The Dominion - Veronica Islas

A Costly Commute

Moira Peters — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:32:59 +0000

Foreign migrant workers provide long hours of cheap labour on Canadian farms

MONTREAL, QUEBEC–Don Jorge* stands outside the St Joseph Oratory, looking at the Montreal landscape in awe.

Don Jorge is a peasant farmer from a small town in Central Mexico.

Every summer he comes to Canada to work for six months on a farm close to Montreal. He has been working that farm for the last 14 years.

Even though he comes every year, he doesn't know Montreal or its surroundings. His knowledge of Canada and Quebec is confined to the fields that he harvests, the IGA where he shops for his weekly groceries and Montreal's St Joseph Oratory – where agricultural workers go to mass once a year.

He cannot leave the farm except for Sunday afternoons, and his only human contact is with other farm workers like himself and with his foreman.

Don Jorge lives and works in Les Fermes du Soleil, a farm owned by the ex-Quebec MNA André Chenail. Don Jorge says Chenail does not really take care of the farm business anymore, leaving day-to-day operations to his family instead. Chenail’s retirement was good news for the workers.

"He used to ‘tabernacle’ us all the time.” Tabernacle – the receptacle for the sacrament in Catholic churches – is used in Quebec an insult. “We were not treated as people. It is as though he thought we were animals," Jorge says, looking at his hands, calloused and roughened by farm work.

Don Jorge is part of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (CSAWP), a Canadian federal program that brings migrant workers from Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean to work in the agricultural sector every summer.

The CSAWP began as a pilot project with Jamaica in 1966, when 264 Jamaican workers came to Ontario to harvest tobacco. The first Mexican workers arrived in Canada in 1974 after Mexico and Canada signed a memorandum of understanding.

The Mexican government plays a double role in this arrangement: it makes sure the program works smoothly, and it also functions as the representative of migrant agricultural Mexican workers in Canada.

For Caribbean workers, the program is run jointly with the governments of the participating Caribbean states, which recruit workers and appoint representatives in Canada to assist in the program’s operations. Workers come from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (Grenada, Antigua, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Monserrat).

For Guatemalan workers, the project was established in 2003 through an agreement with FERME (Foundation of Recruiting Enterprises of Foreign Agricultural Labor), which also lobbies the Canadian government for Canadian farm owners, under the supervision of the Department of Human Resources Development of Canada.

According to the Canadian United Farm and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), 20,274 migrant workers came to Canada in 2005: 11,798 came from Mexico and 5,916 from Jamaica; the rest came from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). In 2004, fewer than three per cent of participants in this program were women. In 2009, the number of migrant workers in Canada is expected to be over 156,000.

Seasonal workers like Don Jorge come to work in the horticulture and fruit and vegetable sectors. Most workers (nearly 16,500) are employed in Ontario; Quebec follows suit with 2,670 seasonal workers.

The temporary workers visa allows them to work only on a specified farm and for a limited period of time. Mexicans and Jamaicans can stay for a maximum of eight months.

Workers live in housing provided by the employer and are not allowed to spend the night outside the quarters. Employers are required to cover certain costs (which vary depending on the nationality of the worker), to ensure that the employee is covered by workers’ compensation and under health insurance, and to sign a contract with the worker.

"The Guatemalan workers pay $35 per week for their lodging but the farm owners pay for their plane ticket. Mexican workers pay for half their plane ticket (up to $550) but they don't pay lodging," says Edgardo Flores Rivas, General Consul of Mexico in Montreal.

Most workers are married with children, which ensures they have an "anchor" back home, preventing them from staying in Canada after their work term. They have health and labor insurance while in Canada, and when they fall ill their employers must take them to a doctor. Under the rules of the program, a worker cannot be repatriated due to illness.

Don Jorge says, however, that this is not always the case. He recounts an incident that happened during his first years in Canada.

"We were working in the fields even though they had announced a severe storm. When the storm hit, it hit hard. We had a bunch of boxes full of produce stacked up. They were knocked down by the wind and they were going to fall over a Quebecker. A young Mexican jumped in, risking his life. He was hit here and there, and afterward he was suffering from intense shock and trauma. He couldn't work and asked to see a doctor, and the patron” – the boss – “refused. Two days later, while we were all in the fields, they tried to repatriate him. But the young man left a message for his roommate and that's how we found out. They never thought we would find out," he says.

