“They’ve always wanted to buy my land and they’ve always threatened me for not wanting to sell it. Once I had my grandson in my arms and they put a machete to my neck. It wasn’t until my grandson cried, that is what saved my life,” testified Diodora Hernandez, who has repeatedly refused to sell her land to Goldcorp.
Hernandez explained the threats to her life that have resulted from the mining company’s presence in her community. In 2009 she was shot in the eye by two former mine employees, but survived the attack. “This is what they have done and continue to do,” she continued, “and I have committed no other crime than not wanting to sell my land.”
In addition to facing pressure, threats, and coercion from mining company employees to sell their land, communities surrounding Goldcorp’s Marlin mine used the tribunal to denounce the health, environmental, and human rights violations that the mine has caused, which stand in stark contrast to the picture the company has painted to shareholders and the media.
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