Communities Resist the Invasion of Gold Mines, Dec. 1997

Number 21, December 1997 

Communities Resist the Invasion of Gold Mines

An alliance of rural peasants and non-governmental organizations continued their struggle against a gold mine concession in the province of Los Santos, including demonstrations by thousands of local residents and the nonviolent blocking of tractors used for construction by the mining company. Arsonists burned the home of Secundino Jaén, a leader of the protesting farmers, on November 29. Jaén responded that he and others are ready to resist the mines "to the ultimate consequences."

The protests follow the pollution of area rivers by Cerro Quema, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Campbell Resources, Inc. which seeks to extract gold from the estimated reserve of 370,000 ounces. After the company sprayed diesel oil onto a field in order to burn it off in June, Trade Minister Raúl Arango suspended mining operations for four months and fined the company $200 a day until it cleaned up its mess.

But the region's farmers object to the concession, signed in December 1996 by the Pérez Balladares government, asserting that the 150 jobs it will provide are not worth risking their health and the province's economy, which is rich in dairy, cattle, fishing and agriculture. One writer, David Galvez, points out that the community's direct income during a year from the mining concession — estimated at $51,000 — is the equivalent to what the region's dairy industry generates in only five days. In cattle alone, farmers have invested $200 million, according to Pastor Durán.

The farmers, united with environmental and church groups in the Santeño Front Against Mining, point out that the open air mines planned for Cerro Quema are environmentally risky because they will take place at the top of a mountain, above the tributaries to several different rivers. The company will pulverize nine million tons of rock and use milions of pounds of cyanide to extract the gold over a period of seven years, according to Galvez.

Catholic Bishop José Luis Lacunza called for an indefinite suspension of the mine. In a letter to Trade Minister Arango he wrote, "I am sure a re-evaluation will lead to the conclusion that the project is neither economically nor ecologically profitable."

On September 17 community members were arrested in an attempt to block a tractor at the mine, while police used teargas against them in an area where there were children and old people. The Santeño Front also delivered to the Legislative Assembly a petition against the mine with 5,000 signatures. Three thousand people protested in the town of Tonosí on October 5. After Arango announced that exploratory work on the mine would re-commence, another 1,500 people demonstrated in the smaller town of El Cruce on November 16.

"We are not selling our morality or our country," said Dalys Ortiz, president of Los Santos Women Against Mining. "We have to be alert, because if we don't defend them ourselves, the Canadians won't."

"We regret having to say this to you publicly," the Santeño Front said in a statement to the mining company, "that no one here wants you or needs you. Leave our lands and us in peace."

Sources: La Prensa 7/19, 9/20, 9/27, 11/5, 11/17/97; El Panamá América 6/24, 10/6/97.

National Front Against Mining:
A Founding Statement

Panama, like most countries in Latin America, is confronting an aggressive and growing invasion of large multinational corporations dedicated to the exploitation of metal minerals. This process follows from both economic policies of structural adjustment and the internationalization of the country's economy, as well as the current tendency of the mining sector globally, characterized by the exodus of large multinational corporations from their countries of origin to poor countries.

Among the principal reasons that explain the movement of these companies to our countries are: a) the existence of valuable deposits of minerals; b) fiscal incentives; c) lower production costs; d) less complicated and expeditious approval processes; e) less strict environmental regulations. Furthermore, the legal framework that protects the environment and the security of the workers is much less aggressive in poor countries than in rich countries, as is pubic pressure to achieve such regulations.

In 1988 Panama reformed the Mining Code which dated from the the 1960's, in order to establish, among other things, tax reductions from 16% to 4 and 2%, plus exemptions from import taxes for the mining companies. Taxes to municipalities where the mines are located will only take effect when the companies recover their investment. This legislation has contributed to the fact that of the 7,551,700 hectares of land in Panama, 3,472,000 hectares have been granted for mining explorations and exploitation — that is, 45.9% of the national territory.

In October 1996, representative groups of the Ngobé and Buglé peoples from the west of the country carried out a 450-kilometer march from San Felix (province of Chiriquí) to Panama City, to demand recognition of their territories and cancellation of mining contracts on their lands. The march followed the government's grant of permission to the Canadian company Panacobre to explore the multi-million-dollar colossus of Cerro Colorado.

In April of this year, in the province of Los Santos, the Los Santos Front against Mining (FRESACOMI) was established, which fights for the suspension of the Cerro Quema mine — already in its construction phase and which has generated substantial environmental and social damage in the region.

Given all these efforts and concerns of humble communities, on June 12, 1997, the National Front Against Mining was founded by unanimous decision of about 25 groups representative of the various provinces of the country and independent environmental, human rights, church, popular education, social welfare, and research groups which work with the communities.

This decision was made unanimously after a "Work Day on Mining in Panama," in which the following goals were also agreed: a) reject the mining enterprise, b) consolidate organizations at the community level, c) inform the public in a scientific way of the effects of mining exploitation, d) change the current legal framework to guarantee the right of communities to make decisions about their development, e) achieve participation in this effort of other social groups at the national level, f) generate information, empowerment and protests in order to make Panama's people aware of the problem represented by the mining industry.