Don Jorge says the farm workers decided to take action. After lunch, they all refused to go to work. When Chenail found out about the strike he went to the workers’ quarters and threatened to send them all back to Mexico if they refused to go to the fields. The workers called the Mexican Consulate for support, but were baffled when Fanny Carranza, a Consulate staff member, told them to get back to work instead of looking for trouble.

But the workers refused, saying they would rather return to Mexico than allow such injustice to occur. The young man finally received medical attention and worked the Canadian fields that summer. He wasn't offered a job the next year.

Andrea Galvez works at a Temporary Workers Support Center (Centro de Apoyo) in St. Remi, Qc. She cites numerous problems that allow for worker abuse in the program.

"The workers sometimes work 14 hours per day. They don't get a break. They are afraid to complain because they fear they will be sent home," she says.

The majority of workers want to work as many hours as possible to maximize their earnings, since they have to cover for the costs of coming to Canada in the first place. No matter how many hours per day they work, migrant workers do not get paid overtime.

"What they earn is what the Canadian government establishes as the minimum wage for agricultural workers. People and media ask why they earn so little. We can't modify Canadian law. Those who come know this is how it is," says Flores Rivas.

"[The government omitted overtime pay] because they wanted to protect small family farms. The problem is that now agriculture is industrial, not family owned," says Galvez.

For René Mantha, General Director of FERME, low wages are essential to stay competitive in the global economy.

"They can’t be paid time and a half. Let’s use the lettuce harvest as an example. If workers are being paid too much the lettuce will be more expensive to compensate for the higher wages. If the lettuce doesn’t sell because it is too expensive we will not be able to hire any workers later. You see, we are in a global economy," he says.

Furthermore, a survey in the Niagara region showed that Canadian farm workers' hourly rates increased nine to 14 per cent over the past five years.

Bilateral government agreements call for a rest day after six days of work but employers can ask workers to volunteer to work their rest day during harvest periods.

"I wish they would work no more than 12 hours per day. It is what is stated in the contract," says Mantha. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that the workers sometimes face longer working hours.

"They are not here for one week. They are here for six or seven months, so if they are exhausted I can tell you they will not be as productive," he says.

Flores Rivas agrees, saying they are not supposed to work more than 12 hours per day ever. "This has been decided to protect their health," he says.

In Canada, agriculture accounts for several times more work-related injuries and deaths than other industries. Risks stem from operating heavy machinery, applying pesticides, and working long hours during extreme heat. These dangers are compounded with the fact that most workers have inadequate training and sometimes do not understand safety instructions.

According to the North-South Institute, one in three workers from St. Lucia, Grenada and Mexico and one in five workers from Trinidad, Jamaica and Dominica report injuries or sickness due to the combination of long hours and exposure to chemicals and other hazards. Between one half and one third of sick and injured workers go to work rather than risk being considered unfit for work or losing wages.

****

Paulino* has worked Canadian fields for seven summers.

He has been a peasant all his life. “My father showed me how to clean the corn, the yucca, the camote since I was a little boy,” he says.

He appreciates his job, since he says it is hard to find a job back home, but he bitterly complains about the expenses involved in working here, and the lack of wage increases in spite of a rising cost of living in Mexico.

“In Mexico everything is very expensive. We want our salaries to increase but it’s not like anybody asks us what we want. We are illiterate; we have no say in the negotiations,” he says.

To begin with, while still at home, Mexican CSAWP hopefuls bear the cost of traveling to Mexico City five times or more to fulfill the bureaucratic requirements of the program.

To be eligible for the program, workers must pay for and pass the medical screenings required by the Canadian government. Canadian Immigration Health Services has approved very few clinics that carry out required medical screenings, and all of them are in Mexico City.

Workers must also travel to Mexico City to apply and pay for their work visa with the Canadian government.

"We cannot force the Canadian government to open offices elsewhere to give the visa. In the Third World they use their own standards. Not all clinics can pass the standard. The worker who comes knows he will have these expenses," says Flores Rivas, adding that the Mexican government has opened several offices in Mexico to make the Mexican paperwork easier for the workers.

