According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Mynor Padilla, the former security chief of CGN, a Guatemalan nickel-mining company then owned by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, pled guilty to killing Indigenous community leader Adolfo Ich Chaman. He also pleaded guilty to paralysing German Chub on the 27th of September 2009. According to court documents, Padilla shot Ich Chaman in the head at close range after Ich was dragged through a fence by security guards and had his arm nearly severed by a machete blow. In addition, Padilla shot Chub at close range during a community soccer game, paralysing him from the mid-chest down and permanently collapsing his left lung. Hudbay had argued that Padilla did not commit the shootings, claiming the fabrication of these accusations. These guilty pleas, ratified in December 2020, could significantly impact two lawsuits against Hudbay in Ontario, which allege that Hudbay was negligent in managing CGN's security operations. The guilty plea also challenges Hudbay’s assertion of non-liability.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, nickel, mining, corporate negligence, Indigenous rights, murder of environmental defenders
Sources: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/guatemala-former-security-chief-of-subsidiary-of-hudbay-minerals-pledged-guilty-to-murdering-indigenous/
https://www.thestar.com/business/ex-security-chief-for-subsidiary-of-hudbay-minerals-pleads-guilty-to-killing-paralyzing-indigenous-guatemalans/article_26feeb34-3e8c-5886-b419-6644ac634b3a.html
According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Mynor Padilla, the former security chief of CGN, a Guatemalan nickel-mining company then owned by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, pled guilty to killing Indigenous community leader Adolfo Ich Chaman. He also pleaded guilty to paralysing German Chub on the 27th of September 2009. According to court documents, Padilla shot Ich Chaman in the head at close range after Ich was dragged through a fence by security guards and had his arm nearly severed by a machete blow. In addition, Padilla shot Chub at close range during a community soccer game, paralysing him from the mid-chest down and permanently collapsing his left lung. Hudbay had argued that Padilla did not commit the shootings, claiming the fabrication of these accusations. These guilty pleas, ratified in December 2020, could significantly impact two lawsuits against Hudbay in Ontario, which allege that Hudbay was negligent in managing CGN's security operations. The guilty plea also challenges Hudbay’s assertion of non-liability.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, nickel, mining, corporate negligence, Indigenous rights, murder of environmental defenders
Sources: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/guatemala-former-security-chief-of-subsidiary-of-hudbay-minerals-pledged-guilty-to-murdering-indigenous/
https://www.thestar.com/business/ex-security-chief-for-subsidiary-of-hudbay-minerals-pleads-guilty-to-killing-paralyzing-indigenous-guatemalans/article_26feeb34-3e8c-5886-b419-6644ac634b3a.html
In an article by Mongabay, it is reported that Guatemala’s Sierra del Lacandón National Park is nearing a state of collapse due to rampant deforestation and land grabbing. Over the past two years, the park has lost thousands of hectares of forest, raising concerns among government officials and conservationists that the area may soon be lost to illegal actors. Some communities that were already living in the area when the park was established have declined to cooperate with the government’s plans to work together on sustainability, education, and public health projects. Instead, these communities have expanded their presence with roads, cattle ranching, and airstrips for drug planes, all of which have exacerbated deforestation rates. The park is part of the larger Maya Biosphere Reserve, which covers over 2 million hectares of rainforest across northern Guatemala and connects to other protected forests in Mexico and Belize. The reserve is home to a rich biodiversity, including 56 species of fish, 24 species of amphibians, 60 species of reptiles, 326 species of birds, and 69 species of mammals, as well as over 30 archeological sites from Mayan and other Mesoamerican civilizations.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, cattle, primary production, land grabbing, drug trafficking, illegal deforestation
Source: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/guatemala-national-park-nearing-collapse-amid-land-grabbing-deforestation/
In an article by Presna Libre, it is reported that Miguel Ángel Turcios Pineda is facing a legal process for money laundering in the case known as Fedecocagua, which involves a structure for laundering Q1 billion. The Public Ministry (MP) reported that Turcios Pineda will face trial as part of phase 2 of the Fedecocagua case. He was granted a substitute measure and the payment of a Q200,000 bail. The investigation by the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (Feci) of the MP indicated that in the first phase of the case, the manager of the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Coffee Producers of Guatemala (Fedecocagua), Ulrich Gurtner Kappeler, was also arrested for money laundering. It was determined that a series of non-existent companies were generating invoices and through which the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT) returned the Value Added Tax that they had obtained at the time. It was referred that more than Q1 billion were benefited by these companies. It was established that Fedecocagua directors simulated coffee purchase and sale operations using front companies, who invoiced the coffee that the cooperatives and small producers delivered to Fedecocagua, who in turn simulated the payment of invoices, money that later returned to accounts through a series of transfers.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, coffee, primary production, tax evasion, money laundering
Source: https://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/justicia/caso-fedecocagua-miguel-angel-turcios-pineda-enfrenara-proceso-judicial-por-lavado-de-dinero-breaking/
