Chapter 7 - Mining and communities

The iniquitous ISDS system allows mining companies to sue Latin American governments for massive amounts of 'compensation' every time their mining activities are blocked by local community opposition or environmental concerns.

Argentine sociologist Maristella Svampa, a researcher for CONICET, speaks to the Facultad Libre in Buenos Aires, 19 January 2016. Her lecture addresses the problem...

In 2017, a group of women activists in Cajamarca began documenting their perceptions of community, wellbeing and alternatives to extractivism through photography.

At the Activism against extractive industries and performance activism conference, held by Latin America is Moving Collective in February, 2021, Sue Branford answers the million-dollar question, ‘Is sustainable mining possible?’

Director Marcos Colón has made a remarkable film about the Amazon, charting how in three countries, Brazil, Peru and Colombia, 'modernity' means exploitation and destruction. He interviews indigenous leaders with a very different vision.

Residents of Cuenca, in Azuay province, voted overwhelmingly in a 'consulta popular' to ban mining that would affect key water resources. Incoming president Guillermo Lasso may find it hard to ignore this result.

This is a condensed version of a longer article written in July 2020. It was edited for LAB by Emily Gregg. Indigenous territories in Latin...

Five water defenders from Santa Marta, Cabañas, El Salvador have been arrested in connection with the 1989 murder of a woman in their community. However, their active membership of an organisation opposed to mining and strong signs that the government wants to subvert the country's mining ban suggest another motive for their persecution

In Guatemala, environmental defenders are criminalised, evicted, beaten, imprisoned and sometimes killed. It is one of the most dangerous places in the world for those who seek to defend their communities, lands and environment.

Spanish journalist Samanta Villar Fans spent 21 days working in an artesanal tin mine in Bolivia in 2009. She filmed it for her programme...