Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Demanda en contra de Tahoe Resources – señal de alerta para inversionistas y canadienses

Fuente: Alerta Minera Canadá - Red en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Guatemala (NISGUA) - Red Rompiendo el Silencio de las Provincias Marítimas y Guatemala

18 de junio de 2014

(Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Guatemala) Se presentó hoy día una demanda civil en Vancouver contra Tahoe Resources por negligencia y agresión en relación a un tiroteo en el proyecto argentífero de la empresa en Guatemala, lo que transmite un claro mensaje a inversionistas y a la población canadiense en general.

Victimas y sus abogados en Guatemala. Photo: Giles Clarke
Siete víctimas de un tiroteo que habría sido encargado por el ex jefe de seguridad de la empresa Tahoe Resources, Alberto Rotondo, han enjuiciado a la empresa por daños punitivos. Rotondo es un antiguo oficial de marina peruano ligado a proceso en Guatemala con cargos relacionados al ataque de mayo del 2013. La demanda canadiense representa uno de los muchos abusos vinculados al único proyecto de Tahoe, el cual se precipitó a la producción en enero del 2014 a pesar de la elevada oposición de las comunidades.

El desarrollo del proyecto argentífero Escobal de la empresa Tahoe Resources, en el suroriente de Guatemala, se ha caracterizado por violencia y represión.

“La represión de dirigentes comunitarios involucrados en la organización de consultas locales y manifestaciones pacíficas en contra de la mina de Tahoe se remonta al 2011. Alrededor de 90 personas han sido acosadas mediante persecuciones legales espurias, y en mayo del 2013 se declaró estado de sitio en la zona lindera a la mina, creando así un ambiente de temor e intimidación para acabar con la oposición local”, indica Ellen Moore de la Red en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Guatemala (NISGUA por sus siglas en inglés).

Decenas de miles de personas han votado en contra de la minería en San Rafael Las Flores, donde Tahoe opera en la actualidad, y en los municipios lindantes donde la empresa espera llevar a cabo mayor exploración.

La abrumadora oposición se basa en preocupaciones por los impactos actuales y futuros de las operaciones de Tahoe en las fuentes acuíferas locales, al igual que en la salud de la comunidad y en actividades agrícolas. La mina de Tahoe se ubica a tan sólo 2 kilómetros del parque central en San Rafael Las Flores y a escasos metros de viviendas y ganado.

“La empresa tiene una historia turbulenta en Guatemala, lo que debería preocupar a la población canadiense y a los inversionistas”, observa Jackie McVicar de la Red Rompiendo el Silencio de las Provincias Marítimas y Guatemala. “Tahoe Resources surgió de la empresa Goldcorp de Vancouver, cuya mina Marlin en las sierras del noroccidente de Guatemala ha sido fuente de conflictividad y de constantes violaciones a los derechos indígenas y humanos en la última década.”

Goldcorp mantiene una participación del 40% en Tahoe Resources, y seis de los ocho miembros de la junta directiva de esta última están o estuvieron vinculados al gigante de la minería aurífera. La mayor parte de los canadienses también invierten en Tahoe Resources a través del Fondo de Pensiones de Canadá, cuyas acciones llegaron a un valor de CAD $49 millones el 31 de marzo del 2014.

Cabe resaltar que, al enfrentarse a demandas por parte de guatemaltecos/as, la empresa canadiense HudBay Minerals terminó vendiendo su proyecto de níquel Fénix a una firma rusa a un cuarto del precio que había pagado. Las tres demandas por el asesinato a mano armada del dirigente de derechos a la tierra, la violación colectiva de 11 mujeres maya q’eqchi’ y la parálisis de un hombre joven causada por arma de fuego siguen su curso en las cortes de Ontario.

