...The case of the Escobal mining project has become an emblematic case of criminalization of social protest and restrictions on the liberty of association and peaceful protest in Guatemala…Peaceful opposition to the Escobal mining project involves various municipalities…where all or part of the mining licences held by the Canadian-U.S. transnational Tahoe Resources and its subsidiary Minera San Rafael (MSR) are located…Good-faith community plebiscites have been organized to peacefully demonstrate opposition…Government and company efforts ranged from facilitating relationships with communities and leaders…to try to convince them of the benefits of the project; to military, counterinsurgency type actions in order to neutralize and/or dismantle the supposed threats to the continuation of their project…