Extractivism: Capitalism v. The People

Since 2001 the mining industry has been a core element of San Juan’s local economy -the Argentinean province from where I was born-.[1] Starting with a capital investment of U$S 540 millions and extracting from 2005 to 2017 8.2 millions of ounces of gold and 319 millions of tons of silver, Barrick Gold build an empire of questionable environmental responsibility. The company openly declared its commitment to the provincial environmental standards, taking allegedly the most accurate measures to prevent and mitigate environmental impact. However, the public eye has interpellated multiple times the mining sector for environmental hazards, doubting of the reliability of the internal surveillance and even the external control measures taken by provincial authorities.

February 2015, a political meeting was organized by the government and Latin Uranium, inviting the people from the community of Jáchal, to notify them about the legality of their future explorations and the acquiescence of the government for uranium extraction from a zone called “La Cienaga”; which is a protected are,[2] because of its unique geological, archeological and paleontological importance.  Here it was where the ‘Assembly’ was born from the social and people consciousness, under the catchword “Jáchal no se toca” (do not touch Jáchal).[3] September 2015, a cyanide spill produced by Barrick caught the attention of the public eye by the first time; more than a million of liters of cyanide water were spilled.[4] But, this only empowered the local community, reaffirming the vital importance of the existence of the Assembly as pressure group.

Unfortunately, the ‘incident’ of September 2015 wasn’t the last one reported by the civil society; three more spills were registered the next six months in official records. The mining policed alleged that the thousands of liters spilled didn’t reach the river and had no effect on the environment. However, members of the civil society beg to differ, questioning “Who can assure that the truth has been told about these past three spills? And who can confirm that there weren’t other unregistered incidents?”[5] Ten months after the beginning of the local catastrophe, the Assembly moved to the national federal capital to demand the application of the Glacier Law[6] and the closure, remediation and prohibition of the megamining industry. But, the negligence from the federal governments allowed that more than 30 projects were about to be executed and some of them were already working on periglacial zones that could affect watershed which goes from the Cordillera to Buenos Aires and the Argentinean sea.[7] But, the megamining empire was just getting stronger than ever, when the new President 2016 increase the industry profitability and cost effectiveness, lowering the sector export withholdings and giving the fiscal stability;[8] this represented a yearly transferred from the government to several companies of U$S 233 millions.[9]

Diego Seguí, the plaintiff attorney against the companies and the local authorities asked the suspension and closure of Barrick operations due to the violations of the Law of dangerous residues[10] and Glacier Law. Suspiciously, the court system restricted the legal actions of Seguí, leaving the case on provincial authorities and letting the federal justice just investigate national functionaries involved. However, the provincial justice system could not be trusted after declaring how grateful they were with the charged authorities Marcelo Ghiglione (Secretary of Environmental Management and Mining Control) and Felipe Saavedra (police officer and Minister of the Provincial Mining), who were initially subpoenaed by Seguí. The other case that investigate environmental responsibility was in the hands of federal judge Sebastián Cassanello; pitifully the National Supreme Court of Justice[11], when it settle the competencies of provincial and federal justice, didn’t give the authority to Cassanello to go after Guillermo Caló, CEO of Barrick Gold.[12]

Despite the odds against him, Cassanello ordered an operative for the alleged violations of the Glacier Law in Veladero Mine. In their presentation, the attorneys Viale y Seguí explained how the proper application of the Glacier Law should have implied the end of activities of Barrick Gold. They have based their statements on the reports presented by the mining compay, where it is recognized the proximity of two mineral extraction operations (Veladero and Pascua Lama) to periglacial areas.[13] The prosecutor González considered that “could have existed different breaches and/or omissions by national functionaries”, asking for the trespassing of the Ministry of Environment to collect the information related to the application and the clarification of the term ‘Glacial’ used by the National Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA); which changed the terms used by the Glacier Law leaving binational glaciers like ‘Toro 1’ behind.[14] Furthermore, the attorneys and even the prosecutor have accused the national authorities of manipulating the glaciers inventory to benefit Barrick Gold,[15] which at this is point is no surprise for the movement “Jáchal no se toca”.

