int'l sec and def mgmt / golan

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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Land Defenders Under Siege</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Muñoz’s home in Mataquescuintla, Guatemala, located a few miles from the mine, was built by her father using adobe that she and her 12 siblings helped mix. Growing up, they spent the mornings making tortillas for the family and the rest of the day playing in the woods and planting or harvesting corn, beans, and coffee.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After her father died, Muñoz took charge of caring for her sister Engracia, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a teenager, and cultivated her family’s land, making cheese out of her cows’ milk to sell.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Muñoz had never been involved in any activism until she heard about the mine at church. “When I learned of the tremendous harms that such a project causes to the environment in these territories, I got worried,” Muñoz said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She and others began holding referenda on the mine in various communities. The tactic could not legally bar the mine from operating, but it created a public record of the lack of local support. In the eight participating municipalities, more than 90 percent of community members voted against the mine. Meanwhile, protesters began rallying at construction sites where infrastructure was being installed.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In response, Tahoe hired International Security and Defense Management,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;a private security firm</span>&nbsp;run by a U.S. Special Forces veteran, to assemble a security plan. The company hired Golan Group, founded by former Israeli special forces officers, to carry it out.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Muñoz was one of few women who stood front and center at the anti-mine actions. “They realized I was one of the leaders,” she said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advocates for land defenders have observed a pattern in the cases of violence they’ve investigated in San Rafael and across Guatemala. “They start to portray human rights defenders as terrorists,” said Maria Reyes, who worked closely with Escobal opponents as an official with Protection International.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Extractive industries push the narrative that “this<b>&nbsp;isn’t a peaceful protest,</b>&nbsp;but rather a&nbsp;<b>blockade that is violating the rights of others.</b>” [THEREFORE VIOLENT?!]</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There’s an escalation that begins with the act of defamation,” Santos explained. “It can reach such a level that it ends in the ‘civil death’ of the human rights defender — when they are captured and brought to prison — or with their physical death, when they are assassinated.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>By the end of 2012, events around the mine were escalating. Protests erupted as Tahoe installed high-voltage lines to power the project.&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A cement plant and a storage facility were set on fire. Then, in January, two security guards were killed in a confrontation with armed men. The resistance movement denied responsibility for the violence and property damage, suggesting that agents provocateur might have been responsible. The mine’s head of security claimed that surveillance cameras weren’t working at the time, and the identity of the perpetrators never emerged. Two months later, four Xinca leaders, including the president of the Xinca parliament, were kidnapped after participating in a referendum on the mine. One of them was killed.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Meanwhile, Tahoe’s pressure campaign on the Guatemalan government was paying off. The National Security Commission decided that unrest against any mine should be considered a matter of<b>&nbsp;national security</b>, according to a report by Plaza Pública, and an opaque interagency group made up of environment, energy, and national security officials was formed to monitor such projects.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></p></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman">2010</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no lnx</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Nation</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BLOG</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Firm Tied to Israeli Special Forces Wants US Security Contracts in Jerusalem, Iraq, Afghanistan</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As the Obama Administration continues the military privatization agenda, a CIA-connected firm and an Israeli-run company named Instinctive Shooting International are looking to cash in.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Jeremy ScahillTwitter APRIL 29, 2010</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Obama administration has continued the Bush-era reliance on private contractors to sustain the US occupation of Iraq and the US operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Obama has surpassed Bush’s reliance on contractors with current contractor levels surpassing 100,000 Defense Department contractors deployed. In Iraq, Obama has maintained the long-standing ratio of one contractor to every US soldier.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan/Pakistan, said recently that he believes the US has “created in ourselves a dependency on contractors that is greater than it ought to be.” He added: “I think it doesn’t save money. I actually think it would be better to reduce the number of contractors involved, increase the number of military if necessary.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Despite such proclamations, the pattern of dependence on contractors is continuing unabated—and not just within the Department of Defense.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On April 20, the US State Department posted a solicitation for armed private security contractors to deploy in “critical or higher than critical threat areas” globally under its Worldwide Protective Services program.&nbsp;<b>Among the firms that have held these contracts are Blackwater, DynCorp, Triple Canopy and Armor Group.</b>ArmorGroup was exposed last year by whistleblowers for a range of misconduct at the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Among the actions revealed by the Project on Government Oversight were hazing rituals involving nudity and heavy drinking that at times included personnel urinating on each other. The whistleblowers alleged that ArmorGroup personnel created a general atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Last December, following POGO’s revelations, the State Department said it was phasing out ArmorGroup.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In its solicitation for contract bids, the State Department says it will hire as many as six “qualified US firms” for “anticipated and unanticipated personal protective, static guard, and emergency response” functions. The contracts are slated to last one year with the potential for four, year-long options.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To qualify for the contracts, security companies must have a total annual value of at least $15 million in security contracts and must possess a valid “Final Secret Facility Security Clearance.” After the contracts are awarded, the State Department says that it will then sponsor the contractor for “Top Secret Facility Clearance.” In addition, bidding companies must have at least two years of experience operating in “austere and hostile environments overseas” such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq and experience in “operating long term personal protective security details for executive level dignitaries.” The solicitation indicates that the work will include “a static guard and emergency response team requirement in Baghdad, Iraq, a static guard and emergency response team requirement in Kabul, Afghanistan, and a personal protective security service requirement in Jerusalem.