Public statement: Latin American Network for our territories – Anglo American, answer us!

We are communities, indigenous peoples, workers, unions and socio-environmental organizations in Latin America. We are in Chile, Colombia and Peru. We inhabit territories that are being or could be impacted by the extractive operations of Anglo American, a transnational mining company, which trades its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

We have joined in solidarity for the defence of our territories, to call for an end to abuses in our lands, abuses to our life and to nature. We have come together to fight for environmental justice and human rights and the rights of Mother Earth. Anglo American has made its fortune, exploiting and plundering our natural commons. In return, we have received tailings dust, pollution of our water and our air; they are affecting our ecosystems, destroying our native forests, glaciers and health. We believe in another way of living, one that respects nature, the worldviews of our indigenous communities and the protection of the Earth. We have come together to protect the life that Anglo American is destroying.

In all of our countries, the consequences of mining by Anglo American have destroyed ecosystems, from the glaciers of Chile to the Tropical Dry Forest in La Guajira, Colombia. Water sources are also being destroyed by the high consumption of water that the mining industry needs to carry out its activities and also due to the diversion of rivers like the Arroyo Bruno in Colombia and the Azana River in Peru. If that were not enough, they are now expanding their destructive mining projects to the heart of our continent, to the most fragile and important ecosystem we have, the Amazon.

In addition, the company is trying to greenwash its image with the use of renewable energy in its mining projects. We want to know, how many rivers, aquifers, glaciers and forests will we end up with in the name of sustainability? How many social conflicts will it cause in the name of sustainable development? How many defenders of the land and human rights will be cruelly murdered in the name of profit or economic benefit?

We demand that our territory and our ways of life do not continue to be destroyed by the businesses of the multinational mining company Anglo American. We demand that Anglo American take responsibility for all the environmental and social damage it has caused, to make reparation to communities and restore nature. We also demand effective participation in decision-making about actions in the territories of the peoples affected by Anglo American projects.

We are working together to strengthen each other, through educational and resistance processes using communication, legal, popular education and environmental protection tools. We have come together to organize because we know that together we are rivers flowing in resistance.

The global climate crisis and the current coronavirus pandemic, which we suffer together as one human race, are further proof of the dangerous relationship between viruses and human pressures on the environment. The consequences of human action such as Anglo American’s transnational extractive mining operations are the cause of this climate crisis. Anglo American bears responsibility for its impacts, which have a global consequence. According to the Carbon Disclosure Project report, Anglo American is one of the 100 companies responsible for 77% of carbon emissions worldwide. We ask you to join us in solidarity with our legitimate demands. We make an international call to all indigenous communities, unions, workers, organizations and socio-environmental movements, who fight for socio-environmental justice and human rights.

Who we are

1. Concejo comunitario negro ancestrales de tabaco en La Guajira
2. Centro Ecológico Churque, Barnechea
3. Coordinación de Territorios por la Defensa de los Glaciares, Chile
4. Modatima Colina
5. Fundación Río Montaña Chile
6. Comunidad Rio Colina Chile
7. Corporación Camino a Farellones
8. Asociación Escuela de Montaña Camino a Farellones
9. Junta de Vecinos Las Varas Camino a Farellones
10. Corporación Defensa de la Cuenca del Río Mapocho
11. Movimiento No + Anglo Chile (Lo Barnechea, Lampa, Colina, Til til, El Melón)
12. Fundación Glaciares Libres
13. Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente Puno
14. Fundación Chile Sustentable
15. Colectivo Salvemos el Agua, Lo Barnechea
16. Organización Somos Cuencas
17. Bestias del Sur Salvaje
18. Observatorio de Humedales Küla Kura
19. Agrupación Poyewn Nogales
20. Colectivo Nogales Despertó
21. OLCA
22. Asociación multicultural Pachay mapuche de Lampa
23. Asociación Paillacar de Putaendo
24. Asociación Diaguita Quintilgasta de Valparaíso
25. ONG Cverde
26. Fundación CEM
27. ONG Plantemos Nativo
28. Ciudad Común
29. Organización Viernes por el futuro Chile
30. Organización Escazú Ahora Chile
31. Organización Fridays For Future Cajón del Maipo
32. ONG Humedal Urbano Ojos de Mar
33. Organización No + Zonas de Sacrificio
34. La Gran Parada
35. Greenpeace Chile
36. Comité Comunitario de Prevención y Respuesta “Ruta Norte” – Quillota  Movimiento Popular Pozo 9
37. Wayakanes
38. El Cartel
39. ONG Ecosistemas

Organizations in solidarity

• London Mining Network
• TerraJusta
• WarOnWant