~ In depth article from The Intercept, by Max Binks-Collier ~
This is the most in depth article yet into the Lote Ocho gang-rape case (one of three lawsuits comprising the landmark Hudbay Minerals lawsuits). “Evicting Lote Ocho” focuses extensively on internal Hudbay Minerals/Skye Resources corporate documents made public through the lawsuits.
Documents that show clear knowledge about and approval from the highest offices of the Skye Resources company (later amalgamated with Hudbay Minerals) about highly controversial and negligent, if not criminal behavior on behalf of the company, before, during and after the January 17, 2007 gang-rapes of eleven Lote Ocho villagers, during the violent eviction and destruction of their entire community.
“The 11 women’s accounts of the trauma that the alleged gang-rapes caused them are unfathomable. Five were pregnant at the time; four miscarried, and one, three days from her due date when she was allegedly gang-raped, said in a deposition that she gave birth to a stillborn that “was all blue or green.””
Maya Q’eqchi’ women from Lote Ocho community, victims of gang-rapes by Guatemalan police and military, and private security guards working for Skye Resources (later amalgamated with Hudbay Minerals) – now, plaintiffs in landmark Hudbay Minerals lawsuits. (Photo, September 24, 2020, educational gathering in Guatemala, hosted by Mujeres Transformando el Mundo.)
EVICTING LOTE OCHO
How a Canadian Mining Company Infiltrated the Guatemalan State
By Max Binks-Collier, September 26 2020
Complete article & photos: https://theintercept.com/2020/09/26/hudbay-skye-canada-mining-guatemala/
[…]
“These [corporate] documents, largely unreported on until now, show that the harassment by helicopter was just one part of a much larger campaign that Skye and CGN undertook to expel Indigenous communities from a huge swath of land that the companies never had any legal right to either explore or exploit.
“The effort relied on mostly successful attempts to influence, manipulate, or pay the most powerful institutions of the Guatemalan state, including the judiciary, the security forces — and even the presidency.
“The campaign culminated in two waves of evictions targeting several Indigenous villages on January 8, 9, and 17, 2007. Eleven women from Lote Ocho were allegedly gang-raped by police officers, soldiers, and CGN’s security during the last eviction.”
[…]
“The 11 women’s accounts of the trauma that the alleged gang-rapes caused them are unfathomable. Five were pregnant at the time; four miscarried, and one, three days from her due date when she was allegedly gang-raped, said in a deposition that she gave birth to a stillborn that “was all blue or green.””
“Marriages were irreparably ruined. The impoverished community eventually split and drifted apart as some members accepted jobs at CGN, even as the company allegedly intimidated and harassed the women to pressure them into dropping their lawsuit.”
“Thirteen years after the evictions, the women claim to live with chronic pain and ongoing emotional suffering. Sometimes, the two merge. During a 2017 deposition, one woman said: “Something has entered inside me, and it is a fear. It’s a terror, and it is a physical pain that I live with all the time.””
Complete article & photos:
https://theintercept.com/2020/09/26/hudbay-skye-canada-mining-guatemala/
Court hearing: Sept. 30, 2020, 10am
On Sept. 30, the precedent setting Hudbay Minerals lawsuits will continue with a ‘virtual hearing’ in Toronto. (We are seeking information as to whether the public will be able to listen, ‘virtually’.) The Ontario Superior Court will hear an appeal by Hudbay of a January 2020 decision strongly in favor of the eleven Q’eqchi’ women plaintiffs, victims of the 2007 gang-rapes linked to Hudbay Minerals (then Skye Resources).
Plaintiffs’ lawyers
Murray Klippenstein, murray.klippenstein@klippensteins.ca
Cory Wanless, cory@waddellphillips.ca
General information
About Mayan Q’eqchi justice and territorial defense struggles related to Hudbay’s former mining operation in Guatemala, now owned and operated by Solway Investment Group: Grahame Russell, Rights Action, grahame@rightsaction.org
