Leader Opposed to Colombian Mining Project Murdered
Leader Opposed to Colombian Mining Project Murdered
Luis Manuel Claps
Extractives in Latin America
November 12, 2013
Pedro César García Moreno, a member of Conciencia Campesina and president of the Community Action Board of El Cajón-La Leona district, was shot dead close to his home on November 2. He had been actively involved in opposing the development of an open-pit gold mining project, had regularly attended environmental meetings, and had helped persuade many farmers in the area not to sell their lands to foreign miners. César was a peasant worker, territory defender, and environmental leader. He left behind a wife and two children aged 4 and 9 years old.
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AngloGold Ashanti has a tarnished history and has been accused of working in collaboration with paramilitary groups to intimidate the communities surrounding its mining activities. On September 30, Adelinda Gómez Gaviria, an activist who opposed plans by AngloGold Ashanti to expand into the southern department of Cauca, was assassinated. Amnesty International issued an urgent action on October 4 demanding an "exhaustive inquiry into her death and the prosecution of anyone found responsable." Preempting accusations, the company repudiated the killing of César García in a press statement dated November 3.
Human Rights Abuses
The people of Tolima have expressed their rejection to large-scale mining through a series of massive demonstrations in defense of water and life. But community leaders who criticize and oppose the mining project have been characterized by the State authorities, the media, and representatives of AngloGold Ashanti, as “terrorists.”
In 2009, IKV Pax Christi, a Dutch peace movement that works for international humanitarian law and human security, published a report on the mining project, in which they predict that the economic interests presented by La Colosa will attract criminal activity primarily within the company itself. They write that the resulting human rights violations will take the form of “violent attacks, kidnappings of employees, blackmail, robberies and shootings."
In a 2011 report, the human rights organization Peace Brigades International documents the disproportionate role that the extractivist industry plays in criminal activity in Colombia: "80% of the human rights violations that have occurred in Colombia in the last ten years were committed in mining and energy-producing regions, and 87% percent of Colombia's displaced population originate from these places.” They also document the many instances in which community leaders who oppose mining projects have been targeted with threats and attacks.
More:
http://nacla.org/blog/2013/11/12/leader-opposed-colombian-mining-project-murdered