Un impérialisme canadien ? Inco et la politique du nickel au Guatemala (1956-1981)

Abstract

Mineral extraction played an essential part in Canada’s nationbuilding process. Once completed, the unification of the country from sea to sea, and after dispossessing indigenous peoples of Canada from their natural resources and ancestral territories, the Canadian mining industry was exported to its Latin American neighbor countries. By means of the case study of the company Inco in Guatemala and its Exmibal subsidiary, this article demonstrates in which way the Canadian mining industry consists in a form of imperialism and that its operations abroad replicate internal imperial dynamics. By examining Inco’s business activities from 1956 to 1981, the participation of the Canadian government, as well as the resistance of the local population and the Canadian Catholic missionaries to the company’s project, it is possible to seize the ways in which the internal and external Canadian empire unfolds. This article is a step towards shedding light on the elements of historical reciprocity and continuity of Canada and Guatemala’s pasts by replacing the Exmibal saga in the longer history of these countries.