Colombia Journey: Report from Scott Nicolsen

Dear friends,

"Alejandro Uribe was not a guerrilla! He was a leader of the miners and peasants, and he was murdered by the army!" shouted hundreds of people as they marched through the streets of Santa Rosa (in the Southern Bolívar region) on October 9.

Kedahda, a subsidiary of Anglo Gold Ashanti, wants to mine for gold on 4 million acres of land in the San Lucas mountains above Santa Rosa. Alejandro was the president of the Mina Gallo community council and a leader of the Southern Bolívar Miners and Peasant Federation - which is struggling to prevent the government from giving the richest gold deposit in Colombia to a foreign corporation. Alejandro was shot to death by the Colombian army on September 19 and portrayed as a guerrilla who had been killed in combat.

Hundreds of small miners are providing for their families by extracting gold in the San Lucas mountains. Kedahda's mine would displace those miners from their holdings and result in massive environmental destruction.

The day after Alejandro was killed, more than one thousand people came down to Santa Rosa and organized an encampment. They're demanding that the government stop the repression against the miners and prevent Kedahda from taking over their lands.

The march on October 9 culminated in a public meeting with Carlos Franco, the director of the Presidential Human Rights Office. The miners wanted Franco to publicly state that Alejandro was the president of the Mina Gallo community council and a leader of the Southern Bolívar Miners and Peasant Federation, and that the work of the council and the federation is legal and legitimate. The meeting lasted for nearly six hours and Franco refused to make that statement.

Franco came to Santa Rosa two weeks before on September 26. The community leaders that negotiated that meeting with Franco had clearly stated that they refused to meet with the military because the military is responsible for killing and displacing miners and peasants from the region.

They requested to meet with the civilian Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Mines. Franco arrived at that meeting with the military and police commanders for the region. When the miners refused to meet with those commanders, Franco walked out of the meeting and blamed the miners for the failure of the talks.

The Magangue Catholic diocese has taken a strong stand in support of the miners and their families. Fr. Leonel told me that Kedahda has a history of using paramilitary violence in other countries to ensure their mining operations. He said the same thing is happening here before the company has even started operating.

"We've mobilized because our lives are at risk" said Emiliano, who was with Alejandro the day he was killed. "We'll end the encampment as soon as we can safely return home."

Alvero told us, "They can kill a person, but they can't kill the person's ideas."

I'll be attending a Global Ministries conference in Indianapolis from October 16 to 22, and I'll write to you again after I've returned here to Colombia.

In love and solidarity,
Scott

Photo of the march in Santa Rosa on October 9. The placard in front reads "No more abuses against the miners in South Bolívar. Respect human rights."Santa Rosa March