“Los abusos por los que se enjuicia a Tahoe son la punta del iceberg en términos de las flagrantes violaciones vinculadas a las operaciones mineras canadienses en Guatemala y en toda la región”, observa Jen Moore, de Alerta Minera Canadá. “Esta demanda debería sonar la alarma a la población canadiense indicando un problema mucho más profundo con esta industria que las autoridades canadienses promueven incondicionalmente en el extranjero”.

Contactos:

Ellen Moore, Red en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de Guatemala (NISGUA), (011) 502 4141 1187, ellen(arroba)nisgua.org 
Jackie McVicar, Red Rompiendo el Silencio de las Provincias Marítimas y Guatemala, (902) 324-2584 btsguatemala(arroba)gmail.com
Jen Moore, Alerta Minera Canadá, (613) 569-3439, jen(arroba)miningwatch.ca 



ANTECEDENTES

El proyecto argentífero Escobal, de la empresa Tahoe Resources, se ubica en el municipio de San Rafael Las Flores en el suroriente de Guatemala. Ha sido objeto de oposición local y continuos procesos legales en contra de la validez de la licencia de explotación. Dirigentes comunitarios han sido reprimidos, criminalizados y violentados debido a su promoción de los procesos de consulta comunitaria. A pesar del conflicto – o quizás a causa de éste – Tahoe se precipitó a comenzar operaciones en la mina, incluso antes de establecer reservas minerales confiables. Según la empresa, la mina subterránea comenzó a operar en enero del 2014.

La mina de Tahoe carece de licencia social.
  • Hasta la fecha, se han llevado a cabo 14 consultas en las que decenas de miles de personas en los seis municipios más cercanos al proyecto votaron en contra de la mina Escobal, debido a sus preocupaciones sobre los impactos ambientales y sociales actuales y futuros.

El proyecto Escobal ha llevado a violencia y criminalización.
  • Alberto Rotondo, ex jefe de seguridad de la empresa y antiguo oficial militar de Perú, se encuentra en prisión a la espera de juicio por haber presuntamente ordenado a los guardias de seguridad abrir fuego contra manifestantes en frente de la mina el 27 de abril del 2013. Siete víctimas de este ataque presentaron en Columbia Británica una demanda civil contra Tahoe Resources por negligencia en relación al incidente.
  • El gobierno de Guatemala decretó el estado de sitio por un mes luego del tiroteo del 27 de abril del 2013 en municipios en que el voto en contra de la mina había sido abrumador.
  • En junio del 2012, Tahoe presentó una demanda contra el gobierno de Guatemala, exigiéndole cumplir un rol más activo en la protección de la mina. La corte de Guatemala desestimó la demanda en febrero del 2013, unos pocos meses antes de imponerse el estado de sitio.
  • Desde septiembre del 2012, más de 90 personas han sido sindicadas con cargos criminales infundados, debiendo soportar las dificultades y pesadumbre de los procesos legales que esto implica. Algunas de ellas tuvieron que pasar meses en la cárcel antes de quedar absueltas de todo cargo.

Los entes regulatorios guatemaltecos otorgaron a Tahoe la licencia de explotación sin antes conocer los recursos presentados por pobladores, poniendo en tela de juicio la validez de la licencia.
  • Poco antes de otorgarle a Tahoe la licencia de explotación el 3 de abril del 2013, el Ministerio de Energía y Minas de Guatemala desestimó y dejó sin resolver unos 250 recursos presentados por pobladores.
  • En julio del 2013 los querellantes presentaron un amparo por la desestimación de uno de los recursos, el cual fue otorgado, poniendo en duda la validez de la licencia. Se espera que la Corte de Constitucionalidad de Guatemala emita en breve la decisión final.

