Violent Evictions at El Estor, Guatemala - updated

In January 2007, five indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi' communities were violently evicted from their ancestral lands near El Estor, Guatemala, at the best of Canadian mining company Skye Resources (since purchased by Canadian mining company HudBay Minerals). The mining company paid workers a nominal sum to destroy people's homes. With the force of the army and police, company workers took chainsaws and torches to people's homes, while women and children stood by. The mining company claimed that they maintained "a peaceful atmosphere during this action."

THE BACKSTORY: The mining company claims ownership of the land, but locals dispute that, saying it was illegally taken from them in 1965 by the military dictatorship ruling the country at the time, which granted the land to Canadian mining company INCO, then killed, disappeared and forcibly displaced the local Mayan Q'eqchi' population to clear the way for INCO's activities. Skye acquired its claimed rights to the land from INCO in 2004. In the fall of 2006, descendants of those who were displaced in the 1960s and 70s returned to inhabit areas that were sitting idle, seeking a small plot of land to live and grow food to sustain themselves and their families. They say the land is rightfully theirs, and they have nowhere else to go.

THE LAWSUIT: When this video first circulated in early 2007, Canada's ambassador to Guatemala, Kenneth Cook, discredited it, implying that it is a work of propaganda, not to be believed. After both he and Government of Canada refused to respond to the filmmaker's requests for an explanation and apology for making these false statements, the filmmaker sued them both for defamation. The trial took place in Toronto in June, 2010. The judge ruled in the filmmaker's favor, finding the ambassador guilty of slander and rebuking the Canadian government for refusing to deal with this matter. For more information on the case, see http://www.schnoorversuscanada.ca

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Guatemala
• mining
• nickel
• indigenous
• Mayan
• Q'eqchi
• Skye
• HudBay
• resistance
• repression
• military
• police
• Izabal
• Estor
• mine
• business
• development
• ambassador

[13triki]

Hermanos, vota por una guatemala - pa nuestra gente, no para esos ladrones y traidores.

Abran los ojos!

[sanmattia]

Que impotencia y que rabia que le hagan esto a nuestros hermanos.