How mining communities organise

The Colombian army have had the habit for a few years now, of killing villagers and declaring them "guerrillas killed in combat". Sometimes they dress the bodies up in military clothes. Sometimes they place weapons on them (recently in the news a Sergeant Alexánder Rodríguez told how soldiers were asked to pay $10 themselves for each gun they placed, but were given 5 days holiday for every 'guerrilla' killed).

Often these are just random campesinos, killed to add to the army's statistics of dead guerrillas. Sometimes they are union leaders or community activists, standing in the way of state interests.

This was the case for Alejandro Uribe, head of the Community Action Council in the gold mining village of Mina Gallo.

The great thing about the mining area I visited, was the complete lack of multinationals. Those who discover a mine become the owners. Occasionally there is sole ownership, but shared ownership is more normal and is encouraged by agencies working with the communities, because then mines are less likely to be sold on.

I was quite intrigued by the relationship between the miners and the owners. Early on I asked about how profits are distributed, and got the vague answer than it depends on the mine. I kept my preconception that the owners were capitalists sitting on their bottoms somewhere while others created profits for them, until finally it was explained to me that actually the owners live in the community and work in the mines, much the same as everyone else. My questions about whether they were the boss of the mines, or about power inequalities in the village were met with smirks. Not really. It's the union that does the organising.

So far, so idyllic. (In so far as, if you have to live in basic poverty, miles from any basic healthcare or secondary education, I'm sure it's much nicer when no one else is making money out of your situation.)

But obviously, there is a multinational knocking on the door. To quote an Amnesty report, "This is an area in which the gold-mining company AngloGold Ashanti (Kedahda S.A.) has interests. Alejandro and other local miners had opposed the arrival of this company in the area."

He was killed on September 19th 2006. The army took away his body, and later declared that he was an armed member of the ELN, killed in combat. When 600 local residents travelled to the military base to demand his body was returned, they were told, "This is not the only corpse you're going to have, there will be more dead leaders."

His absence is still noted today in Mina Gallo. On posters and on a variety of commemorative t-shirts worn by residents. AngloGold Ashanti is also notable for it's continued absence from the area.