Debido a sus estrechos vínculos con Goldcorp, Tahoe conoce los riesgos de proseguir sin el consentimiento de la comunidad y con un proyecto que ya ha llevado a violencia y represión.
  • Goldcorp mantiene una participación del 40% en Tahoe Resources.
  • Seis de los ocho miembros de la junta directiva de la empresa son o han sido ejecutivos en Goldcorp, incluyendo al fundador y presidente de Tahoe, Kevin McArthur, que fue presidente de Glamis Gold y de Goldcorp hasta el 2008.
  • La mina Marlin de Goldcorp en Guatemala también comenzó a operar en medio de oposición y represión generalizadas. Como resultado, ha sido objeto de repetidas declaraciones internacionales en materia de derechos humanos urgiendo la suspensión de la mina, e indicando preocupaciones por los impactos en la salud de la comunidad, en el ambiente, y por el derecho a la libre determinación de las comunidades indígenas mayas del alrededor.
  • La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos abrió recientemente un caso por violaciones a los derechos indígenas y humanos en la mina Marlin.

Tahoe Resources Inc. es una empresa de exploración y desarrollo argentífero, que cotiza en la bolsa de valores de Toronto y de Nueva York, con oficinas en Vancouver, Columbia Británica, Canadá y Reno, Nevada, EEUU. Escobal es su único proyecto.

Lawsuit Against Tahoe Resources a Wake Up Call for Investors and Canadians

Source:  MiningWatch Canada - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) - Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network  

June 18, 2014

(Ottawa/Tatamagouche/Guatemala City) A civil lawsuit filed today in Vancouver against Tahoe Resources for negligence and battery in connection with a shooting at the company’s silver project in Guatemala sends a strong message to investors and all Canadians.

Victims and legal team in Guatemala. Photo: Giles Clarke
Seven victims of a shooting allegedly ordered by Tahoe Resources’ former head of security, Alberto Rotondo, are suing the company for punitive damages. Rotondo is an ex-naval officer from Peru who was indicted in Guatemala on charges related to this attack in May 2013. The Canadian lawsuit represents one of numerous abuses in connection with Tahoe's only asset, which was rushed into production in January 2014 despite strong community opposition.

Violence and repression has marked the development of Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver project in southeast Guatemala.

“Repression against community leaders involved in organizing local referenda and peaceful protests in opposition to Tahoe’s mine dates back to 2011. Some 90 individuals have faced spurious legal persecution and, in May 2013, a military state of siege was declared in the area surrounding the mine creating a climate of fear and intimidation in order to quash local opposition,” observes Ellen Moore for the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).

Tens of thousands have voted against mining in San Rafael Las Flores, where Tahoe currently operates, and in the immediately surrounding municipalities where the company hopes to carry out further exploration.

The widespread opposition is motivated by concerns over the current and future impacts of Tahoe’s operations on local water supplies, as well as community health and agricultural activities. Tahoe’s mine is only two kilometres from the central park in San Rafael Las Flores and mere metres from homes and livestock. 

“This is a company with a troubled history in Guatemala, which should be a cause of concern to Canadians and all investors,” remarks Jackie McVicar from the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network. “Tahoe Resources is a spin-off company from Vancouver-based Goldcorp, whose Marlin mine in Guatemala’s northwestern highlands has been a source of strife and ongoing Indigenous and human rights violations during the last decade.”

Goldcorp holds 40% of the shares in Tahoe Resources and six of the company’s eight Directors have past or current ties to the gold mining mammoth. Most Canadians are also invested in Tahoe Resources through the Canada Pension Plan, which reported holding CAD $49 million in shares as of March 31, 2014. 

Notably, when Guatemalans sued another Canadian mining company, HudBay Minerals, the company ended up selling off its Fénix nickel project to a Russian firm at a quarter of the price for which it had purchased it. The three lawsuits for the shooting murder of a land rights activist, gang rape of 11 Maya Q’eqchi’ women and shooting paralysis of a young man are ongoing in Ontario courts.

“The abuses for which Tahoe is being sued are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of rampant violations in connection with Canadian mining operations in Guatemala and across the region,” comments Jen Moore for MiningWatch Canada. “This lawsuit should alert Canadians to a much deeper problem with this industry that Canadian authorities are unconditionally promoting abroad.”

