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Rights Action
January 19, 2017
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For the record, another murder linked to Canadian mining in Guatemala: Laura Leonor Vasquez Pineda
On January 16, 2017, Laura Leonor Vasquez Pineda was assassinated in her home. She is a 47 year-old community and environmental defender against harms and repression caused directly or indirectly by Canadian/U.S. company Tahoe Resources.
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GUATEMALA: Assassination of Laura Leonor Vásquez Pineda, land and environmental defender
http://movimientom4.org/2017/01/guatemala-asesinan-a-laura-leonor-vasquez-pineda-defensora-del-territorio/
[“Faced with an act of feminicide against the territorial and community defender Laura Leonor Vasquez Pineda, a member of the peaceful resistance against [Tahoe Resources] mining in Mataquescuintla, Jalapa, the Network of Ancient Healers expresses indignation and repudiation of this cowardly and mysoginist act against her life and the community. We offer political, spiritual and feminist support to her family and the communities in resistance in Mataescuintla.” Red de Sanadoras Ancestrales del Feminismo Comunitario de Guatemala]
On the night of January 16, 2017, unidentified men forcibly entered the home of Laura Leonor Vásquez Pineda and murdered her. Due to her opposition to the “San Rafael” mining project of the Canadian company Tahoe Resources, she had been illegally criminalized and incarcerated in 2013. Laura Vásquez belonged to the Committee to Defend Life in San Rafael Las Flores. We reproduce this communique disseminated by the Network of Ancient Healers and join them to lament and repudiate this incident.
INCIDENT: On the night of January 16, 2017, unidentified men forcibly entered the home of the defender Laura Vásquez and murdered her; her corpse presented bullet wounds in the head.
Laura Vásquez was 47 years old, caretaker of two grandchildren (minors) and in charge of a small business she owned. During 2013, due to her militancy in the Committee in Defense of Life in San Rafael Las Flores and her participation in the peaceful resistance against the mining project imposed by Tahoe Resources of Canada, she was a victim of the manipulation of the legal system and of a process of criminalization that kept her in prison for 7 months, without ever proving any of the crimes that the Public Prosecutor charged her with. After achieving her freedom, there were a series of rumors that sought to stigmatize and defame her.
IM-Defensoras repudiates and condemns this latest crime against a defender in Guatemala, a crime added to 13 others we have documented since 2012. We are particularly concerned that similar to other killings of women land and territory defenders in the region, such as the paradigmatic case of Berta Caceres in Honduras, the assassination of Laura Vasquez also occurs after she faced a process of criminalization, stigmatization and defamation.
We express solidarity with the family of Laura Vásquez and demand that the Guatemalan state investigate the crime to find the material and intellectual authors of this crime, as well as ensuring the safety and protection of this defender´s family. We ask that international organizations and agencies express their condemnation of the crime and join us in the demand that it not remain in impunity.
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Recent report:
The “Canada Brand” – Violence and Canadian Mining Companies in Latin America
https://justice-project.org/the-canada-brand-violence-and-canadian-mining-companies-in-latin-america/
Funding & Activism
Since 2012, Rights Action has sent regular small grants to the Committee to Defend Life in San Rafael Las Flores. We continues to send your donations to community based groups resisting harms and violence caused by Canadian and U.S. mining companies supported by the U.S. and Canadian governments, working in partnership with the undemocratic, repressive regimes in Honduras and Guatemala: Goldcorp Inc (both countries), Aura Minerals, Tahoe Resources, KCA/Radius Gold, Hudbay Minerals.
Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & United States)
To support community groups resisting mining linked harms and violence, working for real community controlled development, protection of the environment, and respect for the rule of law and human rights, make check 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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