Defending the Rancheria River: Struggle for Territory, Life, and Water

For 30 years, the multinational Cerrejón has exploited coal in La Guajira, Colombia, bringing only misery to local communities. Though Cerrejon's pretentions to divert the Rancheria River stopped (for now!) thanks to civic resistance, Cerrejon continues its irresponsible exploitation. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case in La Guajira or Colombia. This blog visibilizes this struggle within a local and national context of state neoliberal policies and repression.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Massacres and state oppression against indigenous peoples in Guatemala
in a context of resource extracion

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4453-urgent-communique-on-the-massacre-in-nacahuil-guatemala

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Indigenous peoples in Cauca march for the support of the National Agrarian Strike in Colombia

On Tuesday, it is expected that nearly 5,000 thousand Indians arrive in the city of Popayan, following its announcement to support the National Agrarian Strike.

The mobilization will start from the place known as La Maria, in Piendamó, reaching the bridge of the river of Rioblanco, to, then, advance to the historic center of Popayan.

This day of action is organized by members of the Regional Indigenous Council, CRIC, the ONIC (Colombian National Indigenous Organization), and other social organizations.

"This peaceful demonstration will be carried out in a time when the national agriculture strike has notified the entire national population that farmers, indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants will not be ignored and will not be disposed from our territories through the current legislation, which has as its main prop the development of the FTAs with countries such as the United States and those in the European Union ", reported spokesmen Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, CRIC.

and http://www.elpueblo.com.co/elnuevoliberal/indigenas-marchan-hacia-el-centro-de-popayan/#ixzz2drUzSJ7W

Letter from Colombia Solidarity Campaign
to AngloAmerican, one of the owners of Cerrejon
protesting the expropriation of Roche in La Guajira

Colombia Solidarity Campaign,

BM Box Colombia Solidarity,

London WC1N 3XX

email: info@colombiasolidarity.org.uk

Sir John Parker, Chairman

and Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive,

Anglo American plc,

20 Carlton House Terrace,

London SW1Y 5AN.

27 August 2013

Dear Sir John Parker and Mark Cutifani,

We wish to express our outrage at the planned expropriation of the old village of Roche in La Guajira, Colombia.

This expropriation is a violation of the rights, dignity and wellbeing of the eight families remaining in the village. The judge in San Juan del Cesar who authorised this act of violence was acting at the request of Carbones del Cerrejon, in which your company owns a one-third share.

Among the inhabitants of the village are around fifteen children aged between one and fifteen years, ten adult women and two elderly people.

This eviction is the latest example of the systematic pressure and abuse which this community, along with many others in the area, has been suffering over the past thirty years as a result of opencast coal mining. The initial promise of development and improvement in living conditions has been transformed into a reality of eviction and impoverishment. Thousands of people have been displaced, and many who have remained have suffered loss of livelihood and cultural impoverishment as a result of environmental destruction.

The Colombian State has not complied with the order of the Supreme Court of Justice of 13 September 2012, which demanded that a process of prior consultation be undertaken in the area. The forced displacement of Roche would be a negation of the community’s constitutional rights and a threat to the community’s ability to make any kind of living.

The eight families remaining in Roche have resisted a process of relocation which has involved inordinate pressure on residents to sell up at minimal prices and move to a new community which has inadequate land for the cattle herding on which some of the families have relied for their livelihood. Some of the residents of the new community report that the economic development projects promised by Cerrejon Coal as a replacement for agricultural work have been badly mismanaged by the company and have left people in a state of need.

The way the relocation has been handled has split the community. Negotiators for the remaining eight families, and North American observers of the negotiation process, report that officials from Carbones del Cerrejon have shown deep disrespect for the farming families, refusing to take seriously many of the matters which Roche residents have raised. It is this disrespect which has led to the present stalemate. The company has responded to the stalemate not with a new attempt at respectful negotiation but with legalised brutality.

The eight families at old Roche are terrified that what happened at Tabaco on 9 August 2001 is about to happen to them. Former residents of Tabaco, violently evicted on that day, were scattered to various locations and their community life destroyed. Despite a settlement with Carbones del Cerrejon after many years of struggle, the people of Tabaco have still not been able to take possession of the new community which they were promised. Depression and ill health have afflicted some of them as a result.

The remaining villagers at Roche were due to be forcibly evicted on Thursday 29 August. Pressure from villagers and their supporters has led to the postponement, but not the abandonment, of the planned eviction. What is needed at old Roche is not forced displacement but a changed attitude on the part of company negotiators so that a just settlement can be reached. We demand that the company negotiate in good faith in order to come to an agreement, and not continue with the expropriation.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Higginbottom,

Secretary, CSC.