Contacts:

Ellen Moore, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), (011) 502 4141 1187, ellen(at)nisgua.org 
Jackie McVicar, Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, (902) 324-2584 btsguatemala(at)gmail.com
Jen Moore, MiningWatch Canada, (613) 569-3439, jen(at)miningwatch.ca 


BACKGROUND

Tahoe Resources’ Escobal silver project in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores, southeastern Guatemala, is the subject of local opposition and ongoing legal processes against the validity of the exploitation licence. Community leaders have faced repression, criminalization and violence for their efforts to promote community consultation processes. Despite the conflict – or perhaps because of it – Tahoe has rushed to put the mine into operation even before establishing reliable mineral reserves. It reportedly brought its underground mine into operation in January 2014.

Tahoe lacks a social licence for the mine.
  • To date, fourteen referenda have been held in which tens of thousands of people in the six municipalities closest to the project have voted against the Escobal mine given their concerns over current and potential environmental and social impacts.
The Escobal project has led to violence and criminalization.
  • The company’s former security manager, an ex-military officer from Peru, Alberto Rotondo, is currently under arrest awaiting trial for allegedly ordering security guards to fire at protesters outside the mine on April 27, 2013. Seven victims of this attack are now bringing a civil lawsuit in British Columbia against Tahoe Resources for negligence and battery in connection with this incident.
  • The Guatemalan government imposed a military state of emergency for a month after the shooting on April 27, 2013 in municipalities where people overwhelmingly voted against mining.
  • In June 2012, Tahoe sued the Guatemalan government, demanding that it do more to protect the mine. A Guatemalan court dismissed the lawsuit in February 2013, mere months before the military siege was imposed.
  • Since September 2012, some 90 people have been slapped with unfounded criminal charges and have had to endure legal processes causing them distress and hardship. Several spent months in jail before being cleared of all charges.
Guatemalan regulators failed to address residents’ complaints prior to granting Tahoe’s exploitation licence, putting the licence in doubt.
  • The Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines dismissed some 250 formal community complaints without a proper hearing shortly before granting Tahoe's exploitation licence on April 3, 2013.
  • In July 2013, the plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of a complaint and won, putting the validity of the licence in doubt. A final decision from Guatemala's Constitutional Court is expected soon.
Given its close relationship to Goldcorp, Tahoe knows better than to proceed without community consent and when its project has already given rise to violence and repression.
  • Goldcorp holds 40% of Tahoe's shares.
  • Six of eight of Tahoe’s Directors are current or former Goldcorp executives, including Tahoe founder and CEO, Kevin McArthur, who was CEO of Glamis Gold and Goldcorp until 2008.
  • Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in Guatemala was also put into operation in the midst of widespread opposition and repression. As a result, it has been the subject of repeat international human rights declarations calling for suspension of the mine and raising concern over impacts on community health, the environment and right to self-determination of neighbouring Maya Indigenous communities.
  • The Inter American Commission on Human Rights recently admitted a case against Indigenous and human rights violations at the Marlin mine.
Tahoe Resources Inc. is a silver exploration and development company that lists on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges, with offices in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Reno, Nevada, USA. Escobal is its only project.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Letter to the Executive Directors of the World Bank: No New Loans for Guatemala Until Chixoy Reparations Plan Implemented

On June 4, NISGUA, along with 33 other organizations from around the world, submitted a letter to the Executive Directors of the World Bank calling on them to delay their vote on the approval of a $340 million loan for Guatemala. The signing organizations ask that the bank cease to extend any loans to Guatemala until victims of the Chixoy Dam, which was constructed with funding from the World Bank, receive due reparations.

On June 4th, Prensa Libre reported that the Bank delayed the vote on the loan and will schedule a meeting to discuss its approval within 12 days.

Read the full letter below.



