Coal miners against Coal?

– By Ewa Jasiewicz on October 8, 2014

in Union Solidarity International (original at: https://usilive.org/coal-miners-against-coal/)

Freddy Lozano leads a union of coal miners who are against coal mining.

Let me break that down for you. SINTRACARBON, headquartered in Riohacha, North Eastern Colombia, organises in one of the biggest open-cast coal mines on earth – Cerrejón. The name is taken from the indigenous Wayuu peoples’ name for the area meaning ‘Sacred Mountain’. Over the past 30 years that sacred mountain has become a vast network of pits run by Anglo-American, BHP Billiton and Glencore Xstrata. Seventeen indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities have been displaced and see the operation, in the words of Aurellio, a leader from the Campo Allegre community, as ‘terrorism against our people’.

Cerrejón mine

It was when Freddy, President of the Porto Bolivar Section, visited communities impacted by the mine eight years ago that he and the union embarked on a journey that would see them protest side by side with community members last year against the expansion of the mine.

The company wanted to access 500 millions tons of coal under the Rio Rancheria river, the only major river in the dry province of La Guajira, by diverting it for 26.2 kilometres. Local communities reliant on the river were outraged.

Summary and conclusions of "The Congress for Life, Autonomy, and Territorial Permanence" in La Guajira, Colombia:

By: Emma Banks
Anthropology Ph.D Student
Vanderbilt University

 Between August 7 and 9, communities affected by the Cerrejón coalmine in La Guajira hosted "The Congress for Life, Autonomy, and Territorial Permanence." During these three days, with support from the NGOs Cajar and CINEP, communities came together to host a tribunal against aggression by the mine in their territory, a visit to sacred Afro-Colombian and indigenous sites, and Autonomous Consultation voting in two Wayuu communities.  This event was the first of its kind in Colombia.  Representatives of national and international NGOs and human rights organizations attended the event as observers and jury members on the tribunal.

I had the honor of being a jury member in the "Tribunal Against Mining Agression in La Guajira" on August 7 held in El Cerro de Hato Nuevo, a Wayuu reservation.  During the first session, we heard testimony from Afro-Colombian and indigenous people accusing Cerrejón of violating their cultural and autonomous rights.  Indigenous Wayuu representatives spoke of losing their language and cultural practices.  All communities in the area have lost access to communal lands on which they once fished, hunted and gathered medicinal plants.  Displaced communities such as the Afro-Colombian community of Tabaco recounted how their social fabric has been torn when they lost their lands.  Communities traditionally reliant on agriculture have lost their ability to provide for their families from the land.  Both Afro-Colombian and Wayuu indigenous witnesses claimed Cerrejón has violated their ancestral land, and thus their autonomy and rights to cultural preservation.  Furthermore, many reported that Cerrejón attempted to divide communities by intimidating and bribing leaders, offering compensation to only select families, and discouraging resistance.

PUBLIC STATEMENT AND MEETING OF UNIONS, AND SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE DIGNITY OF LA GUAJIRA

Social, political, rural, communal, indigenous and Afro-Colombian organizations, as well as various unions, met on May 15, 2014, at the Civic Committee for the Dignity of La Guajira with the aim of:
Consult and approve the List of Demands for the Dignity of La Guajira to be sent to the National Government and multinational Cerrejón Limited, Public Enterprises of Medellin and Ecopetrol Association - Chevron Texaco, and
To define in conjunction, a preparatory agenda of social mobilization of a departmental civic strike of the Guajiro people.
Consensus of Collective Considerations Derived from the Encounter:
We reaffirm our rejection of neoliberal policies that have been implemented in the country  over four lustrous decades in the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos, resulting in the delivery of natural resources to multinationals, privatization of public services, education and health, cutting of labor guarantees and measures against the agricultural sector, especially the Free Trade Agreement – NAFTA – with the United States, reducing transfers to departments, municipalities and indigenous reservations and the robbing of privileges, thereof.
We reject these government policies that have plunged La Guajira into deep crisis; it has amplified the gap of social inequality and has positioned us as one of the most unequal societies on the planet.
We also reject the following disastrous consequences suffered by the Guajira, which derived from this neoliberal monster: