Since February 15, 2017, communities in the municipalities of Yopal and Aguazul, in the department of Casanare, peacefully gathered and blocked a road opposite the oil block project El Porton, run by the Canadian oil company Gran Tierra. Since the beginning of the mobilization, social leaders have received threatening calls, have been followed by different vehicles and three have been charged for obstructing the transit way. Regional Context
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April 10, 2017 Canadian miner Gran Colombia Gold has filed a US$700 million lawsuit against Colombia under the Colombian-Canadian free trade agreement after the government ordered the company to cease operations at the El Burro site in Marmato until it has further consulted with local residents. The Marmato project has been plagued by controversy ever since operations began 10 years ago, with heavy resistance from traditional mining communities of the 500 year-old town.
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The Indigenous and Afro-Colombian community of Marmato won a major court victory in their 10-year fight against a massive Canadian gold mine. In February 2017, Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the residents of Marmato, a small Indigenous and Afro-Colombian community in the center of the country, in their 10-year fight against a massive open pit mine project by Canadian gold giant Gran Colombia Gold Corporation.
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Testimonies collected by a PASC accompanier, Méta, Colombia, February 2017
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What follows is the summary of a report written on March 4th of 2016 by Dr. Virginia M. Bouvier, Senior Advisor for peace processes at the United States Institute of Peace. By considering the essentially gendered nature of both war and peace, this article analyses the differential impact of the Colombian internal armed conflict according to gender and other factors of oppression.
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Originally published March 26. The result is now expected to force local authorities to prohibit mining in the town, according to lawyer Diana Rodriguez. With a majority voting “No” in a popular referendum Sunday, local communities in Colombia's Cajamarca department scored a historic victory against transnational mining giant AngloGold Ashanti, likely putting a definitive end to the La Colosa project and setting a precedent for the whole country.
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CONTINUED PARAMILITARY PRESENCE IN CHOCÓ Residents of Puerto Lleras, Jiguamiandó collective territory in the department of Chocó, report threats and raids from paramilitaries near the Humanitarian Zone of Pueblo Nuevo, putting all the inhabitants at risk.
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With deep indignation, we denounce the lamentable events that took place against the spokeswoman of the Congress of the Peoples, Marlylen Serna Salinas, her family and people close to her family. Sexual violence has been used as a way of generating terror, hindering and deterring her from defending human rights in Colombia. We call on national and international public opinion to vigorously reject these acts of psychological, physical and sexual violence directed against female social leaders and human rights defenders who have been visibly persecuted in the recent period. The Facts 1.
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Detention of members of the People’s Congress in South Bolivar The human rights defenders and social leaders Milena Quiroz, Isidro Alarcon, Floro Edilberto Diaz Gamboa and Manuel Francisco Zabaleta have been detained.
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22 Mar. CI.- This morning a series of captures of social and peasant leaders began in the region of South Bolívar, one of the most impacted by the armed conflict and paramilitary presence. Milena Quiroz, of the Agrarian Summit, was detained in her house as was Isidro Alarcón, both in the municipality of Arenal. Francisco Zabaleta of the municipality of Norosí was also detained.
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