Interviews in La Libertad and Bonanza, Nicaragua – August 2001 Conducted, Transcribed, and Translated by Anneli Tolvanen
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Interviews in La Libertad and Bonanza, Nicaragua – August 2001 Conducted, transcribed, and translated by Anneli Tolvanen Contents: Foreword – March, 2003:..........................................................................................................2 Interviews in La Libertad, Chontales, Nicaragua...............................................................................2 Interview with Darwin Kauffman, President of the Small-scale miners cooperative of La Libertad (COOPPEMILICH) – August 9, 2001 .........................................................................................2 Interview with Darwin Kauffman, President of the Small-Scale Miners’ Cooperative (COOPPEMILICH) in La Libertad – Part II .................................................................................................................5 Interviews with Senior Students at the High School in La Libertad – August 9, 2001 ............................... 10 Interview with Amacio Anizal (small-scale miner and former secretary of the Small Miners’ Cooperative, COOPPEMILICH) – August 9, 2001 ........................................................................................ 15 Interview with Cristina Gonzalez Reyes, Small-scale miner.............................................................. 18 Interview with Victor Garcia Roja in the General Store “Adelina”..................................................... 20 Interview with René Leiva, small-scale miner .............................................................................. 21 Interview with Armando Paz, August 10, 2001............................................................................. 27 Interviews with Javier Ocón in the office of the FSLN, August 11, 2001 .............................................. 32 Interview with Denis Urbina, Mayor of Santo Domingo – Interviewed in La Libertad.............................. 36 Interview with Mario Lazo, Ex-Mayor of La Libertad – August 11, 2001 ............................................. 37 Interviews in Bonanza, Nicaragua .............................................................................................. 42 Eugenio Pao, representative of Centro Humboldt and former FSLN mayor – August 16, 2001 ................... 42 Interview in Bonanza with Angel Blanco, President of COOPEMIN (Independent Cooperative of Small-Scale Miners)............................................................................................................................ 47 Interview in Bonanza with a Woman Guirisera from Rio Blanco who was processing her ore at an ore- processing collective............................................................................................................ 52 Interview in Bonanza with Members of the Coordinadora Civil (Civilian Coordinating Committee).............. 54 Interview in Bonanza with various people affiliated with the DPM (Desarrollo Pequeño Minero) mine operation in Vesuvius...........................................................................................................60 Interview with Miguel Suarez Zelaya, President of DPM................................................................. 60 Interview with Justo Hernandez, Treasurer of DPM ...................................................................... 61 Interview with Ramon Zeledon, small-scale miner......................................................................... 64 Interview in Bonanza with Francisco Rizo Díaz (Law student at UNAN, carrying out a case re: property claims) ............................................................................................................................ 64 Interview in Bonanza with Gregorio Downs Selva, Municipal Coordinator of CEDHCA (Human Rights Centre for Autonomous Citizens) ...................................................................................................... 67 Interview in Bonanza with Marlene Chavarria, Contractor for small-scale mining.................................. 71 Interview in Bonanza with Gregory Downs Rocha, Environment Office, HemcoNic; also member of the community’s Environmental Commission.................................................................................... 73 Interview with Rafael Gabino Guttierrez Baez of MINARBON, Bonanza.............................................. 80 Interview with Gladys de Socorro Cruz Martinez, Regional Government Delegate in 1990-1995................. 87 MiningWatch Canada, Suite 508, 880 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6K7, Canada tel. (613) 569-3439 – fax: (613) 569-5138 – e-mail: [email protected] – url: www.miningwatch.ca Foreword – March, 2003: In August, 2001, Anneli Tolvanen, a Canadian who has lived and worked in Nicaragua for many years, travelled to the mining communities of Bonanza and La Libertad with the support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Nicaragua, MiningWatch Canada, and the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada. She interviewed men, women, and youth, community members, small-scale miners, local officials, and mining company representatives. She took extensive notes and many wonderful photographs. After a considerable delay in translation and production, we are pleased to present the full text of the translated interview transcripts as a complement to the two articles, with photographs, that MiningWatch has published under the title We Cannot Just Speak About Things That Are Pretty: The Legacy of Greenstone Resources in Nicaragua. Jamie Kneen Communications Coordinator MiningWatch Canada Interviews in La Libertad, Chontales, Nicaragua Interview with Darwin Kauffman, President of the Small-scale miners cooperative of La Libertad (COOPPEMILICH) – August 9, 2001 Darwin – The small-scale miners in Nicaragua produce more than 2 million dollars worth of gold per year without receiving even $1 of investment money (economic support) from anybody. So as small-scale miners, we have to fight for our to a greater degree than what they are represented in the Mining Law. No one establishes this. When Frank Mena of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Mining (cámara minera) talks, he says the small-scale miners have to disappear. But I know he’s a trafficker to the world of concessions in this country; I know that. What he doesn’t see is that these are 10,000 heads of Nicaraguan families that eat and that they represent an economically active population. And the truth of the matter is that Violeta Chamorro didn’t sell us because no one buys us, but in terms of mining, small-scale mining is the only patrimony that Nicaragua has. This is the truth of the matter. So, we say that the Mining Law is an obstacle; it’s a limitation. The law is poor in relation to the development and promotion of small-scale mining. This is my position, because if we have our role, conservatively speaking, producing $2 million per year, what would we be able to produce if there was promotion when Nicaragua is the country with the greatest richness of gold deposits for the exploitation of small-scale mining, in all of Central America? So, in my opinion, small-scale mining is a socio-economic alternative in terms of this globalization. Q – The other perspective is to calculate what the cost would be to maintain all of these families, if there were no small- scale mining. Likely this would be more expensive than the $2 million and a cost for the government. Darwin – Clearly. We say there’s no problem with the small-scale miners paying taxes, we pay them, but who promotes this industry? Nobody. So who takes on this responsibility? The law in my opinion doesn’t allow development of small- scale mining but instead views us as though we could never move from where we are. The law contemplates survival but no, it needs to be seen in terms of development. There needs to be another vision. Because this is an advantage in terms of a richness that we have in Central America that Costa Rica doesn’t have, nor Guatemala or El Salvador. Q – When the mining companies send their taxes, the 3%, to the Central government, how much of this comes back to the communities? Darwin – Supposedly it’s 1% that comes to the communities – supposedly. I once argued, in my position as secretary in the last municipal government, not this one, during the government of Violeta Chamorro, representing the FSLN. We went to demand the rights of the municipality, asking why, being producers of gold …there’s a whole bitter story; if you arrive at the Presidency of the Republic, and you go to ask for help, they tell you, “why are you here begging if you have a gold mine?” It’s true, we do have a gold mine but you sold it without our participation and what we’re looking for is that Interviews in La Libertad and Bonanza, Nicaragua – conducted, transcribed, and translated by Anneli Tolvanen – page 2 with this mine for which you did not ask us for any kind of authorization as citizens who are the owners of this historic wealth, in the first place, what is the percentage that will come to us? What results is that the famous percentage, which they give you, does not even arrive proportionally because they justify this bureaucratically. I understand this because I’m an economist; when you’re making a national economic plan, even though it’s in general/rough terms, which we call “making a doll”, and you have a deficit, which in this country increases yearly, this, is the one thing that helps. The one sector that helps you to repair the deficit is the mining sector. So everything that comes