GUATEMALA: Gold mine sparks murder

Issue 

Barry Healy

The Movement Of United Farmworkers (MTC), a Guatemalan community organisation in the San Marcos region where the Canadian-US company Glamis Gold is operating, has issued an urgent appeal for international solidarity following the killing of a local man by mining company agents.

This is the second person violently killed directly or indirectly related to Glamis Gold's Guatemalan mining operation, which is widely opposed by the general public in Guatemala, including local Mayan populations.

However, Glamis Gold is receiving strong support from the Canadian, US and Guatemalan governments, and the World Bank.

According to eye-witnesses, on the evening of March 13, Alvaro Benigno was shot six times by "security" personnel who work for the Grupo Golan company, a subsidiary of the Canadian / US company Glamis Gold Ltd. Benigno was on his way home from a church event. He was taken to the National Hospital in Huehuetenango, where he died.

The manager of the Grupo Golan company telephoned the family of the victim a number of times to offer them money in an attempt to suppress the story or to stop the family beginning a legal process against the company. The 23-year-old Benigno leaves behind a pregnant wife and three-year-old child.

This killing takes place in a tense climate: the local population is organising against the gold mining operation. During one protest against Glamis Gold in January, a protestor was killed by Guatemala government forces.

To date, no one has been detained by the authorities for Benigno's murder.

The MTC asks that protests be directed to: GLAMIS GOLD email: <info@glamis.com>. For more information visit <http://www.rightsaction.org>.

From Green Left Weekly, April 6, 2005.
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