Latin America

Judi Lynn

(160,655 posts) Thu Apr 16, 2015, 12:54 PM Apr 2015

Guatemalan Activist Murdered Near Mine Site

Guatemalan Activist Murdered Near Mine Site

Written by Oxfam
Friday, 10 April 2015 10:01

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The El Escobal silver mine, in San Rafael Las Flores, Guatemala, is partly owned by Canadian and US mining companies. Farmers in the area are critical of the mine and are opposing its expansion. Photo by James Rodriguez
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Human rights groups are calling for investigation of the killing of a member of group critical of proposal to expand silver mine.
Oxfam’s office in Guatemala is joining with 23 other organizations to call for the government to investigate the murder of Telésforo Odilio Pivaral González, 33, member of the Committee for the Defense of Life and Peace in San Rafael Las Flores, in the area near the El Escobal silver mine owned by the American/Canadian company Tahoe Resources.

According to the statement released by the members of the “Campaign to Defend Life and Rights: We are Human Rights Defenders” in Guatemala, Telesforo Pivaral died immediately after being attacked on Sunday 5 April “by unknown persons with firearms.” The statement added that Pivaral was married, and had six children between the ages of 1 and 11.

“As a member of the Committee for the Defense of Life and Peace of San Rafael Las Flores,” the statement reads, “Señor Telesforo Pivaral participated in actions protesting the establishment and expansion of mining projects in the region, and supporting municipal consultations of residents and peaceful actions of communities.” Residents of this area have been highly critical of the establishment of the silver mine in 2013, and are trying to block its proposed expansion. Pivaral lived in El Volcancito, one of the communities where the mining company was exploring for minerals.

With the support of a grant from the European Union, Oxfam is working to support human rights activists engaged on mining and other issues in Guatemala and Honduras.

The statement from the human rights defenders group in Guatemala says the mining company has requested 16 licenses to explore for minerals in an area covering 2,400 square kilometers (960 square miles).

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/5275-guatemalan-activist-murdered-near-mine-site

4 replies

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Highlight:

Guatemalan Activist Murdered Near Mine Site (Original Post) Judi Lynn Apr 2015 OP

Lawsuit Against Tahoe Resources a Wake Up Call for Investors and Canadians Judi Lynn Apr 2015 #1

Tahoe Resources On Trial: "It's With Bullets That They Learn" Judi Lynn Apr 2015 #2

AP: Mining Co. in Mexico Has 'Good Relationship' With Cartels MisterP Apr 2015 #3

That's just music to our ears. How nice. Judi Lynn Apr 2015 #4

Judi Lynn

(160,655 posts)

1. Lawsuit Against Tahoe Resources a Wake Up Call for Investors and Canadians

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Apr 16, 2015, 12:58 PM

Apr 2015

Lawsuit Against Tahoe Resources a Wake Up Call for Investors and Canadians
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Source: Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network - MiningWatch Canada

(Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Guatemala City) A civil lawsuit filed today in Vancouver against Tahoe Resources for negligence and battery in connection with a shooting at the company’s silver project in Guatemala sends a strong message to investors and all Canadians.

Seven victims of a shooting allegedly ordered by Tahoe Resources’ former head of security, Alberto Rotondo, are suing the company for punitive damages. Rotondo is an ex-naval officer from Peru who was indicted in Guatemala on charges related to this attack in May 2013. The Canadian lawsuit represents one of numerous abuses in connection with Tahoe's only asset, which was rushed into production in January 2014 despite strong community opposition.

Violence and repression has marked the development of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver project in southeast Guatemala.

“Repression against community leaders involved in organizing local referenda and peaceful protests in opposition to Tahoe’s mine dates back to 2011. Some 90 individuals have faced spurious legal persecution and, in May 2013, a military state of siege was declared in the area surrounding the mine creating a climate of fear and intimidation in order to quash local opposition,” observes Ellen Moore for the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).

More:
http://www.miningwatch.ca/news/lawsuit-against-tahoe-resources-wake-call-investors-and-canadians

Judi Lynn

(160,655 posts)

2. Tahoe Resources On Trial: "It's With Bullets That They Learn"

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Apr 16, 2015, 01:03 PM

Apr 2015

Tahoe Resources On Trial: "It's With Bullets That They Learn"
Thursday, April 9, 2015

Tahoe Resources In Court Today Over Guatemalan Workers' Lawsuit:

Guatemalan protesters who allege they were shot by security guards want suit against firm heard in B.C.
By Greg Rasmussen, Apr 08, 2015

B.C. Supreme Court hearings begin today (April 8, 2015) into the case of seven Guatemalan workers seeking to have a civil suit against Tahoe Resources of Vancouver heard in B.C. after they sustained injuries in their country during a protest that turned violent. Their lawyer will begin arguing Wednesday that B.C. courts have jurisdiction, even though the events took place in another country.

The claimants, who describe themselves as farmers and students, say they were taking part in a peaceful protest on a public road outside Tahoe Resources' Escobal silver mine in Guatemala on April 27, 2013. Tahoe is a $3-billion company based in Vancouver and Reno, Nevada. They allege the guards came through a gate and started shooting at them, and they continued to fire even as they ran away. "As a result of the shooting, the plaintiffs suffered serious injuries, including wounds to their backs, faces, feet and legs," says the written statement of facts submitted by their lawyer in the B.C. Supreme Court case.

Tahoe's Guatemala security manager, Alberto Rotondo, faces criminal charges in Guatemala related to the incident. He is described as a retired Peruvian navy captain who also has received training in special warfare, mining security and risk management.

Court documents allege he assembled the security team and ordered them to open fire on the protesters with shotguns, pepper spray, buck shot and rubber bullets.He was also already under investigation at the time of the violence, and Guatemalan prosecutors had tapped his phones. As a result, he was taped talking to various people right after the gunfire. At one point, he told a subordinate to break some equipment to make it appear the protesters had attacked the mine first, according to the court documents. He also allegedly told a subordinate to pick up any shell casings, clean the guns and said, "'They entered and they attacked us. And we repelled them, right?'"

More:
http://www.rightsaction.org/action-content/tahoe-resources-trial-its-bullets-they-learn

MisterP

(23,730 posts)

3. AP: Mining Co. in Mexico Has 'Good Relationship' With Cartels

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Thu Apr 16, 2015, 02:22 PM

Apr 2015

The head of the mining company robbed of $8.5 million in gold in Mexico made the rare revelation in a television interview that his company has a "good relationship" with area drug traffickers.

Rob McEwen, president and chairman of Canada-based McEwen Mining Inc., said in an interview Thursday with Canada's Business News Network that company employees ask the drug cartels for permission before they explore.

"Generally we've had a good relationship with them (the cartels)," McEwen said. "If we want to go explore somewhere you ask them and they tell you, 'No.' But then they'll say 'Come back,' in a couple of weeks; 'We've finished what we're doing.'"
...
At no time, however, did McEwen say the company had paid criminal organizations, a common suspicion in areas where anyone doing business is often a target of extortion.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mining-mexico-good-relationship-cartels-30228261

Judi Lynn

(160,655 posts)

4. That's just music to our ears. How nice.

Reply to MisterP (Reply #3)

Thu Apr 16, 2015, 02:40 PM

Apr 2015

Now McEwen can make a deal with these clowns to act as his death squad against the local indigenous protesters, just like in Colombia, and other countries with companies with deep pockets, and total intolerance toward the people living on the land they want to take from them.

So glad they have found each other. Was there any doubt they wouldn't? Mutual inhuman interests.

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Rob McEwen was also with Goldcorp at one time.

Separated at birth? [/center]

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