Blood of Extraction

by Todd Gordon

  688 Semana, “Pesos pesados,” Semana, May 11, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/100-empresas/articulo/pesos-pesados/342855-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  689 Semana, “Pacific Rubiales sube su apuesta por crudo Colombiano,” Semana, September 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/Imprimir.aspx?idItem=359466. Accessed on March 21, 2014.

  690 D. Healing, “Colombia oil and gas protests could undermine shareholder confidence: Analysts,” Montreal Gazette, September 22, 2011. Available online at: www.montrealgazette.com. Accessed on September 28, 2011; Peace Brigades International, “Mining in Colombia: At What Cost?” p. 39.

  691 Semana, “Angustia por la obtención de petróleo,” Semana, December 21, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/Imprimir.aspx?idItem=369103. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  692 Ibid.

  693 Semana, “Otro hallazgo de petróleo en Colombia,” Semana, December 9, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/ecopetrol-encuentra-pozo-petrolero/367726-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  694 I. Bickis, “Gran Colombia struggles with violence in Colombia,” Northern Miner, October 31-November 6, 2011, p. 19.

  695 Semana, “Proyectos mineros en el socavón,” Semana, August 10, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/economia/articulo/proyectos-mineros-socavon/353676-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  696 Al Jazeera, “Colombia’s Goldrush,” Al Jazeera, July 5, 2011. Available online at: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2011/07/2011757127575176.html. Accessed on January 1, 2016.

  697 El Tiempo, “Un misterio, el asesinato del párroco de Marmato,” El Tiempo, September 5, 2011. Available online at: www.eltiempo.com. Accessed on June 5, 2014; G. Conte, “La historia más infame: la montaña de oro que mató a un joven cura en colombia,” MDZ, September 14, 2011. Available online at: http://www.mdzol.com/nota/326116-la-historia-mas-infame-la-montana-de-oro-quemato-a-un-joven-cura-en-colombia/. Accessed on September 4, 2013.

  698 Webster, “Colombia is Canada’s new best friend.”

  699 Semana, “Proyectos mineros en el socavón.”

  700 Bickis, “Gran Colombia struggles with violence in Colombia.”

  701 J. Fernando Rojas T., “Crisis del oro desata despidos en Segovia,” El Colombiano, January 30, 2014. Available online at: http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/C/crisis_del_oro_desata_despidos_en_segovia/crisis_del_oro_desata_despidos_en_segovia.asp. Accessed on February 17, 2014.

  702 Y. Amat, “‘Colombia está al borde de un desastre ambiental’: Sandra Morelli,” El Tiempo, October 14, 2012. Available online at: http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-12303681. Accessed on: February 18, 2014.

  703 Semana, “Proyectos mineros en el socavón.”

  704 Semana, “La Pelea por Santurbán,” Semana, December 7, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/la-pelea-por-santurban/367354-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  705 K. Sankey, “Colombia—The Mining Boom: A Catalyst of Development or Resistance?” p. 137.

  706 Semana, “La guerra por los parques naturales,” Semana, June 1, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/la-guerra-por-los-parques-naturales/345087-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  707 Semana, “Pesos pesados,” Semana, May 11, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/100-empresas/articulo/pesos-pesados/342855-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  708 Mining Watch and CENSAT-Agua Viva, Land and Conflict: Resource Extraction, Human Rights, and Corporate Social Responsibility—Canadian Companies in Colombia, Ottawa: Inter Pares, 2009.

  709 Ibid., p. 42.

  710 Ibid., p. 43.

  711 Ibid., p. 43.

  712 ibid., p. 43.

  713 Y. Amat, “‘Colombia está al borde de un desastre ambiental’.”

  714 Mining Watch, “Defending land and life against an impending train wreck: Canadian mining in Colombia,” Mining Watch, December 4, 2011. Available online at: http://www.miningwatch.ca/article/defending-land-and-life-against-impending-train-wreck-canadian-mining-colombia. Accessed on January 15, 2012.

  715 Reuters, “Colombia to prohibit mining in gold-rich northern area,” Mining Weekly, January 9, 2013. Available online at: www.miningweekly.com. Accessed on January 10, 2013.

  716 EFE, “Colombia considera rebajar impuestos a empresas mineras, dice el ministro Rodado,” SDP Noticias, March 8, 2011. Available online at: http://www.sdpnoticias.com/notas/2011/03/08/colombia-considera-rebajar-impuestos-a-empresas-mineras-dice-el-ministro-rodado. Accessed on March 14, 2011; Globe and Mail, “Greystar to modify Colombian project,” Globe and Mail, March 19, 2011, p. B9; Gordon, Imperialist Canada, p. 209.

