportant issue. The significance of the issue also facilitates the
access and availability of materials and sources of information.
A case study of the Mayan movement is also relevant to test models on social
movements, agenda building, and networked communication in a context different to the main
stream research conducted in developed countries and more mature democracies. This case study
will also shed light about the overarching communication question on who uses what under
which conditions, particularly providing information that fills the gaps underlined by scholars in
public relations (Karlberg, 1996; Dozier & Lauzen, 2000), information technologies and
networked communication (Cartier, Castells, & Qiu, 2005; Norris, 2001) on the potential and
limitations of these communication resources for mobilization purposes among unprivileged
populations. The case of Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala is also a good
illustration to inform studies on environmental conflicts between peripheral communities and
powerful transnational corporations, that have been increasingly occurring in several countries
around the world with the advent globalization and open-markets economies.
40

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The goal of this study is to investigate under which conditions networked communication
reaches to empower marginalized populations to influence political decision-making. Based on
the theoretical framework developed above, and using the case study of the Mayan
socioenvironmental movement against mining and natural resources exploitation in Guatemala,
this research proposes a series of research questions.
Scholars have argued that resource and power differentials within sociopolitical systems
affect the types of communication developed by opposing social actors (Norris, 2001; Root,
Willey, & Peek, 2002). Activist groups are usually disadvantaged to confront powerful
adversaries, such as transnational corporations (Karlberg, 1996; Dozier & Lauzen, 2000). The
resource mobilization approach (McCarthy & Zald, 1977) highlights the main role of allies and
external sources of support for the enhancement of the movement to overcome resource deficits
in social movements campaigns. Complementarily, the network society approach (Castells, 2004,
2007a, 2011) suggests that globalization and new information and communication technologies
(ICTs) allow social movements to build networks at multi-scale levels, from local to national and
global, and to mobilize support and generate power to influence political decision-making.
Although the study of networked communication for mobilization is prolific stream of
research, most of the studies have been developed in urban contexts and developed countries
(e.g., Juris, 2008; Sassen, 2004) and there is paucity of research in rural, developing
environments. Moreover, there is no conclusive evidence that shows under which conditions the
41

use of technologies enables mobilization and empowerment of peripheral populations.
In order to fill this vacuum, this study proposes the following research questions:
RQ1. What are the goals of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala?
RQ2. Does the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala use networked
communication in their mobilization strategies? If so, How? Why?
Another theoretical interest of this study is to assess whether the communication
developed by the movement has succeeded in achieving the goals of the movement, and what
have been the consequences of the movement for the empowerment of the participants and
political decisions regarding the mining issue. As a common argument from different theoretical
perspectives, previous studies have shown that one of the main strategies of social movement to
gain power is building networks of support (Castells, 2007). Previous research has proposed the
influence on media agenda as a main outcome of effective mobilization (e.g., Reber & Berger,
2005).
Likewise, although there is great potential for the Internet to mobilize support through
networked communication, it has been argued that the online debates need to permeate the
mainstream news media in order to be formally incorporated into the public opinion debate and
gain power to influence elites decision-making (Habermas, 2006). Outcomes of the social
movements previously studied also include consequences for participants on the movement in
terms of social capital that facilitates empowerment of marginalized populations, such as
collective efficacy (Cartier, Castells, and Qiu, 2005), strategic communication skills (Dozier &
Lauzen, 2000; Karlberg, 1996), level of political engagement and social capital (Fukuyama,
2001; Rojas et al., 2011).
42

Thus, this research poses the following research question:
RQ3. Has networked communication been effective to achieve the mobilization goals of
the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala so far? How? Why?

43

CHAPTER 4
METHOD

Multi-sited ethnographic research (Marcus, 1995) was conducted using a combination of
qualitative methodologies that are suitable to answer the research questions and appropriate to
the social and cultural context of the research sites in Guatemala. Multi-sited ethnographic
research was suitable to the purpose of this study because it allows for collecting data in multiple
sites where the networked communications are performed (Juris, 2008).
Specifically, in-depth interviews, direct observation, and document analysis were used in
this research. The use of multiple sources of evidence are useful for developing case studies such
as in the present investigation, because it allows enough details from different research
perspectives and enhance the validity of the findings (Yin, 2003).
The fieldwork was conducted in Mayan communities of five departments in the Western
highlands of the country: Quetzaltenango, San Marcos, Totonicapán, Huehuetenango, and
Quiché. These locations were selected because they represent the different Mayan groups leading
the Consejo de Pueblos de Occidente, CPO (Western Peoples Council) in their respective
regions. In addition, ethnographic research was conducted in Guatemala city to document
demonstrations, meetings, and press conferences targeted to political decision makers and media,
and to conduct interviews with government officials, activists, international officials, and mining
corporate representatives, whose offices are located in the capital city.
Predissertation data was collected in two first waves, during winter and summer breaks,
from December 2010 to February 2011, and from May to August 2011. The dissertation data
44

was collected in a third longer wave using granted research funds, from November 2011 to
December 2012. This time period was assessed appropriate based on the research objectives and
the resources available for this investigation. Despite the fact that the antimining movement in
Guatemala has not ended yet (it emerged in 2004 and is an ongoing process), previous research
(e.g., Tarrow, 1993) has shown that social movements are usually long processes that can be
studied in stages or cycles that also allows the researcher to observe the character of the
movement. Moreover, the present study can be used as point of reference for further longitudinal
research addressing the evolution of the movement.
This research was built upon intense pre-dissertation work in Guatemala that helped to
develop the research questions, methodologies and collaborative work with the communities for
this project. It was important to develop relationships with Mayan community leaders because
this issue has become increasingly sensitive and the communities are doubtful about strangers.
Qualitative methodologies
To answer RQ1, RQ2, which ask what are the goals of the movement and the use of
networked communication to achieve them, this study conducted informant in-depth interviews,
direct observation and document analysis to gather information regarding the goals and type of
communication used by the Mayan movement in Guatemala. This investigation aimed to attain a
deep understanding of the topics from the unique experiences of key informants through
interviews and from events recorded through direct observations and document analysis.
Informant, non-directive interviews were used because they allow data collection from
participants who provide insights about essential features of the phenomenon being studied based
on their particular experiences. The interviews include open-ended questions to the movement
45

participants in Guatemala regarding (1) the objectives of the movement, (2) different uses of
communication, and the types of communication and technologies used for different purposes
and in different stages of the mobilization process, (3) description of network-building for
mobilizing support locally and globally. Interview guides include exemplar questions of these
topics (see Appendix A). The interviews were non-directive and used open-ended questions to
give participants enough freedom to assemble their own rhetorical construction of their
experiences. They were conducted following qualitative interviewing procedures by Lindlof and
Taylor (2002).
The subjects participating in the interviews were selected because they are considered key
informants of the mining issue. They were identified and contacted in the predissertation work in
2010 and 2011. The interviews were conducted during 2011 and 2012, after several sessions of
conversations and exchange with participants in order to build enough level of trust, given the
antecedents of repression and current political persecution. The interviews were conducted in
person, in different stages of the movement, in order to assess the evolution of strategies,
discourses, and communication usage.
The participants were selected through convenience sampling using a combination of
typical and maximum-variation strategies in order to attain as much illustrative data of the
characteristic qualities of the phenomena and to observe potential differences related to
contextual and demographic factors, such as small/large community, time in the movement,
Mayan ethnic group, gender, and age (see Appendix B for a detailed list of interviewees). The
sample of 11 subjects interviewed along different stages of the movement in the 2011-2012 time
lag included :
46

-Top-organizers of the movement (representing different communities, different genders,
and different ages).
-Organizers of consultas comunitarias (community consultations, mechanism used by the
movement since 2005, based on national and international laws oriented to secure participation
of indigenous people in political decision-making)
-Organizers of other relevant collective actions
-Communication coordinators of the movement
-Representatives of the Catholic Church involved in the movement
-Representatives of local and national activist organizations, scholars, and other allies of
the movement
-Representatives of international activist organizations, scholars, and other allies of the
movement (some of these interviews were conducted using video conference).
Direct observation was used to record details of the movement's strategies,
communication usage, and network dynamics, directly witnessing processes that illustrate these
phenomena. Direct observations are useful because they allow the researcher to obtain first-hand
information in a naturalistic environment, revealing important details that are key to
understanding the phenomena being studied. Observations aimed to record elements such as (1)
who are the actors participating—and not participating—in different mobilization events, (2)
who they interact with and how, (3) usage of interpersonal and mediated communication media,
(4) local, national, and global networks dynamics, and (5) the context of these scenes.
Some observation scenes were identified through the predissertation research and others
were selected based on the information gathered in the interviews. Other observations were
developed spontaneously during the ethnographic fieldwork. As with the in-depth interviews,
observation of in-group meetings (e.g., community assemblies) was conducted after building
47

enough levels of trust with the communities.
The scenes, sites, events, and length observed were selected using typical and maximumvariation sampling strategies, prioritizing those with higher potential to provide relevant
information and considering the time and resources available for this investigation. Some of the
main events where observation was conducted were:
-Whole process of consultas comunitarias: One in a Maya-Mam population, less rural
community, with more mobilization experience (West, department of Quetzaltenango); and
another in a Maya-Q'ich'e population, more rural community, with less mobilization experience,
where movement organizations are recently rising (North-West, department of Quiché).
-Community assemblies and other group meetings where communities organize their
mobilization strategies and coordinate collective actions.
-Collective actions from different communities (old and new in the movement): selected
as key illustration of the networked communication processes during key mobilization actions.
Qualitative document analysis was used to collect evidence regarding communication
actions, outlets, discourses, interlocutors, and multi-scaled networks of support (local, national,
and international). Documents were collected recording the date and source where they were
publicized in order to assess communication usage during mobilization evolution. The
documents analyzed include:
-Documents used for communication actions (e.g., reports, leaflets, newsletters, videos)
developed by the main local social movement organizations of the antimining movement (SMOs,
identified in predissertation work and informant interviews)
-Websites and social network sites (SNS) of the main social movement organizations in
48

the antimining movement (www.copae.org, http://consejodepueblosdeoccidente.blogspot.com/, )
-Other websites and SNS, local and international, related to the antimining movement and
the mining issue in Guatemala
-Mainstream news media, i.e., radio, television, and newspapers (local, national and
international) .
To answer RQ3, which asks about whether the movement's communication has been
successful so far and its outcomes, the same combination of qualitative methodologies was used
(i.e., in-depth interviews, direct observation, and document analysis). This study did not attempt
to provide a yes / no answer to this research question. It is impossible to completely evaluate
success in a movement that has not concluded. However, social movements are long processes
with multiple intermediate outcomes that empower or disempower participants and influence
political agendas in different ways and in different stages, which can be measured at intermediate
stages, although they do not result in political concessions to the movement’s petitions after all
the mobilization process (Tarrow, 1993).
Thus, this study analyzed the narratives of informant interviews, behaviors from observed
scenes, and actions recorded in documents during an eight-year lag to estimate the effect of the
movement's networked communication on features that previous research has found to be
associated with effective mobilization, such as (1) growth of movement groups and local,
national and international allies; (2) empowerment of participants through group cohesion,
collective efficacy, and social capital; (3) influence on media agenda; and (4) responses from
corporate and political authorities with either concessions or social control. These features and
others that emerged from the particular experience of the movement in Guatemala were found in
49

the chronicles of key informants’ interviews, observable actions and behaviors through direct
observations, and events publicized in institutional documents, both from the movement,the
authorities, and third parties.
Informant, non-directive interviews included a set of questions addressing effective
mobilization. In addition to members of the movement, who were asked about their perceptions
of the effects of their mobilization efforts, other subjects were interviewed, including corporate
and political executive officials that could provide details about the effects of the movement's
communication. IGOs representatives and mass media directors were also interviewed to convey
their perceptions regarding the use and effects of communication by the Mayan movement (see
Appendix B for a detailed list of interviewees). The sample of 17 interviewees included :
-Congressmen from different political parties and ideological wings
-Representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Mining official
-Representatives of the Industry Chamber and Mining Association
-Mining companies executives
-Representative of United Nations, the World Bank, and other IGOs
-News media directors
Direct observations also addressed the effective mobilization features recording events
and details related to these elements during the observation scenes described above . Direct
observations are particularly useful to analyze power dynamics between the movement
representatives and authorities; the network building processes as means of power; and potential
outcomes for the empowerment of participants, such as civic engagement, collective selfefficacy, and media use skills.
50

Qualitative document analysis was also used to identify mobilization features, searching
for actions that evidenced authorities' responses, such as law revisions, mining policy changes,
mining activities requirements, and corporate policy changes. An additional set of documents
was collected to respond to this research question, including:
-Official reports from the Legislative Energy and Mining Commission of Congress
-Executive reports from the Dialogue Table Committee
-Official reports of the Minister of Energy and Mining
-Corporate reports
-Written responses from authorities and corporation to actions of the movement
Data analysis
From the methods described above, the following data sets were obtained: (1) transcripts
from informant interviews, (2) field notes from direct observations, and (3) electronic files with
material for qualitative content analysis. The information was transcribed, translated/interpreted,
and analyzed by the researcher (native Guatemalan) using thematic analysis (King & Horrocks,
2010) guided by the research questions of the study.
Data management
The data was gathered following IRB protocols standards and approval. The researcher
developed instruments of informed consent that werre appropriate to the cultural and political
context of this research. These instruments not only informed the subjects of the nature of the
research, potential risks and voluntary nature of their participation, but also guaranteed to
subjects their privacy and confidentiality of their answers.
Given the sensitivity of the topic under investigation (activism, political conflict), in both
51

primary data sets and research reports, the identities of the persons who provided information
was kept confidential. In order to assure the preservation and security of the primary data, its
access will be restricted to the investigator of the project.

