22 May, 2008At the Peoples' Summit, the National Women Miners' Central of Peru (CNMM) and the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union Of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) publicised the repression and persecution of Mexican miners. The documentary film "An Injury to One" was shown and copies of the IMF White Paper, were distributed.
PERU: Social movements and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) organised a Peoples' Summit in Lima, Peru, 13-16 May, in parallel to the V Summit Meeting of European Union (EU) and ALC Heads of State and Government, the most important decision making organisation shared by governments of the two regions.
One of the Peoples' Summit objectives was to promote debate about the power of transnational companies. The CNMM and the SNTMMSRM brought the repression and persecution of Mexican miners by Grupo Mexico and the government of President Felipe Calderón to the attention of participants and public opinion.
Both organisations participated in the seminar on Mining and Human Rights, in which Jorge Campos, SNTMMSRM adviser and representative, spoke about the mining dispute, showed the documentary film, "An Injury to One" and distributed 100 copies of the White Paper of the same name, published by the IMF.
Participation in the Peoples' Summit was very important because it allowed the Mexican miners' union to spread the word about the dispute to other national, Latin American and European social movements and political leaders. Further publicity was gained through interviews with the Latin American, United States and Spanish media.
In addition, the President of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade, Helmuth Markov, promised he would apply pressure on the company by setting in motion any consultation and monitoring mechanisms on trade that might exist between Grupo Mexico and European Union companies and member states.
Solidarity was also promised by communities affected by the mining company in the Moquegua and Tacna areas of Peru, where Southern Peru, a Grupo Mexico subsidiary, has operations. The Colombian senator, Piedad Córdova, promised to study the possibility of supporting and speaking out about the dispute.
Members of the Parliamentary delegation of the Confederal Group of the European United Left at the People's Summit promised to support and monitor the request for condemnation of Grupo Mexico presented to the European Union by the SNTMMSRM and the IMF.
Prior to the Summit, the IMF wrote to members of the European delegation participating in the summit, alerting them to the issue and providing an update on the situation of the Mexican miners.