Latest update February 10th, 2025 7:48 AM
Women Miners’ President claims fabricated article threatens her life
Simona Broomes, President of the Women Miners’ Association
President of the Women Miners’ Organisation, Simona Broomes, wants to clear the air on reports published in a daily newspaper claiming that she had information pertaining to gold smuggling.
She said that the publication appears to be a deliberate attempt to endanger her life and that of her family, while at the same time maligning her organisation.
According to Broomes, not only is the information further from the truth but it seems to suggest that her organisation is less than objective in its pronouncements. “We are very factual, we are not a gossip group,” said Broomes.
According to her, the article in question claims that she informed that traders’ smuggling of gold is a serious issue that needs to be tackled.
The article, she said, went on to state that Broomes revealed that members of her organisation have vital information which the government is not listening to as it relates to smuggling.
“I never said that…I don’t know anything about smuggling of gold. Clearly what I said is that I don’t know anything about smuggling nor do I have any evidence…What I know about smuggling is what I read via newspapers,” said an evidently disturbed Broomes.
As it relates to smuggling, Broomes said that she did say that she was aware that the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment had held a meeting with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association but the Women Miners’ Organisation was not in attendance. “We were not a part of that meeting so we don’t know the magnitude or anything we don’t have any evidence…”
According to Broomes, since the launch of her Organisation in 2011, it had never peddled anything at all, be it public or otherwise, that was not factual.
“We have all our information and evidence when we talk about trafficking in persons, we have evidence. When I talk about child labour…these are things that I have a deep passion for…abuse, exploitation and these kinds of things,” insisted Broomes.
Given her usual frankness when representing her organisation, Broomes said that it is strange that an entire article could be crafted without her honest input. “I want to say if someone has a problem with mining and wants to attack somebody on smuggling, don’t see the organisation as a scapegoat that you would peddle a whole story and put Simona Broomes, President of the Organisation, says that…”
“That is a serious issue because people are now accusing us of having information and they want to know what kind of information we have and who is the person to come forward with this information and that endangers my life.
“If a man can stab a four-year-old what about gunning me down on the road thinking I have (information about) something.”
According to Broomes not only is she not an informer but the organisation that she represents does not deal with smuggling.
The woman said that she is hoping that good sense would prevail and the medium responsible for publishing the damning information would retract same with much haste. This is in light of the fact that the officials at the medium in question have been unable to produce a recording of an interview, Broomes disclosed.
According to Broomes, failure to retract the article and issue an apology could see Broomes taking legal action starting with her lawyer inking a strongly worded correspondence to the entity.
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