52

CHAPTER 5
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter discusses the findings from the study of the role of networked communication for
mobilization in marginalized Mayan communities in Guatemala. These findings were obtained
through multi-sited ethnographic research (Marcus, 1995) using a combination of qualitative
methods: in-depth interviews, direct observations, and document analysis. The results are
organized into three sections corresponding to the three research questions posed in this study: a)
the movement's goals, b) the role of networked communication in the strategies used to achieve
those goals, and c) the level of success achieved with the use of network communication and its
impact on the movement.
The goals:
Historically rooted, strongly motivated, and gradually and sustainably built
The first research question posed by this study was to understand what the mobilization
goals are of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala and how the communities
have developed them. The answer to this question was obtained from the interviews and direct
observations regarding communication and collective actions of the Mayan groups, which
according to agenda-building theory, reflect their positions and strategic goals (Cobb & Elder,
1972). Moreover, the data collected during a two-year lag of ethnographic research allows for
analyzing the evolution of the movement goals in different stages or cycles of protest, as
suggested by Tarrow (1993).
In general, this study shows that the goals of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement
53

against mining and natural resources exploitation in Guatemala reveal the nature of the
movement: historically rooted, highly motivated, and gradually and sustainably built. The
following section describes each of these three main characteristics of the movement's goals and
discusses how they are reflected in the communication performed by the Mayan communities.
Same wine in different bottle
The goals of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement are strongly influenced by
unresolved problems of the past. The central motto, “Por la Defensa del Territorio, La Madre
1

Tierra, Los Derechos Colectivos y el Buenvivir ” (For the defense of the territory, Mother Earth,
our collective rights, and the good living "), is not limited to an environmental claim. This phrase
is a historical claim of Mayan populations for land and against imposed development models
(see figure 1).
Sosa (2010) points out that since the Spanish conquest until the current neocolonizing
system, indigenous groups in Guatemala have suffered the looting of their lands and the
subjugation of socioeconomic and political systems that do not correspond with their cultural
values and worldview. The advent of the modern mining industry, which started without prior
information or consensus, made accumulated problems of the past emerge again. In the speeches
during mass marches it is common to hear claims such as "we will not allow a new
dispossession," or "we will not give up this third conquest," which denotes the high association
of the current problem with the history of exclusion of the Mayan peoples.

1

Slogan used in the majority of communication outlets during 2012.
54

---Figure 1. The message in the banner links the historical land conflict with current antimining
mobilization: “They have tried to cut our flowers, but spring always comes back.” For
interpretation of the references to color in this and all other figures, the reader is referred to the
electronic version of this dissertation. --The Mayan movement also learned from their experiences in the past to enhance their
mobilization strategies in the present. The leaders of different ethnic Mayan groups recognize
that the divisions and antagonisms between themselves weakened them in the past and do not
want the same thing happening in the present. A Maya-Mam leader who coordinates
communication activities between different groups in the coalition of the Consejo de Pueblos de
Occidente (Western Peoples Council), CPO, points out:
"We know that the conquerors and colonizers took advantage of the divisions
between our groups to keep us down [...] but now we know that it weakens us and
we want to fix it. We are trying to act articulated. We use the analogy of 'pop,' a
textile formed by very different threads, with many different colors [...] Separated
they are thin and weak, but together they are more beautiful and stronger. "
55

Motivation defeating marginalization
The high resonance between current mining conflict and unresolved social demands
accumulated from the past, has impregnated a special stamina to the socioenvironmental Mayan
movement in Guatemala. The emergence of the movement is strongly related to the conflict over
land, which has been the cause for multiple contemporary social upheavals and has been
identified as one of the main causes of the civil war in Guatemala (Luján, 2004; Sosa, 2009). In
addition, the mining issue touches one of the deepest values of the Mayan culture: harmony with
nature. In the majority of the speeches and in communication materials there is a proclamation of
respect and defense of "Mother Earth” and natural resources (see Figure 2). A key factor causing
indigenous resistance to mining is that they perceive extractive activities as transgressors of a
basic Mayan principle of coexistence with nature.

---Figure 2. Handmade mural painted in a wall of a public school in Chinique, Quiché. The
picture portrays a core value in Mayan culture: harmony with Mother Earth. The text on top of
the mural says: “Chinique is a clean town, with water and forests for a healthy and dignifying
life for everybody”.--56

An anthropologist conducting research on Mayan politics stated that lack of awareness of
the cultural values of the Mayan peoples has caused increasing conflict with mining companies
from the beginning. Mistakenly, mining companies have focused for a long time in massive
advertising campaigns whose main slogan was "mining is development" (see figure 3).

---Figure 3. Advertising piece from mining company's campaign. The messages in Spanish say:
“Development = education = better quality of life” (top), “invest in Guatemalan future means
responsible development with people” (middle), and “For us at Goldcorp, the valuable thing is
development.”--Instead of generating a positive attitude toward indigenous communities with this
57

message, the campaign unleashed resistance and offended feelings. For Mayan communities,
development equals nature conservation, but mining represents exploitation and extermination.
"With my friends we like to walk and climb mountains and we are afraid that one day [they]
disappear with mining. I don't think I want that kind of development," said a young Maya-Mam
guy interviewed during community consultation.
Another value that Mayan communities of the socioenvironmental movement perceived
as being violated by the new extractive policies is their right of autonomy; that is, the right to
decide what they want to do in their territories. A young man who worked in collective action
coordination explained that he participates in the movement as an expression of resistance to
imposition: "Contrary to what mining companies and the government think, Mayan communities
are not against development but rather we are against 'that' kind of development they want to
impose, we want development that means life not death.”
Likewise, a Maya-K'iche' leader analyzing the communication messages sent by mining
companies and the government says:

"Mining companies are so ignorant of who we are that they don't realize that
their campaign messages are useless. They say 'mining is development', but in our
Mayan language the word 'development' does not even exist. Instead, we have a
different concept that translated into Spanish would be 'good living' [...] that's
what people really want here."

The historical claims and resonance with central values of the Mayan culture are not only
part of the reasons for the emergence of the movement in Guatemala. These elements also
58

impregnate special stamina to maintain and expand the movement and make it sustainable, which
is discussed in the next section.
Gradual and sustained
Both the goals and corresponding strategies and actions used by the Mayan communities
for mobilization have been developed in a spontaneous and gradual manner that has led the
movement to grow sustainably. During the eight years of the movement analyzed in this
investigation (2004-20012), its goals, strategies and communications evolved as the movement
was developing. Table 2 shows the evolution of the movement's strategic goals over time.

Table 2. Strategic goals evolution of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in
Guatemala. 2011 - 2012.
Strategic goal

Place, Date Main petitions/complaints

To state resistance to
San Marcos
chemical metal mining and extended
to other
Western
regions
Started in
May/11. By
the end of
2012 there
have been
celebrated 62
consultas
comunitarias.
To challenge the
marginalizing legal
system in the country.

Guatemala
city
12/8/11

Event

1. No to mining: (a) to
Consultas
specific projects, e.g.,
comunitarias
Marlin mine in San Miguel
Ixtahuacán, San Marcos;
and Cementos Progreso
project in San Juan
Sacatepéquez, Guatemala;
(b) to potential mining
activities in their territory.

Main
media used
Email
Press
releases &
press
conferences
Community
radios
Cellphone
Facebook
(since
2010)

1. Demand for recognition
of results of 58 consultas
comunitarias stating “no a
59

Exchange
forum “The
defense of

Printed
program

Table 2 (cont'd)
To use legal strategy as
a communication
strategy: To grab
attention from media
and public opinion.

la minería” (no to mining)
2. Rejection to the
Consultas Regulation
propose by the president
office on february 2011
because it lacks previous
consultation
3. Denounce violation of
the right to self
determination and
autonomy as indigenous
peoples
4. Call to all different
pueblos (peoples) to remain
vigilant for the defense of
the territory, and consultas
comunitarias

To discuss and gain Multiple sites
internal
consensus Since 2012
about what the Mayan
groups want as an
alternative to mining
and natural resources
exploitation (proposal,
instead
of
just
resistance).

1. No to natural resources
exploitation projects in
indigenous territories (not
only mining but
hydroelectric plants,
“megaprojects”)

To extend movement's
position
statements
from only against
mining to against all
natural
resources
exploitation
(hydroelectric plants,
“megaprojects”, etc.)
in their territories.

60

land and
territory of
indigenous
peoples
under the
new B'aqtun,
15 years after
the Peace
Accords,”
organized
and
sponsored by
local and
international
civil society
organizations

Press
release
Public
speech

Press
Press
conferences releases,
Pubic events mass
speeches,
blog,
facebook
messages,
emails.

Table 2 (cont'd)
To extend networks of Guatemala
support to other allies city
beyond the local
9/13/12
communities (e.g.,
urban groups, scholars,
columnists, national
and international
activists).

1.Articulation of support: Columnists
“We are here to ask you to meeting
support us with your pencil
because the mass media are
not helping us”

To diffuse the
movement's messages
on the mass media.

3.“We need to reach mass
media to make others know Columnists
that this fight is for
meeting
everybody not only us”

To use legal actions as
communication actions
To use all the legal and
communication tools
instead of violence.

Public
speech

2.“We know we need to
articulate with others”
Public
speech

4.“We know that the
government wants to
frighten us. They are
criminalizing our protest,
but we will remain
peaceful”
5.“We want the invalidation
of the mining law. Our
legal strategy is our
communication strategy.
We know they have the
system on their side, but we
are position ourselves.”

At the beginning of the movement, the strategies were designed to convey messages of
resistance and specific complaints, such as "no to mining," (the slogan most used collective
action and community consultations mainly), "we do not want our water contaminated," and
"mining is killing our people and our animals." However, five years later, when the movement
gained more matureness, the proclamations became more extensive and comprehensive,
reflecting more the deep roots of their struggle with messages such as: "for the defense of
61

territory and Mother Nature," or "respect for the collective rights of the native peoples."
The movement's evolution has enabled its members to gradually become aware of their
main needs to sustain their mobilization and how they want to meet them. The ethnographic
work of this study allowed longitudinal evidence showing how the leaders of the movement were
identifying their mobilization goals. In one of the initial research interviews in 2010, one of the
leaders said: "When we participate in the dialogue tables the government mediators ask us that if
we do not want mining, then what do we want. And we answer honestly: 'do not know what we
want, but we are thinking about it'."
Indeed, eight months later, in another meeting with the same community leader
discussing the new strategies of the movement, he said: "We realized we first had to structure
who we are and what we want. We discussed this among different groups and now we have the
proposals. Now it comes the most difficult part: that the government listen to us." The
community leader identified two fundamental objectives of their struggle: a) the defense of
territory and natural resources, which represents local development alternatives that do not
involve mining or extractive industry, and b) enforce the ancestral practices and collective rights
of indigenous peoples, such as the consultas comunitarias (community consultations). Two years
later, during a press conference, the same community leader recounted what had been advanced
regarding those goals and added a third proclaim: "Our requests are not being heard. Worse yet,
we have been criminalized and suffer political persecution. So now we set a new goal: To
coordinate our work with other national and international organizations to support us to be
stronger and exert more pressure over the elites."
Thus, the strategic plans of the Maya socioenvironmental movement evidences a process
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of "Mayan revitalization" already described by Moreno (2010) in studies of indigenous literary
production and Sosa's (2010) research on collective actions and territory among Mayan
communities. The objectives of of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement have evolved from
mere resistance to reconstruction of their identity, influence of the public discourse on nature
conservation, and mobilization of power to influence public policy and political decisions. This
gradual progression has allowed the movement to build stronger, more unified, and sustainable
political demands. In an interview with a director of a mining company, he was questioned about
his perception of the socioenvironmental movement growth. He replied, "I do not know if the
movement has grown or not. But what I can say is that it has remained unabated for all this
time."
This section discussed the Mayan socioenvironmental movement's goals and how it is
reflected in their communications. The next section discusses how these mobilization objectives
have been developed through networked communication strategies and actions.
The strategies:
Networking, from empower to power
The role of networked communication has proved crucial to the development of strategies of the
socioenvironmental Mayan movement in Guatemala in two ways: a) strategies to the inside of
the movement, empowering communities despite their marginalization through strategic outputs,
such as resource sharing, citizen journalism, collective identity building, group cohesion, and
collective efficacy; and b) strategies to the outside of the movement, articulating support with
allies at local, national and international level to gain more power to influence elites' decisions.
This section explains these two types of networked communication through two illustrative
63

strategies: the consultas comunitarias (community consultations) and the resources-pressureprotection strategy. This part of the study also examines the reasons, main features, and main
effects of the movement going global. Finally, this section analyzes the self-tailored, integrated
communication toolbox used by the Mayan movement to develop their mobilization strategies.
Networking inside: Consultas comunitarias
Consultas comunitarias (community consultations) are a mechanism used by the
movement since 2005, inspired in ancient collective practices and supported by national and
international laws oriented to secure participation of indigenous people in political decisionmaking). Consultas comunitarias are used in this study as the best illustration of how networked
communication is applied to the Mayan mobilization against mining and natural resources
exploitation.

