This is the testimony of Felix Tapia, member of the Coordinator in Defense of the Rivers Desaguadero, Uru Uru and Poopo Basin in the international conference on mining held in Guatemala.

The use of cyanide and other metals for mining extraction has brought disease to animals and people, Tapia said.

The five challenges

The conference on mining held in Antigua, Guatemala, ended with a summary of the five challenges of the mining problem faced by the social movements. To wit:

1. To understand and show the new cycle of capital accumulation that takes place in the extractive industry in our countries: mining in particular.

2. To build a counter power based on the peoples’ self-determination and on the experiences of the indigenous peoples, which defend their self-determination in their territory through community consultations.

3. To defend the territory and the environment (natural resources, history, identity) as a specific process to refund the state, besides the discourse of the “rule of law that is convenient for the capital” and as a political act of telling another truth, another history and other forms of development.

4. Permanent social articulation from the view of a diverse social movement and not just of the civil society, i.e. from the perspective of the struggles of the indigenous peoples, the non indigenous communities and the social actors at an international level.

5. International cooperation and civil society has to join the peoples’ demands, contribute to the articulation of the national and international movements and strengthen the power of these peoples against the imposed hegemonic power.

Real World Radio will continue offering reflections, interviews and testimonies registered during the conference by CEIBA/ Friends of the Earth Guatemala’s communications team.

Photo: http://marklawrence.blogspot.com