Two new maps are now available on our website, both developed by our 2011 student intern Kaitlyn Duthie. The first illustrates a hopeful trend from Northern Ontario to the tip of Argentina among mining-affected communities to use local votes to demonstrate peaceful resistance to unwanted mining activities. The accompanying article describes how this strategy developed in 2002 in the town of Tambogrande, Peru, when protests against Manhattan Minerals’ gold project (which would have displaced half the population) grew violent, culminating with the murder of environmentalist Godofredo García Baca.
The second is a disturbing window onto the threats and violence that communities and community leaders opposing mining have been facing in Mesoamerica for their resistance. This map is based on a report from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) that was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2010. Volunteer Ana Collins translated this report to English for us.