Dear World Bank Executive Directors:

It is our understanding that on June 4, 2014, the Board of Governors of the World Bank intends to review and vote upon a $340 million  loan to the Government of Guatemala.  We write to ask that you suspend that vote until the Government of Guatemala has begun compliance with the 2010 Chixoy Reparations Plan.

As you know, the Government of Guatemala is currently in a dialogue with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank regarding long overdue reparations for the indigenous Mayan communities impacted by the construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam, which was constructed during the height of Guatemala’s armed conflict in the 1980’s.

The residents of 33 affected communities have survived over three decades in dire poverty provoked by the flooding of their lands, forced displacement, loss of access to water, loss of transportation routes and other impacts.  Many also suffered violence.  One of the communities most impacted by the project was Rio Negro.  Rio Negro was subject to a series of five massacres, including the March 13, 1982 massacre of 107 children and 70 women, which the United Nations sponsored Truth and Reconciliation Commission found were directly related to the dam’s construction.

In April 2010, after decades of protest, international pressure, and repression, the Organization of American States mediated a negotiations process that culminated in a reparations agreement, signed by a Guatemalan government delegation and representatives of the affected communities.  The World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights witnessed the process.  However, the agreement was never implemented.  Though initially seed funds were designated by the Guatemalan Congress to begin compliance with the plan, the funds were eventually redirected and the executive decree needed to implement the agreement was never issued.

In late 2013, after the U.S. Congress expressed concern regarding the legacy issues related to the Chixoy dam, the World Bank and the IDB again began to raise the issue with the Guatemalan government.  However, to date the executive decree has not been issued and the Reparations Plan has not been put into action in a durable way.

More than three decades after the Chixoy development disasters, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have so far been unable to ensure that communities forced into extreme poverty by projects they funded have access to the resources they need to recover a dignified and sustainable way of life.  Even in the early 1980’s, the World Bank had established safeguards and received extensive reports that the Chixoy dam project was out of compliance with those safeguards, but the World Bank continued supporting the project, which was carried out by a repressive military government.

We ask that you make it clear that the World Bank takes compliance with its safeguards and respect for fundamental human rights seriously by instructing staff that the Board will not be able to review loans to the government of Guatemala until the government of Guatemala has demonstrated its commitment to redressing the legacy issues related to the Chixoy Dam. Loans to Guatemala should be conditioned or delayed until the following occur:

1) An executive decree by the executive of Guatemala gives legal effect to the Reparations Plan of 2010 (after achieving the consent of communities for the decree’s content),

2) The government of Guatemala ensures a funding stream that will last into future government administrations to pay for Reparations Plan implementation in its entirety, and

3) Credible steps are taken to implement the Reparations Plan of 2010, as in work on actual projects after the executive decree and long-term funding are set in place.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

International Rivers Network, US
Rights Action, US
Rights Action, Canada
Guatemala Human Rights Commission, US
Environmental Defender Law Center, US
Amicus Foundation, Canada
Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network, Canada
Building Bridges Human Rights
Bank Information Center
Both Ends, Netherland
Building Bridges Human Rights, Canada
Bretton Woods Project, UK
Center for International Environmental Law, US
Centre National de Coopération au Développement, CNCD-11.11.11, Belgium
Common Frontiers, Canada
Coordinadora de Afectados por Grandes Embaleses y Trasvases (COAGRET)
Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, US
Inclusive Development International, US
Indigenous Peoples Links, UK
Instituto Mexicano Para el Desarrollo Comunitario, A.C., Mexico
Jamaa Resource Initiatives, Kenya
Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
Oxfam International
Salva la Selva/Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
Social Justice Connection, Canada
The Corner House, UK
Urgewald, Germany
Re:Common Water Campaign, Italy
Rochester Committee on Latin America, US
Salva la Selva/Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
Social Justice Connection, Canada
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, India
11.11.11-Coalition of the Flemish North-South Movement, Belgium