Guatemala

Escobal silver mine in Guatemala, owned by Tahoe Resources – a Canadian mining company – met with community opposition from the outset. Tahoe Resources hired companies set up and run by veterans of the U.S. military and the Israeli Special Forces to develop a security strategy and administer security. In April 2013, security guards shot at a group of men holding a protest at the entrance of the mine, injuring at least ten, and shortly afterwards a month-long state of siege was declared by the Guatemalan government who brought in over three thousand police and soldiers to the area, targeting community activists with house raids and arrests (War Profiteer of the Month: Tahoe Resources, 2016).