The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-10-11 · by Marta Pascual Juanola
Ricardo Lopez Tugendhat believed he was going to die and wanted the world to know who he thought was going to kill him.
asserted
he → believe → him
The former manager at a mining company linked to Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart spelled out his fears in a chilling letter to an Ecuadorian news outlet.
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manager → link → outlet
“Being familiar with the character and temperament of Mr Carlos de Miguel III, I am deeply concerned that the threats I have received from him … are carried out,” read the letter, published by the outlet.
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letter → receive → outlet
“I hereby publicly hold the aforementioned Carlos de Miguel III responsible for any attack against the life or physical integrity of my family or myself.”
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III → hold → family
He is a former US serviceman who instilled fear in some workers.
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who → instill → workers
Some former workers claim de Miguel would saunter around Hanrine’s sites in northern Ecuador with an assault rifle and flanked by menacing-looking dogs.
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Miguel → claim → dogs
He loomed as a central character when this masthead spent a month in Ecuador tracking Hanrine’s controversial activities in the Latin American country.
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masthead → loom → country
The investigation examined hundreds of pages of government documents, company records, court files and research papers, and spoke to dozens of villagers, environmental activists and experts, who detailed allegations of human rights breaches, irregularities in the concessioning process and a pattern of violence and harassment towards local villagers.
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who → examine → villagers
Former Hanrine workers detailed allegations of exploitation and abuses at the company’s site in La Merced de Buenos Aires, including hiding workers without contracts from authorities conducting compliance checks, serving raw meat to labourers, forcing employees to work while sick and a culture of threats and intimidation.
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workers → detail → threats
Most workers this masthead spoke to were too scared to be quoted on the record, fearing retaliation from Hanrine, which categorically denies any wrongdoing and maintains it complies with “relevant laws and regulations”.
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it → speak → laws
The claims raise serious questions about the company’s operations, which have been a subject of sustained controversy, and which critics say highlight the lack of accountability and oversight for Australian subsidiaries operating overseas.
uncertain
critics → raise → subsidiaries
Julien Vincent, an experienced climate change governance campaigner and former winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, which recognises grassroots activists, says there should be an expectation that Australian companies and their subsidiaries operate to a higher standard overseas than they would at home.
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they → recognise → home
“That’s because they’re not just doing business, they are representing Australia in another part of the world,” Vincent says.
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Vincent → ’ → world
Local media have chronicled de Miguel’s career from working as a security contractor for former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa to handling security for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012.
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media → chronicle → 2012
The mining executive said in interviews with local media outlets that he has had a decade-long association with Hancock Prospecting, beginning in 2015 when the company became interested in diversifying its portfolio into Latin America.
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company → say → America
De Miguel shares Rinehart’s conservative political views and her support for US President Donald Trump.
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Miguel → share → Trump
He made a US$250,000 donation to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee and attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where Rinehart is a regular attendee.
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Rinehart → make → Conference
De Miguel was among several Hancock Prospecting executives who toured the US with Rinehart in early 2025.
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who → tour → 2025
He later attended the Starlight Ball in Washington to mark Trump’s inauguration, where Rinehart was photographed talking to Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and his wife, Lavinia Valbonesi.
De Miguel posed on a red carpet while wearing a velvet suit and aviator sunglasses at the Hispanic Prosperity Gala in Florida, where the mining executive owns a $US1.4 million home.
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executive → attend → home
The event, held at Mar-a-Lago in February, was sponsored by Hanrine, Trump Vodka and the Gina Rinehart Foundation.
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event → hold → Hanrine
De Miguel is also a car aficionado and the owner of a silver McLaren GT that he occasionally races.
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he → race → that
The car is nicknamed Maverick in a reference to the Top Gun movies.
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car → nickname → movies
‘THREATS, WEAPONS AND RAW MEAT’
Luis Fausto de la Cruz remembers when he fell out of love with working for Hanrine.
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he → remember → Hanrine
It was 2022 and the farmer turned labourer was at the company’s camp on the edge of La Merced de Buenos Aires when, he says, a ute pulled up.
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ute → turn → Aires
De Miguel, surrounded by security guards and flanked by two menacing-looking dogs, had walked out of the vehicle armed with a sophisticated assault-style rifle, de la Cruz says.
“He spoke about having been to war; I don’t know how many wars,” de la Cruz says.
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Cruz → surround → war
“It hurt my soul.”
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It → hurt → soul
De la Cruz, a father of six, believes this was an attempt to intimidate staff.
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this → believe → staff
It made him furious but he felt helpless.
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he → make → ?
“There was nothing one could do; if you spoke up, you were treated like a criminal,” he says.
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he → be → criminal
“So much for the claim that they are trained, educated people … you don’t come to [deal with] humble folk with weapons.”
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you → train → weapons
De Miguel did not address questions about this alleged conduct directly but “categorically rejects” any allegation workers were mistreated.
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workers → address → allegation
De la Cruz says he worked carrying building materials and doing manual labour for Hanrine for about eight months, before staff were fired en masse and the company withdrew from the area.
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company → say → area
He claims the working conditions were brutal.
uncertain
conditions → claim → ?
Workers would be sent to the mountains around La Merced de Buenos Aires for 20 days at a time, and left incommunicado from their family, he says.
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he → send → family
No phones were allowed on site, which also meant workers could not take photographs of their living conditions.
uncertain
workers → allow → conditions
Staff slept in bunk beds in large tents, and the food served, he claims, often arrived cold, spoiled or raw.
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he → sleep → tents
De la Cruz remembers one occasion when staff were given a special Christmas meal of roast pork that made several people sick.
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people → remember → pork
“We aren’t dogs that eat raw meat,” he says.
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he → eat → meat
He says staff who became ill were denied leave and made to work.
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who → say → leave
Lucia Chicaiza, the president of La Merced de Buenos Aires parish, says many workers were too scared to report their working conditions to authorities.
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workers → say → authorities
…and 53 more, not listed.
The Aporia
