Unveiling the Green Facade: Ongoing Colonial Exploitation in Guatemala’s Mineral Extraction Industry

This paper examines Guatemala’s transition mineral sector as a contemporary manifestation of colonial extraction, reframed under the rhetoric of the global green energy transition. Using green colonialism and decolonial theory, it traces a historical continuum from Spanish colonialism and U.S. banana imperialism to modern mining operations led by transnational corporations. Through the case study of the Escobal silver mine and Indigenous Xinka resistance, the paper demonstrates how environmental violence, human rights abuses, and epistemic erasure persist under the banner of sustainability. It argues that green growth narratives obscure the reproduction of extractive hierarchies and sacrifice zones in the Global South. The paper concludes that Indigenous land defense movements offer decolonial alternatives to the climate crisis, emphasizing relational ontologies, territorial autonomy, and justice-centered transitions.