The Cerro Pavón Project, Diocese of Matagalpa, Nicaragua
Author: Mario José Sánchez González, Director of the Socio-Humanistic Sciences Research Institute, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala
Year: 2026
Location: Municipality of Rancho Grande, Nicaragua
On 12 October 2015, the Nicaraguan Government declared the Cerro Pavón mining project, promoted by Canadian mining company B2Gold, unviable. The decision followed a decade of organised grassroots resistance in the municipality of Rancho Grande in the department of Matagalpa. The case study analyses the conditions that led to this outcome, focusing on the role of the Catholic Church in providing pastoral support, raising eco-theological awareness, and facilitating multi-level political coordination. Drawing on an analytical framework that integrates political ecology, social movement theory and pastoral theology, the case study highlights three key converging conditions: a) an ecclesial tradition rooted in the Second Vatican Council and a preferential option for the poor; b) a prior process of sustainable agriculture as strategy of resistance to the impacts of the agrarian counter-reform and neoliberal policies; and c) a repertoire of nonviolent collective action that transcended ideological and religious barriers to forge common grounds in the defence of land and livelihoods. While the Rancho Grande case sets a significant precedent for socio-environmental movements in Central America and offers a sign of hope, it is important to recognize that this successful case has faced dire setbacks in the context of Nicaragua’s sociopolitical crisis, marked since 2018 by escalating repression under Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian regime.