This medium published the complaint of a worker from the San Matías Integrated Management Natural Area (AMNI), which depends on the National Service of Protected Areas (Sernap), about forced and illegal authorizations that were signed for the entry of the mining company Mincruz SRL in an area where such operation is not permitted.
The first request from the mining company was rejected, but in a second attempt, sent directly to La Paz, the director of the AMNI, Mauricio Morales, authorized the approval of the entry of that company, indicating that it did meet all the requirements. However, a brave AMNI worker named Thai Zárate Sandóval refused to sign the authorization because she considered it inappropriate.
According to the management plan of the AMNI San Matías, only extensive cattle ranching, subsistence agriculture and the implementation of small-scale cultivated pastures are allowed. And, on the contrary, it does not allow the change of land use for large-scale intensive systems or clearing, much less mining.
The director, to wash his hands, tried to get the worker to sign the authorization, but when she refused, he threatened to send her a memorandum, and upon verifying the persistence of that refusal, he made her sign with a new technician, who was later given the position of the one who did things correctly.
To make matters worse, the illegal authorization was made in record time of only three days before Mincruz enters the area to work, a process that under normal conditions can take between a month and a year.
Added to the chain of irregularities was the intention of the aforementioned director to hide the case, when the normal thing is that information of this nature must be socialized because it is a matter of public interest of which the indigenous people of the communities of the area must have knowledge. , locals and park rangers.
Previously, people in the area were told that there would be no contamination or impact on the water, and were not warned of the huge negative impact extraction operations would have on the site.
Curiously, the Bolivian Forest and Land Authority (ABT) also granted the mining company a permit to carry out the clearing, just as illegal as the authorization from the AMNI.
The price of doing the right things was very high for the denouncing worker: she lost her job, just as the previous director of AMNI lost it because he enforced the regulation and the management plan.
The AMNI San Matías is the second largest in the country, it has around three million hectares and only 13 park rangers with no conditions to mobilize. And if it also has a director who breaks the laws and orders – he doesn’t even sign – illegal authorizations, the fate of that area is very sad.
A couple of legislators have taken up the task of defending the AMNI and hopefully they will find an echo in other legislators to paralyze illegal operations. Deputy María René Álvarez asked the Agro-environmental Court of San Ignacio de Velasco to issue precautionary measures to stop Mincruz from entering the AMNI San Matías. Meanwhile, legislator Marcelo Pedrazas presented a request for a written report on the subject in the Legislative Assembly. Hopefully, the Government of Santa Cruz also comes out in defense of the natural areas of the department.