---Figure 4. Two community volunteers during the consulta comunitaria in San Juan Ostuncalco,
Quetzaltenango, on february 18, 2011.--64

Consultas comunitarias are an ancient Mayan practice (Sosa, 2010), therefore, its
implementation in mobilization strategies is highly valued and effective because communities
have them as part of their culture already. The consultas started being used as a mobilization
strategy since 2005, with the first two being held in Comitancillo and Sipakapa, both small
communities in San Marcos, as a mechanism of resistance to the opening of the Marlin Mine in
the neighboring territories. From then until 2012, there have been 61 consultas comunitarias in
different municipalities across the country, mainly in the West.
Throughout the entire process, communities develop a collaborative work, horizontal
organization, and permanent collective consultation. Generally, the decision to organize a
consulta is taken collectively in Community Assemblies. Then, the consulta is coordinated
through volunteer work using social networks within the community, with other communities or
organizations in the country, and with international allies.
A Maya-K'iche' community leader defines networking processes as articulation, stating
that "consultas are the result of a lot of coordination with others. It's pure articulation. As
resources are limited, we share what we have. Fellows in other communities who already had
organized consultas share their knowledge, others share their chilacayote [traditional meal,
which main ingredient is a local vegetable similar to zucchini] for lunch, and others lend their
computers to send emails."
These collaborative practices of community consultations provide stamina, generate
group cohesion and increase the members' collective efficacy, which is very important especially
in historically marginalized populations (see figure 4). A young volunteer during a consulta
comunitaria described this collective efficacy outcome:
65

“sometimes I feel afraid to participate because the government has given orders
to capture some leaders and some say it is not worth to participate because
nothing will change [...] but when we meet in the Community Assemblies or go to
the marches along with all my community I feel more confident and I think that
even if I just collaborate with a little thing, that what I do will make a difference”

The implementation of networked communication in these collective actions has been a
spontaneous process because networking has cultural resonance with Mayan collective practices.
One of the coordinators of communication in the consulta comunitaria of San Juan Ostuncalco,
summarizes the role of communication for building networks of support:

“[...]we do not think whether we are building networks or not, we just do what we
have always done. Men get organized to work in the fields, women also organize
themselves to take care of the children and sell our produce in the markets.
Important things for our village are informed and collectively organized during
our community assemblies. So, [when organizing] the consultas we do the same.”

Networking outside: The movement goes global
The Mayan socioenvironmental movement started building networks of support across
the country and beyond Guatemalan borders spontaneously, as part of the strategies they found
effective during the mobilization process. The Mayan groups have found global networks
effective for three main functions: (1) resource gathering function, to gather additional resources
to counteract their economic and political disadvantaging conditions, (b) safeguard function, to
denounce in the international public opinion the blatant persecution and criminalization of the
mobilization leaders, and (c) the boomerang function, the more prominent strategic global action
used by the movement so far, to gain power with international actors and exert enhanced
66

pressure over national decision-makers. These three functions are discussed in this section.
Different to working together with members inside the community, Mayas do not
naturally and spontaneously work with outsiders. The civil war that hit most of the Western and
North Western territory, which are the same locations of many extractive projects, ripped the
social fabric in these communities. Thus, Mayan populations have low confidence in foreigners
and strangers. However, this feature has changed gradually, driven by the need of support and the
positive experience of networking. As a consequence, a movement that began as a local struggle
have increasingly become a movement with global resonance.
In the case of the Mayan movement in Guatemala, one of the founders of the movement
noted that the strategy of building networks of support in other countries was not pre-planned,
but arose spontaneously, as a response to a latent need for support: "At the beginning we were
very closed to accepting people from outside our community, especially from other countries, but
then we realized that the government paid more attention to us when our case was covered by
international news media or when we got support from allies in other countries."
The global-networks building was a gradual process, as the movement itself. Building
networks was part of the growth of the movement: “we felt we were strong within our
communities, but we needed to articulate more support with others to become stronger; and we
have done it, step by step,” said a communication coordinator. The movement is using
reiteratively the concept of articulación (articulation) because it is recognizing the value of
support with other groups in the country and in other countries.

Some of the benefits perceived

by the movement from the transnational networks is that new allies share their knowledge and
resources and provide the movement leaders with indirect protection from political persecution.
67

Disadvantage conditions of most of the mayan communities, such as poverty, illiteracy and
scarce access to information and communication media limit their mobilization efforts. When the
movement started building networks across the country and in other countries, the leaders
perceived the value of the additional support. More than financial resources, the communities
saw how information, knowledge, and ideas were helping them to enhance their mobilization
actions. International allies also have been helpful in inviting and raising travel funds for Maya
representatives to participate in international forum, where they can continue building networks
and spreading their messages across.
In addition, as part of the safeguard function of the global networks, the movement makes
public statement of its claims in other countries as a way to obtain resonance of its messages and
protection in case the community leaders are persecuted. The leaders are continuously
denouncing that the government is criminalizing their protest. Thus, they feel less vulnerable if
they make this situation evident to the international community. A Maya-K'iche' leader in a
highly rural community explained:

"[...]the mining issue is very complex, so it is very important for us to get
information that helps us to build our strategies […] for instance, we did not
understand the energy business until a friend from Spain explained the energy
matrix to us. Also, [it is important to have] friends who can be our armor against
repressive actions that the government has started in our communities. Specially
this government, the president Otto Pérez Molina was a General in the army and
directly participated in the civil war. Later, he was in charge of intelligence and
national security units in different administrations. He know how to scare our
people. Some of our leaders have been arrested with even terrorism charges. The
good thing is that we are united this time. We are united and we have friends all
around the world with their eyes put over us."

68

One of the most important functions of the global networks built by the
socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala is what Keck and Sikkink (1999) have defined as
the "boomerang pattern." The boomerang effect occurs when the movement seeks the support
from allies outside the country to gain more power and exert more pressure with decision-makers
inside. This strategy is very effective in marginalizing environments, such as Guatemala, where
Mayan communities have been disempowered and excluded from political decision-making for
centuries.
A Maya-Mam leader from San Marcos pointed out that the groups have found some
international organizations as key allies because the government and corporations seem to pay
attention to them more than to the communities: “the government has never heard our claims
because they only listen to the companies, but when some international actors endorse us, then,
they do pay attention because they know we are not alone.”
An example of the boomerang effect was the caution measures dictated by the
Interamerican Commission for Human Rights, CIDH of the Organization of American States,
OAS, in 2011-2012, ordering the closure of Montana mine based on community's allegations of
water contamination and other problems with this mine. The government immediately formed a
commission to answer this demand. Although this measure did not stop the mine, at least the
company started some community projects to neutralize the negative image of the organization.
The Mayan movement has been successful in reaching international leaders attention. For
example, the United Nations, UN, Indigenous rights Special Rapporteur, James Anaya, has
visited Guatemala twice in the last three years (see figure 5). These events has not only reached
international exposure of the mining conflict in Guatemala causing calls of attention from
69

Goldcorp's stockholders, but also had positive effects to mobilize power nationally. Indeed,
looking at the chronological events of the mining issue (see Appendix C), the government and
mining corporations have launched some strategies in attention to some movement demands
when international actors visit the country or when some international events take place.

---Figure 5. Visit of UN Indigenous rights Special Rapporteur, James Anaya. Huehuetenango,
2010. Photo courtesy of The Esperanza Project.--Extending their local struggle to global networks has also represented an issue for internal
discussion within several Mayan groups who are still dubious about accepting allies from outside
for different reasons. First, some groups do not trust outsiders given the antecedents of
exploitation, discrimination and the civil war in Mayan territories. Second, representatives from
the government and corporations and some opinion leaders launched a public opinion strategy in
the last two years subtlety attacking the alliances between social movements and international
organizations. The key message is that international organizations financially and ideologically
support protesters in Guatemala to create conflict and gain more funds. Experts assert that this
argument also encompasses -even when hidden- a way of discrimination or racism, since
70

indigenous populations are seen as incapable of leading their own movement and easy to be
manipulated. As a reaction, some Mayan groups want to show that they can lead their movement
by themselves and reject international alliances.
Finally, there are other Mayan groups who feel that building networks with international
actors represent additional efforts they are not able to do in the current moments. Although there
are several benefits from building global networks, some groups have more limitations,
especially with time available to participate in the mobilization activities. They acknowledge that
building networks abroad may have benefits for the group but it also requires time and also
abilities to manage digital media, follow up conversations with the allies, and having internet
access periodically. Therefore, these groups prefer to continue working with other groups in the
same geographic region, and wait until the moment they feel they can afford building networks
abroad.
It is important to note that mobilization in general and global networking specifically
seems to be easier and more fruitful in communities with younger and more educated leaders and
membership. There are several groups with young Maya leaders with higher education level and
college degrees. They usually lead the movement actions and help the rest of the members to
make sense of incoming information from the global networks, are more skilled to use digital
media, and convey information locally and with partners abroad. For instance, in the last two
years, the movement has launched several legal strategies led by their own Mayan lawyers and
has promoted them through social networks. With these actions, the strategies represent better
the Mayan interests, the movement gains more attention in the local and international public
opinion, and the groups increase their collective efficacy because they see themselves achieving
71

several mobilization goals.
In sum, the global networks have arose as a spontaneous process in the Mayan
mobilization, triggering new challenges, such as building trust with potential allies from outside
and managing communication resources to build and maintain the networks. In turn, the
movement has received benefits from incorporating global networks in their mobilization efforts,
such as access to new knowledge, protection against political persecution, and enhanced power
to exert more pressure over national decision-makers. Even though the global networks are
growing, the Mayan movement still has to work on manners to coordinate better the international
support and multiply the beneficial effects of the global network to the more excluded groups in
the movement.
The self-tailored, integrated communication toolbox
The gradual evolution of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement has allowed
communities traditionally inexperienced in the use of media (especially ICTs) due to their
marginalized situation, to identify and progressively create their "communication toolbox"
resonant with their cultural values and particular mobilization needs. The self-construction of
communication toolkits provides greater sustainability in mobilization actions because
communities perceive them as genuine and relevant, different to the temporary impact of
imposed interventions. Scholars have proposed to explore the dynamics and outcomes of
networked communication, since it might sensitively vary in different cultures and environments
(Castells, 2007; Juris, 2008). Specifically for deprived populations, there is empirical evidence
(Cartier, Castells, & Qiu, 2005) that sometimes networked communication does not reach to
empower people under marginalization conditions. Therefore, it is important to analyze some of
72

the main features of the Mayan movement usage of media to build, maintain, and enhance their
mobilization actions. Appendix D includes a summary of the different communication outlets
and actions used by the Mayan movement describing the period/s of time when they have been
used, main functions, and mobilization outcomes.
The old, the folk, the new
Results show that the use of different media has evolved along with the evolution of the
movement itself. Different strategies and collective actions have driven the various movement's
groups to discover, implement, adapt and mix diverse media that they find effective to achieve
their goals. Each movement's group find its own formula to combine traditional practices, such
as community assemblies, with folk media embedded in their culture, such as oral narrative and
music, and new digital media such as cellphones and computers. A group communication
coordinator emphasizes that Mayan communities have thread their traditional communication
tools with new ones; those they find useful and therefore meaningful for their mobilization
purposes:

“At the beginning we were using the traditional Community Assembly to gather
with community members to share information and make collective decisions.
This has been our tradition for centuries. It is what we have been inherited from
our grandpas and grandmas. Sometimes, we used art performances at the central
park of the 'pueblo.' Where available, we used community radios. These radios
are ours, not like the big ones where they do not transmit our voices and desires.
We are discovering new ways of communicating with others. The youngest are
good with Internet and new things such as Facebook. But we use them only if they
help to our mission and if they do not go against our own values and traditions.
We like to talk and make decisions as a group, not individually. So, we use media
that allow us to keep doing things in this way.”

73

---Figure 6. Mayan communities have incorporated the use of ICTs along with other community
media for their mobilization purposes.--The media use for mobilization can be characterized more as expansion than replacement
of the media repertoire in the Mayan communities. Even in communities where the movement
has incorporated more decisively ICTs (e.g., computer mediated communication, CMC, and
SNS) in their strategies, other traditional media have not disappeared. Each medium is used for
certain objectives with specific audiences (see figure 6). Moreover, sometimes the use of ICTs
has triggered more effective use of other media, as it was described by a community leader who
is in charge of the communication functions:

“We learned how to send text messages and now we use it to announce
community assemblies and art performances that we organize for the weekends.
Also for the consultas comunitarias we use cellphone to transmit live to the
community radios about the voters affluence to the different voting centers. We
stopped using printed invitations and started using text messages when we have
an emergency or when we want to avoid been tracked by people who not only
opposes the movement but also have tried to harm physically or psychologically
our leaders.”
74

Information sharing, community journalism, and collective action coordination
Besides understanding the general role of digital media for mobilization in Mayan
communities in Guatemala, it is important to highlight three particular communication and
organization activities supported by ICTs usage: information sharing, community journalism, and
collective action coordination. Traditionally, Mayans used community assemblies for
information sharing and collective decision-making. Each community assembly begins with a
Mayan ceremony where participants share flowers, incense, and other natural offerings and pray
for wisdom to make decisions that benefit the community. Later, the community starts sharing
information and make decisions collectively. The assembly usually finishes with a pot-luck
where members share meals with each other (see figure 7).