DEPARTMENT-WIDE INDEFINITE CIVIC STRIKE – LA GUAJIRA

We make a call to organized sectors in La Guajira, mayors, council members, the political and civic leadership, the unions, and the people in general to support and join this call for a permanent and indefinite strike.

This strike is divided into the following steps :

In August 20^th, inhabitants of La Guajira and members of different social sectors marched against the poor energy, water, and garbage disposals services provided in the department. In addition, people demanded improvement of the environmental problems left by large-scale mining, the health services and its networks of corruptions, the use of contracting companies for hiring health and education workers, the national system of royalties and against the US free-trade agreement.

El Cerrejon Mine in Colombia attacks communities
No Pasaran!

Scenes from Tabaco 2001. Stop this from happening again

STOP THE FORCED EVICTION OF VILLAGERS IN ROCHE

TO MAKE WAY FOR A COAL MINE

Cerrejon Coal and the Colombian courts are threatening to evict indigenous and afro-descendent villagers at Roche, in the northern province of La Guajira, on Thursday 29 August. They want to expand their massive opencast mine. Cerrejon Coal is owned by three mega mining multinationals (Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore Xstrata) and exports most of its coal to power plants in the eastern United States, including the Brayton Point plant in Somerset, MA.

Press and Public Release from the "Forum towards a New National Mineral Policy
and the Compensation for the Socio-Environmental Impacts the Guajiro people

WE NEED TO CHANGE THE MINING-ENERGY POLICY

Social movements, academia, trade unions, indigenous peoples, student movements, and the general public gathered at the University of La Guajira on May 9 and 10, 2013, for the Forum towards a New National Mineral Policy and the Compensation for the Socio-Environmental Impacts the Guajiro people. Throughout this event, we expressed our deep concern regarding the uncontrolled advance of the "Mining-Energy Locomotive", promoted by the current Colombian Government.

MEETING ON MINING AND ENERGY ON THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN
TOWARD A NEW NATIONAL MINING POLICY

MEETING ON MINING AND ENERGY ON THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN

TOWARD A NEW NATIONAL MINING POLICY AND THE COMPENSATION FOR THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS FROM MINING TO THE GUAJIRO PEOPLE

Riohacha, University of La Guajira, 9 and May 10, 2013

1. Justification

Open pit mining has been practiced in Colombia as a result of its inclusion into the neoliberal international division of labor. This involves the use of financial capital from large multinational companies that have brought deep economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts, while undermining our national sovereignty.

The Other Face of Development in Colombia:
Living as Minorities amidst Civil War, Hydrocarbon and Mining Exploitation,
and Generalized Human Rights Violations

If you live around the San Diego area, attend this event

The Other Face of Development in Colombia: Living as Minorities amidst Civil War,
Hydrocarbon and Mining Exploitation, and Generalized Human Rights Violations

Colombia is currently engaged in a peace negotiation that may end Latin America’s longest civil war after five
decades. The country has already adopted a new more democratic constitution and made some progress in
demobilizing right wing paramilitary groups, though a number of criminal gangs have risen in their place. Like
other Latin American countries, Colombia has also pushed forward a national development project focused on public and private international oil and mining projects aimed at stimulating economic growth and promoting energy security. Progress on these fronts, nevertheless, has its ugly side. Indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians and women have expressed their concern that the manner in which the
government pursues these goals undermines the security, safety and health of
the most vulnerable in Colombia. This event presents their experiences and
provides an opportunity for students to gain insights into the challenges raised
by efforts to promote peace and development that will benefit people in their
local communities and not just national statistics. UCSD Faculty Discussants
will provide a comparative perspective on the Colombian experience. Join us
for an award-winning documentary, panel discussion and reception.

Attention from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA
for the latest developing concerns of indigenous rights in Colombia

April 5, 2013

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) wishes to bring to your attention the following developments concerning indigenous rights in Colombia.

Alarming Human Rights Situation for Indigenous Groups

The Colombia National Indigenous Organization (Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia, ONIC) presented a disturbing report on March 14, 2013, at the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the alarming situation indigenous groups face due to violence, displacement, discrimination, poverty, and institutional abandonment by the Colombian government. The report highlighted the critical condition of over 66 indigenous groupings that face cultural and physical extermination; many of whom have a population of less than 500 people. Their livelihood is affected by military operations and mining concessions in their territories, which in some instances totals 54 percent of an indigenous reservation.

