Updates

Here are updates on two series of events covered in the past on the blog:

- Like the Amigos de K'ekchi - which is considering gathering in Coban in 2010 - the Presbyterian Guatemala Mission Network may gather next in Guatemala, perhaps during the first week of March 2011 at a seminary.

- The funerals of some of the community leaders and residents killed in late September in connection with stuggles over land ownership on land that a Canadian mining company owns and hopes to re-open as a nickel mine brought thousands of people into the street, according to the Guatemalan paper "Prensa Libre." Mining company spokespeople blamed the violence entirely on the community leaders. We may hear more from our partners about this.

Writing the mining company is still in order. Write the following Hudbay executives and ask that they suspend development of the mine until they have settled land claims of Q'eqchi' communities, that they reveal any ties to the paramilitary groups apparently behind some of the killings, and that they cooperate with any investigations: Peter R. Jones, Chief Executive Officer, or Michael D. Winship, President and Chief Operating Office, Hudbay Minerals, Dundee Place, Suite 25011 Adelaide Street. East Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2V9, CANADA.

-- Perry