---Figure 7. Maya-K'iche' community assembly during the opening ceremony. Communities
share resources and information and make collective decision-making, contributing to high levels
of group cohesion. Gumarcaaj, Quiché. March, 2012. --Complementary to the traditional community assemblies, the mobilization against mining
75

started incorporating other communication tools that allow them to extend their collaborative
work with groups and allies beyond their communities. A communication organizer pointed out
that each group has communication coordinators delegated to coordinate the digital media usage.
They use email and social networks to gather new information and then process and distribute it
both in person with the community during the assemblies, and through the same digital media.
The Internet became even more important when the movement became bigger, to share
new information with other members in the diverse locations not only in the country but also in
different places around the world. “It would be impossible for us to reach people in other
countries without Internet. It has helped us not only to obtain important information, but also
feel their support. Knowing there are other people supporting us out there is important because
gives us more power to pressure our local or national authorities, who seem to pay more
attention to foreigners,” pointed out a communication coordinator.
Communication organizers acknowledge that access to the Internet is limited in rural
areas, but the Mayan collectivist culture helps to find a way to get organized to take advantage as
much as possible of the scarce or limited resources they have. Digital media have also
contributed to the development of new practices of community journalism, both in a formal and
informal manner. The movement has reiteratively condemned the lack of attention from the mass
media to cover their position on the mining issue. Therefore, during relevant events, such as
consultas comunitarias, local leaders and community report information using cellphones and
transmit it through community radios or local newspapers. In addition, community members
informally become reporters of the events, transmitting text messages and pictures to their social
networks.
76

Different to the Internet, cellphones are accessible in almost all the country, which
facilitates its usage for mobilization even in rural areas. In addition, the cellphone technology
results easier to use and allows more mobility than computers and internet. Finally, digital media
have provided significant support for collective actions organization. Cellphones are used to
coordinate the group gatherings, press conferences, and demonstrations, and the email and social
networks are used to publicize the results to the mass media and public opinion. A young
member of the organization highlights the relevance of cellphones for public demonstrations:

“In some communities, we live very far away from each other, the only way to
spread the word and coordinate when we will have a public event rapidly is
through cellphone. Also, we try to update each other regarding relevant
information but we do not like to do it by mail because is risky given the political
persecution that we experience all the time.”

The use of social networks, such as Facebook, occurred more recently, trying to reach
more attention from the public opinion, especially in urban areas, and gain their support: “In the
capital city and other urban areas people think that mining exploitation is only our problem and
not theirs, that is why we want to share our view with them to articulate more support,” said a
group organizer. In addition, Facebook and Web sites helped the movement getting more
exposure with national and international audiences, who otherwise would not know about this
Mayan cause. Thus, although the social media sites, SMS, are not the main tools used by the
movement in its mobilization actions, it has become an expansive instrument to reach other
people beyond their community. In the words of a communication coordinator, “the Internet
gives us the opportunity to struggle locally and resonate globally.”
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The outcomes:
Successful inside, limited outside
Traditionally, measures of mobilization success are restricted to observing the movement's
strategies effectiveness in influencing public policies and political decisions (Zald, 1977).
However, the analysis of the effects of networked communication developed in this study
allowed the analysis of two dimensions to evaluate the success of the strategies implemented: (1)
the internal effects, over the movement, and (2) external effects, from the movement over
policies and elites' decision-making. Results from the case study in Guatemala show a contrast in
the role of networked communication for mobilization effectiveness: strong and effective inward,
strengthening community organizations and their networks with local and global partners; and
weakened and dulled outward, causing increasing conflicts between Maya communities and
economic and political decision-makers (ie, government, mining companies).
This section analyzes how the inward-outward, contrasting effects of networked
communication occur within the mobilization dynamics of the Mayan socioenvironmental
movement in Guatemala. In addition, three measures of networked communication success are
proposed complementary to the traditional assessment of policy and political change:
movement's influence on media, corporate, and political agendas.
Strong and effective inside
On the one hand, communication has been a highly successful tool among members of
the Mayan communities for internal organization. The socioenvironmental issue has led to a
process of "revitalization" of indigenous Mayans, as stated in recent studies (Moreno, 2010).
Reflecting the idiosyncrasies, traditions and particular needs and resources available, every
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community has built its own internal communication mechanisms to undertake a robust and
sustainable social mobilization process in the last eight years. This mobilization has grown
locally (in communities with current and potential projects of natural resources projects),
nationally (movements in other communities and allies and activists across the country), and
globally (through networks of regional and international partners). The movement has grown not
only geographically, but also qualitatively, showing increasing levels of group cohesion,
collective efficacy, and collective actions.
Defeating internal divisiveness between indigenous groups and the aftermaths of the
recent civil war, the issue of the natural resources exploitation has triggered a double fight that
for centuries has been relegated and now has found momentum to resurge: the defense of the
territory and vindication of the rights of indigenous peoples. Despite the high resource and power
differentials that can limit communication and social mobilization (Castells, 2007; Karlberg,
1996), the Guatemalan case has shown that the marginalization conditions under which most of
the mobilized people live have not totally limited mobilization because the groups keep high
levels of motivation and work following their traditional collaborative patterns. Moreover, it
seems that the obstacles that these groups face for mobilization help them to reach a greater
degree of cohesion and solidarity.
Members volunteer their time, food, and resources to contribute with the mobilization
actions within their community. Furthermore, there is an inter-group collaboration, because
communities with previous experience or more resources (knowledge, technology, contacts)
collaborate with others with less resources. In addition, the groups reached to build the Council
of Western Peoples, CPO, coalition that started performing united communication campaigns
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(see figure 8).

---Figure 8. Snap shot of a movement's post viralized on web sites, email, and social networks
sites. The main message was to join to a collective action at the Constitutional Court organized
by the Mayan coalition, Western Peoples Council: “Public Hearing. Mining law constitutional
law. Date: July 19 2012, Time: 9:00 Am, Place: Debates room of Constitutional Court. Address.
Bring your ID. Western Peoples Council, CPO.” During the press conference, the Mayan leaders
expressed that even if they do not succeed with this legal action, it helped them to articulate
different groups and to show others that Mayan peoples are united and strong.--The best example of the successful outcomes of networked communication for the
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empowerment of the mobilized communities is constituted by the more than 60 consultas
comunitarias developed in different municipalities in the country since 2005, all of them
organized by local civil society and supported by their transnational networks. Although the
authorities of the state of Guatemala has not clearly resolved key points about whether these
procedures are binding or not, these consultation processes have built strong ties within the
communities and between them and national and global allies. Moreover, the emergence of
consultas comunitarias has even strengthened other local government structures, sometimes
dysfunctional, such as the Community Development Councils, COCODES, and the Municipal
Development Councils, COMUDES, integrating them into the mobilization actions. Thus,
community consultations have become not only effective practices of communication and
community involvement, but also alternative norms of direct democracy, more resonant with the
ancestral collective values of the Maya population.
Beyond the local borders, the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala is an
example of effective communication power (Castells, 2011). The movement that started in a
small rural town in the highlands of Guatemala has reached support from activists, scholars, and
different types of allies all around the world linked by interpersonal and technology-mediated
communication. Thus, what began as a local protest, has now become a global networked
movement.
Weakened and dulled outside
On the other hand, the communication developed as part of this socioenvironmental
movement in Guatemala has not resulted equally effective for mobilizing power externally; that
is, influencing economic and political decision making. The processes of dialogue, negotiation
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with stakeholders in government and extractive corporations have not been effective so far. One
of the main causes of this situation is the high level of conflict that characterizes the natural
resources exploitation in the country.
As a chain effect, dysfunctional communication with external stakeholders results in the
low influence of the positions and requirements of communities in decisions of high political and
economic spheres, which in turn, leads to more heated conflicts that have ended in violent events
and even murdered community members. In constant public demonstrations, especially in the
last three years, communities repeatedly denounced the exclusion of their voices in decisionmaking of natural resource management policies and decisions, both locally and nationally. In
many cases, conflict levels gets too high it causes violent events that further exacerbate
polarization and lead to serious harm to the levels of governance in the country (recent example
occurred in 2012 with the upheavals in Barillas, Huehuetenango, resulting in a community leader
dead).
Both the movement leaders and political and economic authorities have recognized that
dialogue between them is ineffective and see the need to work at it. However, there is no legal
actions (i.e., reform of the mining law, consultas comunitarias recognition) or communication
mechanisms (effective procedures for dialogue and negotiation) institutionalized to alleviate this
situation. On one hand, the economic and political authorities state that although they have an
interest in solving these increasing conflicts, they see serious difficulties due to the high
dispersion of community leaders, the limited openness of some communities for discussion, and
radicalization of the issue, which does not allow effective negotiation. On the other hand,
communities state that they do not see conditions to trust the authorities and build an effective
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and fair dialogue. Instead, the Mayan movement denounces repression by the economic and
political authorities, whom they accuse of criminalizing and persecuting their leaders.
International government agencies (e.g., Organization of American States and United
Nations) have issued reports, recommendations and even injunctions to Guatemala's state
recommending to engage in an effective social dialogue that responds to the demands of the
indigenous communities in order to lower the conflict. Responding to these recommendations,
the political authorities of the country of the last three administrations have announced various
initiatives to promote social dialogue without overwhelming positive results. The Mayan leaders
see these initiatives as superficial and lacking a real intention to include their claims. The conflict
has increased recently, since the new administration that took office in 2012 announced its
intention to promote mining, hydroelectric projects, and natural resource exploitation as a central
engine for their economic plan. However, the government has not yet announced any
comprehensive policy or legal and social mechanisms through which they will address the
Mayan movement requests. This situation has generated that the conflict continues to climb.
The management of natural resources in Guatemala requires substantive decisions about
the pattern of economic and social development in the country. The high level of mobilization
reached by the organized communities evidences the importance that the issue of natural
resource management accounts for them and, therefore, its high potential for social conflict, and
high implications for the country's governance. International activists, scholars and governmental
agencies have set special attention on the socioenvironmental issue in Guatemala. Equally
important should be handled this issue by economic and political decision makers in the country.
It is crucial that the decision makers first, acknowledge the high level of organization behind this
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movement, and then, engage in a genuine dialogue and negotiation process to solve efficiently
the problem in a sustainable manner. Inclusive policies and political decisions may be effective
means to ensure economic, social, and political stability and counterbalance the conflictive
sociopolitical environment that currently characterizes the natural resources management issue in
Guatemala.
Measurable effects
Although the main requests of the socioenvironmental movement to the decision makers
have not yet been resolved (eg, stop granting mining licenses, address the results of the consultas
comunitarias, reform of the current mining law), there are three factors that make perceptible
and potentially measurable the level of success that the movement has achieved so far: its
influence on the media agenda, the agenda of mining corporations, and on the political agenda.
Influence on media agenda. Although the development of a content analysis is not in the
scope of this research, the observation of news media covering the mining issue during
ethnographic field work evidenced that the issue has increased its influence on national and
international media agenda. From scarce two or three short notes per year in 2004, coverage has
grown to tens of notes during a single month during 2012. Moreover, the mining issue has
reached to appear in front pages and main headlines repeatedly.
Increasing attention from the mass media to the mining issue and the Mayan
socioenvironmental movement can also be seen in the high attendance of different media to press
conferences organized by the movement. In 2010, two or three media sparsely attended the
conferences. In comparison, in 2012 attendance increase to about 20 journalists during press
conferences, including major media and even international media, resulting in high media
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coverage of the communities' messages (see figure 9).
The news director of local broadcasting and print media pointed out that even when he
wants to cover the two sides of the mining issue, “it is complicated to cover information from the
Mayan communities because it is difficult to identify the legitimate sources of information given
their blurry leadership where there is a leader today and another tomorrow.” He said that it is
easier to get information from the mining companies side because they have specialized
professionals and resources and are constantly sending information.

