Guatemalan Activist Murdered After Court Suspends Palm Oil Company Operations
Guatemalan Activist Murdered After Court Suspends Palm Oil Company Operations
Sunday, 04 October 2015 00:00
By Sandra Cuffe, Mongabay | Report
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The overflow of palm-oil mill effluent into the La Pasión River is now the leading theory for the cause of a mass fish die-off in
June. (Photo courtesy of El Informante Petenero)The overflow of palm-oil mill effluent into the La Pasión River is now the
leading theory for the cause of a mass fish die-off in June. (Photo courtesy of El Informante Petenero)
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A palm oil company remains at the heart of conflict in northern Guatemala, months after a mass fish die-off. A day after company operations were suspended pending further investigation into the incident, three community leaders were abducted and threatened by company workers and an outspoken local teacher was murdered by unidentified assailants in broad daylight.
On September 17, a criminal court judge ordered the suspension of Reforestadora de Palmas del Petén, S.A. (REPSA) operations in the municipality of Sayaxché, in the Petén department. The company is allegedly responsible for an ecological disaster in June, when aquatic life turned up dead along a 100-mile stretch of the La Pasión River. The suspension is to facilitate a judicial investigation into whether REPSA was responsible for the die off. Judge Karla Hernández also authorized the Office of the Public Prosecutor - Guatemala's public agency responsible for all criminal prosecution - to carry out search and seizure operations of company property deemed necessary to the investigation.
REPSA is part of Guatemala's largest palm oil producer, the Grupo Olmeca conglomerate. The company controls at least a third of the country's 130,000 hectares of oil palm plantations and exports its products to other Central American and Caribbean nations. REPSA did not respond to Mongabay's request for comment by the time of publication.
Early in the morning following the court order suspending REPSA operations in Sayaxché, three human rights activists were illegally detained by REPSA workers who were staging a demonstration at the time to protest the judge's decision that put them out of work. Hermelindo Asig, Manuel Mendoza, and Lorenzo Pérez were abducted from their vehicle near a REPSA processing plant while on their way to a meeting in a neighboring department. They were restrained, confined in a covered truck, and threatened with being burned alive before their release late that afternoon, according to statements by the victims and human rights organizations.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33085-guatemalan-activist-murdered-after-court-suspends-palm-oil-company-operations
Environment & Energy:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112791890
