Barely three weeks following the assassination of the son of a well-known anti-mining activist, two Indigenous leaders were also murdered, and more than a dozen wounded, as they sought to defend their land in Guatemala. Nineteen-year old Walter Mendez Valazquez was shot dead on September 7th. In May 2009, his father, Arturo, had spoken out against Canada’s Goldcorp at the company’s annual general meeting. The year before, Arturo received an anonymous letter threatening to kill a member of his family. On September 27 and 28th, attacks were levelled against Qeqchi leaders fighting a nickel mine owned by Hudbay of Canada. Initial reports implicate the company’s security force in at least some of the shootings. London-based Nostromo Research comments: Hudbay is one of the most polluting companies operating on Canadian soil. In April 2009, following months of internal turmoil at Hudbay, UK-listed Vedanta Resources acquired 9.5% of Hudbay’s equity. At the time, some analysts speculated that this might presage a takeover bid by the infamous British company for its almost as-notorious Canadian counterpart.
Read more at http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=9526.