---Figure 9. Press conference showing high attendance of national and international media.
Guatemala city, 2012.--The news director emphasized that it is necessary that the Mayan communities work
more on the form and content of their discourse because it is sometimes too abstract: “their
speeches are too flowery, we cannot use them in those words,” the director said. He also urged
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scholars, researchers and experts in the mining topic to participate in the public debate and
generate informed opinions that news media can use as alternative source of information.
Influencing media agenda is an important factor for successful mobilization. According to
Habermas (1996) electronic media can contribute significantly to spreading the messages of civil
society that seek to influence the decisions of elites. However, it is essential that such messages
are covered by the mass media to acquire legitimacy and, consequently, obtain more power to
influence the agendas of the elites.
Influence on corporate agenda. Another suggested manner of measuring results of
mobilization is through changes in policies and decisions of the corporations. In the
socioenvironmental case in Guatemala, two events can be attributed to the pressure exerted by
the Mayan movement especifically over the operations of Marlin Mine: the strengthening of an
aggressive program of corporate social responsibility (includes community training programs,
highway construction, local school, and health center), and the creation of administrative units
for "community relations management. These corporate decisions were not implemented from
the beginning of operations of the Marlin Mine, but until the conflict was rising.
A manager in the headquarters' office of a transnational mining company with operations
in Guatemala reaffirmed in the interview that social mobilization had influenced corporate policy
towards a more open attitude and genuine dialogue:“Management in Guatemala changed
significantly from being a defensive bunker in the first years […] We said 'we need to seat and
talk.'”
Influence on political agenda. The influence of the Maya socioenvironmental movement
on the political agenda was evident mainly in two aspects: a) as a relevant issue in the campaign
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speeches during 2010-2011 general elections, and b) as a target of political strategies from
government and legislative officers. For the first time, the issue of mining and natural resources
exploitation was part of the election campaigns or presidents, congressmen, and mayor
candidates. The elected president, Otto Perez Molina, during his campaign said he would not
allow irresponsible natural resources exploitation and royalties would be rised at least 35%
(significant increase over the 2% required by law). None of these offers are fulfilled. Moreover,
other mining exploration licenses and hydroelectric projects have been granted with public
denounces of inadequate environmental impact studies to back them up.
Knowing the increasing sensitivity of the issue of mining, former president, Alvaro
Colom (2008 – 2012), prevented his government to authorize any mining licenses, leaving on
hold more than 60 exploration and exploitation licenses. However, the current government of
Otto Perez Molina has taken a particular stance in favor of mining. Both executive officer and
legislative representatives of the official party, in resonance with the extractive industry
representatives in the country and other opinion leaders, have developed a public opinion
strategy. They argue that “mining is a unique opportunity for the development of the country”
and social conflict around extractive industry projects “is caused by misinformation and
manipulation of rural communities orchestrated by foreign NGO's”. In less than a year, about a
dozen of exploration licenses and several hydroelectric projects have been granted. It was also
publicly announced will grant pending exploitation licenses as well because "the State must
comply with the law." As a result, several upheavals have arose during 2012 with three protesters
dead, a couple disappeared and several imprisoned (see Appendix C for more details of
chronological events of the mining issue).
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According to an international activist interviewed regarding the increasing violent
confrontation between communities and the political and economical elites: "the government of
Otto Perez Molina knows the intensity of the conflict but decided to repress it rather than solve
it." The activist points out that the president has a lot of pressure to grant mining licenses and
approve hydropower projects "and he has decided to use smear strategies, persecution, and
criminalization of community leaders to neutralize mobilization, as in the recent confrontation in
Barillas, Huehuetenango, where there was a military intervention, several arrests and a
murdered communitarian." As a mitigation strategy given the increasing sensitivity of the issue,
the Ministry of Energy and Mining announced the launch of an initiative to reform the Mining
Act. However, it does not include anything about the community consultations because “this is
not the law where that issue should be discussed,” the Minister said.
The Mining Ministry also opened in 2012 a unit of sustainable development and
community relations, arguing that this will help to reach effective dialogue. However,
communitarians see these actions as superficial image tactics because the government and the
companies are never open to genuine dialogue or negotiation. A community leader who
coordinates legal actions described with frustration tone:

“The government and mining companies are the same thing, they say one thing
and do other. They use dialogue as a smoke curtain. Sometimes, we have started
talking about concrete issues of the extractive projects but there are no concrete
responses. Even when we try to hold our communities in a peaceful attitude, there
have been several violent events because people get tired. Then, we have our
people arrested or persecuted. It's scary because the government uses the same
strategies they used during the armed conflict. [...] after all, the negotiations end
up focusing on the liberation of our people. It's frustrating that our protests are
totally criminalized.”
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In sum, there are some intermediate signs of success of the Mayan socioenvironmental
movement in Guatemala, such as influence on media agenda, changes in corporate policies, and
some minor public policy modifications. However, ineffective dialogue and political persecution
against indigenous leaders dull the potential of the Mayan movement to effectively influence
corporate and political decision-making, resulting in increasing conflict and the consequential
harm to the already fledging Guatemalan democracy.

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CHAPTER 6
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This research aimed to analyze the potential of networked communication for mobilization
purposes of marginalized populations. The case study of the Mayan socioenvironmental
movement against mining in Guatemala was used to examine whether underprivileged
populations, such as indigenous rural communities in the country, are able to use communication
to build networks of support, and under which conditions this occurs. Exclusion factors of the
Guatemalan context, such as poverty, social discrimination, and limited access to communication
technologies may limit citizens' capability to mobilize political power, as shown in prior research
(Cartier, Castells, & Qiu, 2005; Castells, 2007; Karlberg, 1997; Sassen, 2004).
Using a combination of qualitative methodologies (i.e., in-depth interviews, direct
observations and document analysis) during multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork (Marcus, 1995),
this case study shows that Mayan communities in the Western highlands of Guatemala are
defeating marginalization and challenging the status quo in the country. Indigenous communities
have assembled their own communication toolbox to build multi-scalar networks of support for a
movement that fights locally but resonates globally.
The Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala has gradually integrated
interpersonal, traditional, and digital media that respond to the evolving mobilization goals.
These communications reflect the collaborative nature of their core values, resulting in sustained
networks of support within their communities, and beyond their communities, at a local,
national, and international level. Even with great limitations for access and operation, the Mayan
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movement has successfully used networked communication mainly for information sharing,
community journalism, and collective action, supplementing the traditional and community
media they originally used.
The assessment of the success of networked communication to further mobilization goals
shows to be strong inside the movement but weak outside. Networked communication empowers
marginalized communities, reinforcing key mobilization aspects, such as group cohesion,
collective efficacy, and social capital. Moreover, networks are used as a “boomerang” strategy to
gain support internationally that might help to get more attention and exert more pressure
nationally. However, repressive measures used by political elites in Guatemala limit the
opportunities of the Mayan communities to further their mobilization goals. Ineffective dialogue
and political persecution against indigenous leaders dull the potential of the Mayan movement to
influence corporate and political decision-making, resulting in increasing social conflict.
This study proposes some intermediate-level measurement of success, complementary to
the long-term policy change effects: influence on media agenda, changes in corporate policies,
and some minor public policy modifications. The study concludes that the final effects of
networked communication for mobilization should measure not only the impact on public
policies and elites' decisions but also, and more importantly, the mobilization effects on
processes of identity building, public discourse, and sociopolitical norms as mechanisms for
genuine and sustainable social change.
Thus, this study shows that communication can empower marginalized populations to
mobilize power. But, what can be learned from the case study in Guatemala about the conditions
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under which networked communication enables empowerment of deprived populations?
Decalogue of empowering networked communication
The present study found some key factors that showed being effective in the practice of
networked communication for the empowerment of disadvantaged populations:
1.Genuine: Communication networks that emerge in a spontaneous manner during the
mobilization process are effective because they are relevant to the needs of the communities. As
shown in the socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala, the Mayan communities see the
communication networks as authentic because they have been built gradually instead of being
imposed by others. Therefore, the members feel capable and motivated to maintain these
networks as effective means to achieve their mobilization goals.
2.Culturally resonant: Networked communication is effective for marginalized
communities' empowerment when it is resonant with their cultural values. For the Mayan
communities in Guatemala, collaborative work, horizontal structures, and group-decision making
is not something new or strange. Rather, networked communication reinforces ancient traditions
of these indigenous communities, as it was illustrated in this study. This is the reason why some
movement leaders acknowledged that they prefer using ICTs that allow for more personal
interaction and collective action, such as mobile phones in combination with community radios.
Although resonant with indigenous core cultural values, networked communication still has a
way to go with network-building beyond the community borders because some communities do
not trust people from outside given past experiences when they have been exploited or
persecuted by outsiders.
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3.Strongly propelled. Much of the stamina that empowers deprived populations when
using networked communication for mobilization comes from the nature of their demands. In
the case of the Mayan movement in Guatemala (and most of movements against extractive
industries that have emerged in Latin America in the last decade), the movement´s demands
respond to historic and unsolved socioeconomic and political problems strongly affecting rural
Mayan communities where the extractive projects take place. Natural resources exploitation in
Guatemala is not only an environmental issue; it involves themes such as the struggle for land,
the country´s development model, and the rights of indigenous peoples, which are demands
accumulated for decades.
Movement mottos, such as “for the defense of the territory,” are also associated with core
Mayan values, based on a sense of belonging and harmony with nature. These factors give a
special force to the movement´s efforts to create and maintain networks of support. For centuries
these communities have been relegated to exclusion. Therefore, the movement has strong
motivations to extend their potential to mobilize power by building networks of allies locally and
globally, even defeating great obstacles, such as poverty, trust in foreigners, and limitations for
media access.
4.Self-tailored, integrated media toolbox: Mobilization among deprived populations
shows being more effective and sustainable when it is supported by media that they choose and
implement according to their needs, capabilities and at their own pace. Specifically with the
Mayan movement in Guatemala, the development of networked communication required some
communities to use, additional to their traditional media, new information and communication
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technologies (ICTs), such as the Internet. When members perceived the benefits of using new
media for their goals (e.g., obtaining new knowledge, reaching people in other regions and
abroad, diffusing their messages through their own media alternatively to mass media) they
started integrating them with other media they were already using, such as community
assemblies, murals, and community radio. There has not been any imposition or media-mix
formula; each community has had its own process to select its own media mix. They did not
substitute traditional media with new ones; they used them complementarily.
5.Relevant: Networked communication strengthen its empowering potential when it is
performed through media that communities find relevant to achieve their goals and suitable with
their values. In the case of the Mayan movement in Guatemala, information and communication
technologies, such as social networks sites (SNS) and mobile phone are increasingly being
incorporated into the media toolbox because the communities perceive them effective and
culturally pertinent.
Specifically, these digital media have helped the movement to display their messages and build
and maintain networks of support, at the same time that allow for more interpersonal interaction,
resources sharing, and group collaboration, which are key collectivistic values in the Mayan
culture.
The use of SNS and the internet has limitations in the rural communities context, such as
lack of electricity, high cost of digital devices and internet service, and low digital media usage
skills. Differently, mobile phones are broadly used, even in very rural communities. The mobile
communication infrastructure covers almost all the country and users have defeated other
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potential limitations, for instance, paying a neighbor to charge the phone if they do not have
electricity at home, or learning how to write and read key messages for SMS even when
illiterate.
6. Key “networked” mobilizers: Networked communication creates or reinforces group
binders that empower deprived communities through three key mobilization factors: resource
sharing, social capital, and collective efficacy. In the case of the Mayan movement in Guatemala,
networked communication provides the communities with opportunities to build and maintain
networks of support to defeat some of their limitations by sharing different resources through the
networks, such as information, access to digital media, and experience. The experience of
sharing resources not only creates stronger support ties, but also increases the social capital in the
communities. In addition, the binding effect of sharing resources and the growing social capital
enhances the self collective efficacy among the members of the groups, who feel stronger and
capable of achieving their goals when act together.
7.Networks of pressure and protection: Besides the impact of networked communication
on mobilization within local groups, its empowering potential increases when the networks
expand to international allies as strategy of pressure and protection. In the case of the Mayan
movement in Guatemala, the communities have extended their networked communication to
potential allies in other countries, aiming to gain support internationally as means to gain power
and exert more pressure decision-making nationally. In addition, the movement uses the
international networks as a protection mechanism given the political persecution and repressive
measures imposed by the local elites. These transnational networks strategy have been effective
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to empower the communities because it reinforces the collective efficacy of the groups, who feel
stronger and more capable to achieve their goals when they are supported by allies abroad as a
symbol that they are not alone.
8.Catalyzer: Although most of the factors discussed above indicate the effectiveness of
networked communication for the empowerment of marginalized communities this effect is not
homogeneous in all the communities. Rather, it appears that networked communication works as
a catalyst for existing conditions in the communities where it operates. In the Mayan case study,
networked communication for mobilization has mostly leveraged synergies and collective work
of the community, but sometimes also has exacerbated conflict and division of communities
given particular clashing contexts.
On the one hand, the emergence of networked communication for mobilization has
prompted social synergies where mobilized groups have developed new ways of linking native
ancestral forms of collective organization with a recent experience of social protest after the civil
war, and new forms of digitally mediated communication strategies. In these cases (the majority,
according to the results of the present research), the emergence of networked communication has
been the catalyst for the reinforcement of collectivist values and practices embedded in the social
and political organization of the Maya communities.
On the other hand, in some communities with particularly clashing environments (strong
antagonisms between leaders, antecedents of groups confrontations, negative leaderships) the
emergence of networked communication for mobilization may exacerbate polarization and social
conflict. This effect is even more negative in contexts where there is a blatant lack of effective
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dialogue between actors and the government remains absent from its role of informant and
mediator. In some communities, social mobilization has exacerbated conflicts between members
of the community to such levels that has resulted in highly violent riots and has even caused
deaths.
9.Threshold of action-repression: Despite the great potential of networked
communication for the empowerment of indigenous communities, the network power for
mobilization diminishes if the communities' demands are poorly addressed by the decision
makers (i.e., government, legislators, corporations). In the Guatemalan Mayan movement, there
has been an effect that can be called "threshold of action-repression." The elites not only have
poorly addressed the communities' demands, but also there has been evidence of social or
political repression (persecution, intimidation, siege, etc.). However, these repressive measures
have not been sufficient to cause the total stoppage of movement. Rather, in some cases, these
events have prompted populations to get closer as an act of solidarity, and to strengthen their
communication networks within the communities and between them and other international
actors to denounce human rights violation. In addition, the repressive measures do not have to be
seen as lack of effectiveness of mobilization, but as a kind of reaction of the elites to the
effectiveness of the communities' mobilization, trying to neutralize the power that communities
are gaining.
In any case, it is clear that the rural communities need to develop mechanisms to
strengthen their negotiation ability. After many years of silence, now these Mayan communities
have a voice. However, they must pass the stage of complaint to the stage of negotiation in order
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to reach effective solution to their problems.
10.From policy change to social change: Networked communication has the potential to
prompt more inclusive forms of sociopolitical organization and participation, which is especially
relevant for populations under marginalization conditions. In the Guatemalan case, the Mayan
movement did not intend to develop alternative forms of sociopolitical participation as part of
their mobilization goals. However, the development of networked communication has stimulated
collaborative, horizontal structures and forms of organization and participation. This is what
Juris (2008) notes as one of the main results of the networking logic, the rise of new "forms and
norms" of rhizomatic political participation and direct democracy practices. As stated by Sosa
(2009), these collectivist sociopolitical practices are strong among Mayan populations because
they resonate with their ancestral collectivist culture.
These forms of collaborative, rhizomatic participation are an unintended consequence of
the Mayan mobilization. Beyond the socioenvironmental mobilization goals and achievements,
this Mayan movement has developed an alternative scheme to the vertical, centralized, exclusive
sociopolitical patterns prevalent in the country. As suggested in previous research by Sosa and
Ramos (2010) these Mayan collectivist sociopolitical practices may be a great contribution for
political and social change, leading to the improvement of the quality of governance and
democracy in the country.
Marginalization: both limiting and enhancing mobilization
The study of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala evidenced that
indeed, exclusion conditions such as political and communication differentials may limit the
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networked communication potential to mobilize power. However, marginalization can also
become the motivation, stamina, and social bond to overcome disadvantage conditions.
On the one hand, exclusion restricts key resources for networked communication, such as
time spent to organize collective action, resources to implement communications strategies, the
ability to obtain information and knowledge useful to the movement, and access to and use of
ICT's and other media. Restrictions for communication and mobilization resources put these
communities at a disadvantage compared to their adversaries, big companies and political elites,
who have vast resources to launch massive communication campaigns, hire experts, and use as
many media outlets as they want.
Adversaries, such as big businesses and government pose a double advantaged situation
because they also maintain a dominant political position. Hence, one of the factors that limits the
effectiveness of the mobilization in the case of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement is
repression and political persecution. In cases such as Guatemala, with a recent history of civil
war that even includes genocide accusations against indigenous populations
(http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/juicio-por-genocidio-0), this political persecution can
unleash social pathologies ranging from social fear, to reappearance of insurgent revolutions.
This not only hinders peaceful citizen mobilization processes but hurts governance and the
strengthening of an already fledgling democracy.
On the other hand, the same factors that limit mobilization of deprived populations may
strengthen it when members take their marginalization as motivation to seek social change and to
build networks of solidarity to overcome the sparsity of resources. Consistent with Olson's
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(1971) classic study and more recent analyses by Grunig (1992) on management of
communication between corporations and activist groups, big business material resources can be
equated with activists' high levels of motivation and stamina. There are also elements that
enhance this effect, as in the case of the socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala, in which
the accumulation of unresolved claims and issue mobilization resonate with Mayan core values
to encourage and maintain the collective work.
Resource scarcity also may trigger momentum to develop networks that allow deprived
populations to build networks through which they can share the few resources they have or look
for alternative sources. For the Mayan movement, the community consultations are the best
example of how local actors start mobilization using existing networks locally, but then expand
the networks to other communities and allies within and across the borders who usually provide
them with moral support, experience, or communication resources. Thus, it results not only in an
improved learning process, but also in stronger solidarity ties, enhancing interpersonal trust and
group cohesion, which have proved key components of collective efficacy (Cartier, Castells, &
Qiu, 2005), social capital (Fukuyama, 2001; Rojas et al., 2011), and network power in general
(Castells, 2007a, 2007b).
Networked communication may help to defeat political differentials, as well. Consistent
with other studies on social movements in Latin America (Alvarez, 2000; Escobar & Alvarez,
1992; Rodríguez-Garavito & Arenas, 2005; Ulloa, 2001) results from this research showed how
communities used the “boomerang pattern” (Keck & Sikkink, 1999) to build networks of support
in other countries that can exert more pressure over the national elites. In addition, this study also
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found that social movements of excluded populations also use transnational networks as a
mechanism of protection against increasing political repression and persecution.
In sum, networked communication may help deprived populations to defeat
marginalization by generating inspiring and cohesive actions that result in effective and sustained
political and social change. Despite these encouraging findings, it cannot be neglected that the
beneficial potentialities of networked communication for mobilization are restricted by the lack
of genuine dialogue and effective responses to the communities' demands from the political and
economic elites. Instead of seeing emerging, locally rooted and transnationally networked social
movements as threats, the decision-makers in the country should see them as means to improve
more participatory and inclusive processes that may lead to improved governance and a more
sustainable democracy in the country.
“My husband works in 'el campo,' we both come from peasant families. I sell
produce in the local market and take care of the children. Our labor day starts at
four in the morning and finishes at six in the afternoon. We spend almost two
hours walking back home. We are very committed with the cause but sometimes
the body and mind are too tired. We are two of the very few who can read and
write in our community, so we feel like we need to make an extra effort to help. In
the group assembly sometimes we all agree of what we need to do, but it is
difficult do to it if we don't have neither time nor money to do it […] However,
these conditions make us work harder to achieve our goals. We don't have too
many things, but we share what we have to get what we want. We are poor but we
are strong.”

