Saturday, May 1, 2010

Stop Big Mining
Our protest against the Latin American Mining Congress on April 29 was a statement: Communities must be at the forefront of development.

Among the many examples of the profound crisis generated by unsustainable corporate mining that violate labor and environmental law we want to highlight two:

1. GUATEMALA: The International Labor Organization's (of the United Nations), call for a suspension of mining in Guatemala, is but the most recent public effort to draw critical attention to the environmental and health harms and human rights violations caused by global mining companies in campesino and indigenous communities in Guatemala.

2. MEXICO: The union representing striking miners who seized Mexico's Cananea copper mine 33 months ago said Thursday that explosives have been set to blow up the facility rather than hand it over to mining concern Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICO.MX).

Javier Zuniga, work secretary for the National Mining and Metal Workers Union, said at a news conference that workers were willing "to light the fuse" of explosives placed throughout the mine complex in Sonora state near the U.S. border.


The official said the union doesn't want to destroy the mine but that it is willing to do so. "It was the workers who took the decision to place the explosive charges," Zuniga said.


Join us to strengthen a campaign to support labor, community, indigenous and human rights organizations all across the Americas in their fight to STOP BIG MINING.

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