…Team Hodges is running dirty tricks on the locals. IKN’s guy at ground level in the town of Ollachea brings you the very latest.
The first one was earlier in the week, when Team Hodges decided to publish a video of the near two and a half hour community meeting between Diego Benavides and the people of Ollachea, cut away two hours and twenty three minutes and leave just seven minutes or so of the bits when a couple of locals voiced their opinion against the project.
- No matter that such community meetings are always open floor and all opinions are welcomed.
- No matter that people for and against any given subject are always encouraged to talk.
- No matter that the meeting was very typical, with a few voices anti and the vast majority pro.
- No matter that after the very democratic and open house process, the meeting signed a declaration of full support for Team Benavides.
Because those things don’t matter to dirty tricksters.
The second one came last night and this morning, when a group of three or four Ollachea locals who’ve suddenly and strangely decided to support Team Hodges after meeting in private with Jaime Pinto in Lima the week before last (heaven only knows what went in that little tete-a-tete), announced to locals that they were in possession of an audio of a telephone conversation between the community President and one of the people who works in the Team Benavides community team (the team that fostered an eight year old successful relationship between company and community). He said that the audio was all about the community president accepting bribes and cash from the company and due to that, they called an emergency meeting the next day (i.e. this morning) to let locals listen to the evidence.
- No matter that recording a private phone conversation and then broadcasting it is a very serious crime in Peru
- No matter that these people have already shown their “editing skills” with the community meeting video, beautifully cut to seven minutes.
- No matter that the relationship between IRL and the community before Team Hodges showed up was always harmonious and transparent.
But surprise surprise, when the meeting happened this morning, it turns out the person who said they had the recording doesn’t have the recording. No audio exists, it was all a bluff. But still they insist on spreading lies and they’re now trying to get an alternative “community declaration” signed so that Jaime “Not Hodges!” Pinto can play at “oh look the community is divided” in his news release tomorrow morning. Apparently a piece of paper signed by four people is going to be the same as an eight year relationship between a company and a whole town.
UPDATE: In a town of 700 voters, the usurpers have managed to gather the sum total of 20 signatures today Thursday. They’re still going to use this as evidence of a total split though, mark my words. Utter scum.