Guatemala, Nov 8 (EFE) .- The Guatemalan business sector said today that 5.1 million quetzales (695,770 dollars) a day are lost "in terms of salaries, taxes and suppliers" by the inoperability of the El Escobal mine, of Minera San Rafael, located in the southeastern municipality of San Rafael las Flores.

The Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial Associations, Industriales y Financieras (Cacif) warned that the lack of a resolution of the Constitutional Court (CC) to an amparo filed against the operations of the mine "may affect the investment climate "in the country.

The president of the Cacif, Antonio Malouf, explained that the CC had to issue its definitive ruling" within 5 days of the public hearing - on 26 October- ", a deadline that expired on Monday, November 6.

The amparo was filed by the Environmental and Social Legal Action Center of Guatemala (CALAS) against the operation of Minera San Rafael, subsidiary of the Canadian Tahoe Resources Inc., because prior to granting exploration and exploitation licenses for the resources, the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) did not carry out the consultation corresponding to the xinca community.

Last June, the Supreme Court of Justice suspended the activities of the mine - in Santa Rosa, 73.8 kilometers from the capital - decision which was reversed in August by allowing the work to resume, but also ordered the MEM to be consulted.

CALAS appealed to the Constitutional Court, as the communities of Municipalities surrounding the mining project held "prior, free and informed" municipal and municipal consultations that rejected the mine, which were not considered binding upon the law.

The position of CALAS, "of wanting to permanently suspend operations of Minera San Rafael has no legal basis," Malouf said.

The Cacif asked the magistrates of the CC to "comply with the law" and be "consistent with their own rulings", such as the case of the Oxec Hydroelectric, which stated that "as long as there is no law regulating consultations, that sentence applies to all cases of Convention 169. "

This call, agreed the employer," is not a pressure on the courts, but a request to meet deadlines. " < In the second half of October, the Guatemalan-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) also asked the CC to decide in favor of Minera San Rafael, since 17,000 jobs are put at risk direct.

"We believe that legal certainty is vital to attract investments to Guatemala to generate development and decent employment and that is at risk due to the suspension of operations, "he said.

But on October 27, after a visit to the community of Casillas, near the mine, the women who won the Nobel Peace Prize: Rigoberta Menchú, Jodi Williams, Tawakkul Karman and Shirin Ebadi asked to respect the result of the 2012 community consultation, which won 98.2% of the votes against the mine.

Likewise, the Nobel Peace Prize they strongly condemned the participation of the State in "the physical and psychological violence that the 7 communities in resistance have lived" around the mining project, whose concession " must completely annul, "they concluded.