Guyana’s last frontier breached by road from Brazil

Nov 16, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Guyana’s last frontier is being breached by Brazilian mining interests who are constructing a road intended to drive deep into the heart of South Rupununi, eventually reaching the New River Triangle. This development will generate a cascade of economic, social, security, political and environmental problems in an area of Guyana which currently has token governmental infrastructure.
If the governing administration is aware of this reckless initiative, the nation deserves an explanation. However, whether legal or illegal, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is calling for this venture to be stopped immediately, and those responsible condignly punished to deter like-minded attempts.
Contributions of gold mining to the national treasury, together with the personal enrichment of a significant slice of the political and economic elite, have rendered gold-mining above the law in Guyana in recent years. The problems generated by gold mining include illegal exports of gold, tax avoidance, social upheaval in indigenous communities, heavy metal pollution of fresh-water sources, uncontrolled de-forestation, bio-diversity devastation, illegal immigration, bribery of police, mining officials and forestry monitors and corruption of indigenous elected leaders.
Villagers of Parabara in the Deep South Rupununi were recently informed that a road connecting the border town of Lumidpau to the Kuyuwini River to the South-East would pass through their village. A mechanized pontoon will then ferry vehicles across the Kuyuwini and the road will continue to the Essequibo River. The road will by-pass immigration and customs located in Lethem, providing more direct access to and from Boa Vista, Brazil.
For the first time, this ecologically pristine area will be exposed to similar irreparable environmental damage caused by mining in Regions 1, 7 and 8.
The Guyana Shield – the ancient mountainous formation straddling Guyana, Venezuela and
Brazil – contains close to one-quarter of the world’s fresh-water resources of which a significant amount is to be found in Guyana. Fresh water, in 20 to 30-years time, is calculated to be as valuable as oil is today. The mining facilitated by the proposed road exposes the upper reaches of the Essequibo to mercury and heavy metal pollution on a scale that will wipe out this asset.
Ecological considerations apart, the notion that such an asset can be squandered at the whim of illegal foreign miners in league with corrupt and compliant officials is shocking. Reports that meetings have been held in indigenous communities by those building the road will be ritually denied. Mining interests will always seek to win over indigenous communities by obtaining a ‘social licence’ for their activities, under the guise of free, prior and informed consent.
While not a legal requirement, such ‘licences’ aim to off-set conflicts with communities in the future.
The national Government, which should be regulating contacts of this nature, is frequently unable to play such a role effectively, because it is captive to private business interests. Subordination of government to mining interests encourages mining companies to enter into arrangements with local communities which appear advantageous to them in the short-term, but store-up a host of problems down the road.
In particular, as communities perceive the profits accruing to companies, their demands for compensation will increase; the influx of miners will re-ignite land disputes and the traffic in prostitution and associated social distress will accelerate. Despite the myth of good fortune surrounding gold, the dominant sentiment in mining districts is largely one of discontent.
Entrusting responsibility for the environment to the Ministry in charge of mining generates severe conflicts of interest. The job of the Minister of mining is to promote mining investments and to grant mining licences and at the same time to protect the environment from the ravages of mining by approving Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA).
Which interest will dominate in this arrangement is, to employ current jargon, a ‘no brainer’ – environmental concerns will always lose out. There is no countervailing power in the Cabinet to restrain mining interests.
The extent to which dominance of Guyanese commerce and industry by Chinese immigrants is being promoted by the Government of Guyana is of concern to a growing number of Guyanese. The evidence is visible and obvious. A similar process, less visible and therefore less obvious, is also taking place with respect to forestry and mining assets. Immense forestry and mining concessions, including miles of permits for river mining are already in the hands of little known Asian conglomerates from China and India.
Similarly, the new road will become yet another corridor, to add to those already in the Pakaraimas, for the continued colonizing of the Deep South and West Rupununi by hundreds of thousands of itinerant Brazilians, forced North out of Yanomami tribal lands in Brazil over the past decade.
The GHRA’s concern is the complete silence on the part of the Government with respect to justifying these trends which will transform Guyana economically, electorally and ethnically in the long-term and the xenophobic violence that could be fostered in the short-term.
The GHRA recommends that a Parliamentary initiative be undertaken to engage the Brazilian authorities with respect to preventing unauthorized ventures such as this new road.
Executive Committee
Guyana Human Rights Association

 

 

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