Gold prices have surged in recent years. As a result of the 'investor friendly' climate promoted by the Colombian government’s 'democratic security' policies, multinationals have been awarded mining rights to extensive areas of the country. Many of these areas cover national parks, and lands inhabited by Indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant communities, who will be displaced to make way for the mining companies.
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PASC will be at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair 2011 www.anarchistbookfair.ca MAY 21-22, 10am-5pm at the CEDA, 2515 rue Delisle (a short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro) FREE. Welcome to all! Bring your kids! For anarchists and people curious about anarchism.
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A large Canadian mining company has just released numbers for the amount of gold, silver and copper present underneath one of Colombia’s most fragile ecosystems. The study was made public after the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy denied the company, Greystar Resource Ltd., access to the Santurban region of the Colombian state Santander. But Greystar has not given up and is now fighting back with new mining plans and a brand new management.
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Information documenting human rights abuses was stolen from the home of Danilo Rueda, a Colombian human rights defender. He is a member of the organization Inter-Church Commission of Justice and Peace, whose members have previously received death threats. On 13 May, someone broke into the Bogotá home of Colombian human rights defender and member of the NGO Inter-Church Commission of Justice and Peace (Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz), Danilo Rueda. He returned to find books thrown on the floor, folders open and his computer running.
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"Beyond the Walls": A new publication about political prisoners in Colombia Format PDF PASC is launching a new brochure, using the situation of political prisoners as a lens for tackling the problem of crimes perpetrated by the state in Colombia. Political prisoners are those imprisoned because their political views and/or actions run contrary to those of the state.
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April 19 th 2011 PBI Colombia blogIf you ask people in the Curbaradó river valley how they are doing, they will often say: ‘Aquí, luchando’ (here, struggling). During the last several months I’ve been accompanying quite a bit in Curbaradó, and am beginning to understand why they say that.
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April 14th 2011 This urgent action from the Latin American Working Group asks you to take action to protect the communities in resistence accompanied by PASC and Justicia y Paz. Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó living in “Humanitarian Zones”–or areas where the peaceful civilians who declared themselves neutral in the conflict could be clearly differentiated from combatants–have come under great threat during this past week.
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How a Colombian city united against gold greed BUCARAMANGA, COLOMBIA—Spirits were high last month among students, environmentalists, businesspeople, and politicians as the news came in that Greystar Resources had revoked its application for a large-scale open-pit gold mine in the mountains of northeastern Colombia. But just twelve hours later, Greystar’s intentions became clear—it was withdrawing that application to bring in a new one for a redesigned, underground mine.
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This statement from the Colombian Network Against Large Scale Transnational Mining, RECLAME, follows Greystar Resources's decision to withdraw its request for an environmental permit for its Angostura project in the Colombian páramos of Santurbán.
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The Chocó has some of the richest land in Colombia. There is an abundance of water, minerals, and biodiversity. This has also meant significant potential for agricultural businesses. Since 1996, three thousand Afro-descendents and mixed race persons from the Curbaradó and Jiguamiandó River Basins have been displaced by paramilitary groups. About 10 years after being forcibly displaced, these people returned to their land. However, by then, the land was in the hands of others. In order to resist, they established humanitarian zones.
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