The Civic Committee of La Guajira for the Defense of the Rancheria River and the Canaverales Spring Press Release

The Civic Committee of La Guajira for the Defense of the Rancheria River and the Canaverales Spring

Press Release

Riohacha, November 9, 2012.

LA GUAJIRA STOPS THE MINING LOCOMOTIVE

The Civic Committee of La Guajira for the Defense of the Rancheria River and the Canaverales Spring claimed as a victory the announcement of Roberto Junguito, president of Cerrejón, to withdraw in its attempt to divert the River Rancheria. This is achievement has come as a result of the unity of peasants – and Colombians in general – and the strong social mobilization.

According to the Committee, "this shows that the only way that we Colombians can defend our country from the greed of the big mining transnational companies is through mobilization because even if people expressed their rejection for this project, Santos’ administration played along the game of El Cerrejón, misleading people through the process of prior consultation".

This is the second major defeat suffered by the "energy mining locomotive" of the Colombian national government. The first, also a result of social pressure, was the prevention for Greystar, a Canadian gold mining company, to affect the wilderness of Santurbán, Santander.

Cerrejón transnational consortium of BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata, had expressed its intention to divert the River Rancheria 26.2 km, with the aim of extracting more than 500 million tons of coal. Through the unity of trade unions, students, indigenous, peasant and political, the Civic Committee of La Guajira for the Defense Guajira of the Rancheria River and the Cañaverales Spring had noted that the diversion of the river would cause irreversible impairment to the ecosystem of the region – even affecting the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta – as well as to the cultural and social lives of the Wayuu people.

However, despite the company announcements to suspend the project, the Civic Committee expresses their intentions to continue lobbying to prevent any attempt to re-discuss this project. In addition, this Committee requires El Cerrejon to recover the ecological areas affected by its mining, to design a resettlement policy that truly benefits displaced communities, better working conditions, and to respect international standards for prior consultation with indigenous peoples.

Contacts:

Felipe Santiago Rodriguez, coordinator of the Committee. Riorancheriaguajira@gmail.com

Mobile: 3134836461

For English: defendingtherancheriariver@gmail.com