Mexican workers pay half the cost – $550 – of their plane ticket. An economy class round trip from Mexico can be bought by the general public for as little as $600. However, Galvez says the tickets are bought through a travel agency owned by FERME, and she believes this is clearly a conflict of interest. Flores Rivas disagrees.

“The only way they can reserve the seats with the airlines is to reach an agreement with them,” he says. For Paulino, the $550 amount is staggering.

Seasonal migrant workers have to pay income tax like all other workers in Canada. They also pay Canadian Employment Insurance (EI) and make contributions to the Canadian Pension Plan. In 2001, Ontario CSWAP workers contributed $3.4 million to EI even though they cannot claim such EI benefits as welfare.

Paulino says the money he is able to bring back home is spent fast, and he believes the Mexican government is unwilling to negotiate better salaries.

Given the great personal cost, why do so many agricultural migrant workers like Paulino keep coming to the Canadian fields year after year?

Paulino says he, like many others, comes from a poor rural Mexican family. His parents couldn’t afford to send him to high school. He says he leaves his sweat and health in the Canadian fields when he comes and that it is very difficult to be away from his family for so long. “I have two young children. They miss me and I miss them,” he says.

Even so, traveling to work every year is an act of love towards his family. “I want to give my children a better life. I want them to study. That’s the only reason I come so far to work: for them,” he says.

Flores Rivas believes the conditions of the program are the best the negotiations have allowed.

“It [the program] is not that bad since people keep on coming,” he says.

When asked if he will continue to come back to Canada, Paulino says he will. He says it is not because the program is good for the workers, but because there are not enough jobs back home.

“We come because we have to come,” he says.

*Workers' names have been changed to avoid problems with their employers.

Verónica Islas is currently completing a Masters degree in Public Policy and Public Administration at Concordia University.

TFW Fence

A Mining Refugee in Canada

dawn — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:46:06 +0000

Can one country be the hero and the villain?

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC–For some, Canada is a place to call home. For Enrique Rivera, it is a place where he's safe from thugs working on behalf of mining corporations.

Rivera fled to Canada to escape a Mexican mine's ever-expanding power and reach. A Canadian mining corporation owns that mine.

Rivera arrived in Montreal two years ago, demanding refugee status. Life for him in Canada is very different from his life in San Luis Potosi, his hometown in Mexico. Rivera washes dishes in Montreal. In Mexico, he was a lawyer.

"I cannot work as a lawyer here. I cannot even think about it. First of all, I have to learn the language and then I have to study Canadian and Quebec law. It will take me three or four years to be able to work as a lawyer here," he says.

Rivera has no family in Montreal. He misses the people he grew up with and the places he grew up in.

"I miss the food, the weather, my friends, the streets, my parents, my brothers and sisters, the gardens, the landscapes, my town. I miss the life that I had to leave behind and I wish to have it back again one day," he says.

****

Rivera's life changed when he started working as a lawyer and activist with Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), known in Canada as the Broad Opposition Front. The FAO is a non-partisan grassroots organization that is trying to stop an open-pit cyanide-leached mine in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico. Canadian company New Gold owns the mine.

New Gold is the result of a recent merger between three companies, including the Canadian mining company Metallica Resources, which owned the mine before the merger.

Rivera was working with FAO when several men attacked him on April 4, 2006, striking him repeatedly on the head.

Witnesses report they heard his assailants shouting, "If you continue talking, you are going to die."

On May 1, 2007, Rivera was called to represent five students who had been detained in a protest against the mine. He learned then that the students had been tortured to obtain their signatures on a document meant to incriminate him.

Rivera was forced into hiding and escaped Mexico as quickly as he could. He is now seeking political asylum in Canada.

"I had to leave my country since Mexico politically prosecuted me because I was defending Cerro de San Pedro," says Rivera.

"It has been a very tough and sad experience for me. What hurts the most is to be forced to leave it all because you did your duty as a human being and for following what your professional ethics dictate," he says. "To know that authorities in your country want to destroy you to protect corporate interests and that a transnational company can corrupt in such a way the institutions that are supposed to protect the law is what hurts the most. Fortunately I come from a family that is used to fighting for social justice and to protect human dignity and that makes it less tough on me."

Rivera misses Mexico immensely, but, "Given the violence and the human rights violations that are now prevalent in Mexico," he says, "I cannot think of going back."