Moratorium of large mining and the majority
of the regional national park area of Santurbán,
requested by the Departmental Assembly

As you can read here, the impacts of mining by multinational corporations are not only a problem in La Guajira...

Press Office of Representative Roberto Schmalbach, Bucaramanga, November 28, 2012

With the assistance of the Plateau of Bucaramanga Defense Board, CDMB, the director of AMB, some of the mayors and town councilmen of North Soto, the Comptroller and the Attorney General, the regional director of national natural parks, the legislators and the environmental and civic organizations which fight for preservation of the water and the ecosystem of the páramo, the debate over the declaration about the Natural Park, proposed by the Representatives Carlos Alberto Morales and Roberto Schmalbach, was held in the departmental Duma.

The Colombian Caravana UK Lawyers group
letter to Cerrejon

Through this letter, The Colombian Caravana UK Lawyers Group, a group of international lawyers that monitor human rights abuses faced by legal professionals in Colombia, ask Cerrejón for explanations regarding their negative impacts in the local communities of La Guajira, Colombia, despite their “social responsibility” programs. The Colombian Caravana expresses their concern for the health of workers and community, the environment, and the lack of transparency in the process of prior consultation (consulta previa) in their expansion project. In addition, this group of lawyers request legal information and make some interesting proposals.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3XAZ4n5WrNfOTlxc2hNMjI4aVk/edit?usp=sharing

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Mining in Colombia by Alvaro Pardo

This is what Alvaro Pardo, an economist investigator from Punto Medio and former President of Carbocol and other institutions from the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy, says during the Forums in La Guajira regarding some of the economic and political facts of mining in Colombia. It does not look too good for the local communities living under these economic policies

Express your concerns to ambassadors and CEOs
for actions of mining companies in Colombia

Have you wondered what you can do to help the communities impacted by Cerrejon and other multinationals in Colombia and help stop their oppression?
Express your concerns through a message to the ambassadors and CEOs of about the well-being of the local communities, workers, and the environment in which Cerrejon, US Drummond, and Goldman Sachs do their dirty work.

Click here to send a message
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5436/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12795
Thanks

Monday, February 11, 2013

A Pedagogy of Conflict:
Why the Cerrejon workers are striking

A PEDAGOGY OF CONFLICT

The Civic Committee for the Defense of the Rancheria River, the spring of Cañaverales, and the royalties

Reason for the labor Conflict with Cerrejón (I)

I. THE CERREJÓN MINE

La Guajira is one of the most powerful areas in terms of energy in Colombia; it holds 56% of the national reserves of coal. For over 30 years ago, this wealth is exploited by coal Cerrejón, which is currently an equally owned consortium of the multinationals BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata.

II. Social debacle in La Guajira.

Workers of Cerrejon on Strike

For five days, the 13000 workers of the largest open-pit mining company of the world have been on a total strike. No agreements have been made.

REASONS for the conflict of laborers with el CERREJON
1. - Third-party contracts

Cerrejon has approximately 13,000 employees of which 60% are hired through third-party private contractors of over 300 companies. These workers earn on average 30% less than direct workers while they are prevented to organize in unions. It should be noted that these workers have 12-hour-long days of work, when humanity for over 100 years had surpassed those days of exhausting work.

The LABOR CONFLICT IN CERREJON is part of the struggle waged by the Colombian people against multinationals working on the mining sector.

SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT TO SINTRACARBON!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Indigenous peoples' struggle for water

You would think that water is one of the most basic rights. However, privatization of water, together with the intensification of its use, have become important issues negatively affecting indigenous communities all over the world who now struggle to find this precious and basic liquid.
Read a quick article:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/none/indigenous-peoples-and-water-rights
and
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/233-water-law-and-indigenous-rights-in-the-andes

Impacts of Cerrejon and local efforts to resist

Some more of why there is the need to resist the kind of mining that Cerrejon carries out. Read about some of the national, international and local issues in this struggle, how people have been affected, and how they resist.
follow link:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/colombia/extraction-colombia-mine-takes-much-more-land-coal

Problems in consultation processes worldwide

Multinational companies are required carry out prior consultation to local communities before a project. These companies often companies claim that their processes of consultation is transparent. However, the methodologies of these and how these affect local communities give us a different sense of the reality. This happens not only in La Guajira, but also in other places around the world. Read about two cases: one in Panama and one in the Northwest Territories.
Go to this link
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/community-consultation-mining