Active Civil Resistance in Cerro de San Pedro Against Minera San Xavier

Active Civil Resistance in Cerro de San Pedro Against Minera San Xavier

By FAO - FRENTE AMPLIO OPOSITOR A LA MINERA SAN XAVIER (Broad Front Opposed to San Xavier Mines) San Luís Potosí and Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico

4th April 2006

In the face of a lack of dialogue on the part of authorities and a growing unrest amoung the inhabitants of San Luís Potosí and Cerro de San Pedro, the FRENTE AMPLIO OPOSITOR A LA MINERA SAN XAVIER (Broad Front Opposed to San Xavier Mines) began actions of active and passive civil resistance in the zone of Cerro de San Pedro, where the San Xavier Mining, a subsidiary of Canadian company Metallica Resources (www.metal-res.com) responded with the detonation of an undetermined amount of explosives.

7:00 am - Those opposed to the company form a barricade in the municipal lands, peacefully blocking access of heavy machinery of MSX.

9:30 am - An employee of the mines tries to enter into the zone and violently remove the barricade, and is detained temporarily by a barrier of people. Upon noticing the presence of reporters from local and national medias, the chiefs of security of the company immediately cease in their attempts.

10:00 am - In the future site of the project`s lixiviation pads, San Xavier Mines detonates an indeterminate amount of explosives, which is taken as an act of provocation against the demonstrators.

10:15 am - The residents of the agricultural center ask the Municipal Trustee to bring forth the proof of the actions taken by both the company and council members, a petition to which the Trustee initally agrees, however, later at the offices of the mining company, the trustee refuses to bring forth the action.

11:00 am - Company employees take photos and videotape the demonstrators in order to intimidate them. Later in the afternoon these videos will be transmitted by Televisora Potosina, Channel 13 of San Luís Potosí, in their news show "Information Today," distorting the peaceful actions of the Frente Amplio Opositor, which demonstrates that the media "information" is part of the strategy through which San Xavier Mining is disinforming the public.

12:00 noon - The people opposed to the mining company march through the zone towards Cerro del Barreno, in front of the ex-hacienda Los Pocitos, where they ask in a peaceful manner that the operators of drilling machinery leave the area because the mining company does not have the proper permits, at which the workers leave.

1:30 pm - Residents of the village Cuesta de Campa arrive at the site to denounce to reporters the arbitrary and lawless acts by the mining company, such as using the center of the urban zone of the agrarian center as a staging ground for dozens of high-tonnage trucks, damaging the streets and causing damaging vibrations in the farm houses which date to the 16th and 17th centuries.

2:30 pm - The first in a series of acts of civil resistance of the FRENTE AMPLIO OPOSITOR A LA MINERA SAN XAVIER is concluded.