The North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee Blog

Finally, a summary of the Aug. 4-11 Witness for Peace delegation "The People Behind the Coal".

Photos of all of the below can be seen at http://skua.gps.caltech.edu/Colombia/. At the bottom of this message I've included a "key" to the pictures.

We're working on a more detailed report--please let me know if you'd like to see that.

Avi

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Report-back from Witness for Peace “The People Behind the Coal” delegation, August 4-11 2007

Aug. 5

Meetings in Bogota

Training

Lunch with Senator Jorge Robledo

Dinner with Lesley Gill

A brief history of Colombia with Manuel Vega

Aug. 6

--Arrival in Valledupar, met by Estivenson Avila, president of La Loma (Drummond) local of Sintramienergética

--Meeting with Drummond company representatives in Hotel Sicarare, Valledupar. They showed us their fancy presentations, and tried to leave us as little time as possible to ask questions. They gave us “Drumino” shirts.

--Meet with striking workers at the Glencore-owned Hierbabuena mine in La Jagua. Glencore uses subcontracting agencies called “bolsas de empleo” to hire workers. Last March the workers hired through the OMC subcontractor voted to join Sintramienergética. The company started firing them, and on Aug. 1 fired the last 112. 30 workers occupied the mine, and the rest, with their families, set up a kind of tent city at the mine’s gates. We were greeted with chants of “La clase obrera unida, jamás será vencida!” Workers were very eager to talk with us and begged us to let the world know what was happening—and hopefully help to avoid a military “solution” to the strike.

--Dinner in La Loma, overnight in Chiriguaná.

Aug. 7

--Meet Drummond workers leaving work at 7 am in La Loma. They told us about how little investment Drummond made in the communities. The work 12-hour-on, 12-hour-off shifts, and when they get off work and come into town to sleep there is often no electricity or water. They talked about health and safety issues, especially with the Apronfeeder system Drummond uses that is very “efficient” but causes a high rate of worker injuries with giant boulders crashing into truckbeds causing spinal cord injuries to the drivers.

--Meeting with community leaders from La Loma and surrounding communities. They told us about the devastation Drummond has brought to their communities: contamination of air and water, loss of fishing, loss of water table, no social investment. They worry that Drummond’s expansion plan will make things even worse.

--Back to La Jagua where we met with the city government/mayor’s office to express our concern that the police and army not be brought in to violently break the strike.

--Lunch meeting with Miguel Rivera from Mechoacán in La Jagua. He told us about his community’s struggle to survive, surrounded by the Drummond mine. We had been planning to visit Mechoacán, but ran out of time.

--Bus to La Cruz farm in the Guajira, home of the giant Cerrejón mine. Cerrejón has displaced several villages, and is in the process of removing others from their lands. We have been working over the past five years to pressure the mine to relocate the displaced Afro-Colombian community of Tabaco, and to agree to negotiate a collective relocation and reparations for the other affected communities. La Cruz is a farm that Tabaco residents are asking to be relocated to. Dinner, vallenato, and overnight in hammocks.

Aug. 8

--Our two Guatemalan delegates finally joined us early in the morning after some logistical obstacles. Tour of La Cruz, and on to Chancleta, one of the local villages dying a slow death from contamination and land loss.

--Meeting with Wilman Palmezano and community members in Chancleta. They have begun a process of negotiating with the mine for relocation of the community. There was a lot of concern that they are negotiating from a position of weakness and need more support.

--On to Tamaquito by pick-up. Tamaquito is a Wayuu indigenous village that the mine has finally acknowledged is being affected by its operations. Another large community meeting. Tamaquito representatives said that they have been engaged in conversations with the mine, but are insisting that any negotiations for relocation be carried out with the participation of the Sintracarbón union, the Yanama indigenous organization, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective, and the international community—a model that seems to put them in a much stronger position in the negotiations. (The company insists that it will only negotiate without “intermediaries.”)

--Back to Chancleta by pick-up (the bus can’t handle the road to Tamaquito) then by bus to Riohacha. Evening event launching The People Behind Colombian Coal and 9 de Agosto. Speakers include Sen. Jorge Robledo, Remedios Fajardo, María Cristina González, Armando Pérez Araújo. Showing of video “The Cost of Power” by Don McConnell. Dance performance.

Aug. 9

--Conference: “Second Annual Dialogue on Mining in Colombia and its International Connections”. This was an amazing gathering organized by Wayuu indigenous leader Remedios Fajardo and Garry Leech (from Nova Scotia), with funding from Kairos (Canada) and Sintracarbon. Featured speakers included representatives from Tabaco, Tamaquito, Chancleta, and other communities, Sintracarbón union representatives Canadian union activists, Guatemalan activists from communities in resistance against mining, representatives of Swiss and British organizations that have been working to support union and communities.

Aug. 10

--Meeting with Sintracarbón leaders Jaime Delúquez (president of the union), Freddy Lozano, and Jairo Quiroz. Discussion of how we can work together to support the communities.

--Return to Bogotá for wrap-up discussions.

Key to photos

583 African Palm

585-88 Side entrances to Hierbabuena mine

588-626 Strikers/tent city at main entrance to Hierbabuena mine

627-638 Dinner in La Loma (634-35, Estivenson Avila, president of Sintramienergetica La Loma local)

639-42 "Hotel" in Chiriguana

643-48 Street scenes

649-62 Meeting with Drummond workers

663-71 Street scenes in La Loma

672-82 Community meeting in La Loma

683-87 Drive to La Jagua

688-90 La Jagua plaza

691-92 Meeting with La Jagua mayor's office

693-95 Street

696-98 Lunch in La Jagua

699-701 Street

702-721 Evening/overnight in La Cruz

722-740 Morning in La Cruz

741 Bus scene

742 Jairo and Freddy in La Cruz

743 Jose Julio

744-45 Leaving La Cruz

746-54 Chancleta houses

755-59 Chancleta meeting

760-61 Tamaquito

762-71 Tamaquito meeting

772-82 Tamaquito houses and people

783-88 Tamaquito house interior

798-90 Tamaquito kids

791 Back in Chancleta?

792-94 Street candidate's rally

795-805 Book launch (798, Jorge Robledo speaking, 799-805, dance performance)

806-815 Conference

806 Communities panel

810 Avi reading Cerrejon's letter

812 Todd Parsons speaking

813 Juan Sales speaking

814 Alirio Uribe speaking

815 Internationalist panel

816-17 Riohacha beach

818-19 Riohacha street scenes

820-30 Final dinner in Riohacha

831-33 Riohacha beach

834-37 Sintracarbon meeting