  717 J. Silva Herrera, “Tres magistrados van a la selva; evalúan si permiten extracción de oro,” El Tiempo, January 29, 2014. Available online at: http://www.eltiempo.com/vida-de-hoy/ecologia/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-13427338.html. Accessed on February 18, 2014.

  718 Semana, “La guerra por los parques naturales,” Semana, June 1, 2013. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/la-guerra-por-los-parques-naturales/345087-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  719 Semana, “Procuraduría pide frenar proyecto minero en el corazón de la Amazonía,” Semana, July 14, 2011. Available online at: http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/procuraduria-pide-frenar-proyecto-minero-corazon-amazonia/243001-3. Accessed on June 9, 2014.

  720 G. des Rivières, “Embajada de Canadá—Mensaje para del Dr. Tomás González, Viceministro de Minas,” Bogotá: Canadian Embassy, August 27, 2010, Access to Information, file A-2010-02416.

  721 Foreign Affairs and International Trade, “Minister Ablonczy to Lead Trade Mission to Peru, Colombia and Panama,” Ottawa: Foreign Affairs and International Trade, November 9, 2012.

  722 Despite the significance of the FTA and Canada’s relations with Colombia, the mainstream foreign policy literature has barely given either any attention. Randall and Dowling’s analysis of Canada’s engagement with Colombia, a rarity in the literature, astonishingly barely mentions the FTA and ignores the killings of unionists and indigenous peoples. S. Randall and J. Dowding, “Canada, Latin America, Colombia, and the Evolving Policy Agenda,” Canadian Foreign Policy, 14, 2008, pp. 29–46.

  723 E. Payne, “Colombian Activists Say Canadian Companies Benefitting from Human Rights Abuses,” Ottawa Citizen, February 6, 2014. Available online at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Colombian+activists+says+Canadian+companies+benefiting+from/9478549/story.html. Accessed on February 13, 2014.

  724 L. Diebel, “How free, this deal?” Toronto Star, April 4, 2010, pp. IN1, 2. Internal embassy and FAIT reports on Colombia commonly note the poor human rights situation in the country.

  725 S. Harper, “Statement by Prime Minister Harper on his visit to Colombia following meetings with President Uribe,” July 16, 2007. Available online at: www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1755. Accessed on May, 2008.

  726 S. Day, Hansard, 40th Parliament, 2nd Session, Number 080, September 14, 2009.

  727 This was certainly an argument employed by Brison during the parliamentary debates.

  728 Foreign Affairs and International Trade, “Canada-Colombia Bilateral Relations,” Ottawa: Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 2010, Access to Information, file A-2010-02392.

  729 Yates, “Annotated Agenda: Third Annual Canada-Colombia Consultations on Human Rights,” Ottawa: Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 2011, Access to Information, file A-2011-02145.

  730 D. Paley, “Ten Injured as Riot Police Break Strike at Calgary-owned Oil Company,” Upside Down World, June 14, 2010. Available online at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2541-colombia-ten-injured-as-riot-police-break-strike-at-calgary-owned-oil-company. Accessed on June 17, 2010.

  731 Just the Facts, “Murders of human rights defenders jump sharply in Colombia,” Just
the Facts, August 6, 2013. Available online at: www.justf.org. Accessed on August 9, 2013.

  732 The reports can be found online at http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/colombia-colombie/bilateral_relations_bilaterales/hrft-co_2012-dple.aspx?lang=eng.

  733 Quoted in C. Arsenault, “Digging Up Canadian Dirt in Colombia,” Canadian Dimension, November/December 2006, p. 32.

  734 J. Hristov, “Indigenous Struggles for Land and Culture in Cauca, Colombia,” Journal of Peasant Studies, 32, 1, 2005, p. 110; Ramírez Cuellar, The Profits of Extermination, pp. 38–41; J. Kuyek, “Legitimating Plunder: Canadian Mining Companies and Corporate Social Responsibility,” in L. North, T. Clark and V. Patroni, eds., Community Rights and Corporate Responsibility: Canadian Mining and Oil Companies in Latin America, Toronto: Between the Lines, 2006, p. 209.

  735 Ramírez Cuellar, The Profits of Extermination, p 38.

  736 Ibid.

  737 Company manager and the environmental consultant are quoted in Al Jazeera, “Colombia’s Goldrush,” Al Jazeera, July 5, 2011. Available online at: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2011/07/2011757127575176.html. Accessed on April 4, 2016.