Rivera's problems began when he got involved in the fight to protect Cerro de San Pedro in San Luis Potosi.

****

Cerro de San Pedro (translated as Saint Peter's Mount) was founded in 1592. It was the site of the first strikes of gold and silver in the area and its mines gave rise to the city of San Luis Potosí, now the state capital.

The Mount was the founding site for the town and is a symbol on the state's coat of arms. In September 1993, the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History [INAH] recognized the history of the region by declaring it an ecologically protected area. INAH even recognized the lack of water in the area as a fundamental problem and noted the need to protect it from heavy pollution and over-consumption. The town is one signature away from becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The missing signature belongs to the Governor of the state of San Luis Potosi, whose reluctance to sign has been attributed to political alliances and collusion with the mining company.

Now Cerro de San Pedro is literally half gone - blasted away by dynamite - and the region is embroiled in one of Mexico's most important legal, social and environmental conflicts.

****

In 1993, Cerro de San Pedro and the surrounding region was accorded legal environmental protection due to its ecological fragility. The region is semi-arid and the local aquifer is already overburdened. Metallica's own environmental impact assessment recognizes the possibility of water contamination by cyanide and certain heavy metals.

Metallica Resources' environmental impact assessment acknowledges air pollution caused by the mine. Tons of dust resulting from the daily explosions mix with the chemical explosive TNT and approximately eight million litres of the water and cyanide combination (cyandric acid) evaporates into the air daily. This deadly mix lingers not only in the Cerro de San Pedro community, but also reaches the capital city of San Luis Potosi, which is fewer than 12km away and home to more than one million people.

****

In 1996, Baltazar Reyes, mayor of San Pedro, was gunned down. His son and successor Oscar Laredo publicly announced that high-ranking officials threatened to shoot him as well, unless he signed the permit that would allow the mine to operate. He had no choice but to sign.

Rivera says that Metallica (now New Gold) has used several tactics to scare off opposition to the mine.

"They weave webs with local government, with mass media, with enterprises, with some locals who [sic] they hire to physically attack any opposition," says Rivera.

This year, Mario Martinez Ramos, another activist who has been fighting to stop the mine in Cerro de San Pedro, was also beaten up. As a hydraulic engineer, Martinez Ramos had been very vocal about the long-term repercussions the mine's operations will have on the aquifer, such as water depletion and cyanide pollution.

Martínez Ramos says he was insulted and attacked by members of the Marquez family, a family whose members work for the mining company and who are known for their scare and bullying tactics. At the time of the attack, they were armed with machetes and guns.

The husband of the new mayor of Cerro de San Pedro attacked several townspeople this year - including a pregnant woman - by charging his van into a crowd during a demonstration against the mine.

Nobody has been charged for any of the attacks. Rivera believes that, like in his case, nobody will ever be charged.

Metallica Resources - now New Gold - has also been operating without several permits by using injunctions whenever they lose a case in court regarding their status.

"I am sure they are colluded. From the moment that the Environment Secretary disregarded the order of a judge which stated that the mine shouldn't work and gave a ‘permit’ that is clearly illegal, the collusion between Metallica and the PAN’s government became evident," says Rivera.

Rivera says corporations like New Gold take advantage of weak institutions and exacerbate the corruption that is rampant in countries like Mexico.

"These companies are very powerful. They have allies in all government structures. The difference will have to come from a grassroots movement and with the help and participation of Canadian civil society," he says.

While he awaits an answer regarding his refugee claim, Rivera has been trying to create awareness about the actions of Canadian mining corporations in the south.

"It is important to get Canadian civil society involved in these problems to stop these predatory enterprises," he says. "If we allow states and corporations to be the only ones involved in these issues, there will be no advances and projects like the Metallica one will continue to mushroom throughout the world."

Verónica Islas is from Mexico and has seen first hand the destruction of Cerro de San Pedro. She is currently completing a Masters degree in Public Policy and Public Administration at Concordia University.

Enrique Rivera II

Meeting Crashers

hillarybain — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Anti-mining activists confront shareholders at AGM

It was the first time that Mexican Congressman Armando Barreiro, historian Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara and hydraulic engineer Mario Martinez visited Toronto, but this trip was not a vacation.