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Among the companies listed as “interested vendors” to bid on the contracts are the predictable list of<b>&nbsp;industry giants: L-3 Services, SAIC, USIS, Northrop Grumman, and DynCorp. Blackwater,</b>&nbsp;which has been a prime contractor under the WPS program since the beginning of the Iraq invasion, does not appear to be bidding on the contract. If that remains the case, it could represent the end of an era in the mercenary business.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;In a sea of heavy-hitters, two lesser-known firms in particular that have expressed interest in the contracts jump out: Instinctive Shooting International and Evergreen International Aviation.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hiring&nbsp;<b>Instinctive Shooting International</b>&nbsp;for any type of armed contract in a Muslim country, particularly to operate in Jerusalem with a stamp of US government legitimacy, should be cause for serious concern and Congressional inquiry.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) was founded by Hanan Yadin, a former member of the Israel National Counter-Terrorism Agency and a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces. According to his bio [PDF], Hanan “received advanced training at the Israeli Anti-Terror Academy and served as an instructor at the Israeli Military Intelligence Academy. As part of a Special Ops unit he executed high-risk missions against terrorist’s cells. Hanan is an expert marksman and has completed advanced training in crisis response, Krav Maga (the Israeli unarmed fighting system), urban warfare and tactical operations.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>I encountered ISI operatives, all former Israeli soldiers, manning an armed check-point in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the time, in 2005, its website described ISI’s personnel as “veterans of the Israeli special task forces from the following Israeli government bodies: Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israel National Police Counter Terrorism units, Instructors of Israel National Police Counter Terrorism units, General Security Service (GSS or ‘Shin Beit’), Other restricted intelligence agencies.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Today the website has changed dramatically. Its main graphic is of US soldiers wearing American flag patches, wielding automatic weapons in what appears to be Iraq. “After 9/11, ISI was able to bring to bear all of its resources, expertise and experience to work with U.S. military and government agencies in gaining a deeper understanding of radical Islam and provide proven tactical techniques to improve counter-terror operations,” according to the website. This would hardly be ISI’s first US government contract. It has received many training and security contracts since its founding in 1993. According to the company, it is currently under a five-year contract with the US Army that began in November 2009.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Evergreen has had long-standing ties to the CIA.</b>&nbsp;“In 1980 an Evergreen plane flew the recently deposed Shah of Iran from Panama to Egypt, hours before the Panamanian government was due to receive an extradition request from the new government in Tehran,” according to SourceWatch. “Giving rides to dictators is something of a specialty for the company – it also allowed El Salvador’s President Duarte to use its helicopter, which was officially in the country to help repair power lines. And according to a series of articles in The Oregonian in 1988, Evergreen’s owner and founder Delford M. Smith ‘…acknowledged one agreement under which his companies provide occasional jobs and cover to foreign nationals the CIA wants taken out of other countries or brought into the United States.’”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Evergreen is perhaps best known more recently for offering—unsolicited—its security services to Oregon county clerks ahead of the 2008 elections. “During this crucial election Evergreen Defense and Security Services has recognized the potential conflict that could occur on November 4,” an email from company president Evergreen president Tom Wiggins to election officials stated</span>. “Never has there been a more heated battle in the race for president and voters seem more involved and determined to achieve their respective goals. EDSS proposes to post sentries at each voting center on November 4 to assure that disputes among citizens do not get out of control. All guards will be unarmed but capable of stopping any violence that may occur, and detaining troublemakers until law enforcement help arrives.” The offer was suspect on several fronts, not the least of which being that Oregon has no polling places and votes by mail.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to State Department documents, among the projects up for bidding are:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—<b>Private security teams in Jerusalem</b>. The solicitation calls for 46 personnel, including 36 “security specialists” and team/shift leaders for armed details.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—Embassy guards and an Emergency Response Team in Kabul. The solicitation calls for&nbsp; 219 personnel, including a 142-member embassy guard force and 49 “emergency response” personnel.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—Embassy guards and an Emergency Response Team in Baghdad, Iraq.&nbsp; The solicitation calls for 551 personnel, including 357 “armed guards” and an Emergency Response Team consisting of 30 protective security specialists and four “designated defense marksmen.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The US embassy in Iraq, according to the documents, requires the greatest number of contractors. This is likely because the embassy there is the largest of any embassy of any nation in history.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The State Department has a conference for prospective bidders scheduled for April 27-28 in Arlington, Virginia. Attendance is mandatory for interested companies.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jeremy ScahillTWITTERJeremy Scahill is the author of the best-selling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, published by Nation Books. Nation Books released his second book, Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield, in 2013. He is the writer, with David Riker, and a producer of the documentary feature film Dirty Wars, released by IFC Films in 2013.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://nisgua.org/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/">https://nisgua.org/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">activist solidarity</div><div style=""><h1 class="entry-title fusion-post-title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 28px; line-height: 27px;"><font size="4" style="">How a quasi-military project was created to protect the Escobal mine</font></h1><div class="post-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 0px;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; zoom: 1; width: 1040px; position: relative; z-index: 10; max-width: 1100px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_1_1 fusion-builder-column-1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last 1_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; position: relative; float: none; margin: 0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper" data-bg-url="" style="box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover;"><div class="fusion-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/affadavit-donald-paul-gray-24nov14.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">An affidavit given</a>&nbsp;on November 24, 2014 by Donald Paul Gray, vice president of the Canadian mining company Tahoe Resources Inc., has shed light on the strong interests at play since 2011 in contracting private security companies for the Escobal mining project </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa. His affidavit points to the relationship between private security companies, with ties to military and intelligence services that carry out large military projects in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the mining and construction operations in Guatemala.