Guatemalan court acquits former Hudbay Minerals security guard of murder
Guatemalan court acquits former Hudbay Minerals security guard of murder
https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.3359520.1491590961!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg
The Canadian Press
Published Friday, April 7, 2017 2:53PM EDT
TORONTO -- A court in Guatemala has acquitted a former security guard for a Canadian-owned mining company of murdering an indigenous activist and leaving another paralyzed in a ruling that comes amidst a landmark lawsuit in Canada, lawyers for the plaintiffs say.
At the time of the incidents in 2009, Mynor Padilla was head of security for a mine owned by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals.
The widow of Adolfo Ich, the wife of the paralyzed man and 11 other indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi are suing Hudbay in what observers have called a precedent for holding multinational mining companies liable in their home countries for alleged abuses at mines they operate abroad.
Toronto lawyer Murray Klippenstein, who represents Ich's widow, said the acquittal was not unexpected given a justice system in the central American country that Human Rights Watch and others have denounced as rife with "rampant" corruption.
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http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/guatemalan-court-acquits-former-hudbay-minerals-security-guard-of-murder-1.3359515
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27 SEPTEMBER 2016
On 27 September 2009, human rights defender Adolfo Ich Chamán was brutally killed. Seven years later, his wife Angélica Choc is still struggling for justice.
Adolfo Ich Chamán was a respected Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leader and the President of the Community of La Uníon in the El Estor region of Guatemala. Before being killed, Adolfo was leading his community in the struggle against a Canadian mining company destroying their territory. He was speaking out against the human rights violations committed by the company and the negative impact of the mine in his community.
In the early afternoon of 27 September 2009, Adolfo went to one of the buildings close to the mine. He had heard some gunshoots, and he wanted to make sure violence between the anti-mine protesters and the security guards would not escalate. He was not carrying any weapons. When he arrived there, a group of men working as security guards for the mine attacked him with a machete and shot him in the head. He died from the wounds.
The same day, security personnel working for the mine shot at close range another community member, German Chub Choc. He survived the attack, but he suffered life-threatening injuries and he is now paralyzed.
More:
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/blog/post/guatemala-remembering-adolfo-ich-cham%C3%A1n
[center]
Murdered activist, Adolfo Ich. [/center]
Mayan families’ quest for justice against Canadian mining company HudBay
Guatemalan villagers are taking Canada’s HudBay to court in a fight for ancestral land, corporate regulations and $79 million.
By MARINA JIMENEZForeign Affairs Writer
Mon., June 20, 2016
EL ESTOR, GUATEMALA—Ribbons of sweat roll down German Chub’s face, as he pushes his wheelchair around his rocky yard, careful not to run over the hens pecking in the dirt or bump into his neighbour’s free-roaming pig.
An illiterate Mayan Q’eqchi’ farmer who grows mangoes and bananas, Chub’s life would be difficult enough in this small, indolent city in eastern Guatemala, where the temperature soars to 38C, even if he weren’t paralyzed, with a bullet lodged in his spine.
Chub maintains a stiff resolve, proudly showing off his ability to saw logs, and even hoist himself into the passenger side of a pickup truck. But life is a struggle. Sometimes he can’t make it to the bathroom in time. Sometimes villagers laugh at his disability. And sometimes he is crying inside, despite the ready smile on his face.
“Before, I had total freedom and could go anywhere I wanted to,” says Chub, 29. “I had my whole life ahead of me. Now things are difficult. I can’t work. I have to live with my parents. I’ll never have another child.”
More:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/06/20/the-mayans-vs-the-mine.html
