Today, on May 1, International Workers' Day, workers, peasants, students, teachers, Wayuu indigenous people, community leaders, municipal officials, people displaced by the Cerrejón mine, and women took the streets in La Guajira's capital, calling out "Yes to the Civic Strike, They are calling us to strike, we will!" which referred to the calling of the civic strike by various civil society organizations, grouped under the Civic Committee for Dignity in the Guajira.
The application of the extractive mining and gas model, the opening of the economy, and cuts to public spending have led to the worst crisis in our department's history. The crisis is in the rising inequality: the Gini coefficient has risen from 0.47 in 2002 to 0.61 in 2010; the loss of food security; 28 % of territory in mining concession; the decline of the peasant economy. The statistics reflect this great social tragedy: 51.64 % of the region has low aqueduct access and 38.96 % low sewer system access, 65.23 % of people do not meet Basic Needs and 27 % suffer from chronic malnutrition, one of the highest rates in the country.
La Guajira has become one of zones with major energy resources with over 3 billion tons of coal, 60 % of the country's natural gas and produces 560 MW of electricity to meet national demand.
But these riches are not exploited to meet the development needs of the department or bring progress to the people. While multinational corporations obtain operational utilities of 37.7 %, 60 % of people in the Guajira earn less that 200 thousand pesos ($100 USD) per month and 38 % makes less than 90 thousand pesos ($45).
Mining, which makes up 61% of GDP, generates only 2.9 % of employment in La Guajira. That is to say, the jobs lost in agriculture have not been made up in mining employment. Unemployment in 2010 rose to 9.2 % from 5.7 % in 2005, and insufficient employment rose to 122 thousand people.
Our natural water sources are low, and in 12 municipalities, very low, and there is high and very high water vulnerability in 33% of the same areas. Coal mining has aggravated the problem, destroying natural aquifers in 8 water bodies including ravines and tributary streams of the Ranchería River and has affected 11, 488 hectares of forest. The mine has only rehabilitated about 3000 hectares of this land.
Civil society organizations grouped under the Civic Committee for the Guajira have called for all social sectors: civic, trade, institutional and political leadership to organize a department-wide civic strike. The Civic Committee for Dignity in La Guajira will lead the strike with participation from municipal committees and other organizations and sectors who want to participate in the strike.
The Civic Committee for Dignity will prepare a letter in the Casa de Nariño, presidential office, on May 7, containing a summary of the list of petitions from 2013, focusing on the most pressing needs of people in the Guajira, and will ask the government to mediate in negotiations with Carbones de Cerrejón and Associación Ecopetrol Chevron Texaco. On May 15, the Committee will host a meeting between social, union, and community organizations, to approve the civic strike, create a mobilization plan that will include strike committees in every municipality, neighborhood, street, school, university, as well as the plans for marches, rallies, blockades, and longer marches with the different social sectors in order to make the strike successful across the Guajira.
The completion of the strike will depend on the National Government, the multinational shareholders of Cerrejón, and the association Ecopetrol Chevron Texaco paying attention and confirming the need for negotiation committees, and their will to resolve the problems from the list of petitions.
The Civic Committee for the La Guajira:
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