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Written by Luis Solano / Translation by NISGUA<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Read the original article&nbsp;<a href="http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/una-red-cuasi-militar-para-proteger-la-mina-escobal" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">in Spanish</a>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />April 7, 2015</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The affidavit was given by the vice president of the mining company to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in response to a lawsuit filed against Tahoe Resources on June 18, 2014 by community members of San Rafael Las Flores. The lawsuit stems from an attack carried out by private security acting on orders from the head of mine security, Alberto Rotondo Dall’Orso, in which the seven plaintiffs were injured.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Tahoe Resources Inc., a mining company with offices in Reno, Nevada, United States and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, operates the mining project in San Rafael through its subsidiary, Minera San Rafael, S.A. (MINERASA). It is for this reason that the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where it is currently being processed.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>Tahoe Resources Inc. was founded by senior executives of the Canadian mining industry, particularly linked to Glamis Gold and Goldcorp</b>. The company came to the forefront in 2010 thanks to the Escobal project, which it acquired from Goldcorp on May 3, 2010, seven months after Tahoe was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act of British Columbia. The sale was finalized on June 8 and included control of the Minera San Rafael, S.A., recently registered by attorney Jorge Asencio Aguirre and which Goldcorp maintains 40% of shares.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Asencio Aguirre is an important cornerstone to this process. He is the legal representative of the mining companies Montana Exploradora, Entre Mares, Explotaciones Mineras of Guatemala (EXMINGUA) and MINERASA and helped create reforms to the 1997 Mining Law, according to statements he made on January 23, 2005 on the television program “Libre Encuentro.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">”</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Since 2011, when the mining project came under the control of Tahoe Resources, community opposition has intensified as demonstrated by protest marches and municipal consultations that have taken place in the neighboring municipalities of Nueva Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa de Lima and Casillas.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">During this period, several acts of violence have occurred. One of the most dramatic events took place on April 27, 2013, when private security guards from the company Alfa Uno – associated with the Israeli company Golan Group – acted on orders of the then-head of security Alberto Rotondo Dall’Orso and indiscriminately shot at community members who were peacefully protesting in front of mining facilities in San Rafael Las Flores. Seven community members were injured.</p><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><blockquote style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; padding: 15px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(160, 198, 87); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(160, 198, 87); border-right-color: rgb(160, 198, 87); border-bottom-color: rgb(160, 198, 87);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">“We have to protect investors.” Óscar Berger, President of the Republic of Guatemala. Press conference, January 11, 2005.</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>As a result, on May 2, 2013, the government declared a State of Siege in four municipalities in the departments </b>of Jalapa and Santa Rosa, militarizing the area under the guise of combating organized crime. The underlying reasons for the government’s response&nbsp;<a href="http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/agredidos-en-san-rafael-las-flores-buscan-justicia-en-canada" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">were published</a>&nbsp;by Plaza Pública and revealed the contradictions between the actions taken and the real purpose behind them: to protect private mining interests.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">On June 18, 2014, the seven people injured&nbsp;<a href="http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/agredidos-en-san-rafael-las-flores-buscan-justicia-en-canada" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">filed a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against Tahoe Resources Inc. with the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The plaintiffs are: Adolfo Agustín García, Luis Fernando García Monroy, Artemio Humberto Castillo Herrera, Wilmer Francisco Pérez Martínez, Erik Fernando Castillo Pérez, Noé Aguilar Castillo and Misael Eberto Martínez Sasvin.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The lawsuit charges the company with the violent repression of peaceful protesters, based on the fact that Tahoe controls all important aspects of the operation of the Escobal mine, including security practices and policies, and community relations.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The lawsuit states, “Tahoe expressly or implicitly authorized the conduct of Rotondo and security personnel” and was negligent in preventing Rotondo and other security personnel from using excessive force. The plaintiffs argue that as owner of the subsidiary MINERASA, Tahoe is responsible for what transpired.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tahoe denies that Rotondo is responsible. Instead, the company places blame on the Golan Group for not following international standards for security service providers.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> This stance is expressed by the company in the&nbsp;<a href="http://etikkradet.no/files/2015/01/Council-on-Ethics-2014-Annual-Report.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">2014 Annual Report</a>&nbsp;of the Board of Ethics for the <b>Government Pension Fund Global of Norway,</b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> published on January 26 of 2015. The report recommends the “exclusion of Tahoe Resources Inc. due to unacceptable risks of the company contributing to serious human rights violations.”</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); transition-property: color, background-color, border-color;"><a name="more" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;" /></span></p><h3 style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0px;"><a name="more" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">Rotondo and the Affidavit’s Revelations</a></h3><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><a name="more" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">A September 2013&nbsp;</a><a href="http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/el-pico-del-conflicto-minero" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">article</a>&nbsp;by Plaza Pública explains that little is known about the history of Rotondo (Peruvian) in the mining industry. According to Andrés Dávila, spokesperson for MINERASA, Rotondo was an external consultant who came to Guatemala as contracted by a security company. Dávila explains that due to a confidentiality agreement, he cannot name the company nor give the date in which Rotondo took over as head of mine security.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">One year later, the company handed over documentation about the hire, as cited in the Norwegian Pension Plan report: “</p></div><div class="fusion-clearfix" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; zoom: 1;" /></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; padding: 0px;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; zoom: 1; width: 1040px; position: relative; z-index: 10; max-width: 1100px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion_builder_column_1_1 fusion-builder-column-2 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height 1_1" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; position: relative; float: none; margin: 0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper" data-bg-url="" style="box-sizing: border-box; min-height: 1px; background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover;"><div class="fusion-text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>[After] the armed attack against our security forces in January 2013, in which two security guards were killed and several injured, we began private consultations with an international security consultant.”