They came to the city to denounce the activities of Metallica Resources, a Canadian mining company running an open-pit mine in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico.

After negotiating with Metallica Resources, the corporation granted Barreiro, Guadalajara and Martinez access to the mining corporation's annual general investors' meeting, but told them they had to follow the rules: They were not allowed to make statements and could only ask questions during the question period.

On the eve of the AGM, the Mexican delegation hardly slept, thinking of ways to transmit their message to shareholders via questions. "We have to word our questions carefully to tell them everything we want, and that the legal and social situation jeopardizes their investment," said Martinez that night.

The next day, the Mexican delegates arrived at the Sutton Hotel in Toronto's business area, where the AGM would occur. They were equipped with three key questions about the legal challenges to the mining project, the widespread social unrest and the opposition that the mining project is facing.

As they entered the meeting, they received a pamphlet stating that Metallica's mining projects were in "mining-friendly jurisdictions."

When question period came, the delegates calmly asked their questions.

"Have you told your investors that right now the Mexican Congress is in an extraordinary session, that 156 Congress people and 57 Senators are working to pass a law project to stop the mine from working under such irregularities and that retribution for the environmental damage to the area will likely be imposed?" asked Barreiro.

"Thanks for your information," replied the mediator.

Exasperated by the condescending tone, Guadalajara raised his voice, demanding the company get out of Mexico and stop creating environmental chaos.

This gave the corporation the opportunity it had been waiting for. Hotel security moved swiftly to demand that Guadalajara leave the premises. He started backing up towards the door while continuing to tell investors to divest from Metallica Resources.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Guadalajara was pulled back and grabbed by police. He tried to get loose, not realizing it was the police. They moved quickly: three officers dragged Guadalajara into the main lobby among the hotel guests, while Barreiro was pushed and pulled around, even after identifying himself as a Mexican congressman.

The police did not press charges due to the non-violent approach of the delegation, but demanded that the delegates leave the hotel.

Outside the hotel, a demonstration against the mining company was in full swing. Alternative press members were waiting to learn what had happened during the meeting.

"They were able to hear exactly what we wanted them to hear," said Barreiro. "Now they know that their actions will have legal implications."

Despite the encounter with the police, Enrique Rivera, a member of FAO Montreal (Broad Opposition Front against the mine in Cerro de San Pedro), thinks Guadalajara's outburst was appropriate and necessary.

"People in Cerro de San Pedro are angry and exasperated. This kind of outburst represents the frustration that people in San Pedro live day by day because their concerns are ignored by their own government and the company while their town is destroyed," says Rivera, who is seeking refugee status in Canada because of his opposition to the mine.

Guadalajara also believes the outburst was necessary. "We wanted them to really listen to us,” he says. “We wanted to disrupt their meeting if they didn't listen to what we had to say. Their meeting was pretty much ruined after the police came in."

This was the first time FAO Montreal and the visiting Mexican delegation used this strategy--targeting the investors of the Canadian companies through shareholder activism--to showcase their frustration and their environmental and social concerns. It is a strategy that is gaining momentum among anti-mining activists in Canada.

"Community representatives and human rights advocates from around the world come to Toronto because Canada is home to 60 per cent of the world's mining corporations," says Paul York, member of the Toronto Mining Support Group, a group that gives logistical support to groups who come to Toronto to oppose mining projects on their land.

"Gold prices have soared, leading to the opening of new mines, so this is a bad time for hundreds of indigenous and campesino communities whose misfortune it is to live near--or on top of--gold deposits," says York.

In May, Barrick Gold was similarly "honoured" with the presence of unexpected guests during their annual investors' meeting. Delegations of indigenous leaders from Papua New Guinea, Australia and the United States travelled to Toronto to make statements at the AGM about the deleterious impacts of the company's mining operations in their communities.

The delegation informed the shareholders about the destruction of spiritual sites in the US and Australia and about the killing, rape and illegal detention of local opposition villagers by Barrick's security in Papua New Guinea.

"A broad-based movement, pursuing a 'shotgun' approach of multiple tactics is needed," says York.

Barrick founder and chairman Peter Munk has felt the pressure of the shotgun approach before, from anti-mining groups such as Protest Barrick. As he was being interviewed for Vanity Fair at Indigo Books in June, a protester confronted him with questions regarding the human rights violations that Barrick has incurred.

