An activist tribunal dubbed the Ethical Trial against Plunder (Juicio Ético contra el Despojo) was held in Bogotá over the weekend to air testimony against the practices of multinational gold firm Anglo Ahshanti (AGA) and oil giant Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE). More than 500 representatives from across Colombia convened in the capital's central folk-crafts market, the
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Pacific Rubiales Energy has over the last decade grown to be the largest independent oil company in South America. A result of a myriad of mergers between different companies, it can trace its presence in Colombia back to 1982 and made big inroads in the country with the 2008 acquisition of Kappa Energy. The Toronto-based oil giant today extracts around 20% of Colombia’s oil and has surpassed BP and Occidental to become the country’s largest extractor of oil behind the state-owned Ecopetrol.
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For more than half a century, Latin America has been a testing ground for American imperialism and its policies of economic shock therapy, resource extraction and covert paramilitary funding. From historic US involvement in military coups in Chile and Guatemala to its arming of narcotraffickers in the Amazonian rainforest, American interests continue to exert a significant influence in the region despite moves toward greater protectionism in places like Venezuela and Brazil.
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Matchmaking session gives miners, NGOs chance to team up for projects, but not everyone is happy about the process MONTREAL - Somewhere inside the vast Palais des Congrès, a strange sort of “speed dating” session will be held this weekend to match some unlikely bedfellows. These are not lonely hearts looking for love, however, but mining companies hoping to hook up with bleeding hearts — the social and environmental groups working to improve living conditions near Canadian mines abroad.
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On august 4th 2013, a threat entitled “comunicado público #12” with the headline “Los Rastrojos, Comandos Urbanos” has been issued. It mentioned several organizations, human rights defenders, lawyers and politicians of opposition. In this threat, Jose Humberto Torres, lawyer of the Solidaridad con Presos Políticos Committee (CSPP), Iván Cepeda, chamber representative and representative of the Jose Alvear Restrepo lawyers collective and every member of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Movice) were targeted as “military objective”.
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A study by Somos Defensores, a non-governmental protection program for human rights defenders, reveals shocking growth in murders of Colombian human rights defenders. The chart below illustrates that in 2012, the number of murders was nearly 14 times what it was in 2006. And 2013 is on a pace to be even worse.
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TORONTO, Aug. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (TSX: PRE; BVC: PREC; BOVESPA: PREB) today provided an update on its current operating activities. These include: (1) the receipt of the environmental licence required to increase water injection at the Rubiales field by an additional 1 MMbbl/d, allowing the Company to grow oil production in the field; (2) the announcement that International Finance Corporation ("IFC"), a member of the World Bank Group, has invested U.S.$150 million in Pacific Infrastructure Venture Inc.
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URGENT ACTION – COLOMBIA - A CALL TO SOLIDARITY - ORGANIZATIONS SUMMONED TO THE POLITICAL AND ETHICAL TRIAL ON PILLAGE IN COLOMBIA – AUGUST 16-18 2013, BOGOTÁCONTEXT
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PACIFIC RUBIALES ENERGY OUT! Report Back from the People’s Tribunal in Colombia Canadian Oil Company Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. has been accused of violating Indigenous, labour and environmental rights in the Meta Department, Colombia. Members of a Canadian delegation to Colombia will report back on the testimonies given from Indigenous, labour and community members and meetings with the Canadian Embassy in Colombia.WHEN: Tuesday, August 20th 6:30 pmWHERE: OISE Room 5-150 (Toronto)
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Interfax has a clear, complete report on what reporter Anatoly Kurmanaev and I saw in the Colombian llanos two weeks ago. I have written to Pacific Rubiales requesting comment on the story and will update this post if they get in touch. From Interfax:
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