In June 2007, the community of Santa Cruz Barrillas (composed of 86,1% Q’anjobal indigenous population and 13,9% mestizos), knowing about the recent granting of licenses for the exploitation of the local natural resources, organized a popular consultation, in which 46,481 people participated, 46,472 of which rejected industrial activities in the area. Nevertheless, Hidralia Energia was installed in Guatemala and started the planning of a series of projects, among which was the small hydroelectric plant in Santa Cruz Barrillas, managed by Hidro Santa Cruz and included within the bigger project Cambalam 1. As people associated with the TNC started frequenting the area, pressuring the locals into selling their land for the project, resistances were organized in the community, but both the company and the government began a media campaign to delegitimize and weaken it. The clash between both parties intensified during the following years, as Hidro Santa Cruz continued preparing the construction of the site, which at this point did not have the consent of the local authorities, but with the support of the national government.

The peak of the conflict was reached in 2012, when after months of coercion, intimidation and repression, one of the security guards shot and killed Mr. Andrés Francisco Miguel, a local member of the resistance. This was used by the Guatemalan government as the pretext to declare a ‘state of siege’, which resulted in the illegal detention of 11 activists and most of the human rights violations that this case has caused (intimidation, harassment, restriction to the rights to education and food, violence against women, etc.). The Q'anjob'al people have ever since tried to establish accountability for the violations, but they have encountered endless obstacles to it. Nevertheless, as of 2014, the resistance has managed to stop the project temporarily.

Both the entry of Hidralia to Guatemala and the lack of corporate accountability respond to a systematic pattern of conduct by TNC’s protected by an “Architecture of Impunity”, enshrined in FTAs, BITs and other trade and investment policies demanded by international financial institutions such as CIFI, IMF and World Bank. Despite the disapproval of the local population, the entry of the TNC in the country was facilitated by several actors. A third of the project was financed by the Inter-American Investment Corporation (CIFI), which has, among others, the World Bank and the BID as shareholders, and since its beginning there has been a stress by the proponents of the project to frame it as a benefit to the country despite the rejection of the affected population. The Spanish government has avoided taking a position regarding the human rights violations and only transfers the responsibility to the Guatemalan government, although always showing support for the construction of the plant.

The Guatemalan government has in fact collaborated in the repression of the Q'anjob'al people and has facilitated the construction of the site by passing laws that benefit the corporation, many of which are claimed to be unconstitutional.

Furthermore, these kind of investments by European TNCs are able due to the EU-Central America association agreement, which did not initially discuss the protection of human rights.

The community of Santa Cruz Barrillas, who already expressed its discontent with possible industrial activities in the public consultation in 2007, has struggled to access to justice in the local, national, regional and international levels. Many of their efforts, for instance, their complaint to the Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala, have gone unnoticed or received no response. Likewise, many members of the resistance have had difficulties in defending themselves against the accusations and illegal detentions from the company, proving the partiality of the judicial system. The same pattern of criminalization is repeated with different members of the resistance over the years, the most recent case being the imprisonment of Francisco Juan Pedro, Adalberto Villatoro “Don Tello” and Arturo Pablo. Maybe the clearest case of state compliance is the fact that the two people accused of being responsible for the assassination of Mr. Andrés Francisco Miguel have been released. The discourse of the government of Guatemala, always favorable to the corporation’s interests, has tried to delegitimize the opposition to the project from the first moment, making the effective access to justice impossible. There have also been attempts to access justice through the legal system in Spain, country of origin of the TNC, but with no success so far. The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala were both contacted regarding the human rights violations, but they delegate any responsibility to the Guatemalan government, which makes this route to justice impossible. In July 2014, an official complaint was presented to the Spanish Ombudsman by several of the organizations implicated in the conflict.

The several petitions presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) in 2013, which include the preparation of a report regarding the abuses perpetrated during the state of siege or the end of the state repression and criminalization, are still being processed and have not proved sufficient to guarantee the respect of the human rights of the population, nor of the result of the public consultation.

What Justice could do: a say from the PPT In a hearing that was held in Geneva in June 2014, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) listened to the testimony of Micaela Antonio Gonzalez and Alfredo Baltazar, from CEIBA Friends of the Earth Guatemala. In line with the evidence brought before the judges by these witnesses, the Tribunal recognized the actions of the transnational corporation as another example of violations of human and people rights. In line with its full judgement of Madrid, in May 2010, and just a few months before the session that was held in Mexico in December 2014, the PPT underlined once again how transnational corporations, including Hidralia, systematically violate human and peoples’ rights to their own profit. In the same line, the PPT recognized in this widespread practice the current shortcoming of international law, namely the impossibility of accessing justice and obtaining a remedy that is increasingly becoming an unbearable burden for affected communities, as well as for the laws that are supposed to give them shelter. In the same spirit, the PPT acknowledged the necessity to improve international legislation, including through a binding treaty on transnational corporations, and a Peoples’ treaty, in order to hold transnational corporations accountable for their actions.

UPDATES: Currently, four activists are being under detention, Francisco Juan Pedro ("Chico Palaz"), Adalberto Villatoro ("Don Tello"), Arturo Pablo of q'anjob'al origins. Update Jun 2016 from Global Witness 2015 report: " In Barillas, northern Huehuetenango, indigenous Mayan leaders have been killed, threatened and criminalized because of their opposition to numerous dams planned in the region. On 24 March 2015, community leader Pascual Pablo Francisco, disappeared from his home in Barillas. Three days later, his body was found in a ditch with signs of torture.120 The same day as Pascual's disappearance two other leaders, who actively opposed the dams, were detained in Guatemala City." [1] UPDATE: From Telesur tv - Published 27 December 2016: "Spanish mining giant Hidralia has abandoned its hydroelectric project Cambalam in Santa Cruz Barillas, in the department of Huehuetenango, under pressure of local social movements, it announced via a communique issued Monday."

The initial investment for the project is estimated at 30 million dollars, a third of which was provided by CIFI, a corporation in which the World Bank and the IDB are shareholders.