Cuetzalan del Progreso: Environmental Damage due to the exploration of the Canadian mining company Luismin

In August of 2007, a group of small landowners contacted ProDESC for legal advice regarding the defense of their lands and the protection of the environment affected by the mining company Luismin. In September, members of ProDESC visited the community of Cuetzálan del Progreso, Guerrero, with the hope of evaluating the damages made by the mine and starting an organizing effort with the community. In October, a group of 40 landowners agreed to form a “Committee of Citizens for the defense of the land.”

ProDESC continues to advise the “Committee of Citizens for the defense of the land” so that they can achieve a just arrangement with the mine and guarantee the protection of their economic, social, and cultural rights.

Background

Starting in 2003, the mining company Luismin S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of the Canadian transnational Gold Corp entered the land of forty small landowners of the municipality of Cuetzálan del Progreso in Guerrero in order to start exploration activities. They intended to do so without authorization of any of the landowners and caused environmental damages to both the land and the region.

Cuetzálan del Progreso is a community in northern Guerrero: the name comes from the Náhuatl Quetzalla language and means “water that flows from the land of the Quetzales.” The municipality of Cuetzálan is located to the northwest of Chilpancingo. It consists of 449.8 square kilometers.

The main natural resources in this region are its flora and fauna, which consist of a variety of species. The region also has many rivers, streams, and lakes. Furthermore, the soil in the municipality is very fertile for agriculture and ranching. 49,980 hectares of the region is forested and 21% of this land is used for agricultural activity.

Recent Events in Cuetzálan del Progreso

In 2007 a group of approximately 40 small landowners formed the “Committee of Citizens” which has documented the damages incurred by exploration activities. They ask the following from the company:

  • Payment for harm done to their land
  • Back Rental of the lands for the exploration work they have done without consent.
  • Reforestation
  • Employment for the inhabitants of Cuetzálan del Progreso

They also ask the following secondary requests of the company:

  • Maintenance of a potable water system for the municipality
  • Maintenance of a health clinic with basic medications.

The Carrizalillo Ejido defends their right to development against the transnational mining company Goldcorp, Inc.

For the last ten years Carrizalillo has witnessed mining companies invade its lands to begin exploration operations. Mining companies such as La Pareña S.A. de C.V., New Mont and Peñoles S.A. de C.V came through Carrizalillo’s agrarian center, ultimately yielding their concession rights to Luismin, now owned by the Canadian-based multinational Goldcorp, Inc.

The Carrizalillo ejido is in the municipality of Eduardo Neri in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. It is made up of 1400 hectares of land, of which more than 1000 are in Goldcorp, Inc.’s control. Goldcorp manipulated the rural conscience of the community land-owners through its many false promises to the community: that they would be partners, improved living conditions due to increased employment, better housing, and that within a short time the money they would earn would allow them to purchase property in Guerrero’s capital, Chilpancingo.

The Carrizalillo community is historically famous for their expertise in mezcal production and corn cultivation that provided food security for its population. The mining companies’ exploitation of the land destroyed their productive agricultural activities and the company began employing the community’s labor instead as workers for its company.

In early 2007, the ejidatarios and community members of Carrizalillo acknowledged that Goldcorp, Inc. had not fulfilled its promises. It became clear that they were not benefiting at all from the company’s presence in their community because not only had Goldcorp failed to honor the payments they had agreed upon, but the community had been left virtually without any land to cultivate corn and agave needed for the production of mezcal.

For the above reasons, and with support from the Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña “Tlachinollan” AC and ProDESC, the community began to organize to demand just and equitable treatment from the mining company.

After the community staged a strike, implying significant monetary losses for Goldcorp, Goldcorp agreed to a dialogue with the ejidatarios. The mining company projected the emission of more than 200,000 ounces of gold in its first year of production for a profit of $9,200,000.

After an eighty-three day strike, on April 1, 2007, Goldcorp and the Ejido del Carrizalillo came to an agreement based on restoring a just and equitable relationship under the following conditions:

  1. The parties agreed that the 1000 plus hectares that Goldcorp possessed would be incorporated into an annual lease agreement under which the community members would not lose their heritage. The company had previously manipulated the community into agreeing to sell them their land by threatening them that Goldcrop would simply expropriate the land if the community wouldn’t sell it to them.
  2. The parties agreed that the lease amount would be a sum of 13,500 – 14,000 pesos of annual income for the agrarian center.
  3. They agreed on a social-project package including commitments by the mining company to:
    1. Build a community hospital and provide medical services;
    2. To pave the public-access road to the community;
    3. To install a potable water system;
    4. To build preschool classrooms;
    5. To build a computer center and provide computers and corresponding equipment;
    6. To build a sewing workshop from which the company will purchase uniforms for its workers;
  4. Goldcorp agreed to provide three support packages to ejidatarios:
    1. A scholarship package to strengthen education for the community’s youth;
    2. A support package for senior citizens through food vouchers;
    3. An economic package for persons with disabilities;
  5. Parties agreed to a clause stipulating an annual revision of the agreement in which each year representatives from Goldcorp and Carrizalillo will come together to renegotiate the price of the land-lease as well as the social benefits needed for development of the community.

In accordance with the clause for annual revision of the agreement mentioned above, today Goldcrop and Carrizalillo are in a negotiation process to raise the amount of the land lease as well as a social development package including the following components:

  1. Given that the mining company occupies 85% of Carrizalillo’s agrarian center, Goldcorp will donate 600 contiguous hectares of land within its lease to the ejido as private property.
  2. The above mentioned plot will be used to begin a land restoration process due to the fact that the Carrizalillo ejidatarios have reasonable doubts about the conditions that the 1,000 hectares Goldcorp is leasing will have when it is returned.
  3. The community is also requesting that the 600 hectares donated by Goldcorp finance a community development plan through sustainable productive projects.

The social package described evidences the process of self-management that Carrizalillo is beginning to engage in, one that does not engender the agrarian center’s dependence on the mining company.