Health Tribunal

The tribunal process seeks to incorporate the knowledge and observations of diverse stakeholders. Expert witnesses come from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Canada and the United States and include:

Community physician and investigator Dr. J. Almendares, Honduras

Dr. Juan Almendares is an internationally known Honduran medical doctor, human rights activist, environmental leader and alternative medicine practitioner.

He also holds a Masters of Science degree in physiology from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

He is recognized for his work in combating alcoholism, tobacco and drug abuse, malnutrition, ecological damage, and pesticide poisoning in Honduras.

Dr. Almendares’ work and accomplishments include:

• Founder of the Honduras Academy of Sciences
• Founding Member of the BioEthic Society Representative of the Secretary for the Environment before the
• United Nations on pesticides
• President of Movimiento Madre Tierra (member of Friends of the Earth International
• Director of the Honduran Health Exchange

International law specialist Amanda Fulmer from the University of Washington

Amanda M. Fulmer is a doctoral candidate in the department of Political Science at the University of Washington-Seattle, United States.  She specializes in Latin American politics and public law, with particular long-standing interests in development and human rights.  Her current research examines the role of rights and international law in indigenous mobilization around controversial mining projects in Peru and Guatemala.  She has researched and followed the Marlin mine case since 2006.

Investigator Jorge Santos, director of human rights advocacy organization CIIDH

Jorge Santos is currently the General Coordinator of the International Human Rights Research Center (Centro Internacional para Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos –CIIDH-).  He is also a member of the Executive Comity of the Global Movement for Transparency, Accountability and Citizen Participation. This comity has a Working Group (among others) that works with issues regarding royalties and extractive industries.  He has worked for many years defending Human Rights, since his days in the University Student´s Movement in Guatemala, in the National Coordination of Peasants (Organizations Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas –CNOC-) and in the Human Rights Ombudsman Office, where he conformed part of the team that developed the research entitled Mining and Human Rights.

Community health researcher and nurse scientist Susana Caxaj, Western University

Susana Caxaj is a doctoral candidate at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She is a Canadian Vanier Scholar, an award based on academic excellence, leadership and research potential. She has a clinical background in mental health, psychiatric nursing and marginalized populations. Her research has focused on refugee and immigrant youth wellbeing and more recently, on the relationship between community mental health and mining mega-projects among diverse indigenous populations. She is currently engaged in the end-stage of a participatory action research project with the residents of San Miguel Ixtahuacán. The study examined the socio-political factors and the mental health experiences of local residents and the industrial impact of locally operating Goldcorp subsidiary Montana.

United Church deacon and partner representative Nelly Silva of CIECOM

Nely Rivera CEICOM Silva works with the Center for Research on Investment and Trade, an organization that does research and promotion of the impacts of mining investment in El Salvador, working closely with local communities. Nely has worked for years with the youth through Emmanuel Baptist Church in San Salvador, a church that has a long history of commitment to social justice. At this time, Nely is deeply involved in working with both organizations and national networks and local communities to stop the second mine of Goldcorp in Guatemala, Cerro Blanco, who is on the border with Guatemala / El Salvador and endangers access to water and water pollution and the ecological system on both sides of the border

Rurik Hernández, Mining specialist

Rurik Hernandez is a member of FAO, the Broad Opposition Front to Minera San Xavier. This group works to defend water, environment, human rights, heritage and culture at # CerrodeSanPedro.  He now works investigating impacts of mining on communities, environmental impact procedures, legislation on mining and environment as a member of the environmental law research team.

Marcos Bamaca from the social, environmental monitoring team of COPAE

Marcos Alberto Bámaca Garcia is an environmentalist graduated from the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences of the Rural University of Guatemala, in 2009.  As one of the first classes in the field of Environmental Engineering, one of the few professionals in this area . Among his environmental contributions, he has carried out forest management plans for  cloud forests conservation, plans for environmental education and economic valuation studies – ecological water resources, and ecological design paths. He has also taught  in these areas in the southwestern region of Guatemala. He currently serves on the Pastoral Commission Peace and Ecology (COPAE), in the capacity of lead scientist in environmental monitoring, where he carries out research of natural resources (water, soil) and pollution levels by acquiring data near the Marlin Mine in the municipalities San Miguel and Sipacapa the department of San Marcos

Human rights investigator and community educators, UDEFEGUA