  738 Dinero, “Lo que pierde el Estado por privilegios tributarios a la mineria,” Dinero, April 26, 2013. Available online at: http://www.dinero.com/economia/articulo/lo-pierde-estado-privilegios-tributarios-mineria/174393. Accessed on April 26, 2013.

  739 Canadian International Development Agency, “Minister Oda announces initiatives to increase the benefits of natural resource management for people in Africa and South America,” September 29, 2011. Available online at: www.acdi-cida.gc.ca. Accessed on September 29, 2011.

  740 V. Pinto, “Reestructuración neoliberal del estado peruano, industrias extrativas y derechos sobre el territorio,” in José de Echave C., Raphael Hoetmer and Mario Palacios Panéz, eds., Minería y territorio en el Perú: Conflictos, resistencias y propuestas en tiempos de globalización, Lima: Programa Democracia y Transformación Global, 2009, p. 85.

  741 F. Li, Unearthing Conflict: Corporate Mining, Activism, and Expertise in Peru, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2015; M. Arce, Resource Extraction and Protest in Peru, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014; J. Bury and T. Norris, “Rocks, Rangers, and Resistance: Mining and Conservation Frontiers in the Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru,” in A. Bebbington and J. Bury, eds., Subterranean Struggles: New Dynamics of Mining, Oil, and Gas in Latin America, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013; A. Bebbington and M. Scurrah, “Hydrocarbon Conflicts and Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon: Mobilization and Negotiation Along the Río Corrientes,” in A. Bebbington and J. Bury, eds., Subterranean Struggles: New Dynamics of Mining, Oil, and Gas in Latin America; J.C. Postigo, M. Montoya, and K.R. Young, “Natural Resources in the Subsoil and Social Conflicts on the Surface: Perspectives on Peru’s Subsurface Political Ecology,” in A. Bebbington and J. Bury, eds., Subterranean Struggles: New Dynamics of Mining, Oil, and Gas in Latin America, Austin; L. Taylor, “Environmentalism and Social Protest: The Contemporary Anti-Mining Mobilization in the Province of San Marcos and Condebamba Valley, Peru,” Journal of Agrarian Change, 11, 3, 2011; J. Lust, “Peru: Mining Capital and Social Resistance,” in Veltmeyer and Petras, eds., The New Extractivism.

  742 CEPAL, Anuario Estadístico de América Latina y el Caribe 2014, Santiago, Chile: CEPAL, 2014, p. 78.

  743 M. Sosa and M. Zwarteveen, “Exploring the Politics of Water Grabbing: The Case of Large Mining Operations in the Peruvian Andes,” Water Alternatives, 5, 2, 2012, p. 360.

  744 J. Arellano-Yanguas, “Aggravating the Resource Curse: Decentralisation, Mining and Conflict in Peru,” The Journal of Development Studies, 47, 4, 2011, p. 620.

  745 A.F. Ponce and C. McClintock, “The Explosive Combination of Inefficient Local Bureaucracies and Mining Production: Evidence from Localized Societal Protest in Peru,” Latin American Politics and Society, 56, 3, 2014, p. 121.

  746 A. Schipani, “Peru’s President Sees a Sharp 2014 GDP Slump,” Financial Times, January 7, 2015. Available online at: http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2015/01/07/perus-president-sees-a-sharp-2014-gdp-slump/. Accessed on March 1, 2015.

  747 J. De Echave, “La minería peruana y los escenarios de transición,” in A. Alayza Moncloa and E. Gudynas, eds, Transiciones: Post extractivismo y alternativas al extractivismo en el Perú, Lima: Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales, CEPES, 2011, p. 68.

  748 Ibid., p. 69.

  749 Ibid., p. 70.

  750 R. Zibechi, “Peru: Resistencia en los Andes a la minería,” América Latina en Movimiento, March 11, 2013. Available online at: http://alainet.org/active/62367&lang=es. Accessed on March 1, 2015.

  751 Ibid., p. 77.

  752 Andina, “Inversiones canadienses en Perú suman casi US$8,000 millones,” Andina, September 28, 2013. Available online at: www.andina.com.pe. Accessed on October 1, 2013. Mining property figures are from the www.northernminer.com property database.

  753 Agencia Orbita, “Canadiense Dessau adquiere empresa peruana y fortalece su presencia en sector energético,” Agencia Orbita, July 6, 2012. Available online at: http://agenciaorbita.org/. Accessed on July 7, 2012.

