Page Seven Digital
Residents of the municipality of El Torno, in Santa Cruz, give the Government 48 hours to annul the permit that was granted to the Fara company, for the exploitation of limestone, which will contaminate the aquifer reserves that are used for cultivation and animal husbandry. They warn that if they are ignored from Monday they will block the old highway that connects with Cochabamba.
“The community members of El Torno ask for the annulment of the resolution that authorizes the exploitation of limestone in this municipality and that the Fara company intends to do. We give a period of 48 hours for the Ministers of Mining, Environment and Justice to come down to this town, so that they can provide a solution to the population’s demand, otherwise, we will install an indefinite blockade on the old route to Cochabamba from the Monday”, warned one of the representatives of the population of El Torno, Santos Lara.
He questioned that the Ministry of Mining, through the Mining Administrative Jurisdictional Authority (AJAM), has granted the operating license to the Fara company, whose representative is Margarita Saldaña, who, along with other people, allegedly intimidates the leaders and residents. to extract the ore.
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“They intend to exploit the entire upper basin, a fact that puts the aquifers and the lives of the inhabitants at risk with environmental contamination, but those affected will not only be the residents of El Torno, but from La Guardia to Santa Cruz, because the water that is here reaches other cities. We demand that the authorization given by Minería be annulled,” Lara told Gigavisión.
On Wednesday, the Río Piraí bridge was blocked by a group of locals, where vehicles passing through the road were damaged. With banners, the people who are in place reject the exploitation that is intended to be done, they even questioned that an authorization has been given without prior technical study.
The mayor of El Torno, Hediberto Cuellar, affirmed that the demand of the population is supported.
“They are residents of District 6 and 7 who feel affected by this company that wants to exploit the limestone, we have heard their requests and they ask for the presence of three ministers (of Mining, Environment and Justice) they have given a period of 48 hours , I am going to go to my office to send a letter to these authorities and ask them to come with their technical team to do an inspection. Here a group of people does not rule, but rather the majority, the area they want to exploit is hydric and must be preserved, “said Cuéllar.