In March 2020, the news organisation Channel 4uncovered child labour on coffee farms in Guatemala. The investigated farms were found to be supplying beans to international giant's Starbucks and Nespresso. The investigation revealed children as young as eight working up to 40-hour weeks in harsh conditions, earning as little as £5 a day. These children were paid based on the weight of coffee beans they picked, with sacks weighing up to 45kg. Both Starbucks and Nespresso, part of Nestlé, faced criticism and legal scrutiny for allegedly violating international labour standards set by the U.N.'s International Labour Organisation. Despite such claims, child labour persisted across farms used by Starbucks until 2019. Starbucks responded with a full investigation and confirmed no recent purchases from implicated farms, while Nespresso suspended purchases pending its own investigation. Both companies expressed zero tolerance for child labour but acknowledged the need for further improvement in their supply chain oversight.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, coffee, primary production, child labour
Sources: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/guatemala-children-as-young-as-eight-picked-coffee-beans-on-farms-supplying-starbucks/
In Sayaxché, a region located in the Petén Department of Guatemala, the expansion of palm oil cultivation has resulted from aggressive, and often coercive, land acquisition. The growth rate of palm plantations in the region increased from 465 hectares in 2000 to 28,554 hectares in 2010. To acquire such a vast expanse of land, palm companies have used tactics based on deceit and coercion, resulting in aggressive land grabbing. Land grabbing is carried out through intermediaries who pursue persistent persuasion, often offering upfront payments. Some intermediaries will also pressure local farmers to sell their land by making false promises, deceitfully giving the impression of short-term financial gain. Indeed, many landowners are promised new, lucrative employment opportunities, which either fail to materialise or are, in reality, informal and poorly paid. Additionally, palm companies may use community and religious leaders to exert social pressure on landowners to sell their properties. Overall, this aggressive, large-scale land grabbing has transformed the landscape from a diverse pattern of land ownership to large contiguous areas under palm cultivation. Local landowners are often left in dire economic situations, with no job opportunities remaining, forcing them to relocate.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, palm oil, primary production land grabbing
Sources: https://verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/RiskAnalysisGuatemalanPalmOilSector_0.pdf
A Guatemalan palm oil company, linked to an oil spill into Guatemala's Pasion River and to numerous human rights abuses, has been charged with corruption and fraud. According to Friends of the Earth, Reforestadora de Palma S.A. (RESPA) was involved in an immense fish kill along the Pasión River in 2015 due to pollution from their processing plant, affecting 12,000 people. The company was charged with "ecocide" but the ruling was not enforced after the murder of a key plaintiff, Indigenous leader Rigoberto Lima Choc. Subsequent investigation revealed REPSA’s involvement in several illegal activities such as corporate corruption and environmental mismanagement. Such issues are systemic in Guatemala, where corruption is high, with REPSA being amongst nine companies other charged with influence peddling and bribery. Four high-level executives, including directors Hugo and Juan Milton Molina Botrán, face arrest orders. In addition, REPSA is also allegedly involved in several human rights abuses, rampant in Guatemala’s palm oil sector. Despite the devastating impact of this scandal, the Rainforest Action Network reported in 2021 that Cargill and Nestlé had quietly resumed sourcing palm oil from REPSA. These commercial ties were suspended following the 2018 arrest of REPSA executives, but have since resumed.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, palm oil, primary production, corruption and bribery, human rights violations
Sources: https://www.ran.org/press-releases/cargill-nestle-resumed-palm-oil-sourcing-in-guatemala-despite-legacy-of-violence-and-intimidation-advocates-find/
According to an InSight Crime analysis, illegal jade trafficking is on the rise in Guatemala, particularly in the coastal region east of the country known as a cocaine corridor. This high-value gemstone is in high demand in China, leading to an increase in illegal extraction and transportation operations. These operations are allegedly facilitated by high-level authorities and politicians, according to investigations by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. On October 1, Guatemalan police seized a container with 10 tons of unprocessed jade that had been extracted near Morales, one of the most important cities in Izabal. Prosecutors suspect a network of political influences facilitating the entire operation, as the traffickers needed to circumvent mining and environmental controls before the jade left the port of Santo Tomás de Castilla, on the Caribbean coast of Izabal.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, jade, mining, primary production, trade and transport, illegal mining, corruption and bribery
Source: https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/jade-new-crown-jewel-guatemala/
A Mongabay report warns that organised crime is exerting unprecedented pressure on Guatemala's largest rainforest, the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The reserve has faced a wave of land invasions since the beginning on 2024, including in previously untouched areas such as Naachtún-Dos Lagunas Biotope. The invaders, often heavily armed, are backed by criminal groups seeking to exploit the government's agrarian reform policies to launder money through cattle ranching and drug trafficking across the Mexican border. As a result, the reserve is experiencing severe threats from deforestation, illegal livestock farming, and forest fires. In March 2024, a patrol discovered extensive markings and a road being cleared in Mirador National Park, signalling a planned large-scale invasion. Despite arrests and patrols, the encroachment persists. Mongabay also explains that the situation is exacerbated by the political transition with the inauguration of President Bernardo Arévalo, whose government supports rural and Indigenous communities. Proposed reforms to Guatemala's protected areas law could loosen restrictions on agriculture and livestock in the reserve in order to address longstanding issues related to land ownership, further endangering the area.
Keywords: Latin America, Guatemala, cattle, primary production, serious organised crime, agriculture, drug trafficking, illegal production, deforestation, money laundering
Sources: https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/organized-crime-puts-unprecedented-pressure-on-guatemalas-largest-rainforest/