Mining communities speak out

Elena Rosemary & Maira Lisette from Palos Ralos, which was relocated to make way for the Entre Mares goldmine [Annie Bungeroth]

The people of Palos Ralos, Honduras, a focus of CAFOD’s Pure Gold? photo exhibition, lost homes and land to a destructive gold mine

From their new houses, the people of Palos Ralos can see where their old homes, trees and farms once stood.

It is a view which reminds them every day of what they have lost -and inspires them to continue fighting for their rights to be recognised.

They were relocated just a few kilometres away from their old homes when they were demolished back in 2000 to make way for the development of an open-cast mine.

The giant San Martin mine now dominates this region of Honduras, but its planned closure in 2010 could cause the community even more problems, as it leaves a legacy of environmental destruction behind.

The people of Palos Ralos are a focus of CAFOD's Unearth Justice campaign, and were featured in the recent Pure Gold? photo exhibition which toured the UK to huge acclaim.

Days after the exhibition opened, a group of CAFOD staff visited them, bringing pictures and messages of support made by primary school children in Leeds, as well as highlights from the photo exhibition.

Rodolfo Arteaga, pictured in the exhibition, says: “It has been a very hard struggle to point out all the negative effects that the mine has wrought.

"I am glad you are here to see with your own eyes - and hope you will be with us to the end. We need friends, you are our strength.”

New challenge as mine closes

The environmental impacts have already been huge. The committee claims more than 7,000 trees were cut down to make way for the mine - and that lead, mercury and arsenic have contaminated the rivers.

Fields are sprayed with cyanide, used to extract the gold. It is sweet-smelling, reminiscent of the scent of almond, but is a deadly poison.

Many families are also vulnerable because they still have not been given the correct legal titles to their new land.

“My body may be wasted, but my spirit is strong enough to see this fight through to the end.” - 86-year-old Manuel Guillermo Velasquez’s determination is typical of the whole committee.

The CAFOD staff who visited the community speak of how they were unable to get beyond the perimeter of the huge mine, which is protected by a six-foot high metal fence with barbed wire on top.

CAFOD Leeds diocesan manager Joanne Taylor says: "We were not welcome. But we could see, all too easily, how the process was destroying the environment.”

Sophie Stanes, CAFOD head of community fundraising, said how pleased the group was to be a bridge between communities in the UK and in Honduras.

She said: “This visit has helped remind us that the struggle faced by people here should be our struggle too.”