Solving the problem for Chinese Landing residents means no mining for everyone – Jagdeo

Sep 06, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at a press-conference on August 31 said that his government has cured the source of the dispute over titled lands at Chinese Landing, Barama River, Region One. According to Jagdeo, the cure is no mining for anyone at this time.

Jagdeo said that Indigenous people of Chinese landing had alleged told the  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that the mining is polluting their environment and that the miners  are threatening and harassing them. He added that his government has already solved this problem by shutting down all mining in the area.

“The Government of Guyana took the steps to shut down the mining there and therefore, they can be no pollution breach, there will be no harassment there”, Jagdeo said.

He told reporters that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission had told him that investigators found nine illegal operations there and had shut all down. However, noted Jagdeo, it seems as if Chinese Landing residents want the government to stop everyone else from mining and allow them alone to mine but it his view that if the root cause of the problem is mining then no one should mine.

“It seems as though now what the Toshao (Orin Fernandes) is saying allow only us to mine but shut down the others but that is not what they argued. Because mining wherever it is done could be causing the pollution so that is where we are now, we have cured the breach that went before the commission”, Jagdeo said.

It should be noted however, that the residents had told the “fact-finding team” sent in by the government to investigate the allegations made to IACHR that the takeover of titled lands by the miners specifically Mr. W.V is a huge threat to their livelihoods.

During the meeting with the government team, the residents said the lands are used to provide for their families. Many were in tears as they accused the Government of taking away their “daily bread” and giving them to miners thereby forcing them to suffer.

One of them, Veron Melington told the team that the residents of Chinese Landing would mine for gold to make extra money to support their families. This was in addition to farming and hunting. However, since the government sold the lands to large-scale miners, they are without the added source of income.

Miller said that not only have the large-scale miners used force to prohibit them from pork knocking but the environmental damage caused has chased away their fish. The residents of Chinese Landing have complained that the miners have also forcefully stopped them from accessing their hunting grounds. They are able to farm but the produce is only consumed by the residents since the miners have refused to buy their produce or support the community financially.

The only thing that is keeping them alive is farming and the villagers farm only to eat because the miners have refused to buy their produce or support their community financially.

“I try to educate my chirren. My son is out in Georgetown when I go and see the condition of me son because I couldn’t work to get money to buy food, my son turn like a skeleton and I am not the only person,” Milington had lamented while adding “If you care about us… why would you sell four medium-scale mining blocks and ga we fighting for over 25 years?”

Meanwhile Jagdeo iterated that his government is only dealing with the allegations of pollution and harassment by the miners not their livelihood.

He said that the team is still investigating the claims made to see if they are true before responding to the IACHR.

The team was sent to the Indigenous village following the issuance of Resolution 41/2023 by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). That international body called on Guyanese authorities to implement a series of measures to protect the Indigenous Carib Community of Chinese Landing.

According to the Commission, the Carib community which has approximately 210 residents, is currently at serious risk of suffering irreparable harm to their human rights by miners and even some members of the Guyana Police Force. Details of those risks were outlined in a petition to the international body which was filed by the Chinese Landing Village Council, the Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana (APA), and the Forest Peoples Programme. The government reportedly had 20 days to respond to the IACHR’s resolution and that deadline is set for August 10 but that deadline has passed,

The Government is yet to submit its response.

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Chinese Landing Residents, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Mining, titled lands

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