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Piedra, it is the rock of resistance, the rock which, placed in the powerfuls’ shoe, bothers. It is the one that, in all its diversity, constitutes our habitat, vital to our existence. It is the rock we throw. And, of course, it is the exploited rock. Extractivism, an economic model based on the exploitation of resources, ravages always increasingly here and elsewhere. It is in “Canada”, on colonized lands, that the majority of mining companies hold their headquarters. As so, the Canadian companies deploy their activities in Colombia in all impunity, and take advantage and participate in the political and social violence that hits this country living in war.
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The Colombian government of Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia signed a modified peace agreement that seeks to end decades of armed conflict between them. The “new final accord” comes after marathon negotiations in Havana and just weeks after the original agreement was narrowly rejected in a national referendum.
Up to recently, PASC was denouncing the threat caused by Alange Energy, a subsidiary company of the giant Canadian oil company Pacific Rubiales (now named Pacific Exploration & Production, or Pacific E&P), in the páramo of Sumapaz. Thanks to the local movements’ advocacy against the oil exploration in their region, the Colombian authorities have refused to issue the environmental license necessary to pursue exploration activities in the territory.
In October, we learned of an important change made to Colombia’s legal framework: mayors have been granted veto power to oppose unwanted oil and mining projects. Colombia’s Constitutional Court granted mayors the right to overturn national decisions, following a string of scandals surrounding the decision to grant exploitation rights in protected natural reserves.
For many months now, millions of people – Indigenous peoples and their allies, also know as water and earth protectors – have been directly challenging the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). If you live on this earth, if you breathe the air and if you drink the water, this struggle is also your struggle.
Rooted in thousands of pages of Access to Information documents and dozens of interviews carried out throughout Latin America, Blood of Extraction examines the increasing presence of Canadian mining companies in Latin America and the environmental and human rights abuses that have occurred as a result. The book launch will take place on January 12th!
