Bloomberg News | July 6, 2023
Mina de Carbon El Cerrejon, Guajira, Colombia. Stock image.
A Colombian mining group is urging the South American government to protect workers from ongoing violence against the industry following a deadly July 4 attack on a coal producer.
Tuesday’s incident happened at a Minex facility near the eastern Colombian city of Cucuta on the border with Venezuela. An explosive was detonated as 16 workers were passing by, leaving one dead and several injured, according to the Asociacion Colombiana de Mineria, or ACM.
Illegal armed groups have increased attacks on the population this year as the government holds talks with drug cartels and guerrilla groups to end decades of internal conflict. Mining and oil companies have also been the target of repeated attacks, including those against China’s Zijin Mining Group in May.
“This type of violent act against collaborators of the mining industry cannot continue to happen,” the association said in a Thursday statement. “We make an urgent call to the national and local government so that human rights and security are protected and guaranteed.”
Four oil and copper companies are leaving the Andean country in part due to safety concerns, ACM head Juan Camilo Narino told reporters last month, without providing names. There have been 21 attacks on oil pipelines in the country between January and May, up from 17 incidents in the same period last year, according to information from Colombia’s defense ministry.
(By Andrea Jaramillo, with assistance from Oscar Medina)
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