Twenty-three years after the violent displacement from Tabaco, there is no collective relocation nor collective and individual reparations for members of the Tabaco community.
The displacement of the African-descent community of Tabaco in La Guajira, Colombia, gave way to Cerrejon open-cast coal mine, the largest in Latin America. The mine is owned by Glencore, a London-listed Swiss corporation.
In these 23 years, the lives of generations of Tabaco people have drastically changed, leaving them in a condition of poverty and lacking the sovereignty they had when they had access to their land, the river and its multiple benefits, the forest and all its food and materials, their cemetery, church, school, their community which was their support.
It is time to respond, Glencore. Here is a letter to Juan Carlos García, Social Affairs Manager, Carbones del Cerrejón, Ltd.