| Since the decade of the 60s of last century, concessions were granted for the exploration and exploitation of nickel deposit contiguous to the cloudy jungle "Loma de Hierro" of the Interior Serranía del Country, in the Rural Parish Tiara, with a projection of 3.173 Inhabitants for 2015. Since 90, with changes in environmental regulations and mining and tax policies, economic pre-feasibility studies were concessioned to the coffeminas company, so that a mining nickel Loma C.A (MLDN) An Anglo-American subsidiary will begin the exploitation in 2001. The project was estimated at 30 years, with an approximate production of 40 million TM of ferronickel for export.
In the conflict, 3 stages are different: the first with the arguments of the company cofeminas on the basis of mineral servants' rights against the Agricultural Association "San Andrés" representatives of farmers des Hosted from the land where the nickel industrial complex was built. These demanded, first with protests, street actions and denunciations in the regional press and then legally before the agrarian courts; a) Rights as Pisatars of Land; b) compensation for wellécheurías; c) Relocation of families and construction of rural school. Of these demands, the one that was achieved was the payment for the Bienoechurías. Additionally, before the progress of the project in phase of the environmental impact study (EIA), Tiara communities that were not consulted or informed of the impacts of the project, received it negatively, since it would affect its ways of life and territory. For the tiars against the mining project, the cloudy jungle "Loma de Hierro", symbolically represents a "water box" "our own existence" without it "there will be no more tiara" we know that "the mining was drilling the mountain and in Any time is going to break the balance and the water will be lost. "
The second stage or technological intervention starting in 1997 with the construction of the complex, including a road ; the water dam; The adduction of gas and the electric sub-station, socio-environmental and cultural impacts intensified. Hundreds of tiars achieved a job in companies hired by MLDN. Dozens of homes were conditioned for the accommodation of foreign workers. Likewise, local commerce diversified. All this resulted in a change in lifestyle. In this context, an anti-mining movement is born that echoed through printed media, denouncing MLDN by air pollution, air, crops and respiratory and dermal diseases, in addition, from the deterioration of the main road. The movement was criminalized by the government, by the company and by some tiars who longed for a job in the mining. MLDN was defended arguing that "Tiara has always had nickel in her waters," "the laboratory and EIA analyzes demonstrate", and "we do not pollute the atmosphere since we comply with the measures and parameters demanded by environmental regulations" . In addition, "as evidence we develop a farm where vegetables and flowers are cultivated that do not suffer any alteration." The other demands by the Valentine of the Community Councils: Civil Works, Repair of the Way for Access and Maintenance of the Internal Routes, Maintenance of Schools and Ambulatory, Food Supplies and Hiring of Workers. For this, the strategies were trades aimed at the mining, the denunciation in the press and closures of the main road. For its part, the mining unions fought their contractual claims, paralyzing the operations and closing the access roads at various opportunities. Meanwhile, the State demanded the mining by not complying with the mining scope. This caused that in 2008 some concessions were rescinded, until in 2012 the Venezuelan State with the support of the mining union and the leaders of the communal councils affected by the Government took the administrative control of the project through the Venezuelan Mining Corporation (CVM).
In the third stage with the management of the CVM. On the one hand, while Anglo American claims compensation in the ICSID ("Court" of Arbitration at the World Bank), the uncertainty seized the mining workers since it was not exported by what was produced between 2012 and 2013. Generated collective actions: Assemblies and closures of the access route as pressure for the State to streamline the sale and guarantee work stability. Although the export of nickel and the State was finally ensured, the mining operations slowed down to be fully paralyzed, due to the lack of spare parts for equipment and some fundamental chemical elements for the process. On the other hand, the communities were unchanged in terms of the provision of health services, in the maintenance of school infrastructures and other compensation that were previously assumed by MLDN. In fact, the Local Health Committee supported by doctors and nurses with ambulatory closure protests and public complaints in the media, as strategies for the regional government (Corposalud) assuming their responsibilities. In this sociopolitical and economic context that the country lives, the communities are wondering about their future, what will happen when the nickel deposit is over and have to deal with socio-environmental liabilities left by exploitation? This has announced in the vote of the 11 communal councils of the parish, farmers and farmers, as well as in the educational advice they perform assemblies, and participatory workshops with two central themes based on two possible scenarios: 1) if reactivated mining operations; Find the way to empower knowledge with the help of third parties and collectively articulate to consider a balanced relationship with the CVM or with any other mining company, to be heard in violation of their rights and their local development plans and 2) The creation of platforms of struggle to different scales so that mining exploitation is definitely closing and the State contributes to taking measures in order to minimize socio-environmental liabilities. |