[News] Recent Killings Linked to Canadian-owned Nickel Mine in Guatemala
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Oct 2 12:32:36 EDT 2009
Recent Killings Linked to Canadian-owned Nickel Mine in Guatemala
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2138/1/
Written by Dawn Paley
Thursday, 01 October 2009
Two Qeqchi leaders were shot and killed and over
a dozen wounded this week near the site of a
shuttered nickel mine in Guatemala.
The first shooting took place on Sunday,
September 27 on land claimed by the community of
Las Nubes, which Compañia Guatemalteca de Niquel
(CGN), a subsidiary of Manitoba's HudBay Minerals, also claims to own.
Early reports indicated CGN's private security
guards opened fire while attempting to remove
families from their land. Adolfo Ichi Chamán, a
teacher and community leader, was killed by
gunshot, at least eight more wounded by bullets fired from an AK-47.
Prensa Libre, Guatemala's leading newspaper,
<http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/septiembre/29/345489.html>reported
that during Chamán's funeral service yesterday,
thousands of people marched through the streets
of El Estor, demanding that the company and the
local police chief withdraw from the area within 24 hours.
HudBay released a
<http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/m18536/hudbay-minerals-provides-update-on-cgn>lengthy
statement yesterday claiming that there were no
evictions, but instead that "protestors" went on
a rampage, attacking government vehicles, a local
police station (where they allegedly stole
automatic weapons), destroying a hospital built
by a coalition of US NGOs, and wounding five employees.
Hudbay goes on to make the absurd claim that the
protesters proceeded to open fire on each other.
Liezel Hill of Mining Weekly went on to
<http://www.miningweekly.com/article/hudbay-reports-protests-near-guatamala-project-2009-09-30>parrot
the company's version of events, as did the
<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/breakingnews/HudBay-says-several-employees-injured-and-one-protester-killed-in-Guatemala-dispute-62709637.html>Canadian
Press and
<http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN2913518420090929>Reuters.
One day after the murder of Chamán, men armed
with machine guns opened fire on a mini-bus
carrying Indigenous educators and leaders from
the El Estor region to Cobán. One man, Martin
Choc, was killed, and at least
<http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/septiembre/28/345127.html>nine
more wounded.
These killings are a flare up in a tense area,
where the
<http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2099>track
record of Canadian mining companies includes
forced displacement over multiple generations,
co-operation with the army, and the burning of
homes belonging to Indigenous people.
Shortly after a series of
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q20YxkM-CGI>violent
evictions that took place on nearby lands in
2007, Skye Resources (later acquired by Hudbay)
representatives went on the record and
<http://www.dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/dawn/1120>lied
through their teeth to defend their actions.
The English-language corporate media has
<http://www.dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/dawn/2910>repeatedly
turned a blind eye to recent and past events
unfolding in El Estor. This kind of reporting
facilitates corporate lies and deceit, plain and simple.
Lies and deceit are just what HudBay needs, not
only to avoid an international outcry over the
recent killings, but also to spin a mining
project that is
<http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/summary-review-skye-resources-technical-report-update-fenix-project-izabal-guatemala>not
likely to produce any nickel at all.
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20091002/20df8489/attachment.htm>
More information about the News
mailing list