Young Maya-Mam woman during a consulta comunitaria in San Juan Ostuncalco,
Quetzaltenango.
Repressions instead of concessions: A latent threat
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One of the main determinants for effective mobilization of deprived populations is the
repression exerted by political elites (i.e., government). As discussed above, political repression
against mobilization groups may be a sign of the effectiveness of mobilization and also a major
threat to the disappearance of the movement. Social movements theory (McCarthy & Zald, 1977)
has pointed out that the effectiveness of social mobilization can be measured though two types of
reactions of the ruling elites: concessions or repression. Therefore, repression may be considered
as an indirect sign of mobilization success. However, this study contends that if the repression
against members of the mobilization is extreme and surpasses a threshold of collective selfefficacy, it may hush the movement definitely, with dreadful consequences to governance and
social peace, especially in fledging democracies.
In the studied case in Guatemala, as shown in the timeline of events related to mining and
natural resources exploitation (see Appendix C), the events related to repression and persecution
of community leaders have increased over time. The Mayan movement has several cases of
violence that resulted in the death of their leaders. Beginning with 2005 in Cuatro Caminos,
when a community leader was killed. So far, there are five deaths attributed to the increasing
conflict and violence related to mining and extractive projects. Mobilized communities have
publicly stated that despite the violent and repressive actions against their populations, they will
remain in peaceful resistance. They perceive that the government is setting a strategic trap,
inciting communities to revolt to then arrest the leaders.
The present study has shown that networked communication may empower communities
internally and also may provide mobilized groups with tools to extend their external networks of
102

support to minimize their vulnerability to overcome repression and political persecution (e.g.,
boomerang strategy ). However, cases of utmost political repression in highly conflicting
environments such as Guatemala (i.e., recent civil war, inequality, high insecurity) may cause
total paralysis of civil mobilizations with highly damaging effects to still incipient democracy.
Women and youth leadership: A blatant opportunity
The empowering potential of networked communication may be enhanced through the
leadership of women and young population, and viceversa. The socioenvironmental movement
in Guatemala has shown that, on the one hand, the empowerment of women and young leaders
has facilitated the incorporation of networked communication to mobilization practices because
they are a revived leadership, open to collaborative work and innovative communication
practices.
On the other hand, collaborative and participatory practices of networked communication
have enhanced leadership in women and youth populations. During the civil war, many men
from Mayan communities in the highlands were recruited by the army or the guerrillas, leaving
widows and orphans who took the leadership in their homes and now they are also leaders in
their communities. Nowadays, these women and young people have revitalized their leadership
through networking activities, such as collective action organizers, media relations, and social
networks sites management.
Young people and women of the socioenvironmental movement represent a renewed
leadership and a great opportunity for the effective use of networked communication for social
change in their communities and the country (see figure 10).
103

---Figure 10. March after violent events in Barillas, Huehuetenango. Women and young Maya
population represent an opportunity for a renovated and “revitalized” Mayan leadership--Theoretical implications
In addition to the socio-political impact of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement
discussed above, there are relevant implications for social sciences theory in four interrelated
areas that I have discussed in the literature review: communication and networks, policy making,
globalization, and social movements in the context of an environmental issue.
First, this research provides evidence of the network power (Castells, 2007a, 2011).
Specifically, results show the potential of networked communication to overcome resource and
power differentials that characterize activist communication in general (Dozier & Lauzen, 2000;
Karlberg, 1996) and environmental mobilization specifically (e.g., Akpalu & Parks, 2007; Pieck,
2006; Root, Wiley, &Peek, 2002; Ulloa, 2001). More importantly, as Juris (2008) suggested, this
study analyzes the specific dynamics and context that condition these effects.
104

Results from this study lend support to a multidimensional approach of networked
communication effects on social mobilization, considering its impact to empower the group and
to mobilize power outside the group to influence political decision making. As it was shown in
this study, networked communication may be highly effective to generate group cohesion,
collective efficacy, and social capital. However, group empowerment do not necessarily
translates into higher and immediate political power to influence elites' decision-making.
The Mayan socioenvironmental movement in Guatemala also suggest to study the role of
networked communication not only as the technology-based networks, but as interpersonal
networks. Especially in developing countries contexts, such as Latin America (and probably
some collectivist populations in Africa and Asia), the interpersonal relationship is highly valued.
In addition, giving the antecedents of war and repression of some of these countries,
interpersonal relations help to build trust and stronger ties between members and allies. Media
usage shows reinforcing, instead of mutually exclusive patterns, and must be studied in an
integrative manner.
As the Mayan movement showed, communities incorporated new communication media
to their traditional communication activities. Likewise, the usage of networked media, both
interpersonal and mediated, triggered new strategies to reach mass media coverage. This
integrated use of networked and mass information media leverages mobilization results because,
as suggested by Habemas (2006), although networked communication broadens the potential to
diffuse messages within and among mobilization groups, these messages need to enter into the
mass media communication flows in order to legitimate their claims in the public opinion court.
105

Second, the results of the study in Guatemala suggest that the agenda-building process for
public policy in general and specifically on environmental issues should be studied considering
new strategies that incorporate network communication not only local and national but
transnational. Strategies such as the "boomerang pattern" (Keck and Sikkink, 1999) show that
political actors, especially in bottom-up processes in the context of socio-political exclusion,
seek to mobilize power through networks of partners in other countries that support and protect
them in order to exert more pressure over national decision makers.
Third, this study is consistent with previous research showing the multidimensional and
multidirectional nature of globalization through mobilization defined as "globalization from
below" (Della Porta, 2006, Juris, 2008; Sassen, 2004) and add new findings of "globalization
from the south." Prior research shows the paradox of grassroots movements challenging global
corporations or international government organizations (IGOs) using global (Juris, 2008) or
transnational structures (Sassen, 2004). Most of these studies have been conducted in cities and
urban environments, where it is expected to find conditions favorable to transnational networkbuilding (e.g., communication infrastructure, access to ICTs). The case of the Mayan movement
in Guatemala, however, provides evidence of the conditions in which such networks can also be
constructed and used effectively in peripheral populations.
Fourth, this study contributes to literature on environmental studies in general and
environmental policy making specifically from a Latin American perspective. As it was shown in
the present research, in the last decade, mining and natural resources exploitation has emerged in
the region as a main issue, not only as an environmental theme, but as an “umbrella theme” with
106

economic, political, social and even cultural, and ethnic edges. Therefore, it is important to
understand the multidimensionality of the issue and which of these dimensions are crucial in
each particular case, when approaching corporate projects, mobilization actions, conflict
management, and public policies.
Finally, the results of the socioenvironmental Mayan movement in Guatemala propose
key elements for the development of measures of the effects of social mobilization in the context
of socio-political disparity. Group cohesion, collective identity, interpersonal trust, and collective
efficacy were intermediate outcomes of the networked communication that enhanced the ability
of groups to overthrow the marginalization and empower populations to influence political
decision-making. However, the final effects of networked communication for mobilization
should measure not only the impact on public policies and elites' decisions but also, and more
importantly, the mobilization effects on processes of identity building, public discourse, and
sociopolitical norms as mechanisms for genuine and sustainable social change.

"I do not know if mining companies and government will ever take into account
the needs and demands of the Mayan communities. I do not know if they will ever
stop granting mining licenses or hydroelectric projects. But the greatest
achievement of this Mayan movement is their proposal of a new model of
participation. They are leaving a huge legacy for building citizenship. They are
showing the true face of democracy. That's priceless "

International Governamental Organization official, interviewed during a national government
event.

