This year, LASC’s annual Latin America Week (LAW) was focused on Gender and Extractive Industries. Between April 6th and 13th we hosted a series of talks in Dublin, Cork and Galway to explore how extractive industries impact on women in Latin America, and links back to Ireland.
We also hosted an event titled “Poetry, Song and Struggle: One year of Resistance in Nicaragua”. It was a cultural and information event to mark the resistance to the Ortega/Murillo regime and to honour the bravery of those continuing to protest in spite of state oppression – more info and photos below.
Our Latin America Week keynote speaker was Jakeline Romero Epiayu, from La Guajira, Colombia. Jakeline is a member of local organisation Fuerza de Mujeres Wayúu (Wayúu Women’s Force) which works to visibilise the violations of human and ethnic rights in La Guajira, and to strengthen the rights of women and indigenous communities in the region. The organisation also works on denouncement of the negative consequences of mining and energy mega projects in the region, such as the Cerrejón coal mine.
The Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira is the largest open-cast coal mine in Latin America. All of the coal from this mine is exported, 58% to European countries, including Ireland – where the ESB purchases this coal for energy production. Ireland is also home to the mine’s global sales company (CMC). LASC is part of a coalition of organisations raising awareness about this issue. Find out more on LASC’s work on Cerrejón by clicking here.
To learn more about the Cerrejón coal mine and its link to the systematic human rights violations taking place in La Guajira, as well as its links to Ireland, you can read the following articles and interviews with Jakeline Romero Epiayu, published during Latin America Week. You can also see our blog with more links to media coverage around this issue. Further down this page you can see photos from the week, as well as links to livestreamed videos and a selection of live-tweets from the events.
Newspaper articles:
Activist visits Ireland to highlight abuse at Colombian coal mine and Irish links to it, The Irish Examiner, April 8th
Destroying people’s lives to fuel economic growth is sick. But that’s precisely what’s happening right now in Colombia., The Canary, April 9th
Coal ‘stained with Colombian blood’ is bought and sold in Dublin, The Irish Times, May 11th
Podcast:
“El carbón viene manchado de sangre” Efectos de la minería en las comunidades indígenas de Colombia, Radio Latina, April 7th
Latin America Week Photo Gallery:
Conference ‘Women Defending the Earth from Destructive Mining’ – April 6th, DUBLIN
Our annual conference on the theme of ‘Women Defending the Earth from Destructive Mining’ is almost ready to go. Head over to our facebook page for the livestream! pic.twitter.com/VG8eLngMlL
— Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland (@LASCDublin) April 6, 2019
Cerrejón Mine: Impacts on Women and Indigenous Communities – April 9th, CORK
Jakeline Romero: There was a direct correlation between the armed conflict and extractivism in #Colombia @TNInstitute @StopTNCimpunity @MOSullivanTD @SeanCroweTD @frances_black @NHNAireland
— Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland (@LASCDublin) April 9, 2019
#Ireland is a hub for buying and selling this coal, but there is no transparency, we have to denounce this immorality. @ESBGroup @codohertynews @GreenNews_ie @FrontLineHRD #Defendthedefenders
— Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland (@LASCDublin) April 9, 2019
Cerrejón Mine: Impacts on Women and Indigenous Communities – April 10th, GALWAY
Jakeline Romero: We also need to challenge the global hypocracy. Ireland is a global hub for this coal, while there have been prohibitions of fossil fuel production here. @MOSullivanTD @seancrowe
@IrishCentreHR @NHNAireland pic.twitter.com/Dcr2eQ9uUr
— Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland (@LASCDublin) April 10, 2019
Jakeline Romero: As Wayuu women, we have an important role as spokespersons against the systematic human rights abuses by both the companies and the government @WarOnWant @_YLNM #LAW2019 @MujeresWayuu pic.twitter.com/dONq4iFbZZ
— Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland (@LASCDublin) April 10, 2019
Corporate Impunity and Community Resistance – The UN Binding Treaty – April 11th, DUBLIN
JRE: ‘we have learned that corporate strategies are the same everywhere-divide communities, grab land, corrupt and cause institutional weakness where they operate’ @londonmining @_YLNM @GaiaFoundation @WarOnWant @CoalActionUK
— Democracy Center (@DemocracyCenter) April 11, 2019
JRE ‘We need recognition and above all action in the countries where coal is consumed of the human rights abuses that take place where extraction happens’ #stopcorporateimpunity @StopTNCimpunity @londonmining
— Democracy Center (@DemocracyCenter) April 11, 2019
Poetry, Song and Struggle: Nicaragua – 1 Year of Resistance – April 13th, DUBLIN
Yesterday we held an afternoon of poetry and music to mark one year of resistance and repression in Nicaragua, and to listen to the voices of Nicaraguans who have been forced to flee their country by the state crackdown on protest since last April. pic.twitter.com/M9DtItIXNb
— Latin America Solidarity Centre Ireland (@LASCDublin) April 14, 2019
HAVANA TIMES ARTICLE:
Dublin, Ireland Event Commemorates “One year of Resistance in Nicaragua”
Gallery:
