In a country where environmental dissent has historically been confined to green activists and forest dwellers, the Feb. 25 march by 40,000 people in the northeast Colombian city of Bucaramanga against an open-pit gold mine marked a major exception. Among the sectors represented in the protest against the US$1 billion Angostura gold mine were manufacturers, retailers, food suppliers, tourism agencies—even construction companies. “We used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a nationwide media blitz to draw attention to the dangers of open-pit mining in our region,” says Erwing Rodríguez-Salah, executive director of the National Federation of Retailers (Fenalco) in Santander. The principal objection to the mine was its location in a high-altitude grassland, or páramo, containing unique vegetation that soaks up... [Log in to read more]
