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2 October, 2006
On 19 September, exactly one week before the trade union Day of Action for human and social rights in Colombia, a miner and community leader in the northern Colombian province of Bolívar was assassinated by members of the Neuva Granada Battalion of the Fifth Brigade of Colombia’s army. Alejandro Uribe, a father of two who was president of a local town council in the southern Bolívar province, had spoken out against the army’s aggressive intimidation and abuse of citizens.
Local people, many miners included, fear they will be forced off the land by a new gold mining venture, and have become more and more vocal in recent months.
The mining venture, announced in June to explore and drill for mineral opportunities in Bolívar and Antioquia provinces, was created when South African-based AngloGold Ashanti and Canadian-based Bema Gold Corp. formed an enterprise called Newco. AngloGold is providing at least eight exploration properties in a 120,000 square kilometre area for initial test drilling for Newco, which is expected to be a publicly-traded company within two years.
The assassination of Uribe was the culmination of months of attacks, threats, blockades, and other killings by the army on some 1,300 miners and their families, said the Catholic Diocese of Magangue.
According to Swedish-based New Colombia News Agency (ANNCOL), which tracks Colombian human rights abuses, residents of some 16 rural communities marched in a candle-light vigil in the town of Santa Rosa del Sur on 24 September, demanding that the government investigate the murder of Uribe and others, as well as demanding a response from civilian authorities over the military’s abuses. They were joined by Christian Peacemaker Teams and international human rights activists.
ANNCOL reported that a meeting with national government authorities had been scheduled for 26 September in Santa Rosa. “The main condition the communities placed on the meeting was that it should take place with civil authorities and without the presence of military,” stated the ANNCOL report.
But both Colombian officials and military officers insisted that the military be present. “In response, the people once again marched through the streets demanding justice. They then occupied the central plaza, and the government officials left without a dialogue,” wrote ANNCOL.