Via email

CC: Ambassador Tobin Bradley

El Estor, Izabal May 6, 2024

Dear Secretary Blinken,

First, we would like to welcome you to Guatemala. We hope your trip here is productive for both
of our countries.

We represent the Solidarist Miners Association of El Estor (AMSE) and its over 1,700 members,
and we are writing to urgently request the help of the United States to ensure that mining
operations can resume at the Fenix mine in El Estor.

The closure of the mine has had devastating consequences for our organization’s members and
their families. For example, because of mine’s closure, a number of its employees have
attempted to seek employment in the United States, and at least three – José Trabaninos, Erick
Samuel Carías, and Roberto Coy – died trying to make the journey. You can experience the
human cost of the mine’s closure by watching a recorded interview1 with Yadira Cisneros, whose
husband, José Ángel Trabaninos, was one of the deceased:

My husband worked at CGN for 10 years. He made the decision to

migrate because he was unemployed for a month searching for a
job. He didn’t find one. Unfortunately, he passed away while trying
to have a better future. We didn’t expect him to die on the journey.
Now, I’m a single mother, unemployed, with my daughter.

Because the United States has a serious problem with illegal immigration, you should also know
that other El Estor mine workers have reached the United States and are now working there
illegally. If the United States succeeds in convincing the Government of Guatemala to reopen the
mine, your Government would have taken an important step to reduce the flow of illegal
immigration to your country.

We do not understand why the mine’s operations did not restart when the United States removed
the sanctions on CGN and Pronico. We beg the United States to do everything possible to urge
the Government of Guatemala to issue the export license as soon as possible so that the mine can
be reopened and we can be rehired as workers.

Thank you so much for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCSnEsL9WpE&t=291s.