At least six mining cooperatives from the municipalities of La Libertad and Santo Domingo, in Chontales, denounced that the general director of the Directorate of Energy and Mines, Norman Henríquez, ordered the closure of the operations of the Los Ángeles plant, in Río San Juan, which means that they are not marketing the minerals, a situation that affects the economy of the workers.
The page Santo Domingo Communicates He made a publication on the afternoon of this Wednesday, September 7, where he warns that the leaders of the cooperatives of La Libertad and Santo Domingo “will defend” the right to free organization. It should be noted that the members of these associations are sympathizers of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“The leaders firmly agreed that they will defend the right to free organization (cooperativism) and the right empowered by Law 387 (Special Law on Exploration and Exploitation of Mines) with its reform in article 39, which is being denied to them. by the director of Mines, Norman Henríquez”, dictates the statement published on Facebook, in which they show the seal of six cooperatives of small miners such as COOPEMILIB, COOPEMISMAR, COOPEQUATRO, EL CAFETAL, COOPEMIJA and COOPEMILICH.
The pronouncement rejects that Henríquez offered the concession to the Capital Mining company and that they were accused of “destroyers of the environment”; thus violating the rights of the small miners of San Carlos. The brief statement concludes with “without struggles there are no victories” and “Free country or die.”
“We strongly reject the company imposed by the Mining directorate, Capital Mining, and we reiterate that we are not going to allow our rights as small miners to be cut off or violated. We reject the lies and accusations made against the small-scale mining sector as the cause of the destruction of the environment, an excuse used by the Director of Mines to consolidate and justify the creation of the Capital Mining company”, exposes the Santo Domingo Comunica page.
unanswered queries
The statement and the warning made by the members of these cooperatives come after they and the artisanal miners of San Carlos, Río San Juan, sent letters repeatedly to the Minister of Energy and Mines, Salvador Mansell.
The first letter, which was accompanied by dozens of signatures of mining workers from Río San Juan, was sent on June 12 of this year and addressed to the MEM minister.
The other letters, in the hands of Article 66, are dated June 20 and July 26 of this year and were sent by the cooperatives. The one of June 20 was addressed to Anyela Fernández, delegate of the MEM, from La Libertad, Chontales; while the second went to Mansell. In them they explain the situation they are experiencing, at the same time that they request a meeting with the officials. In these last two writings you can see the logo of the Daniel Ortega Saavedra Union along with the face of the president. However, none of the petitions have received responses.
In this regard, the environmentalist Amaru Ruiz pointed out that the MEM informed the Los Angeles campus, owned by the American Randy Martin, that they should desist from processing material that comes from small artisanal mining in areas that are prohibited. “These are the causes of the justification for the environmental and social impacts,” Ruiz mentioned.
However, the environmentalist considered that “there is something deeper than all that, because we do not see the Ministry of Energy and Mines concerned about environmental issues, that is why I say that this is the justification it uses.”