  754 Foreign Affairs, “Briefing Book for the Minister and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs: Peru, Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia,” Ottawa: Foreign Affairs and International Trade, specific date unknown, 2009, Access to Information, file A-2010-00541.

  755 J. Arellano-Yanguas, “Aggravating the Resource Curse: Decentralisation, Mining and Conflict in Peru,” The Journal of Development Studies, 47, 4, 2011, p. 77.

  756 E. Gudynas, “Caminos par alas transiciones post extractivistas,” in A. Alayza Moncloa and E. Gudynas, eds., Transiciones: Post extractivismo y alternativas al extractivismo en el Perú, Lima: Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales, CEPES, 2011, p. 190.

  757 Ibid., p. 199.

  758 Ibid., pp. 190–191.

  759 E. Figueroa, C. Orihuela, and E. Calfucura, “Green Accounting and Sustainability of the Peruvian Metal Mining Sector,” Resources Policy, 35, 2010, pp. 156, 165.

  760 A. Bebbington and M. Williams, “Water and Mining Conflicts in Peru,” Mountain Research and Development, 28, 3, 2008, p. 190.

  761 Ibid., p. 191.

  762 Ibid., p. 191.

  763 Ibid., p. 191.

  764 M. Sosa and M. Zwarteveen, “Exploring the Politics of Water Grabbing: The Case of Large Mining Operations in the Peruvian Andes,” Water Alternatives, 5, 2, 2012, p. 361.

  765 Ibid., p. 372.

  766 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “The Economic Factor in Peruvian History,” in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2011, p. 118.

  767 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “On the Indigenous Problem: A Brief Historical Overview,” in in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, p. 145.

  768 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “The Land Problem,” in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, p. 111.

  769 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “Colonial Economy,” in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, p. 134.

  770 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “Programmatic Principles of the Socialist Party,” in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, p. 238.

  771 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “The Problems of Race in Latin America,” in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, p. 310.

  772 J. Carlos Mariátegui, “Peru’s Principal Problem,” in H.E. Vanden and M. Becker, eds., José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, p. 140.

  773 For a classic account, see H. Blanco, Land or Death: The Peasant Struggle in Peru, New York: Pathfinder Press, 1972.

  774 G. Rénique, “‘People’s War,’ ‘Dirty War’: Cold War Legacy and the End of History in Postwar Peru,” in Grandin and Joseph, eds., A
Century of Violence, p. 320.

  775 Ibid., p. 328.

  776 Ibid., p. 328.

  777 S.J. Stern, ed., Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980–1995, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1998.

  778 Rénique, “’People’s War,’ ‘Dirty War’,” pp. 308–309.

  779 Ibid., p. 309.

  780 D. Poole and G. Rénique, “Terror and the Privatized State: A Peruvian Parable,” Radical History Review, 85, 2003, p. 153.

  781 See “Final Report,” Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Lima, Peru, 2003. Available online at: http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ingles/ifinal/conclusiones.php. Accessed on February 28, 2015.

  782 Poole and Rénique, “Terrorism and the Privatized State,” p. 153.

  783 Montesinos is presently serving an extensive sentence for various corruption convictions. He was arrested several months after fleeing the country, following Fujimori’s downfall in 2000. He has also been charged with extortion, arms smuggling, drug running, and directing a paramilitary death squad. See, among others, New York Times, “Peru Ex-Spy Chief Says Candidate for President Aided His Escape,” New York Times, May 21, 2006. Available online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/world/americas/21peru.html?ref=topics. Accessed on March 1, 2015.

  784 Rénique, “‘People’s War,’ ‘Dirty War’,” p. 332.

  785 V. Pinto, “Reestructuración neoliberal del estado peruano, industrias extrativas y derechos sobre el territorio,” in J. de Echave C., R. Hoetmer and M. Palacios Panéz, eds., Minería y territorio en el Perú: Conflictos, resistencias y propuestas en tiempos de globalización, Lima: Programa Democracia y Transformación Global, 2009, pp. 87–93.

  786 J. de Echave C., “Minería y conflictos sociales en el Perú,” in in J. de Echave C., R. Hoetmer and M. Palacios Panéz, eds., Minería y territorio en el Perú: Conflictos, resistencias y propuestas en tiempos de globalización, p. 107.

  787 A.F. Ponce and C. McClintock, “The Explosive Combination of Inefficient Local Bureaucracies and Mining Production: Evidence from Localized Societal Protest in Peru,” Latin American Politics and Society, 56, 3, 2014, p. 121.