October 28, 2021
*******
*******
Klippensteins and Waddell Phillips statement regarding repressive raids against clients Angelica Choc and German Chub Choc in Guatemala
October 27, 2021
https://waddellphillips.ca/klippensteins-and-waddell-phillips-statement-regarding-repressive-raids-against-clients-angelica-choc-and-german-chub-choc-in-guatemala/
We are alarmed and distressed to receive word that our Mayan Q’eqchi’ clients in Guatemala, Angelica Choc, German Chub Choc, and many other Mayan Q’eqchi’ community leaders, were subjected to unjustified raids of their homes by Guatemalan Police and military earlier today.
The raids appear to be a heavy-handed, targeted and retaliatory response to ongoing protests against the illegal operation of the Fenix mine now owned by Swiss company Solway Investment Group (formerly owned by Hudbay Minerals). Despite the existence of a Guatemalan Constitutional Court order suspending all operations at the Fenix mine, Guatemalan police and military have been deployed to the region to allow Solway to continue mining.
Angelica Choc and German Chub are plaintiffs in lawsuits in Canada against Hudbay Minerals regarding past human rights abuse at the Fenix Mine, including the killing of Adolfo Ich and the shooting of German Chub by mine company security personnel in 2009, and they may have been targeted for that reason.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms these unjustified raids and demand that:
- The Guatemalan police and military immediately stop all raids of private homes and return all property seized during the raids conducted to date;
- Solway Investment Group immediately complies with the Guatemalan Constitutional Court order suspending operations at the Fenix mine until proper consultations are completed.
*******
- Solway Investment Group: Baarerstrasse 8, 6300 Zug Switzerland, +41417400400, [email protected], [email protected], www.solwaygroup.com
- Embassy of Switzerland, Guatemala: +502 2367 5520, [email protected], [email protected]
- Embassy of Switzerland, Canada: +1 613 235 1837, [email protected]
- Embassy of Switzerland, US: +1 202 745 7900, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
- European Union Human Rights in Guatemala: [email protected]
More information
“In Guatemala, it is not possible to operate a large-scale mine (let alone just about any large-scale economic “development” project in the sectors of hydroelectric dams, garment sweatshops, for-export production of African palm, sugar cane, bananas, and more) without participating in and benefiting from human rights violations and repression, corruption, and impunity.”
Emergency Response Fund
Rights Action is sending emergency human rights funds to people we have long worked with in the region, including German Chub, Angelica Choc and the Ich-Choc family, the Gremial de Pescadores y Campesinos; the Ancestral Council of Q’eqchi’ people. Funds are used to:
- Help people flee El Estor, many by land into the mountains
- Replace iphones and communication devices
- Get funds to families whose bank accounts are frozen
- Provide food and shelter for people forced to leave El Estor
- Help mobilize human rights activists to try and reach El Estor to bear witness
- Prepare for legal defense costs related to abusive-trumped up criminal charges
Make checks payable to "Rights Action" and mail to:
- U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
- Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
|
|