107

Limitations and further studies
These results are limited to the present case study and to the specific time period
investigated in this research. More studies need to be conducted in diverse social contexts and
analyzing different mobilization stages that allow comparison and/or generalization of these
findings. Further research examining separate networked communication actions and outlets,
both personal and mediated (e.g., community assemblies, cellphones, SNS), and their association
with specific mobilization actions can provide more information about the role and potential of
each communication medium for specific mobilization tasks.
Specifically for digital social networks, more research needs to be conducted that
identifies devices and features that improve the relevance and empowering potential of ICTs
among excluded populations. This has special implications for the cellphones industry, which
was found to be the main ICT used in these deprived contexts. There are some efforts in the
design of applications and features to promote economic and education betterment of
disadvantaged populations. However, there are scarce projects on features and applications to
enhance the power mobilization that some of these populations want in order to voice their needs
and demands for betterment by themselves.
In the case of the Guatemalan movement, networked communication proved highly
effective because it resonates with collective values of Mayan culture. However, there is still an
interpersonal trust barrier for networking electronically with people they consider strangers. The
reason for this distrust is probably linked to antecedents of repression that are still prevalent in
political persecution today. Although it is expected that several of the findings in this study can
108

be applied to cases in other countries under similar conditions (i.e., emergent democracies,
developing countries, multicultural societies), it is important to conduct more case studies with
other marginalized populations that allow validation, comparison, and extension of this research.

109

APPENDICES

110

APPENDIX A

Interview guides
Interview Guide 1: For Movement Organizers and Allies
I

Questions about goals of the movement
1. What are the main goals of your movement regarding the mining issue?
2. What is/are the main message/s you want to convey to different interlocutors?

II

Questions about the use of communication
3. Do you use communication to achieve your goals? Which goals? How?
Probe: How do you get organized for the different actions? (e.g., community consultations)
How do you communicate to mobilize support from external sources? (e.g., international
networks)
How do you use communicationto influence the political agenda? (e.g., protests, dialogue tables)
4. Which types of communication (interpersonal, group, mediated) do you use for this
_____ (specific action/message sent)? Why?
5. Which types of media do you use for this _____ (specific action/message)? How? Why?
Probe: Mention specific types of media/ technologies: Internet? Website? Emails? Facebook or
other similar media? Cellphone? TV? Radio? Any other media/technology I haven't mentioned?
6. How do you build your networks to mobilize support? The local, national and global
support and allies you have is product of any of your actions? How? Why?
7. Sometimes you have performed actions more oriented to dialogue and others oriented to
pressure with political authorities? Why? What have been more effective?
8. Has your communication changed in different moments or stages of the movement?
How?
III
Questions about the success/outcomes of communication to achieve their goals
9. Has this_____ communication action you just described been successful so far? Why?
Probe: (If not mentioned, ask directly about: community consultations, dialogue tables, road
blocking, local and international networks, web site and social media, email, cellphone, media
coverage.
10. Do you think these actions have enhanced some skills for participants, for example, for using
communication media, developing civic engagement, higher levels of social organization and
participation? Any other? How? Why? Are there any undesirable consequences? How? Why?
Interview Guide 2: Legislators, Government, International Government, Corporation
I

Questions about the success/outcomes of the movement's communication
1. According to you, what have been your effective and ineffective communication
experiences? Why?
111

2. What is the status of the issue now? What are the main points of the negotiation now?
3. News media report that the movement is gaining power? Do you think that is true? If so,
why?
4. And, if so, what do you believe are the likely outcomes of the movement gaining power?
5. What is the next step going to be in the negotiation?
6. What would make the dialogue and negotiation processes more effective? Why?

112

APPENDIX B

Table 3. Participants interviewed during predissertation and dissertation fieldwork. 2009 –
2012.
No.

Date

Interviewee

1

05/14/09

Local human rights advocate

2

05/14/09

Industry Chamber Consultant

3

12/14/9

Catholic church leader

4

12/14/9

Mayan leader

5

05/14/9

Environmental Activist /community organizer– Capital city –
working with nascent groups

6

05/17/09

Government mediator / Director of the National Dialogue
System

7

05/18/0

Mayan leader/ national peasant organizer

8

05/19/9

International Social Advocate

9

11/11/11

International Cooperation Director

10

09/01/10

IGO Official

11

03/01/11

Government Official for National Dialogue System

12

11/16/11

Scientist, International Expert

13

12/12/11

Representative Governmental Commission Human Rights

14

12/02/11

Dir Comm Mining Company

15

12/02/11

Director Urban newspaper / TV news program

16

12/08/11

Scholar / Researcher in Territory and Indigenous Rights

17

12/12/11

Environmental expert / activist / NGO director

18

13/12/11

Director Newspaper/ TV reports program

19

15/12/11

Government official – Secretary of Energy and Mining

20

15/12/11

Government representative for Transparency in charge of
Extractive Transparency Program (funded by WB) = IETI

21

22/12/11

Representative United Nations (human rights)

22

22/12/11

Transnational mining corporation – local subsidiary manager
113

Table 3 (cont'd)
23

01/09/12

International governmental organization financing extractive
projects

24

01/06/12

Communication organizer – Mayan community group

25

03/30/12

Peasants organizer

26

11/24/12

Congressman – left wing party

27

11/24/12

Congressman - right wing party

28

07/27/12

Executive transnational mining company - headquarters office

114

APPENDIX C

Table 4. Timeframe of relevant events related to mining and natural resources exploitation
issue in Guatemala. 1996 – 2012.
Date

Event

Comments

1996 -1998
Jun/96

June 5, Guatemala ratifies the Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples Convention No. 169 – International Labour
Organization Convention, also known as ILOconvention 169, which recognizes the prior and
informed consultation to indigenous people

Jun/97

On June 18 comes into force the Mining Law,
Decree 48-97 under President Alvaro Arzú's
administration (1996 - 2000).

1998

Exploration license granted to Montana Exploradora
(owned by the transnational mining company
Glamis, which was then acquired by Goldcorp, Inc).

The Mining Law does
not recognizes prior and
informed consultation to
indigenous people as it
was ratified by
Guatemala in the ILOconvention 169.
One of the main changes
is the royalties decrease.
President Alvaro Arzú's
administration.

2004
2003

President Portillo's administration grants first
exploration and exploitation licenses under the new
law.
Marlin Mine explotation license granted.
Opposition starts in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, San
Marcos.

2004
Marlin project begins construction phase in San
Marcos.
2005
115

First opposition
expressions.
San Marcos' Archbishop
Alvaro Ramazinni
leading protests against
mining.

Table 4 (cont'd)
Jan 11/05

First massive march against Marlin Mine. Blocked
road at Los Encuentros. Ends up in riots.
Government unleashed the security forces . A
peasant dead and 16 gravely wounded.
Community leaders charged with terrorism and
sedition.

May-June/05

First Consultas Comunitarias (community
consultations): Comitancillo, May – Sipacapa, June
18. San Marcos.

August/05

Oscar Berger's administration grants more licenses.

October/05

Marlin Mine starts extracting gold and silver.

Accepts the need for
consultation but does not
do it, leaving this role to
the communities,
companies and NGO's.

2007
2007

Provisional measures to Guatemala because
potential harm of Marlin Mine to people and
environment, from the Inter American Commission
of Human Rights, ICHR(1566-07).

2007

Government responds in
2008. Tries to implement
the regulations of
Consultas but failed
because did not consult
any social organization.
The bottom line problem
was the lack of
community consultation
but ended up being about
water and the company
showed no harm, so the
measures were
withdrawn.

Guatemalan Constitutional Court rules regarding to
consultas but Congress has not done anything about
it until now

2008
Upheavals and riots of Maya-cackchiqueles
communities at San Juan Sacatepéquez against
Cement Mine -CEMPRO. Arrest warrants against
protesters.
116

- Main complaints:
Harm to roses
plantations, noise, dust,
potential problems to the

Table 4 (cont'd)
aquifers stratum
- Ineffective
management from
government exacerbates
conflict.
- OIT reported moral
sanction
- But the company had
not even started
operation, which
discredited the opposing
leadership.
- However, the conflict
stayed and community
became highly polarized
-Criminalization of
protests strategy started
2009
New march against cement mine at San Juan
Sacatepéquez end up in riots.
A community protester died.
Military operative with 2,500 agents. State of Siege.
Government installs a mesa de diálogo (dialogue
table) to follow up precautionary measures of
ICHR.
2010
June 22

UN indigenous rights rapporteur, James Anaya
visits Zaculeu, Huehuetenango and agrees to report
the complaints and petitions of nine villages visited:
Mames, Qanjobales, Aguacatecos, Chalchitecos,
Poptíes, Tectititecos, Kichés, Chujes y Mestizos.

Nov 2010 –
Mar 2011

Boom of consultas comunitarias.

2010 – 2011

Government suspends all licenses processes (173
licenses pending).

2011
Feb 22 2011

Government proposes a consultas comunitarias
117

-Criminalization of
protests continues
-First military
intervention

Table 4 (cont'd)
regulation. Great opposition from communities
claiming they were never consulted.
23 Feb 2011

On February 23, first united and massive Mayan
demonstration against consultas Comunitarias
regulation at the Central Plaza, Guatemala city.
Upheavals at San Juan Cotzal, Quiché, caused by
people's opposition to a hydroelectric project.

July 17 2011

First consultas comunitaria in Ixil indigenous
territory, Santa Rosa.

July (note jul
13)

Presidential campaigns including mining issue.
- Candidates H. Caballeros and R. Menchu offer
royalties of 50%
- Candidate S. Torres states “no to mining”
-OPM offers listening to communities and offers to
increase royalties

Oct 25/11

Montana's (Marlin Mine corporation) manager
presents water report stating that there is no
negative effect on water
.

Nov 16/11

CPO's public event: Informe Agua, Aire, Tierra
(Water, Air, Soil Report)

Jan /12

New government takes office, including Minister
Archila as Minister of Energy and Mining. His
family owns several news media.

Feb /20/12

Montana CEO and Mining Chamber representative, No reactions or
M. Marroquin announces “friendly increased
alternative sources cited
royalties agreement” to be official on Jan 27.
on the news coverage.
Center for the Mining and Energy Studies-USAC
announces launch of Guide for Mining
Development (colombian scholar authorship)

2012
03/05/12

Columnists-journalists Sylvia Gereda y Pedro
Trujillo launch political and economic elites
strategy: “communities are manipulated by
international organizations and Scandinavian
governments”. Another messages are: “those people
118

Mayan manipulated
strategy
Protest criminalization
strategy

Table 4 (cont'd)
are criminals,” “they are paid for protesting,” “don't
allow to get criminals out from jail, they deserve it”
Mar 12/2012

The Consejo de Pueblos de Occidente (Western
Peoples Council) lodges a constitutional appeal
against the Mining Law (decree 48-97) because
violates the ILO-convention 169 by failing to
recognize the right of indigenous people to prior and
informed consultation.

Mar 14/12

Consulta in Chinique, Quiché

Mar 27/12

Peasant March: mining issue incorporated.

Apr 20/12

Emerging theme: Mining fund.

Apr 25/12

CPO expresses support to San Juan Sacatepéquez
(cackchiqueles population) against military
detachment installed by the government.

- Mayan groups show
more initiative and
action to unite their
efforts instead of remain
separated.

May 1/12

Crisis in Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango.
Community uprising against a hydroelectric project
ended in riots. A community member murdered
presumably by a company's security employee.
Angry community attacked the military base.
Government responded with repression using
strategies similar to those from the civil war in the
1960s – 1980's and declared state of siege (for two
weeks). Many community leaders were arrested and
persecuted. Communities launched the campaign:
“Todas y todos somos Barillas” with peaceful
walks. Catholic Pastoral Letter from Archbishopric
of Huehuetenango denouncing repressive actions
from authorities and benefiting corporations, and
demanding respect for the Mayan cosmovision of
the value of nature, and urging for effective
dialogue.

- Context and evolution
of situation similar to
others: lack of dialogue
and negotiation, a trigger
event sparkles
community uprising,
peasants dead,
government repression,
leaders arrested or
persecuted.
- Media coverage
superficial: not enough
investigation, except for
a couple of media.
- Government, economic
elites and urban public
opinion say that
communities are
manipulated by NGO's
and foreign money
financing leaders.
- Reactions from
different segments of

119

Table 4 (cont'd)
population (e.g., rural
and urban) evidences
polarization regarding
this topic.
May 14/2012

Human Rights Attorney Office shows a social
conflict map: 82 latent conflicts in 13 departments
related to communities against mining and natural
resources management and exploitation.
Archbishop Ramazzinni, key leader of antimining
movement in San Marcos is moved by the Vatican
to Huehuetenango.

May 15/2012

Peaceful Walking “Todos y Todas somos Barillas”
led by all the leaders from different Mayan groups.
Rejected state of siege and demanded cancellation
of natural resources exploitation, liberation of
arrested leaders and stop authorities' repressive
actions against communities.

Communities maintain
peaceful attitude: “Let's
walk with calm and joy
because this is our
territory.” They stated
that the Barillas crisis
was a consequence of
the lack of dialogue and
authorities denial to
communities demands.

Government announces new agreements with Chile
and Mexico to receive expert advice regarding
mining industry.
May 21/12

UN representative, Brunori, states that social
conflict cannot be solved through repression and
state of siege, urges to despolitization to consultas
comunitarias.
Government launches Commission of Dialogue and
Miguel Angel Balcarcel as commissioner.

May 22/2

San José del Golfo, Guatemala. Commumities block Mine's CEO states that it
entrance to the mining project El Tambor.
is a short project (5-7
years) committed to
reforest the area after
finishing.
Community's leader Yoli
Orqueli says they are
tired of mine's outrages
and not being listened.
120

Table 4 (cont'd)
May 23/12

Peasants denounce that their protest two months
before (in March 2012) does not bring any result.
Government says cannot cancel mining licenses but
revising legislation.

