Investigation Keeps Work of Silenced Journalists Alive

[Judi Lynn]

By Federica Marsi | 18 hours ago


From the “sand mafia” in India to the ferronickel industry in Guatemala and gold mining in Tanzania, journalists who pull back the curtain on extractive industries are being silenced.

. . .

Pollution and Protesters in Guatemala



A mining plant in Guatemala. Photo: Forbidden Stories

In 2011, an international mining and metals group arrived in a remote municipality nestled in the hills of eastern Guatemala. It took over a ferronickel mine which sold the alloy of iron and nickel to numerous international steel manufacturing companies, operating the mine through its local subsidiary.

A local indigenous group, the Maya Q’eqchi’ community, claimed the mine was responsible for polluting the lake and cutting down the region’s giant forest. Residents in the community said they were able to see an orange dust cloud spreading in the sky where trees once stood.

On May 27, 2017, as enraged protesters hurled stones at the police, fisherman Carlos Maaz was shot dead. The Guatemalan authorities denied anyone had died, despite a local journalist with the local news website Prensa Comunitaria, Carlos Choc, capturing Maaz’s lifeless body on camera.

The journalist went on air to report from the scene and later began receiving threats. A criminal investigation was launched against him and he went into hiding. (Choc, who faces an ongoing legal case, had his home broken into and equipment stolen in April, in what he believes to be an ongoing attempt to intimidate him.)

More:
https://gijn.org/2020/06/22/investigation-keeps-work-of-silenced-journalists-alive/