By the time when the Assembly was gaining recognition along the country -with several NGOs from Buenos Aires, Cordoba, La Rioja and other provinces from Argentina coming to San Juan to get involved in the cause-[16] mercury appeared in the rivers, challenging the provincial authorities’ statements of no hazards.[17] The expectable pollution of Rio Jáchal, which served as water supply for 8 localities and the mercury and metal presence in underground aquifers of Tamberias, Pampa Vieja y Mogna were the consequences of the negligence of the major political parties. However, nothing stops the Assembly “Jáchal no se toca” and the movements aligned from acting and taking measures against Barrick Gold and their partners in crime, the government; deciding to cut the road that goes to Veladero, which ended in more than 30 youngsters violently repressed and detained without communication for 24 hours.[18]

The intention of modifying the Glacier Law[19] was part of the government pipeline to potentially attract more than U$D 18.000 millions to be invest in the mining sector. Not only was it supported by the establishment, but also by provincial government from Jujuy, Mendoza, Catamarca, Santa Cruz, Río Negro and San Juan.[20] This didn’t surprise “Jáchal no se toca” [21], which asked for the application of the actual regulation in its totality plus the removal of the brand new draft seeking for the commercial exploitation of protected areas through extractivism.[22] Fortunately, after 8 days and 1600km travelling by bike, the Jáchal environmentalism took Buenos Aires under the motto “La ley de glaciares no se toca” (Do not touch the Glacier Law).[23] While lobbying against the draft modification, they fought for their rights reclaiming the inaccessibility to drinkable water, the lack of reverse osmosis system while cleaning the river and the inexistence of a public official record of cancer deaths related to the presence of metals in the water.[24] In response to the manifestations, Barrick Gold asked to the Supreme Court to overrule the Glacier Law and declare its unconstitutionality.[25] But, the Supreme Court denied the petitions of the mining sector,[26] coming as a complete shock to the Assembly;[27] nevertheless, the Supreme Court didn’t gave grounds for the constitutionally recognition of the Glacier Law, restraining themselves just to reject the plaint from the Canadian company.[28] In addition to the Justice System little or no action, the local institutions, instead of protecting people collective rights, remained loyal to the multinational and transnational companies and the extractive sector.[29]

May 2019, the water of Jáchal has a mercury excess of 200%-300% in relation to what the legislation established as ‘normal/barely legal standard’, without mention the presence of selenium and antimony.[30] Four years later and just Cassanello was able to take Lorussi, Mussi, Judis and Villalba -three ex Secretaries of Environment and the ex director of IANIGLA- to oral trial  for abuse of power, taking the Assembly of Jachal as complainant. While the criminal judge Pablo Oritja from Jachal prosecuted eight employees from Barrick Gold for negligence;[31] however, none provincial functionary was charged, despite the fact that the Article 124 of the National Constitution established the original domain of the provinces over the natural resources on their territories.[32]

Furthermore, the new threat came from the provincial judicial system from where a legal digest asked the local authorities to suppress[33] the Municipal Ordinance N° 1.394 (1996),[34] which established “the prohibition of the prospection, extraction and processing of materials susceptible to be used in a nuclear cycle”; because, in words of the provincial authorities the Provincial Law 547-L[35] has the same spirit, which in reality the latter just declared as forbidden the transportation, storage or manipulation of nuclear wastes. It was clear that the uranium market was again on the table. Nevertheless, no one expected that every Municipal Councilors approved the continuity and validity of the 1996 Municipal Ordinance.[36]    

Nowadays, new national authorities arrived but the extractivism remained. Hensel, the new Minister of Mining,[37] showed himself in favor of the extractivist mega-industries, talking about the “great opportunities” and positive outcomes for Jáchal if they derogate the Ordinance… for these local eco-heroes, the fight seems to never end. [38]

While we wait for a happy ending, just remember that water is more valuable than gold.