May 25/ 12

UN relator for the protection and promotion of the
public opinion and expression freedom denounce
raids to community radios.

June 12/12

Mayan leader from Kiche is murdered.
San José del Golfo's antimining leader, Yolanda
Oquelí injured in violent attack.

June 16/2012

Minister of Energy and Mining announces 12
licenses granted and 1777 to come. Government
announces at eeting at American-Guatemalan
Commerce Chamber more mining licenses and
projects to come.

June 20/12

Environmental organization CALAS' press
conference denouncing negative facts from the
Bosco mining project in Casillas, Santa Rosa.

June 21/12

Ministry of Energy and Mining, MEM, promotes
revision of the Mining Law.

June 26/12

Extractive industries association publishes a news
release on mass newspapers stating that the state has
to observe the law and grant the pending licenses.

July 20/12

Public hearing before the Constitutional Court
regarding the constitutional appeal against the
mining law lodged by CPO in March 2012.

Aug 29/2012

Canadian legislative and diplomatic officers visit
Guatemala sponsored by Goldcorp Inc.

Sep 17/2012

Road blocking: community states they do not want
El Tambor mining project (San Rafael Las Flores,
Santa Rosa).
Government sends “antimotines” (special order
force). The blocking becomes riot, several
community protestants imprisoned.

Oct 2/2012

President Perez proposes changes to Mining Law to 35 articles with changes.
the Congress.
None related to
121

Constitutional Court
avoids sentencing (and
has not done it when this
manuscript is written,
December 2012).

Lack of dialogue. Same
violent outcomes.

Table 4 (cont'd)
recognize indigenous
consultation.
Mining Minister states that there is no need to
indigenous consultation in that law.
Oct 4/2012

Alaska, Totonicapán. Road blocking against
hydroelectric plants (among others). Seven people
murdered by army members, supposedly.

Oct 18/2012

MEM introduces the revised mining law. It excludes
the consultas comunitarias issue because “this is
not the place to regulate it,” the Ministry of Energy
and Mining asserted.

Oct 29/2012

Tajumulco and Malacatán, San Marcos. Road
blocking in protest against incrased fee to electricity
service.
Eight hostages: government and police officers and
corporation employees.

Nov 11/2012

Consulta in Mataquescuintla against Minera San
Rafael Las Flores. Constitutional Court invalidates
the consulta.

Nov 1328/2012

La Puya. San José del Golfo: mobilized groups
block the road.

Nov 13/2012

Mining and hydroelectric companies start using paid
notes on newspapers to establish their position. E.g.,
Mining Company Kappes, Cassiday & Associates
publishes a paid note on newspaper (Prensa Libre)
stating that mining means development for San José
del Golfo, but some interest groups are manipulated
by polarizing organizations. The note emphasizes
that the company are open to dialogue with the
communities.

Nov 16/ 2012

Western Peoples Council, CPO, launches new
electronic bulletin.

Nov 18/2012

Disturbs against mining in Mataquescuintla, Jalapa.
Community says they do not listen their demands.
Riot fires trucks and steels dynamite from a
company truck.

Nov 20/2012

Telecommunications Law changes passed.
122

Table 4 (cont'd)
Indigenous communities excluded from new radio
and television spaces. Rest of frequencies remain as
in the past for another 15 years. Oligopoly.
Dec 4/2012

CALAS, PLURIJUR, and FREDEMI introduce a
demand against Marlin Mine.

Front page on Prensa
Libre.

Dec 7/2012

National Civil Police (PNC) arrived to the blocked
road in La Puya. San José del Golfo, to evict those
who blocked the entrance to the mine. They had
asked for government mediation but government
kept silent until this moment, only sending PNC.

The protesters lay on the
floor to prevent passage
to security forces. After
negotiating, the security
forces committed to not
allow anybody to enter
to the mine.
Governmental
authorities said that they
will mediate the opening
of dialogue between the
community and the
mining company the
following Monday,
december 10 (protesters
are asking for dialogue
since nine months
before, in March 2012,
when they started
blocking the entrance to
the mine).

Dec 7/2012

Dec 10/2012

A convergence of human rights organization in
Guatemala (Convergencia por los Derechos
Humanos) celebrated a public forum to
commemorate the 64th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, denouncing the
criminalization of human rights advocates,
especially related to the natural resources issue.
They asked for effective dialogue and negotiation
mechanisms.

Dec 17/2012

Paid note on newspaper (Prensa Libre) signed by
Energy Generators Association stating they want
dialogue with communities in Barillas,
Huehuetenango to stop violence.

123

APPENDIX D

Table 5. Communication toolbox evolution of the Mayan socioenvironmental movement in
Guatemala. 2005 - 2012.
Medium/
activity

Description / Main purpose

Period of usage
from 2005 to 2012
05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

Community
assemblies

Ancestral practice. Formal X X X X X X X X Group cohesion
periodic meetings. Led by a
community authority. Each
Group
community assembly starts
coordination
with a Mayan ceremony.
Vital for group cohesion and
Collective
collective efficacy.
identity
building
Information sharing.
Collective
Coordination of collective
discourse
action and resources sharing
building
(i.e., consultas comunitarias)
Collective
Collective decision making.
efficacy
Collective validation of new
allies and support networks.
Information, catharsis, group
solidarity
and
collective
strategies
during
critical
events
(e.g.,
leaders'
persecution
assassinations,
etc.).
Articulation of support at local
level.

Community
gatherings

Relevant
mobilization
outcome

Stamina
Civic
engagement
Local network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital

Local informal meetings. X X X X X X X X Group cohesion
Led
by
a
legitimate
community leader.
Membership
Information sharing.

Collective
124

Table 5 (cont'd)
Resources
sharing
collective actions.

for

efficacy
Stamina

Follow ups of collective
decisions and actions defined
in community assemblies.
Follow ups
comunitaria.

for

consulta

Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement) at local level.
Handmade
murals

Paintings or collages made
by

community
members
portraying
central
movement messages using
local
symbols.
Usually
allocated at central park,
public building, schools.
Diffusion of slogan and key
messages to the public.

Civic
engagement
Network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital
X X X X X X Group cohesion

Membership
Stamina
Collective
identity
building
Civic
engagement

Make public complaints.
Local network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Handmade
banners

Piece of paper or cloth X X X X X X X X Group cohesion
displaying key messages
using local symbols.
Membership
Consultas
comunitarias
announcements.

Stamina
Collective
identity

Diffusion of slogan and key
125

Table 5 (cont'd)
messages to the public.

building

Make public complaints.

Civic
engagement
Network
building/
maintenance
/expansion

Printed
newsletters

Diverse
group-specific X X X X X X X X Membership
printed periodical bulletin
circulated to members.
Group cohesion
Stamina
Information sharing.
Collective action updates.
Diffusion of slogan and key
messages to the public.

Collective
identity
building
Civic
engagement

Make public complaints.
Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement)
at
local,
national, and international
level.

Collective
discourse
building
Multi-sited
network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital

Loudspeaker/
microphone

Speaker device used in X X X X X X X X Stamina
group
gatherings
or
demonstrations.
Rotates
Group cohesion
among various members
(usually leaders). Using the
Group
126

Table 5 (cont'd)
speaker is a symbol of
shared authority and group
membership. A foreigner has
to ask permission to take the
turn.

coordination

Leadership
gatherings
actions.

Membership

during
group
and collective

Collective
discourse
building.

Civic
engagement

Diffusion of information.
Community
radios

Radios administered by the X X X X X X X X Membership
community
broadcasting
local-interest content.
Group cohesion
Diffusion of key messages.

Collective
identity
building

Information sharing.
Citizen journalism.
Live
transmissions
of
consultas comunitarias and
other
collective
actions
(usually through cellphones).
Make public complaints.

Collective
discouse
building
Collective
efficacy
Civic
engagement

Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement) at local level.

Local network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital

127

Table 5 (cont'd)
Mass
media
publicity:
press releases,
press
conferences,
meetings with
columnists

Media relations activities or
outlets used to generate
publicity on national and
international mass media.

X X Membership
Collective
identity
building

Establish position.
Collective
discouse
building

Diffusion of key messages.
Information and updates about
consultas comunitarias and
other collective actions.
Make public complaints,
especially about legal actions
and increasing persecution,
intimidation,
and
assassinations
of
leaders
associated with mining and
natural resources defense.

Collective
efficacy
Influence
on
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
mining
companies
agenda, and
political agenda

Position legitimate leaders.
Obtain
attention
from
international
press
and
potential international allies.

Multi-sited
network
building/
maintenance
/expansion

Influence the mass public and
public opinion.
Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement)
at
local,
national, and international
level.
Email

First
electronic
outlet X X X X X X X X Group cohesion
implemented
for
mobilization
purposes.
Stamina
Mainly used by leaders and
communication
Group
coordinators.
coordination
128

Table 5 (cont'd)
Initiate/
maintain
communications with local,
national and international
partners (especially those
geographically distant).
Information sharing with
current or potential members
and
allies, academics,
activists, journalists and other
interested
publics
(local,
national and international).
Coordination for consultas
comunitarias
and
other
collective actions.
Coordinataion with local,
national and international
observers and journalists for
consultas comunitarias and
other collective action.
Information gathering and
coordination of technical
studies with local, national
and international activists,
NGO's,
academics and
scientists.
Diffusion of press releases,
blog notes and electronic
newsletters.
Denounces of human rights
violation, persecution, and
assassinations.
Media outreach: to coordinate
interviews, news coverage,
etc.
129

Collective
efficacy
Influence
on
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
mining
companies
agenda, and
political agenda
Multi-sited
etwork
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital

Table 5 (cont'd)
Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement)
at
local,
national, and international
level.
Cellphone

Main electronic outlet for X X X X X X X X Membership
interpersonal
communication. Used for
Group cohesion
basic phone functions (calls
and SMS). A few leaders
started using smart phones.
Stamina
Coordination of consultas
comunitarias
and
other
collective actions.
Citizen
journalism:
community members transmit
live to community radios as
correspondents.
Media outreach: to coordinate
interviews, news coverage,
etc.
In-group
network
enhancement:
main
communication
channel
among members and allies,
especially
when
geographically distant.
Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement)
at
local,
national, and international
level.

Group
coordination
Collective
identity
building
Collective
discourse
building
Collective
efficacy
Civic
engagement
Influence
on
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
companies
agenda, and
political agenda
Multi-sited
network
building/
maintenance

130

Table 5 (cont'd)

/expansion
Social capital

Blog

CPO institutional blog. Used
as website to portray the
“official”
and
united
position about an issue or
event to the broad public.
There are also other groupspecific blogs. Mainly used
to disseminate information.
Rarely used for discussion or
exchange.
Diffusion of information to the
network members and to the
general public, regarding
consultas comunitarias and
other
collective
actions,
position statements, legal
actions,
other
countries'
information, etc.
Denounces of human rights
violation, persecution, and
assassinations.
Pictures sharing, evidencing
collective actions (peaceful
protests) or persecution (e.g.,
military
intervention
in
Barillas in 2012).

X X Membership
Group cohesion
Collective
identity
building
Collective
discourse
building
Collective
efficacy
Civic
engagement
Influence
on
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
mining
companies
agenda, and
political agenda
Network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital

Facebook

Increasing usage since 2011.
There
is
a
CPO's
institutional fan page and
also other specific group's
pages. Mainly used to
131

X X Membership
Group cohesion
Group

Table 5 (cont'd)
disseminate
information.
Rarely used for discussion or
exchange.
Diffusion
of
information
(mainly notes publishing and
links sharing) to the network
members regarding consultas
comunitarias
and
other
collective actions, position
statements, legal actions, other
countries' information, etc.
Denounces of human rights
violation, persecution, and
assassinations.
Pictures sharing, evidencing
collective actions (peaceful
protests) or persecution (e.g.,
military
intervention
in
Barillas in 2012).

coordination
Collective
identity
building
Collective
discouse
building
Collective
efficacy
Influence
on
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
mining
companies
agenda, and
political agenda
Multi-sited
network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital

Ustream and Diversity of audiovisual
online radios
online media managed by
community
members.
Promoted through other
groups
and
CPO's
institutional communication
outlets.
Enhancement of networks
with other groups locally and
nationally
(NGO's,
universities, columnists, etc.)
132

X X Membership
Group cohesion
Collective
discouse
building
Collective
efficacy
Influence on

Table 5 (cont'd)
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
mining
companies
agenda, and
political agenda
Multi-sited
network
building/
maintenance
/expansion
Social capital
Electronic
newsletter

CPO's
institutional
electronic
newsletter.
Distributed monthly by
email
and
posted
on
institutional
blog
and
facebook page.
Information sharing.
Establish
position.

institutional

X Membership
Group cohesion
Collective
identity
building
Collective
discourse
building

Collective actions updates.
Diffusion of slogan and key
messages to the public.
Denunciation of increasing
persecution, intimidation, and
murders to leaders associated
with mining and natural
resources defense.
Articulation
of
support
(network
building
/enhancement)
at
local,
national, and international
133

Collective
efficacy
Civic
engagement
Influence
on
media agenda,
press agenda,
public opinion,
mining
companies
agenda, and
political agenda

Table 5 (cont'd) level.
Network
building/
maintenance
/expansion

134

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135

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