November 3, 2021
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Arrested (Nov. 2, 2021) in El Estor, Guatemala, was Edgar Geovany Ich Choc, teacher, father of 2 children, and son of Angelica Choc and the late Adolfo Ich (killed Sept.27, 2009 by Mynor Padilla, former security chief of Hudbay Minerals/CGN).
This arbitrary detention occurs during a military state of siege implemented in the mining-affected Maya Q’eqchi’ territories of Guatemala, on behalf of the illegal operation of the ‘Fenix’ nickel mine owned by the Swiss company Solway Investment Group and its subsidiary CGN.
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Background:
Mining repression explodes against Q’eqchi’ people
- 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]
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 Ich-Choc family, Gremial de Pescadores y Campesinos;Ancestral Council of Q’eqchi’ people. Funds are used to:
- Help people flee El Estor, some by land into the mountains
- Replace iphones and communication devices
- Get funds to families whose bank accounts are frozen or family members were forced to flee military crackdown
- 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
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