</b></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The report does not specify who the consultant was. However, this fact appears together with Rotondo’s history in the affidavit given by the vice president of Tahoe Resources, Donald Paul Gray.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The document, written in English, has a section entitled Security and Other Operations in Guatemala, and says that in 2011, MINERASA “contracted International Security and Defense Management, LLC (ISDM), a security company with global operations and based in California, to assess its security needs during the construction phase of the Escobal project. As part of that contract, ISDM managed a process of soliciting proposals for security services for MINERASA and made recommendations.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Under paragraph 54, it describes that “as a result of the solicitation process, MINERASA came to contract with the Golan Group, formally called<b> Alfa Uno, Sociedad Anonima (“Grupo Golan”)</b>…in order to develop and implement MINERASA’s security plan. The Golan Group is an internationally known security company that specializes in providing security products and services to multinational organizations.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Gray acknowledged that the Golan Group provided security services to MINERASA before, during, and after the incidents that took place on April 27, 2013, both to the Escobal project as well as to its operations in Guatemala City. The company provided between 80 and 125 security guards to protect facilities and transportation. The contract between MINERASA and the Golan Group was signed in November 2011.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Under paragraph 56, Gray indicates “Rotondo initially provided services to MINERASA through the ISDM. In 2012, MINERASA [contracted] him as the security manager. MINERASA received and reviewed information about Rotondo’s experience and qualification, including information from ISDM, as part of the due diligence that led MINERASA to retain his services.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">According to Gray, Rotondo was asked to supervise the security contracts that MINERASA signed with entities like the Golan Group. MINERASA employed two or three Guatemalans to provide supportive roles to Rotondo.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Gray explained in some detail the cases of violence against mining operations and private security personnel and declared that Rotondo resigned two days after the April 27, 2013 incident, ending his relationship with MINERASA. Nevertheless, Gray does not say why Rotondo continued to live in the mining facilities while he was under house arrest – measures given to him after his first criminal hearing in 2013.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Failing to mention the State of Siege imposed on May 3, 2013, Gray indicates that at the end of that month, the government “increased the quantity of permanent police forces in a variety of municipalities of the region, including San Rafael Las Flores. There has been a noticeable reduction in tension since that date.”</p><h3 style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0px;">Private Security to Counter-Insurgency and Military Intelligence</h3><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>Why did Tahoe Resources contact ISDM to assess the security needs of the project?</b> There is still no complete answer to this, but some insight can be gained from David Paul Gray’s affidavit.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ISDM is a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.isdmllc.com/founders.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">company founded by U.S. military veterans James V. Earl and William J. Earl</a>, who have extensive international military experience. ISDM makes the list as one of the&nbsp;<a href="http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/10195/07Dec_Dunar_MBA.pdf?sequence=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">most important private military companies in the world</a>. It also appears on the list of&nbsp;<a href="http://wcrc.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/48964501/PMC_MERC.PDF" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">private military companies</a>&nbsp;with mercenary roots, founded in the midst of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ISDM offers a variety of security and defense services ranging from threat assessment and kidnapping prevention, to training in military operations, military intelligence, counterintelligence and counterterrorism. It provides services to other private companies and is <b>contracted by the U.S. government.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>When Tahoe Resources hired ISDM, the military company had just signed a second contract with Fluor Intercontinental, Inc. (FII) to provide qualified personnel to be deployed to Afghanistan.</b> These personnel were required by FII to meet contractual requirements for the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) that FII signed in 2007 with the U.S. government to carry out U.S. army operations in Afghanistan. FII is part of the U.S. transnational corporation Fluor Corp.&nbsp;<a href="http://sec.edgar-online.com/fluor-corp/10-k-annual-report/2011/02/23/section44.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">Among the conglomerate of companies</a>&nbsp;that make up Fluor Corp. is the American Equipment Company, Inc. (AMECO), which incorporates equipment and construction companies, many of which are in Latin America. It is unknown whether the link between ISDM and Fluor Corp. played a role in the hire, to be managed through subsidiary companies.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Guatemala, AMECO has a subsidiary – Maquinaria Ameco Guatemala, Limited – that trades as Ameco Guatemala.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> The subsidiary was registered in 2007 in the Commercial Registry and legally represented by Allen Robert Krebs Wickfors. Maquinaria Ameco Guatemala shares its headquarters with Equipos Múltiples of Guatemala, S.A. (Miltiequipos), Pavimentadora Company of Guatemala, S.A., and Pavimentos of Guatemala, S.A. (PADEGUA), all of whom are represented by Krebs Wickfors and registered in the Commercial Registry in different moments between 1970 and 1997. Out of this group of companies, Multiequipos and PADEGUA provide services to MINERASA at the Escobal project. In 2011,&nbsp;<a href="http://padegua.com/proyectos/mineria/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">PADEGUA built</a>&nbsp;the access road to the Escobal mine and in 2012, built the sub drainage system and retaining wall.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Tim Pascuarelli, another U.S. military veteran with ample experience in conducting military security consultations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, took part in ISDM’s assessment that led to the&nbsp;<a href="http://images.asisonline.org/noframe/ql0911.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">hiring</a>&nbsp;of the Golan Group in 2011. Pascuarelli was in Guatemala&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/tim-pasquarelli/24/b2a/324" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">on contract</a>&nbsp;with the ISDM between May and September of 2011.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>The Golan Group is an Israeli private security company founded in 1983 by officers of the Special Forces of the Israeli Army. </b>Its president is the Army Captain Yoram Yasur, and its directors are Vered Yasur and Yehuda Senderey. In Guatemala, its origins date back to the counterinsurgent war that was backed by the Israeli army and intelligence agency. The Golan Group was established in November 1987 under the name Golan, S.A. In 1990, it registered the company Alfa Uno, S.A., and in 1997, it registered Tiendas Golan, S.A. and Golan Armas y Municiones, S.A., all members of the Golan Group. