Small-scale miners persecuted to clear way for multinationals: Senator .

[Judi Lynn]

Small-scale miners persecuted to clear way for multinationals: Senator .
Sunday, 26 February 2012 07:48
Adriaan Alsema

Colombia's government is persecuting small-scale, informal miners "as if they were criminals, to clear their territories for the multinational mining companies," said opposition Senator Jorge Robledo.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos last week said that illegal mining is "a cancer that must be removed," a statement which the leftist Polo Democratico senator calls "irresponsible."

"This aggressive attitude ... to present Colombia's small and medium-scale miners as the country's worst criminals, is a McCarthyistic attitude which falsifies the truth," Robledo told Colombia Reports.

According to the senator, the government should not be talking about illegal, but informal mining.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/economy/22436-colombias-small-scale-miners-persecuted-to-favor-multinationals-senator.html

[saras]

1. What they SHOULD be talking about is miners' coops, to keep the money in the country

[naaman fletcher]

2. As I recall, Venezuela cracked down on this last year. /nt