This is Popular Front, a podcast focused on the niche details of modern warfare and underreported conflict with me Jake Hanrahan. Today we're talking to

anthropologist Ben Chang. He's going to be telling us all about the recent

clashes in Guatemala between a indigenous resistance movement and a company that is

trying to dig out the nickel ore in their region. The police moved in

blasted everybody with tear gas because the indigenous people set up a roadblock.

It's very interesting, it goes quite deep and it involves corruption, the government,

indigenous people being murdered, and Russian companies.

Very interesting.

If you like what we're doing here at Popular Front and you want more, go to

Patreon.com slash Popular Front.

So there's this situation in Guatemala where the indigenous people have set up these

roadblocks trying to stop this nickel or mine going into operation or whatever it is.

The police they've responded, tear gas,

gone over the top, everything like that. Explain to us what is going on exactly

because I don't know a lot about this region and from what I'm

hearing it sounded like things are getting quite nasty over there with this this

situation with a nickel mine. A nickel mine that has been around in the country.

Yeah, since the middle of the last century.

Guatemala at that time was going through a very serious civil war.

Actually, the civil war here is the reason why genocide codified in law internationally.

It was just really that bad.

And well, essentially a lot of the Civil War here was basically American interests

...