Hudbay Minerals denies involvement in alleged shootings and gang rape
Five Guatemalans are in Toronto to sue a Canadian mining firm over allegations the security staff of one of its subsidiaries brought violence and death to their village.
The five, from the village of El Estor, are preparing for pre-trial questioning by lawyers for Hudbay Minerals Inc. in connection with three civil suits filed against the Toronto firm. They concern the alleged killing of community leader Adolfo Ich in 2009, a shooting that left another man paralyzed in 2009 and the gang rape of 11 women in 2007.
At San Lorenzo Church in north Toronto last week, Rosa Elbira choked back tears as she recounted the day in 2007 when she says she was repeatedly raped by nine men including police, soldiers and security officers for a mining company.
Beside her, holding her hand in support, sat German Chub Choc, 23, who’s paralyzed from the waist down, a bullet still lodged near his spine. He admitted to moments despair since the day in 2009 when he says he was shot by the head of the same mining company’s security detail.