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Their legal representatives are Yoram Yasur and Gerardo Antonio Wurmser Ordóñez, who is also its general manager and was chairman of GGCA Inc. (Golan Group Central America), registered in Panama in 2007.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wurmser Ordóñez is the brother of Juan Mauricio Wurmser Ordóñez, Finance Minister during the Jorge Serrano Elías administration and current president of the public relations company <b>Wurmser Ogilvy & Mather. </b>He is also the brother of the engineer and bishop Francisco Rolando Wurmser Ordóñez, an <b>Opus Dei </b>vicar in Central America.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>The Golan Group</b> has offices in Central America, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Israel. Its central offices are in Florida, United States.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>When Tahoe Resources hired the Golan Group, the company was already known within the mining world for the many legal complaints filed against them.</b> Between 2005 and 2009, the Golan Group provided security services to Glamis Gold and<b> HudBay</b> Minerals at their Marlin and Fenix projects, respectively. In both cases, Golan was accused of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.miningwatch.ca/killing-alvaro-benigno-sanchez-security-guards-working-glamis-gold-subsidiary-guatemala" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">violating</a>&nbsp;human rights. HudBay Minerals is facing&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chocversushudbay.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Countering-the-spin-no-video.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;in Canada for the murder of the teacher Adolfo Ich.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the case of Alberto <b style="">Rotondo</b> Dall’Orso, first hired by ISDM and later as the security manager of MINERASA, his curriculum vitae also lists military training in counterinsurgency. He graduated in 1974 from the Peruvian Navy, and between 1980 and 1981, <b>was trained at the U.S. Naval Special War Command (US NSWC) based in Coronado, San Diego, California, where ISDM’s headquarters are also located.</b></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Between 1985 and 1986, he received training for officers in psychological operations, civil affairs and low-intensity terrorism at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in Fort Bragg, Mendocino, California, which is where the Center and School of Psychological Operations of the U.S. Military is based. These were the years in which the counterinsurgent war was at its most intense in Peru.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Public information on him ends in 1991, when he was studying at the Inter-American School of Defense in Washington, D.C.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">According to the Peruvian National Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT), Alberto Rotondo Dall’Orso identifies with RUC number 15157523276, and was enrolled in 2008. According to the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), one of Rotondo’s primary activities outlined with the SUNAT is the “Construction and Restoration of Ships” and lists as secondary activities “Investigation and Security” and “Corporate advisory activities.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">These activities are related to the last job that Rotondo has listed on the internet in 2009. Rotondo appears as the director of Jungle Xports, a Peruvian maritime transportation company that focuses on “Inland Navigation,” with the primary two activities being: river tourism along the Amazon River and the restoration of boats. The company has three boats for conducting tours.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Jungle Xports was founded by Roberto Antonio <b>Rotondo </b>Mendoza, Alberto Rotondo Dall’Orso’s cousin, and Minister of Industry, Tourism and International Business between 1980 and 1981. In 2003, the Peruvian government authorized the use of a Private Protected Area, which is where the company’s tourist services are carried out. Currently, Jungle Xport is run by Rotondo Mendoza’s daughter, Mariana Rotondo Pawlikowski.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The same year that Rotondo registered with the SUNAT, ISDM del Perú, S.A. stopped operating.</p><h3 style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0px;">Other Security Companies and Intelligence Agencies</h3><div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/affadavit-wiretap-transcripts-filed-23jan15.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">Another document published</a>&nbsp;in connection with the lawsuit against Tahoe Resources is the affidavit given by Roger Barany, who translated into English wiretaps of Rotondo as authorized by a trial judge. The document is dated January 21, 2015.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Several media outlets published extracts from these wiretaps when they were released on May 7, 2013, in the public hearing that took place in the First Instance Court of Santa Rosa.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Through these wiretaps,<b> Rotondo is heard ordering security personnel to shoot indiscriminately, using strong, racist language.</b></span></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; padding: 15px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(160, 198, 87); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(160, 198, 87); border-right-color: rgb(160, 198, 87); border-bottom-color: rgb(160, 198, 87);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">Tahoe denies that Rotondo is responsible. Instead, they place blame on the Golan Group for not having followed international norms in providing security services.</b></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The wiretaps record several conversations between Rotondo and Juan Pablo Oliva Trejo during the incident on April 27, 2013. Based on these conversations, Rotondo was arrested on April 30, 2013 </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and Oliva Trejo on May 4, 2013. Oliva Trejo held a high-ranking position in the military until 2005, achieving the rank of Infantry Sub commander in 2000. His name carries greater notoriety for being the legal representative of Counter Risk, S.A., a company established in 2008 and hired by Tahoe Resources in order to carry out risk assessment and press monitoring. Part of this information also appears in the lawsuit by the seven community members of San Rafael Las Flores, where it indicates that “Tahoe’s security personnel for the Escobal mine were made up of Rotondo and private security employed under contract with the companies Golan Group (Alfa Uno) and Counter Risk, S.A.”</span></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The communication style present in the wiretap denotes a high level of trust between Rotondo and Oliva Trejo. This level of trust also extended to Oliva Trejo’s father, retired Colonel Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera,&nbsp;<a href="http://asociacionepm.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">president and director</a>&nbsp;of the Association of Military Political Studies (AEPM). Oliva Carrera has been&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dplf.org/sites/default/files/ttsp_5-99_edgar_augudto_godoy_caso_myrna" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">prosecuted</a>&nbsp;for being one of the intellectual authors of the murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack in September 1990.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The AEPM is the headquarters for Counter Risk, S.A. – legally represented by Oliva Trejo – and Supervivencia Urbana, S.A, in which Oliva Carrera is the director of political risk analysis and Oliva Trejo is a firing-range shooting instructor. Supervivencia Urbana, known as the Southern Firing Range, is directed by Army General Alfredo Augusto Rabbé Tejada, who was elected to Congress and declared himself independent after gaining his seat through the UCN party. Rabbé Tejada is one of the business partners for the company Maya Químicos, S.A. (MAQUISA), one of the companies created by the Institute for Military Security (IPM) in charge of supplying explosives to Minera San Rafael for its mining operations and owner of the explosives that were stolen weeks before April 27, 2013 – one of the reasons the government cited in order to implement the State of Siege in the area on May 1, 2013.