Protesting mining companies and avocado monoculture

In 2017, the inhabitants of Cajamarca (Colombia) resoundingly voted against mining activities in their province, stating that it was incompatible with their environmental and agricultural practices. Nevertheless, the South African company AngloGold Ashanti is still planning to mine gold in the area, whose worth is currently estimated to be 50 billion dollars.

It is believed that AngloGold Ashanti’s strategy is to collaborate with the Chilean agricultural company Green SuperFood, that is buying up land in Cajamarca to produce avocado’s on a large scale. Martin Abraham Guiloff Salvador, CEO of Green SuperFoods, is also responsible for finances in Isidoro Quiroga holding, a company specialized in mining management. It is believed that Green SuperFood and AngloGold Ashanti are collaborating to quash local resistance and to pave the way for gold mining.

In order to expand, Green SuperFoods burns parts of the forest. The monocultural avocado farms are therefore actively contributing to the destruction of local wildlife and the displacement of local farmers. As if that weren’t enough, it is suspected that the large quantities of water needed to grow avocado’s are used as an excuse to prepare the underground bassins of mining activities. Thus the avocado farms are paving the way for decades of gold mining.