Barrick Gold and Los Haitises: Dominicans speak out against injustice

This is the first of two articles focused on Barrick Gold Corporation in the latest edition of ¡Reclama! magazine:

As May 16 approaches, the PLD, PRSC, and PRD [Dominican political parties] are drawing great numbers of supporters in lengthy caravans, dressed in their parties’ colors, raising banners trumpeting their candidates’ names and likenesses, and singing their parties’ hit merengue along to the thumping sound trucks. Yet Dominicans believe that political parties are among the most corrupt entities of society. In election time, dirt roads are paved, hospitals are inaugurated, candidates hand out food, washing machines, cash and more, and more electricity reaches the community. Party members are flush with the excitement of competition.

A cynical observer might wonder if the continued lack of faith in government combined with a readiness to snap up handouts and enthusiastically support candidates who give them out dooms Dominicans to an ineffective government that makes no progress on the issues most fundamental to Dominican citizens – jobs, education, and healthcare. Indeed, among the principal findings of a 2008 USAID-funded study on the perception of corruption in the D.R. is that over 40% of people did not denounce corruption because they benefit from it.

Two series of events in the last two years point another way to reform. In 2009, national youth movements spurred popular outrage over a cement quarry in the buffer zone of the Parque Nacional de Los Haitises, and through Internet activism, large demonstrations and media coverage forced politicians and the courts to acquiesce to the public will. Today, popular protests are gaining momentum to demand a reevaluation of the contract governing the enormously rich gold mine south of Cotui operated by Barrick Gold and GoldCorp.

These protests have taken a diffferent path from the typical pattern of Dominican protests, or huelgas, characterized by road blockages, burning tires, downed trees, and rocks thrown at passing vehicles. What stands out about the protests directed at Los Haitises and Barrick Gold is the high quantity and quality of information shared about the causes and goals of the protests, the leadership of youth and student movements, and the participation of other sectors, such as university administration, artists, campesinos, and churches in the protests.

The numerous protests against the cement quarry that were staged throughout the summer of 2009 kept the fire to the feet of the politicians. While actually canceling the license to the quarry required President Fernandez’s involvement, a recommendation to cancel from the UN, and declarations of scientists denouncing the dangers of the quarry, it was the continued protests, such as the simultaneous protests staged on June 5, 2009, World Environment Day, in towns around the D.R., in Spain and New York that gave impetus to all of these actions. A poll administered by Gallup and sponsored by the newspaper Hoy demonstrated that 85% of Dominicans opposed the cement quarry. Over 20 artists joined together to hold a popular concert publicizing the broad support for the revocation of the license. Yet the Secretary of Environment, Jaime David Mirabal, from the spring on, repeatedly insisted that the license for the quarry was a closed case and that all necessary investigations had been made.

By November, 2009, when the government terminated the license to the quarry after receiving the UN’s feasibility study, protest groups were already uniting and using the same methods to contest the contract signed between Barrick Gold and the Dominican government to exploit the gold mine south of Cotui.

The Pueblo Viejo mine is estimated to have 23.7 million ounces of gold, in addition to copper, silver and zinc. At today’s price of USD$1207 per troy ounce, the gold alone would bring in over USD$25 billion. The major concerns about the mine and the contract are environmental and economic. Because the gold will be extracted from an open pit mine using highly dangerous chemicals including mercury, cadmium and cyanide, scientists are concerned that groundwater, river, and air pollution could broadly affect the central and eastern Cibao. Protesters are demanding that the contract more concretely stipulate how the environment will be protected or restored, while the company assures that no environmental damage will occur.

On March 15, 2010, concerns about the operation of the mine exploded onto the national scene. Approximately 350 employees were suddenly admitted to clinics and hospitals in Cotui and San Francisco. According to initial reports from those present, employees heard an explosion, and began experiencing nausea, vomiting and fainting. In the next day’s newspapers, however, Barrick Gold’s version held sway: massive food poisoning from the cafeteria. Rumors of an explosion were minimized and not sourced, while the company’s chief medical officer was quoted as stating that food poisoning was the cause of the illnesses. A week later, after a team of medics, pharmacists, toxicologists, epidemiologists and other specialists representing the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), the Environment Commission and the D.R. Academy of Sciences established that no patients were treated for symptoms of food poisoning, and the company’s own studies established that there was no clinical evidence for food poisoning, Barrick Gold insisted in the press that food poisoning caused the outbreak.

The attention caused by the explosion and the apparent lies from the company drew further investigation. The report from the Chemical Institute of the UASD, the Environment Commission and the Academy of Sciences indicated that Barrick Gold may be violating laws dealing with human trafficking, migratory rights and labor rights. Foreign employees apparently were not registered with the Dominican health care system, were not permitted possession of their passports and were confined to isolated quarters. Employees were forbidden by contract from speaking with the press, which enabled Barrick Gold to avoid further criticism by minimizing the story. The company also prohibited the investigators from entering the site of the supposed explosion in order to verify the truth of the story.

The confusion over the true nature of the incident may have served to minimize the story, but the anger of various sectors of the public was unleashed. Again, youth movements were key in continuing to keep the issue in the public eye. During Semana Santa, 3,000 people protested the mining operation in Cotui, and 50 people walked 105 km. from Santo Domingo to the mine to protest the conditions of the contract. Talk radio again burned with calls for politicians to heed the public and revise the contract more favorably for the Dominican people. Facebook groups and Twitter messages spread links to video, reports on the mining operation, and news of events, while encouraging people to speak up. On May 2nd, protests were held against Barrick Gold worldwide in the countries in which it operates, including a protest in Santo Domingo on Avenida Lincoln.

While some members of the PRD and other parties opposing the ruling PLD have made demands to revise the contract with Barrick Gold, in the immediate run-up to the election, few politicians have made the revision of Barrick Gold’s contract with the state a major issue. The president has publicly stated his support for the contract as it stands, which was approved with multi-partisan support.

But as the protests against the quarry in Los Haitises showed, the Dominican public has found that it can impose its will on the institutions of the government. It remains to be seen what will happen with the contract of Barrick Gold, but with a 25-year operating life of the mine, it seems a safe bet that the Dominican people will continue to express their will outside of the political system.

Further reading:

*For a detailed review of the history of the movement against the cement quarry
in Los Haitises, click here (in Spanish)

*Report from the UASD and the D.R. Academy of Sciences on massive intoxication at Barrick Gold (in Spanish)

*Gallup poll on Perception of Corruption in the Dominican Republic

*Dangers of chemicals used to extract gold at Pueblo Viejo (in Spanish)