M. Speaker, I was in Colombia at the end of August with a delegation organized by the Washington Office on Latin America.
In Medellin, we met with the National Labor School, or ENS, to discuss the current labor situation in Colombia. Their reports on threatened and murdered unionists are internationally recognized, and because of this, ENS faces constant threats and efforts to discredit them.
Among the many riches of Colombia are gold, silver, emeralds, coal and nickel deposits; however, safety concerns have led many to question the management of the country's mining industry.
“Mother Earth belongs to those who take care of it, territories belong to the people, sovereignty is popular.”
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) condemns the cold-blooded assassination of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Unión Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in Santander department.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, recently presented his annual report to the UN General Assembly.
The Quimbo Dam in the Department of Huila, Colombia is one of the largest infrastructure mega projects the country is currently implementing. It is expected to be functional in 2014.
by unknown assailants, according to information given to the local press by the Secretary of the Government in that region, Henry Murillo.
With gold prices soaring to around USD 1,600 per ounce, Colombia has made a concerted effort to stimulate foreign investment in its mining sector.[1] As a result, the Colombian government has favored multinational mining companies over small to medium scale local miners. While this new gold rush represents a significant source of investment and finance for the federal government, it also helps fund Colombia’s four-decade long civil war.
Gold fever is sweeping across South America. Nowhere is it more lethal than in Colombia, where the gold rush has become a new axle in Colombia's civil war. Turf wars are erupting between paramilitaries, and leftist rebel groups fighting to take control of mining regions. It's fueling an old ideological conflict and has displacing hundreds of people.
Some days ago, journalists of Fault Lines, a programme of the international news channel, Al Jazeera, showed up in Marmato to make a documentary related to the town and about what it called the “gold fever in Colombia”. The programme has an interview with Juan Carlos Santos, corporate manager of Medoro Resources and cousin of President Juan Manuel Santos.