The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog

“SINTRACARBON”

SINDICATO NACIONAL DE TRABAJADORES DE LA INDUSTRIA DEL CARBON

Personería jurídica No. 000109 del 18 de enero de 1.996

NIT. 890.113.158-1

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DECLARATION ON THE

IMPACT OF THE CERREJON MINE EXPANSION ON THE COMMUNITIES IN THE MINING AREA

During the week of October 30 to November 3, 2006, a delegation of the National Union of Coal Workers (Sintracarbón) worked together with several international NGOs and the Wayuu indigenous rights organization Yanama to investigate the living conditions and health conditions in the communities in the area of the Cerrejón mine.

The delegation met with the communities of Patilla, Roche, Chancleta, Tamaquito II, Albania, and Los Remedios, as well as the indigenous reservation of Provincial and the displaced population of Tabaco. It carried out health clinics, conducted a public health survey, and listened to testimonies and life stories in all of these communities.

These communities are being systematically besieged by the Cerrejón company. The company begins by buying up the productive lands in the region surrounding the communities, encircling each community and destroying inhabitants’ sources of work. These communities have historically relied on agriculture and herding (cattle and goats). Another phenomenon we observed everywhere was that the rivers in the region have also been swallowed up by the company’s land acquisitions. Now the communities’ residents have also lost the ability to fish. Because the rivers have become part of the company’s private property, residents who have tried to fish there have been harassed by the company’s private security forces and by the army. Some have been arrested and jailed. The goal of these policies is to eliminate all sources of employment and the only means that the communities have of supporting themselves. The United Nations has established categories of “poverty” and “extreme poverty”, but these communities have reduced to the conditions that we could call the “living dead”. They do not have even the most minimal conditions necessary for survival. They are suffering from constant attacks and violations of their human rights by the Cerrejón company.

Another of the company’s macabre tactics has been to cut off the communities’ electricity periodically. This is just another element in the systematic process of annihilation of the communities, to create despair so that they will negotiate from a position of weakness, desperation, and hopelessness, and agree individually to the company’s terms.

Each of these communities has been reduced to a zone of misery. They have no schools, hospitals, or basic public services. Their water supply is unfit for human consumption. We also saw evidence of many cases of respiratory diseases, skin infections, mental health problems, and arthritis. We have not yet analyzed the results of our study on pediatric health, but we will issue a statement on that in the future.

Upon finishing this stage of the investigation of the communities affected by the Cerrejón mine by SINTRACARBON, YANAMA, and the International Commission, we conclude that the reality is far worse than we had imagined. The multinational companies that exploit and loot our natural resources in the Cerrejón mine are violating the human rights of these communities.

Sintracarbón has committed itself to the struggle of the communities affected by the mine’s expansion. We invite all other unions and social organizations in Colombia and especially in the Guajira to join in the struggle of these communities for better conditions and quality of life and to take on the communities’ problems as our own problems.

As a union committed to the struggle of these communities, we have established the short-term goal of working to help unify the affected communities, to participate in their meetings, to take a stand with the local and national authorities regarding the absence of public services in the communities, to begin a dialogue with the company about the reality we are now aware of, and to take a public stand locally, nationally, and internationally about the situation of the communities affected by the Cerrejón mine and its expansion.

SINTRACARBON STANDS WITH THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE FOR THE COMMUNITIES AFFECTED AND DISPLACED BY THE CERREJON MINE!

¡VIVA LA JUSTA LUCHA DE LAS COMUNIDADES DESPLAZADAS Y AFECTADAS!

POR LA EXPANSION DE LA MINA DEL CERREJON ¡!!!!

SINTRACRBON PRESENTE ¡!!!!