On June 6, 2013, Luzmila Ruano Gavira, human rights activist and member of the Committee for the Integration of the Colombian Massif (CIMA), received death threats for her community organizing against mining exploration projects in the Department of Nariño, Colombia. At 9:50 am, Ms. Ruano Gavira was approached by a man in downtown Pasto, the capital of Nariño, who yelled: "Ms. Luzmila, Ms. Luzmila, stop with the mining organizing because you are too pretty a woman to die."
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PASC Letter in The Gazette: The social costs of doing business in ColombiaThe Colombian minister of Mines and Energy, Federico Renjifo Vélez, will be at the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal this week. On Tuesday, he will be attending a working breakfast titled Doing Business with Colombia. The minister’s visit comes on the heels of a May 2013 report issued by the Colombian comptroller general that links the extractive industry in Colombia to armed conflict and human rights violations.
VIDEO: Canadian multinational Pacific Rubiales Energy on trial, PASC invites you to the People's Tribunal in Colombia
This summer PASC and members of the Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia (Redher - Colombia Friendship and Solidarity Network) will be organizing a Popular Tribunal against Colombia's extractive industry policies. The Tribunal is a chance to put foreign mining, gas and hydroelectric companies on trial for the pillage of Colombia's natural resources, as well as for fueling political violence against union members, communities affected by mega-development projects, and environmental and social activists.
Toronto May 30, 2013: Activists question Pacific Rubiales in front of its shareholdersToday, May 30, 2013, activists from the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network made their way into the Kensington Room of the King Edward Hotel, in Toronto, where the Annual General Meeting of Pacific Rubiales was taking place. They handed out a press release from the Union of Oil Workers (USO), announcing the Colombian union's lawsuit against Pacific Rubiales for violations of the right to freedom of association.
USO Files Suit Against Pacific Rubiales For violations of the right to freedom of associationBogota - May 29, 2013- The President of the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), Rodolfo Vecino, confirmed today that the union would file suit against the multinational oil company, Pacific Rubiales Energy, for alleged violations of the freedom of association, the freedom of assembly and conspiracy to commit a crime. Mr. Vecino added that the USO would officially file the suit at the Colombian Public Prosecutor's Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación) on Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 10 am.
The rival economics of mining in Colombia
Colombia is paying a high price for the boom in mining. The country is incurring hidden costs due to the preeminence of a narrow and deficient economic philosophy, according to a new book on the subject. Colombia is at the forefront of external investment in Latin American mining, with tens of millions of hectares of land being auctioned off in mineral exploration concessions.
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