Without Authorization and at Night, Mining Companies Exploit the Sierra of Chiapas

** Ejido owners denounce the robbery of their lands

** Those affected fear mudslides in the mountains and poisoning of the zone’s rivers

By: Hermann Bellinghausen, Envoy

Ejido Honduras, Chiapas, January 17, 2012

Campo Aéreo community, nestled between canyons and mountains inside the Sierra of Chiapas, already feel the passes, up to now furtive, of open sky mining exploitation. Without any authorization “big trucks have come out with hidden material, but we are no longer going to permit it,” an ejido member describes at his home on level ground above the Vega de Guerrero River.

He tells that he enjoys a lot the breeding of horses to run in “pairs,” while he leads journalists among the vegetation, a couple of kilometers from the population, through a recent breach made with heavy machinery, to an excavated spot, with rocks strewn all around. “Trucks come out loaded with rocks from two to three in the morning. In Siltepec they load them onto a trailer and take them away.” The shattered rocks are hard but grainy, emerald green. “It seems like a metal” the ejido owner comments, a member of the resistance of the Other Campaign, as many campesinos in the extensive Siltepec municipality.

The ejido owners have identified that the machinery and the cargo trucks belong to the construction company of an engineer Silva, but they are convinced that they’re dealing with the Canadian company Black Fire. “We think that mining concessions exist in this whole region, but there is no agreement with the population.” And he enumerates them: Toquián, Las Nubes, Cruz de Piedra, Las Moras, Cumbre Ventana, Delicias and Campo Aéreo. There is resistance in said communities. At least in Campo Aéreo it is the majority.

In a conflictive way, in neighboring Chicomuselo, Black Fire already made an appearance. Besides, Siltepec is on the border with Guatemala, where a few kilometers away big mining projects already operate, in Tacaná and Zacapa.

“They convinced a property owner from the Honduras ejido to sell, but he does not have our agreement.” The ejido member describes: “They offer us infrastructure projects, which are clearly lacking. But we know that it is to get involved. The concessions are signed for 50 years.” He tells that a little while ago he spoke with the Guatemalan Bishop Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini, of San Marcos, an active opponent of the mines, and he confided: “Once the people sign, everything is over. Do not sign. That will be the future that you leave to your children.”

He shows the trajectory of what is a break between the mountains, and presumably the mineral vein through the forest. Afterwards he exhibits another spot, kilometers above, with another hole of green rocks. There were already responses. In Las Nubes damaged the company’s machinery; they punched out its tires.

“One must imagine what open sky mining would be like in Siltepec,” exposes the ejido owner with clarity. “After Hurricane Stan we saw that we can have grave mudslides from the mountain here. With the explosions and excavations it would be much worse, they could put in danger the lives of many people. And the cyanide that they use for cleaning is going to poison our rivers.”

One of the members of the Luz y Fuerza del Pueblo (Peoples’ Light and Power) organization who accompanies the tour points out that they know the wealth of water and forests are threatened, although the authorities act like they protect the environment. “If an ejido owner cuts down a tree, they even put him in jail. But the lumber companies illegally take out big truckloads and no one says anything. A forest was already sold in Cruz de Piedra ejido, although Semarnat and Conafor have denied it.” PRI deputy Roberto Albores Gleason declared, for his part, that such concessions do not exist.

These farmers have a lot to lose, although they offer them up to 5 million pesos for their lands. In Cruz de Piedra, an ejido commissioner authorized the sale of a virgin forest for barely 100, 000 pesos. “The pined didn’t even grow, pure native trees,” says our guide. “They promised federal projects, which turned out to be false.” Moreover, the programmed sawmill is held up because of the residents’ rejection.