Latin America update
Published by MAC on 2007-06-23
Latin America update
23rd June 2007
New witnesses have testified that US-based Drummond Coal had close links with paramiitaries which carried out human rights atrocities at its Colombian coal mine in 2001.
Argentina's Mendoza provincial assembly has finally secured a ban on toxic chemical use in mining. In another constitutional victory for local peoples, Guatemala's constitutional court has legitimised community consultation before mining projects are permitted. The National Indian Foundation in Brazil is also demanding that Indigenous Peoples' rights must be constituitonally guaranteed, before any mining is allowed on their territory.
An alarming study of abnormal cancer rates among people living in northern Chile raises a possible link with the minerals industry.