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The State of Siege took place after strong pressures were exerted by mining companies against the government, made evident by an injunction filed with the Constitutional Court by MINERASA. The injunction was dismissed by the Constitutional Court on February 26, 2013.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The injunction was filed by the Administrative Manager and legal representative of MINERASA, Carlos Roberto Morales Monzón, against the President of the Republic of Guatemala, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of National Defense, the Director of the National Civil Police (PNC), the PNC Commissioner of Division 22 of the Department of Jalapa, and the PNC Commissioner of Division 32 of the Department of Santa Rosa.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>Effectively, MINERASA argued that the State was not guaranteeing that mining activities could be carried out in the approved license areas and was not providing the necessary security. </b>The record states, “the State is not guaranteeing [the mine’s] security by allowing residents to protest against mining activities, for which the authorization and corresponding licenses were already granted, committing crimes and effectively blocking the roadway in front of the mining operations and impeding free transportation.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The arguments by MINERASA were given months before the exploitation license was approved for Escobal. After the Constitutional Court’s resolution in February, the Ministry of Energy and Mines announced the approval of the exploitation license, on April 3, 2013.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">In the end, the State of Siege was supported by a number of subcontractors for MINERASA, by way of a paid ad campaign published in print media on May 7, 2013. It was signed by 36 companies involved with the construction of the mine and expressed their “respect and backing to the decision made by the Guatemalan government to reestablish public order and the rule of law in the municipalities of Santa Rosa and Jalapa.” Amongst the signatories were Cementos Progreso, Aceros Arquitectónicos, Mixto Listo and PADEGUA.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court, an important governmental decision was made. The Escobal mining project became listed as a “strategic natural resource,” as defined by the National Security Council (CNS), and as a result, the problem in San Rafael Las Flores became one of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/La%20oposici%C3%B3n%20a%20la%20miner%C3%ADa,%20la%20nueva%20amenaza%20a%20la%20seguridad%20nacional" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">national security</a>.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The 2013 annual report of the Technical Secretary of the National Security Council specifies that in March 2013, the Council approved the Inter-Institutional Office for Integral Development to begin operations in San Rafael Las Flores “with the goal of developing policies, strategies, projects and recommendations to the Council, with holistic attention to security and development issues that allows for the improvement of the quality of life of the population and the guarantee of environmental protection.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The Commission continued to operate after a proposed Governmental Agreement was approved, first brought forward by the Technical Secretary of the National Security Council (CNS), directed by General Ricardo Bustamente FIgueroa. The goals for the Governmental Agreement were presented on March 2013, including the constitution for the Interinstitutional Group of Strategic Natural Resources (Mining), and presented by the Assessment and Planning Commission of the National Security Council.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">In its 2013 report, the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) describes the creation of this Commission in the following manner: “the tangible outcome of having created the Interinstitutional Office for Integral Development in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa to address the issues in the area, is directed by MEM through the Vice ministry of Sustainable Development.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1510400/000106299314001363/exhibit99-1.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">Tahoe Resources’ annual report</a>&nbsp;published March 12, 2014 mentions, “The government set up an inter-institutional commission to address community issues and oversee security matters, the first of its kind in Guatemala. It is managed by the Technical Secretary of Intelligence and is comprised of members from Ministry of Interior, Energy and Mines, Environment and the National Dialogue Table. MINERASA helped the Commission to locate suitable office space in San Rafael Las Flores and get established.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><b>Within the context, Tahoe Resources hired a new security company in order to safeguard its interests – Centurion Security, S.A.,</b> registered in the Commercial Registry in 2013 and who received its operating permits as a private security company in the first quarter of 2014.</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">Donald Paul Gray, vice president of Tahoe Resources, said in his affidavit: “At the beginning of 2013, MINERASA hired Peter Snell to assess security issues. Snell was the general manager of the security company Yantarni. At this time, Snell was in the process of forming the company Centurion Security, S.A. (Centurion), a new security company that provided protection services to operations.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">The private security company Corporación Yantarni, S.A., was founded in Guatemala by British military veterans on June 5, 2006. According to Snell, Yantarni is a British company that “offers assessments in each aspect of security, from corporate operations, business risk, and foreign investment, to terrorism and espionage to the governments in the region.” Yantarni is a company recommended by the British Embassy in Guatemala. The company began by providing private security to the oil import and distribution company Blue Oil, S.A., registered in Guatemala on December 19, 2005.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4379338190088310830#ftn1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">[1]</a></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">“In June 2013, Centurion was contracted to manage the Golan Group contract. In April 2014, MINERASA ended its contract with the Golan Group and contracted Centurion in order to provide complete protection services to the Escobal mine.”</p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;">It was under these conditions that the State of Siege was carried out, to protect private investment interests. Looking forward, the Xinca task force, to be implemented by the Ministry of the Interior at the end of this year, will close the security circle. <b>“Pacifying” the region, the business of mining will continue on.</b></p><p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4379338190088310830#_ftnref" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; transition-property: color, background-color, border-color; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-timing-function: linear;">[1]</a>&nbsp;Argueta, Otto (2010), Private Security in Guatemala: The Pathway to Its Proliferation. Page. 93. NOMOS. Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2013. Printed in Germany. Edition 2013. 296 pages.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf">https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">e. Oliva Trejo’s father is retired cornel Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera, president and director

