The governor of the department of Antioquia, in northwestern Colombia, Aníbal Gaviria, said that a 13-day mining strike in the Bajo Cauca and Northeast subregions is “very complex” due to the “pressure” exerted by the criminal gang the Clan del Gulf over the miners.
“Behind these violent protests is the Clan del Golfo, because confining 200,000 or 400,000 people can only be done by a criminal organization the size of the Clan del Golfo,” Gaviria said in an interview with the voice of america.
The governor explained that “that is not done by a miner or a small miner who is going to call the merchants of an entire municipality to demand that they have to close their businesses,” he added and said that the national government and the high officials have also corroborated this. commanders of the Public Force.
“The Clan del Golfo pays young people, often under the influence of alcohol or drugs, to carry out tasks of attacking the Public Force, incinerating ties, commercial premises and government buildings,” he added.
What caused the mining strike
On March 1, the Colombian government destroyed 5 dredges in the midst of an Army and Police operation in that area against criminal organizations that profit from gold mining.
The situation led to a series of demonstrations in recent days that included attacks on medical teams, the public force, the civilian population, and two fatalities, among other acts of violence.
“The situation is complex,” Gaviria said, “for a long time. Unfortunately decades, with the presence of these groups in other regions of the country. We are attacking these structures dedicated to illegal mining and that is why there is a response from these groups that use people to seek better benefits with the government”.
He described that “there are miners extorted and forced to demonstrate, so the public force has to act very prudently, but it is preferable to act like this than to act excessively quickly that can bring greater consequences.”
The difficult situation led President Gustavo Petro to announce that the Clan del Golfo had broken the ceasefire agreed upon in December of last year, and also ruled out any possibility of dialogue after attributing their participation in the mining strike to them.
“Affecting a city’s drinking water is putting the lives of boys and girls, of every human being, at risk. The gulf clan with its hostility against the population has broken the ceasefire, ”wrote President Petro from his Twitter profile.
Stock-out situation
The mining strike, according to the governor of Antioquia, has generated shortages in 12 municipalities of Antioquia and Córdoba, the two departments affected by this security crisis and where several of the products in the basic food basket have become scarce.
“We cannot deny it, this situation has generated shortages, but we have faced the situation with humanitarian caravans with the accompaniment of the Army and Police, private companies and foundations, we have been able to advance from Medellín to the affected area with humanitarian caravans from Saturday to date,” Gaviria said.
Solutions to the situation
The government delegation has said that they seek the creation of a mining district, a plan that according to the Colombian Executive seeks the formalization of miners in Bajo Cauca, in order to mitigate the environmental impact that this activity generates in that region due to the large amount of mercury that is dumped into the rivers in the area.
In this sense, when asked by the VOAOn how they are working with the Executive to define the situation, Gaviria explained that “the problem of Bajo Cauca is structural.”
“They are working with the Government on the proposal for a mining district to produce a large formalization of illegal miners through a comprehensive proposal that represents a very big challenge,” he added.
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