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The Legal Coalition to defend Cajamarca celebrates decision to protect environmental democracy and prevent gold megamining in Colombia’s agricultural pantry.

In a first instance judgment of November 1, 2023, the Second Administrative Court of Ibagué reiterated the legality of Agreement No. 003 of 2017, which adopted the results of the popular consultation in Cajamarca. In this decision, the judge denied the claims of the plaintiff, Guillermo Reyes against the Agreement and left firm the popular consultation through which the Cajamarcans said ‘NO’ to the gold megamining project La Colosa, of the multinational Anglogold Ashanti. This is a triumph for participatory democracy and for the defense of peasant territories against extractivism that has been imposed on them.

The Legal Coalition for the Defense of Cajamarca -integrated by COSAJUCA, SIEMBRA, the Inter-American Association for the Defense of the Environment (AIDA), the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), PODION, Dejusticia, the Legal Clinic of Public Interest of the University of Rosario (GAP), the Legal Clinic on Law and Territory of the Javeriana University, the Legal Clinic of the Universities of Antioquia and Libertadores- welcomes the decision as a milestone that protects effective democratic participation in environmental matters, with a capacity for direct advocacy, as required by international law and we hope that the decision will be upheld in second instance.

In this regard, the Promoting Committee of the Cajamarca Popular Consultation noted: “This ruling guarantees that the decision taken on 26 March 2017 at the polls -which defended the collective rights to a healthy environment, food, life and water- is respected. It is also a fact of vital importance due to the multiple legal proceedings initiated by the mining company Anglogold that aim to reactivate La Colosa. This ruling will truncate several of his claims “.

In the judgment, the judge upheld the arguments presented by the municipality of Cajamarca in its reply and by the Coalition that submitted contributions in favor of Agreement 003/17. The reasons that support the decision of the judge are that the agreement was issued in due form, that follows the legal and constitutional requirements, and that it conforms to the current normativity on the popular consultation.

Moreover, contrary to what the plaintiff indicated, Constitutional Court Decrees SU-095 of 2018, C-053 of 2019 and T-342 of 2019 did not have the capacity to affect the legality of Agreement 003, as they were not applicable. These decrees, issued after Agreement 003, indicate that the popular consultations are not a mechanism for deciding on the subsoil. In the words of the judge:

“At the time of issuing the municipal agreement 003 of 2017, not only the constitutional and legal norms gave autonomy to the municipality of Cajamarca to advance the popular consultation of popular initiative, but the sentences issued in the matter, until then, constituted a peaceful and repeated precedent for the protection of the environment and the guarantees of territorial decentralization, as well as the competences regarding the use of land and subsoil, and decisions regarding the extractivist vocation of territories, as their own decision within the exercise of citizen participation».

Undoubtedly, this ruling is important, not only for the democratic exercise and the effectiveness of participation rights in Cajamarca, but for the other popular consultations that were promoted and voted in the country. It is also a fundamental precedent for the other countries of Latin America where municipalities and departments claim their right to say ‘NO’, to preserve their agricultural vocation and not have megamining in their territories.

#TheConsultationsAreRespected

Press Contacts:

Robinson Mejía, COSAJUCA, 300 218 36 41,  rmejia.cosajuca@gmail.com  

Sara Sofia Moreno, SIEMBRA, 300 568 33 33, smoreno@centrosiembra.org 

Víctor Quintanilla, AIDA, +52 5570522107, vquintanilla@aida-americas.org