The People Behind Coal in Colombia and Kentucky - post 5

A delegation of 5 KFTC members - including Cari Moore - participated in a Witness for Peace trip, in July focused on "The People Behind the Coal in Appalachia and Colombia." This is one in a series of blog stories about the trip. Visit www.kftc.org/colombia or attend KFTC's Annual Meeting this weekend to learn more about our experiences there.

By KFTC Member Cari Moore (seen below, right with Avi Chomsky, trip leader, left)

Listening to residents from so called "coal fieldsâ€ speak, some sentiments are consistent: "They have bought out our officials,â€ "Companies can respect the rights of workers, but they just aren’t,â€ "These companies do not fulfill their responsibility to people’s rights,â€ "What [the company] is doing, is against the law,â€ "[the industry] sold us the illusion, the mines were going to bring development.â€ "We’re basically giving them the wealth of our land,â€ and "They do not respect our environment or our history.â€

As a resident of Appalachia- a region that is being exploited and sacrificed for coal- these quotes sound very familiar, but they did not come from my state, my region, nor even my country. They were all expressed by citizens of affected communities in Colombia, where the battle against coal is far younger, but no less intense nor destructive.

More than one resident expressed their dismay that Colombians had been promised economic and social growth by the coal industry, yet the companies had failed to deliver any such thing. Again and again we were told, "…they promised us prosperity.â€ One resident said of the unfulfilled promise, "years ago…[the industry] sold us the illusion, the mines were going to bring development. We haven’t seen social, economic or cultural development. Diseases, prostitution, crime, delinquency, corruption in government have all been increased by the mine, so yes, we’ve seen some development.â€

Mining companies such as Cerrejon and Drummond, have been displacing members of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, sometimes violently and forcibly. The Indigenous Wayuu people of Tomaquito, who once had access to 5,000 hectares of land, are now limited to a mere 10, due to nearby mining operations. Driven out by encroaching pollution, and the loss of resources and land, the residents are awaiting relocation by the company, Cerrejon. During their negotiations, the people asked for only 500 hectares of land- 10 times less than what they once laid claim to- and the company denied this request. The community’s second request was for 300 hectares, which was originally declined, as well.

Tamaquito Village

The people of Tomaquito do not use electricity, no one in the community works for the company, they have a deep connection to the land on which they are living- it is home to them- and will now be moved to a strange land that will be somewhere between 16 and 17 times smaller than their original communities- so where is the profit for them? Like the Wayuu, many other communities are full of residents who feel they had been dealing with the sacrifices, but reaping few if any benefits.

Colombian miners are not fairing much better financially. According to workers, they are only paid minimum wage- barely enough to support their families, and the very lives that they put on the line every day they work in the mines. To the industry’s credit, I must concede that it has resulted in profits for some- the heads of the industry being one example, and politicians, another. In Appalachia, it’s a well known fact that many of our local politicians are financially supported by the coal industry, and some are even coal industry employees. According to many residents, a similar situation exists in Colombia.

Not only has coal failed to be the economic salvation of the region for ordinary people, but the destructive mining activities are threatening other local industries and economic possibilities. Traditional agricultural and fishing industries have suffered as a result of pollution, and workers’ limited and severed access to the land. Coal related water pollution has caused the fish population to dwindle, and mining officials sometimes block access to once utilized waterways, due to companies’ questionable claims of land ownership. One gentleman told us that they were "not allowed to go to our own rivers, where we got to gather fish. The army doesn’t allow us to enter.â€

The industry, on the other hand, claims the ability to trump God and Mother Nature, by "allegedlyâ€ improving upon the natural environment. In Appalachia, the industry claims to "createâ€ habitat for fish and wildlife in what is already an extremely biodiversity region, by bombing the land into greater fertility. I like to call it the coal company’s big bang theory. In Colombia, I was reminded of this when a scientist working a reclamation site for Cerrejon, assured me that the loss of ephemeral streams was trivial, and other changes in the environment- alteration in topography, and extreme change in the soil’s absorbency- were beneficial. One reclaimed site thirstily drank 70% of the rainfall, but had previously absorbed only 30%.

During a meeting I attended with the mining company Cerrejon, one industry official who apparently did not grasp having a sense of place or dignity, claimed the houses being built for displaced residents of La Roche, in their future community, were "betterâ€ than what they had to begin with. There’s that word again- "betterâ€. In other words, these companies promise residents they will make everything better- better economies, better communities, better environment, better quality of life.

Yet, I am confused as to how a person can offer someone something "betterâ€ than what they have, if they do not even understand the value systems of the people to whom they are speaking. Many residents expressed pain at having to leave the land they felt such a deep connection with, and the residents of Tomaquito, having a belief in spirits, are worried that the spirits in the new land will not be as accepting of them, as the spirits that are familiar with their presence.

These concepts are probably completely foreign to the people who sit at the head of these companies. You cannot promise a person better, until you know what that means to them. In 1540, when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado invaded Indigenous villages in New Mexico searching for the 7 cities of gold, he wrote of the inhabitants, "As far as I can tell, these Indians worship water, because it makes the corn grow and sustains their life.â€. His priority was the mineral, gold, but to them, it was simply, water.

Today, the coveted resource threatening Appalachia and many Colombian communities is coal, but the companies seeking it don’t seem to understand, that the communities they are robbing have values of their own, and some of us are of the belief that coal is not our greatest resource.