On March 31, a march was carried out in Caracas, in which ecological and human rights groups asked the President of the Republic, through the use of a public communiqué, to \”immediately initiate the necessary actions to annul, according to those methods established in the Venezuelan legal code, the coal-mining concessions in the state of Zulia,\” considering that the increase of this type of exploitation negatively affects the environment and health of the citizens that live in this area, the majority of whom are indigenous.
The Society of Man in Nature, Society of Friends in Defense of the Great Savannah (Amigransa), Office of the Secretary of the Petroleum Alerts Network-Orinoco Oilwatch, and the Venezuelan Program of Education-Action in Human Rights (Provide) all indicated that the rights relating to the protection of the environment and the respect of native territories that have not yet been demarcated were being broken.
On this last aspect they asked that the president \”proceed, quickly, to give fulfillment\” to the twelfth transitory disposition of the Constitution, accomplishing, with the indigenous people, an adequate demarcation of their collective territory.
According to the aforementioned in the communiqué, \”numerous accusations exist, compiled and documented by activists and educators from Zulia, that indicate damages to the health of the inhabitants of the Sierra de Perijá, caused by the particles of coal that remain circulating in the air during and after extraction and transportation.\”
Also, \”there exist well documented analyses, from educators and even regional public officials, that permitting the increase of coal exploitation in the river basins of Sierra de Perijá can negatively affect the most important water supply sources of the state.\”
Although the activities of the concessions of coal delivered are not inside the Sierra de Perijá and Marshes of Juan Manuel National Parks, they are found in areas located in the outskirts of these natural Zulia heritages, which means they will surely have a negative impact on the natural resources that these parks protect.
Source: Ecoportal (www.ecoportal.net), El Universal (www.eluniversal.com)
Note: If one desires to read the complete communiqué released by these organizations, feel free to write us at bioparques@bioparques.org.
ParksWatch-Venezuela, April 2005