South American Mining Resistance on the Rise

south american mining resistance on the rise

juan francisco segovia, accíon ecológica/foe ecuador

campaign of resistance
South American nations face similar and growing threats from mining. FoEI's Mining Campaign began in 2001 to support the South American Network for Resistance to Mining. In its role as coordinator of the network, FoE Ecuador facilitates regional processes that activate information and resistance campaigns and opposition to mining companies on the continent. The network relies upon and nurtures local resistance, and enhances contact among the various members.

mining in ecuador and peru
Ecuador is currently the only South American country still relatively free of large-scale mining activity. This is changing, however: mining companies have made their first incursions during the last decade, mainly along the southern border with Peru. The mining operations of several Canadian companies are already causing serious social, health and environmental impacts.
Thus far, conflicts have not been resolved in favour of the affected communities.

Peru, on the other hand, is a nation with a long history of mining. Strong opposition is building there against mining companies, especially Canadian ones. A key case is the Canadian company Manhattan Mineral's planned operations in the town of Tambogrande. This project has created strong opposition and social conflicts, including the murder of popular leader and environmental defender Godofredo García Baca (see article page 20).

common challenges faced at summit
The many common problems faced by Ecuador and Peru over mining issues were the impetus for the FoEI Mining Campaign's “First International Summit for Communities Affected by Transnational Mining Companies,” held in Tambogrande on 13-14 July 2001. The summit focussed on the threats posed by Canadian companies, including environmental and health impacts, legal conflicts, human rights violations, company strategies to overcome popular resistance, and tax avoidance. Attendees included rural and indigenous communities from Ecuador and Peru, environmental NGOs from Costa Rica, Ecuador and Chile, and the mayor of Tambogrande. The aim of the summit was to strengthen resistance among indigenous and low-income farm communities to these Canadian companies.

peru: account of the yanacocha mercury spill
During the summit, Alfonso Carrasco Chiclote of Peru's Comité de Vigilancia Ambiental de Choropampa gave a first hand account of the Yanacocha mine disaster. On 2 June 2000, 151 kilograms of mercury was spilled from a transport truck in the towns of San Juan, Choropampa, and Magdalena in Northern Peru, en route from the World Bank funded, American-operated Yanacocha gold mine. The deadly neurotoxin poisoned as many as 900 people, and the incidence of Minamata disease symptoms have grown as a result.

“When I was hospitalized, they took us to a hotel; they kept us like prisoners and we could not leave to have a conversation with our friends, nor with the press,” said Chiclote.

Some compensation has occurred but is insufficient to resolve the sickness and long-term disability that villagers face. Villagers have reported birth defects, stillbirths and livestock deformities: “boneless ducks have been born, birds without their feet, without their eyes,” says Chiclote, “It is no longer one case, there are dozens, hundreds.”

“When mining exploitation finishes, what will we leave for our children?” asked Chiclote, “On this polluted air and ground where will they plant a tree? Where will they breathe pure air? It is time to meditate. The foreign investors come. What they want is convenience, they don't care about ecological systems.”

the chilean situation
César Padilla, of Chile's Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts, spoke of the growing problems that have accompanied that nation's rapid escalation in copper exports, from three million to five million tons in less than ten years.

Padilla said that the pubic is made aware of the benefits but not the broader problems of mining. Energy consumption for mining is huge, and there are also concerns about mining corporations' new use of a highly polluting fuel mixture called PETCO. The toxic chemicals and compounds used in and resulting from mining cause severe pollution. The construction of highways and transportation though poor communities means that these people must also assume the costs of mining.

Promises of jobs through mining ring empty in Chile. “Production has been increased but employment has been decreasing in the same proportion,” says Padilla. This is because mining production has become highly mechanized. Of a typical mine's two or three thousand employees, only between 20 and 30 are likely to be from the local community. Furthermore, says Padilla, the inputs and goods that mines use, including food, do not come from local markets.

common trends
The result is conflict in Latin American communities that dare to question the impacts of mines, said Padilla. These conflicts are difficult to resolve, and usually culminate in governments sending in security forces with serious consequences for the community.

“We have put this forth to public opinion in Canada,” said Padilla, “and this has provoked debates, and also created problems for some transnational companies.” The mounting mining controversy in Chile and all around the world has added to a growing international debate.

corporations counter-manoeuvre
Mining companies have appeared to undergo an attitude change, admitting that environmental problems exist, that resistance is legitimate, and that repression such as that maintained in Bolivia is no longer possible. And communities continue to denounce, fight and publicize the cruelties of the mining industry around the world. “This doesn't make the companies better, but at least it provides opportunities to examine a little more closely what companies do,” said Padilla.

“Mining companies take it a step further on and say that mining is sustainable. This initiative is supported by the Canadian government ... They co-opt universities, specialists, NGOs, communities, and international organizations,” said Padilla, “Their objective is to continue mining and reduce worldwide pressure against mining exploitation.

unified strategy needed
One major outcome of the summit was the "Declaration of Piura". It includes demands such as the right of a community to reject mining projects, the cessation of public and World Bank funding for mining projects, and the termination of UN participation in the mining industry's “Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development” greenwash initiative (see article page 7).

Padilla, and many others, are convinced that a cohesive strategy is needed to enable activists to concentrate their resources, accelerate their campaigns and face these conflicts as a united whole.