Yes to life, No to the Mine!
#DefenseOfTerritory #JericoResists #WaterYesMineNo!
Eleven peasant farmer in Jericó, Colombia face prosecution in a socio-environmental conflict.
Eleven peasant farmers from the municipality of Jericó (one of which is an 85 year old man), opposed to the exploration activities of UK headquartered AngloGold Ashanti’s Quebradona Mining Project, are being prosecuted following three complaints filed by AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) against them. The AGA mine Quebradona is proposing to open a copper mine in what for generations has been the province of small scale peasant farmers. This is well known for being rich agricultural land.
The local farmers denounced the AGA mine Quebradona for allegedly seeking to surreptitiously install drilling platforms in several villages of the Municipality. The farmers have been peacefully resisting the mine because of the ‘serious and irreparable damage it would cause to the environment’.[1]
AGA sought to buy the land to explore for minerals with the prospect of opening a copper mine and creating a mining district in the municipality. Aware of the devastation caused by multinational mining in other parts of Colombia – like that of the Cerrejón open-pit coal mine, in La Guajira, owned by multinational Corporation Glencore – the high pollution levels and the large quantities of water needed for this type of mining, local farmers have been resisting, campaigning under the banner “no to mining, yes to water”. The peasant farmers and local villagers have been organising peaceful protests resisting the opening of an AGA copper mine for the last 15 years.
The situation occurred in the Vallecitos village, where AGA employees were assembling a structure for the construction of a mining exploration platform. Local peasants stopped the mine workers from constructing the platform because they considered it illegal, as they understood it to be violating the restrictions imposed on the company following an administrative act by the Environmental Department (ANLA) that had suspended their environmental license. The Community’s consent is a legal requirement for a large-scale mining project. As a result, the protesters dismantled the mining platform constructed by AGA workers and over 100 farmers peacefully handed the mining platform to the local police.
AGA made three complaints that resulted in criminal charges that singled out eleven leaders and accused them of kidnapping, theft, property damage and personal injury. Despite the accusations being recent they are not related to current peaceful protest (2025) but over incidents that allegedly occurred between May 2022 and December of 2023.
When the case was brought to Court, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 16 people from the mining company were retained for five hours by approximately eight locals “carrying machetes and sticks” during one of the incidents. According to the locals, they told the mine employees that “they could not continue their activities because it was a protected area, a nature reserve” and then surrendered them to police. In the second incident, 15 cyclists and a guide were refused passage for approximately 20 minutes. It appears that the accusation is referring to a road blockage. What is not clear is how the people cited as victims were physically prevented from being able to move. The Judge suspended the hearing and ordered the prosecution to come back with more specific evidence regarding the crimes that had allegedly been committed.
Defence Lawyer Oscar Correa
According to the lawyer defending the peasant farmers, these eleven individuals that have been singled out for prosecution are key figures in the peasant struggle to protect their region’s natural resources. Allegedly, criminally prosecuting these local farmers is an attempt to quell their protests. Despite this the farmers have shown courage and a commitment to protect their land, livelihoods and way of life in the face of stigmatisation, accusations, threats and criminalisation.
The UNHRC and the UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly highlights that charging peaceful protesters with terrorist offences and using charges as a means of intimidation, without pursuing them has a chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association are essential components of a democracy. The right of peaceful assembly includes the right to hold meetings, sit-ins, strikes, rallies, events or protest.
[1] Public Statement by the Mesa por los derechos humanos frente al poder empresarial La protesta social no puede ser tratada como una amenaza. Es, en democracia, un ejercicio legítimo y fundamental de participación ciudadana. THE THREAT OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE TO “RESOLVE” A SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT Jericó, April 22, 2025.