of the Association of Military Politics Studies (AEPM). Oliva Carrera was prosecuted for being one of the

supposed intellectual authors of the high profile assassination of anthropologist Myrna Mack in 1990.

AEPM houses Counter Risk, S.A. and Supervivencia Urbana, S.A., a shooting range.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oliva Carrera is

director of political risk analysis for Supervivencia Urbana, S.A. and Oliva Trejo a shooting instructor.

General Alfredo Augusto Rabbé Tejada also works for Supervivencia Urbana, S.A., and is an associate of

Mayaquímicos, S.A. (MAQUISA). MAQUISA is in charge of the explosives MSR uses for its mining

operations, some of which were stolen in November 2012, which was believed to be a set-up used to

criminalize community leaders opposed to the Escobal mine and used to justify the state of siege in May

2013.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tahoe Resources has now changed security firms. It hired a relatively new company, Centurion Security,

S.A., which received its licence to operate as a private security company in early 2014. Centurion’s roots

began with another security firm originally founded by British soldiers in 2006 and with past experience

providing security in Guatemala’s oil sector where its services included “comprehensive advice on every

aspect of security – from corporate operations, commercial risk and foreign investment to counter-terrorism

and espionage and support to regional governments.”&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Conclusions</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;As long as Tahoe Resources and the Guatemalan government continue to treat communities affected by the

Escobal project – or any other mine project in the country – as insurgents instead of people peacefully

standing up for their land, water, and in defence of their existing ways of life, the kind of conflict and

violence observed to date can be expected to continue.

If these conditions persist, the anti-mining resistance will continue to be rated on a scale ranging from “a

controllable threat” to a “terrorist threat.” These categorizations have already led to a counterinsurgency style response with the aim of dismantling the resistance movement.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The ongoing <b>militarization</b> of

communities and militarized security detail in Santa Rosa and Jalapa, thanks to the installation of the InterInstitutional Commission in San Rafael Las Flores and two military outposts in the region is troubling

evidence of this.

The effect in recent years has been the creation of a state of terror through military and police persecution,

criminalization and persecution of leaders, as well as the capture of leaders based on false accusations and

massive raids on the homes of key people within the opposition movement. The processes to criminalize

and persecute dozens of community members were never based on any real evidence.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Not a single

accusation for which people involved in the peaceful resistance to mining in Santa Rosa and Japala were

detained was ever proven. These arbitrary detentions were more punitive in nature with the purpose of

demobilizing anti-mining protests. Furthermore, since 2013, two leaders in the local resistance, including

16-year old Topacio Reynoso and Telésforo Pivaral have been murdered, while others have been shot and

wounded, including Topacio’s father Edwin Alexander Reynoso who has been shot twice and survived.

Those responsible for these murders and attacks have still not been brought to justice.

Despite its lower profile under these conditions, the struggle of local communities continues. Municipal

plebiscites on mining continue and there was strong electoral support for several mayors in San Rafael Las

Flores and surrounding areas who campaigned on an anti-mining platform.