Protest Barrick members also crashed the African Medical Research and Education Foundation gala in Toronto, for which Barrick was a "Gold" sponsor. Activists passed out flyers talking about human rights violations in Barrick's mining sites to gala participants until they were escorted out by security.

Ultimately, these tactics attempt to create awareness about the human rights abuses and environmental degradation by shaming those involved.

Delegations comprised of indigenous and campesino leaders from Guatemala, Honduras and Chile also visited Toronto in May for Goldcorp's annual investors' meeting.

The leaders went into the shareholders' meeting and explained to investors how their communities have been affected. As the leaders spoke inside Toronto's Prince Edward Hotel, protesters held a demonstration and an information session outside to warn Canadians of the negative environmental impact Goldcorp mines have on the global South.

York says opposition groups go to investors' meetings in the hopes that socially and environmentally responsible investors will divest (i.e., sell their shares). While some investors do not know about these issues, others do not care or are satisfied with the Corporate Social Responsibility reports from the company.

"A few care enough to divest or make a fuss...These are the ones we hope to reach," he says. In fact, due to criticism regarding the environmental and human rights impacts of its mining operations in Guatemala and Honduras, Goldcorp agreed this past April to conduct an independent Human Rights Impact Assessment at the request of its Canadian and Swedish shareholders. Jantzi Research, an independent investment research firm that evaluates and monitors the social and environmental performance of securities, recommended that Goldcorp be considered ineligible for socially responsible investment (SRI) portfolios that seek to avoid companies with relatively poor records in the areas of community and aboriginal relations and environment.

Anti-open-pit mining activists like York believe most investors will keep their shares as long as they increase in value, and that "many of these individuals hold no sway over the company." Thus, the media attention gained from shareholder activism and other actions is used to embarrass the companies, deter further investment and have them "de-listed" as ethical investments.

Shareholder activism has also brought together anti-mining groups from around the world. As those opposing mines come to Canadian cities to denounce human rights and environmental abuses, they realize other communities are facing similar challenges.

"[Shareholder activism] has helped the creation of an international movement of people who oppose open-pit mining. Still, the reforms they have hoped for from the companies have not yet taken place," says York.

According to a 2005 Parliamentary Standing Committee Report, "Canada does not yet have laws to ensure that the activities of Canadian mining companies in developing countries conform to human rights standards, including the rights of workers and of indigenous people."

Even if reforms have not materialized, certain Canadian MPs are listening to what these activists have to say.

Several attempts have been made in parliament to change legislation in Canada to avoid environmental and human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies. NDP's Alexa McDonough has spearheaded the movement in the Canadian Parliament to enact legislation and ensure Canadian transnationals behave ethically and obey the law when operating abroad.

The National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry Operating in Developing Countries, which wrapped up in late 2006, were an effort to do something similar. The Roundtables process represents the only recommendation of the aforementioned 2005 Standing Committee Report that was acted upon by the Canadian Government. After large meetings across the country with participation from industry, civil society, academics and the government, a consensus report written by all participating sectors was released in March of 2007. The federal government has yet to respond to the Roundtables report and its recommendations.

York does not believe lobbying for legislative changes is an effective tactic. He says changes in legislation--if achieved--will make little difference to those affected by the mines; if anything, such a move might further legitimize the extractive industries.

"Liberal reforms are not needed as much as shutting down open-pit mines altogether,” says York. “All open-pit mines violate human rights and environmental integrity and should be disallowed as fundamentally unjust and environmentally irredeemable. There are so many cases of unhappy communities--aboriginal and campensino--destroyed by open-pit mines...we need a broad-based social movement, global in scale, to advocate against such mines."

Tonantzin Mendoza, who lives in the Cerro de San Pedro community affected by Metallica Resources, could not agree more.

"This mine has effectively destroyed our community. I am not only talking about the plant and animal species that have disappeared, but about the people of Cerro de San Pedro. We used to be a tight community; now the mine has hired some within the community as guards and they bully and beat up those who disagree with the project," she says.

It is because of this kind of community erosion that anti-open-pit mine groups are willing to try any new strategy to stop mining projects in their communities; their communities and livelihoods depend on the result of this struggle.

Metallica Protest 4

Metallica Protest 3