{"id":617,"date":"2020-03-25T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tierra.jerrejerre.com\/es\/?p=617"},"modified":"2021-05-13T21:34:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T21:34:46","slug":"la-toma-mas-que-un-nombre-un-presagio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tierraderesistentes.com\/en\/2020\/03\/25\/la-toma-mas-que-un-nombre-un-presagio\/","title":{"rendered":"La Toma: not just a name, but an omen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThey arrived with the name Kedahda and as they couldn\u00b4t find room, they then appeared as AngloGold Ashanti and immediately began to invest in building a little road, and in giving incentives”.<\/p>Isidoro Lucum\u00ed<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Isidoro Lucum\u00ed was one of the first employees of the multinational in La Toma. \u201cThey arrived with the name Kedahda and as they couldn\u00b4t find room, they then appeared as AngloGold Ashanti and immediately began to invest in building a little road, and in giving incentives. One day I said to the head geologist, \u2018Why are we investing so much time in this area?\u2019 He answered, \u2018La Toma is sitting on top of gold; that\u00b4s why it is so sought after.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the community recall excessive kindness from the company in these early days. They gave tools to the farmers, donated books to the children at the start of the school term, bought footballs and kits for those who liked to play, and donated instruments to local music groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“others amongst thought that, \u2018Nothing comes for free; they must have an ulterior motive.\u2019 And there was already talk of a mining project, so we listened to our elders and we said \u2018No\u2019 to AngloGold\u201d<\/p>Francia M\u00e1rquez<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome said of them, \u2018These people seem like they like progress,\u2019 but others amongst thought that, \u2018Nothing comes for free; they must have an ulterior motive.\u2019 And there was already talk of a mining project, so we listened to our elders and we said \u2018No\u2019 to AngloGold\u201d, points out Francia M\u00e1rquez, a woman who has dedicated her entire life to ancestral mining and who led the fight against illegal mining on her land. For these efforts, for which she risked her life, she was awarded<\/a> the Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the green Nobel, in 2018.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Relations with AngloGold Ashanti, the world\u00b4s third largest gold producer<\/a>, ended terribly. In the midst of this fight to hold onto their territory, say members of the community council, the first leaflets threatening their leaders arrived.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threats came from alleged paramilitary groups.<\/strong> In order to plant fear in the region the Calima Block<\/span> of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC)<\/span> committed 119 massacres between 1999 and 2004, according to the National Centre of Historic Memory. The fear was latent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Let them kill me here because I\u00b4m not leaving La Toma again\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Only three years earlier, the Calima Block had executed a massacre<\/a> in the nearby coastal region of El Naya, in which they murdered more than 30 people, on their return from Timba (Cauca) to the Pacific Ocean left a trail of death through the municipality of Su\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very difficult for us when these threats arrived, giving our friends a week to get out of the area. When they arrived in the city, with no idea what to do there, they couldn\u00b4t take it, and after two months they came back.<\/strong> They said, \u2018Let them kill me here because I\u00b4m not leaving La Toma again,\u2019\u201d M\u00e1rquez remembers of that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n