It is time for the company and the Guatemalan government to stop the resource wars and respect the clear

message that the local population has been sending to stop mining and to protect their land and water from

the mining harms they are already suffering.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="CAEQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFSgAMAB6BAgBEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAAegQIARAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAAegQIARAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAAegQIARAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAAegQIARAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAAegQIARAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAAegQIARAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">In Guatemala, Defending Land Can Be Deadly - The Intercept</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?ei=9ToiXeaLLqmP9PwPwcmt0AY&q=%22International+Security+and+Defense+Management%22%2C+a+private+security.+Special+Forces+veteran&oq=%22International+Security+and+Defense+Management%22%2C+a+private+security.+Special+Forces+veteran&gs_l=psy-ab.3...5047.8621..9722...0.0..0.179.336.0j2......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.mRDi1vs3ONw#" id="am-b0" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8Q7B0wAHoECAEQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QqR8wAHoECAEQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wZthSFcZZHgJ:https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:wZthSFcZZHgJ:https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDAAegQIARAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:wZthSFcZZHgJ:https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:wZthSFcZZHgJ:https://theintercept.com/2019/06/23/guatemala-land-defender-san-rafael-mine/%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDAAegQIARAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Jun 23, 2019 -&nbsp;</span>Beginning in 1960, Guatemala's military government mercilessly repressed ... In response, Tahoe hired&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">International Security and Defense Management, a private security</span>&nbsp;firm run by a U.S.&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Special Forces veteran</span>,&nbsp;...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="CAIQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFSgAMAF6BAgCEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjABegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjABegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjABegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjABegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjABegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjABegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">How a quasi-military project was created to protect the Escobal mine ...</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://nisgua.org/.../how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-...</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?ei=9ToiXeaLLqmP9PwPwcmt0AY&q=%22International+Security+and+Defense+Management%22%2C+a+private+security.+Special+Forces+veteran&oq=%22International+Security+and+Defense+Management%22%2C+a+private+security.+Special+Forces+veteran&gs_l=psy-ab.3...5047.8621..9722...0.0..0.179.336.0j2......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.mRDi1vs3ONw#" id="am-b1" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8Q7B0wAXoECAIQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QqR8wAXoECAIQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kPI1cI6uSnUJ:https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:kPI1cI6uSnUJ:https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDABegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kPI1cI6uSnUJ:https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:kPI1cI6uSnUJ:https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDABegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Apr 8, 2015 -&nbsp;</span>His affidavit points to the relationship between&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">private security</span>&nbsp;companies, ... [<wbr />After] the&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">armed</span>&nbsp;attack against our security&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">forces</span>&nbsp;in January 2013, in which ... “<wbr />contracted&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">International Security and Defense Management</span>, LLC (ISDM), ... ISDM is a company founded by U.S. military&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">veterans</span>&nbsp;James V. Earl and&nbsp;...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="CAMQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFSgAMAJ6BAgDEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kPI1cI6uSnUJ:https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:kPI1cI6uSnUJ:https://nisgua.org/en/how-a-quasi-military-project-was-created-to-protect-the-escobal-mine/%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDABegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="sFZIhb b w xsm" style="font-weight: bold; cursor: auto; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; float: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[PDF]</font></span></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjACegQIAxAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjACegQIAxAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjACegQIAxAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjACegQIAxAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjACegQIAxAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjACegQIAxAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Under Siege - Tahoe On Trial</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/.../undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?ei=9ToiXeaLLqmP9PwPwcmt0AY&q=%22International+Security+and+Defense+Management%22%2C+a+private+security.+Special+Forces+veteran&oq=%22International+Security+and+Defense+Management%22%2C+a+private+security.+Special+Forces+veteran&gs_l=psy-ab.3...5047.8621..9722...0.0..0.179.336.0j2......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.mRDi1vs3ONw#" id="am-b2" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8Q7B0wAnoECAMQAw" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QqR8wAnoECAMQBA" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9xAgH4TYeoAJ:https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:9xAgH4TYeoAJ:https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDACegQIAxAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9xAgH4TYeoAJ:https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:9xAgH4TYeoAJ:https://tahoeontrial.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/undersiegesummary_luissolano_2015.pdf%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDACegQIAxAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Nov 10, 2015 -&nbsp;</span>April 2013 when he was Tahoe's head of&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">security</span>. ... project on the communities, making use of both&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">private</span>&nbsp;and public&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">security</span>&nbsp;forces. .... According to Gray, in 2011, MSR “engaged&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">International Security and Defense Management</span>, LLC. (“<wbr />ISDM”), a company founded by&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">veterans</span>&nbsp;of the US&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">armed forces</span>&nbsp;and&nbsp;...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px;"><div data-hveid="CAQQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFSgAMAN6BAgEEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjADegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjADegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjADegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjADegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjADegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjADegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Joshua Wall - Director of Threat Intelligence and Physical Security ...</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-wall-885a7116</cite></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Structured around highly trained&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Special Operations veterans</span>, Serving Force draws upon the ...&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">International Security and Defense Management</span>&nbsp;... loss prevention, physical security, information security programs,&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">personal security</span>, and basic&nbsp;...</font></span></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 28px;"><div data-hveid="CAAQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFSgAMAR6BAgAEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAEegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAEegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAEegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAEegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAEegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QFjAEegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Alleen Brown | Go to Ground</a></font></h3>
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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In response, Tahoe hired&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">International Security and Defense Management, a private security</span>&nbsp;firm run by a U.S.&nbsp;<span style="font-weight: bold;">Special Forces veteran</span>, to assemble a security<wbr />&nbsp;...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xepwPGCx43wJ:https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:xepwPGCx43wJ:https://www.gotoground.com/author/alleen-brown/%2B%26cd%3D5%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwibqOuGuaPjAhWbU80KHcfQAK8QIDAEegQIABAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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