Stephanie’s Blog

Last September, the photo essay from James Rodriguez brought my attention to the involvement of  the Canadian mining company, HudBay Minerals Inc., in the death of  Mr. Ich Xaman of Guatemala.   As I stated before, we as Canadians should not be proud.

Since that report, I have been compelled to search for further information on Canadian mining companies and their involvement in Central America.  Needless to say when one searches on the net, you find the PR machine and the corporate media reporting on how they are helping to bring jobs, money and security to the various regions they are mining and their corporate responsibility.  But if you dig deeper, this really is not the case.  In my opinion they are filling their own pockets with no respect the indigenous people of the regions.  Nothing it seems has changed over the centuries.  Money is power and if you have power, you then loose respect on the people that have helped line your pockets and nothing will stand in your way.

Goldcorp from Vancouver, has mining operations in Honduras, specifically in the Valle de Siria region.  An  interview from Todd Gordon and Jeffery R. Webber with Carlos Danilo Amador. the General Secretary of the Regional Environmental Committee of the Valle de Siria , published in the Upside Down World should be widely circulated in the mainstream press but I fear it will not reach many Canadians.   From the interview Goldcorp is doing little to help the people in the region, they continue to take the dignity away from the people.  They are no longer farming and living off the land, their water is contaminated and the continual mining will damage the land beyond repair.

I thank James, Todd, Jeffery and scores of others who continue to bring these reports to the attention of those who seek it.  Without people like you, we would not know.