Lake Izabal is Guatemala’s largest lake and most extensive area of aquatic biodiversity.

In December 2004 the Guatemalan Nickel Company (CGN), Guatemalan subsidiary of the Canadian Skye Resources, obtained the rights to its lateritic nickel project at the same location earlier used by EXMIBAL (a mining company operating between 1965 and 1982).

ASALI, headed by its legal representative Eloyda Mejía, works for the protection and conservation of Lake Izabal and its hydrobiological resources, and believes that open-cast mining activity on the shore of the lake would have devastating effects on the lake and its biodiversity. The association therefore focuses on raising awareness amongst the surrounding communities of the negative effects mining would have on their lives and surroundings.

Eloyda Mejía started campaigning in 2000, when it became known that a concession allowing oil drilling in the lake had been granted, however this decision was later reversed. She is also heavily involved in developing sustainable tourism in the municipality of El Estor, department of Izabal. In December 2005 the Alliance for Strategic Management of Ecotourism in El Estor, which Eloyda Mejía has coordinated since its foundation, was awarded the 1^st Prize for Management and Social Responsibility by the Inter-American Institute for Social Development, part of the Inter-American Development Bank.

The threats against Eloyda Mejía started in February 2004 when she was reportedly warned to stop opposing mining activities or risk being killed. Three days later, ASALI organised a local event to inform the community about the ecological impact of mining activities. Unknown individuals interrupted the event, threatening Eloyda Mejía directly by saying that her “head will fall�. PBI has been accompanying her and the organisation since this incident.

El Estor again became the focus of much attention in November 2006, when approximately 60 landless families invaded CGN property. They, as well as another community, were immediately evicted, but claimed the land through the historic rights of the community. The Public Prosecutor’s Office, on request of the managers of CGN, subsequently filed a lawsuit against the invaders. The lawsuit, however, also included Eloyda Mejía, although she has had no contact with either of the communities involved. Later another lawsuit was presented against her by the managers of the CGN, also for the misappropriation of land.

Eloyda thinks that this legal action “is nothing less than intimidatory action with the intention of closing the spaces where communities can find information�, and has been interpreted by her as persecution and intimidation, aiming to make her abandon her work against the mining company in El Estor. As a result, the PBI team intensified the accompaniment of her during the last months of 2006 and the beginning of 2007.

Through PBI, Eloyda Mejía had the opportunity to participate in a tour of Europe in April 2006 in order to raise awareness of the situation of Lake Izabal and the work of ASALI.