A murder in Guatemala raises questions of intimidation

The nephew of a plaintiff in a Toronto civil suit against Hudbay Minerals Inc. was beaten to death last month raising questions whether the murder was an attempt to intimidate  Guatemalan Mayan activists in their ongoing civil and criminal cases against the mining company, activists say.

Héctor Manuel Choc Cuz, 19, died on March 31 after he was taken to the outskirts of El Estor in eastern Guatemala and beaten with rocks and other objects, Rights Action, a humans rights group, reports.

According to Rights Action, family members believe the murder was a case of mistaken identity and that the intended victim was José Manuel Ich Choc.

José Ich is the son of Angélica Choc and Adolpho Ich, a Mayan leader who was allegedly murdered by Hudbay’s security chief in 2009.  José Ich was a witness to his father’s assassination and testified in the criminal trial of Hudbay’s former security chief, Mynor Padilla.

José Ich is also a witness in a Toronto civil suit filed by Angélica Choc against Hudbay in connection with her husband’s murder.

“Witnesses (who spoke on conditions of anonymity due to fear) explained that one of the assassins said, ‘It’s not Ich, let’s go,'” Rights Action states in a news release. “Ich” is  José Ich’s nickname in El Estor.

Padilla, a former lieutenant colonel in the Guatemalan army who worked as head of security of a nickel mine owned by Hudbay Minerals, was acquitted by a Puerto Barrios, Guatemala judge of murdering Adolpho Ich in April 2017.

A Guatemalan appeals court, however, overturned the verdict in September 2017 and Padilla faces a new murder trial before a different judge.

Canadian lawyer John Terry testified for Padilla’s defense in 2015 stating that he had been hired and paid by Hudbay.

“We are not going to say anything that might be distorted on the Internet or otherwise used to interfere with Mr. Padilla’s presumption of innocence or right to a fair trial,” Hudbay Minerals director of corporate communications Scott Brubacher told The Toronto Star last year when asked whether the company paid for Padilla’s Guatemalan lawyers.

Members of the Choc and Ich family have been threatened, attacked and murdered in a decades-long struggle against mining companies that have seized their indigenous land.

• In 2008, Ramiro Choc – Angélica´s brother— suffered imprisonment as a political prisoner for six years, for his work in defense of the rights and lands of the Maya Q’eqchi’ peoples.
• In 2016, men fired shots into Angélica´s home while she was inside sleeping with her two younger children.
• In 2018, María Choc – the sister of Angélica and Ramiro—was arbitrarily detained by Guatemalan authorities, for her work in defense of the rights and lands of the Q’eqchi´ peoples.

The InterReligious Task Force On Central America on April 12 requested Guatemalan authorities to conduct an “immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the murder of Héctor Choc.”

The human rights group also requested the government “take all necessary measures to guarantee the safety and security of José Ich and that of his family” and “guarantee that in all circumstances all human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisals.”

Hudbay has not commented on Héctor Choc’s murder. The company states that the civil actions pending against the company and the criminal charges against Mr. Padilla are unfounded.

“Based on internal investigations and eyewitness reports, HudBay” is  “confident” that its employees “were not involved” in Adolpho Ich’s death.

Angélica Choc is featured in the 2015 documentary film “Flin Flon Flim Flam” that reports on Hudbay’s human rights abuses in Canada, Guatemala, and Peru.