![]() In 2017, for example, a landslide destroyed part of the city and caused more than 300 deaths. Its geographic position puts it at high risk of natural disasters. Map of Colombian city of Mocoa and Mocoa River in Putumayo department / source: GoogleĪll this is why a Canadian mining company appearing to move forward on exploring mining possibilities in Putumayo has raised questions about a progressive government that won power by promising environmental protection. Any alteration of the natural state of this area is likely to impact the entire Amazon rainforest, often referred to as the “lungs” of the Earth, for absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing life-giving oxygen into the atmosphere. It is here where the Caquetá and Putumayo rivers originate, both major tributaries of the Amazon River. In this richly biodiverse region, where the cool mountains of the Andes meet the steamy Amazon rainforest, opinions are divided and emotions fume over the environmental and social costs of housing a “green” mining project. The biodiverse Putumayo department is home to more than 150 animal species, which is why environmentalist groups worry about mining activities / credit: Antonio Cascio An Andean Saddle-Back Tamarin monkey ( Leontocebus fuscicollis) in the Mocoa area. “And today,” de la Cruz told Toward Freedom, “in the 21st century, they tell us they are taking the copper from Mother Earth.” The priest remarked on contemporary plans to explore and mine for copper and molybdenum to feed “clean energy” technologies in what could be one of the largest deposits of these minerals on the continent and in the world. “Over three centuries, the umbilical cord of Mother Earth has been cut.”ĭe la Cruz, who opposes the extraction of minerals in Colombia’s Putumayo Department, referred to thousands of rubber trees that had been cut down, along with 70,000 Indigenous people who died in the western Amazon during the extraction of rubber, timber, oil and quinine (a substance used to prevent malaria). MOCOA, Colombia-“We are experiencing a profound crisis, not only in the Amazon, but throughout ,” said Campo Elías de la Cruz, a Catholic priest and environmental activist. Water is worth more than copper.” The march initiated a four-day event called the Festival in Defense of the Mountain, Water and Life, held to protest the company’s copper mining project / credit: Antonio Cascio The banner reads, “Mocoa says no to megamineria. A demonstration in March 2022 against Canada-based mining company Libero Copper and Gold in Mocoa, the capital of the Putumayo department in Colombia.
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