Santo Domingo.- Six leftist organizations denounced this Wednesday that Barrick Gold, with the backing and protection of President Luis Abinader, continues to extract gold and silver from Pueblo Viejo, committing a chain of environmental crimes with characteristics of ecocide, which is why the president must be judicially prosecuted for being devoted to foreign interests.
The Communist Party of Labor (PCT), Caamañista Movement (MC), Dominican Popular Movement (MPD), Homeland Party for All (PPT), Force of the Revolution (FR) and the Dominican Left Reference (RID) affirm that Barrick is destroying the country's natural heritage, contaminating water sources and authorizing, without social license, a new tailings dam, which they consider a permanent deposit of poison, already prohibited in many countries, which would dangerously increase the possibility of an ecological catastrophe.
“That criminal mining practice has been assumed by President Luis Abinader, associating with two major state crimes: ecocide and support for a fraudulent contract that includes the free supply of water from the Hatillo Dam and other sources, the State's payment of territorial taxes in favor of the municipalities,” indicate the left-wing organizations.
In addition, they require that, in cases of compensation for cruel evictions, the government is also charged, and not Barrick, with the cost of environmental liabilities and the eternal burden of the risks and operating expenses of two tailings dams.
“That same Barrick Gold has agreed with UNIGOLD to take over a large part of the gold from the Manolo Tavárez Park in Dajabón and kill two fundamental rivers for the life of the Dominican Northwest and the Republic of Haiti: The Masacre or Dajabón and The Artibonito,” they highlighted.
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Left-wing organizations accuse President Luis Abinader Corona of being an accomplice and protector of a great ecocide and a great scam, which they believe are only possible to commit in a country without sovereignty. At the same time, they denounced the complicity and collusion of the ruling PRM party and the opposition PRD, PLD and FUPU.
“Therefore, while we demand the judicial prosecution of the current leader, who is devoted to imperialist interests, we commit to tirelessly fight for the rescue of the sovereignty of our nation, which has been turned into a neo-colony of the U.S.A.”, they conclude in the declaration signed by Manuel Salazar, Santo L. Percel and Pedro Arias, for the PCT, Narciso Isa Conde and Raúl Guerrero of the MC, José Ramos and Melanio Ferreira, for the MPD, as well as Juan Santana, Campusano Malen, Benjamín Matos for the PPT, Neftalí Solís and Manuel Colon, of the FR, and Carlos Féliz and Luis Emilio González of the RID.