These funds are "essential to support vital sectors such as health, water, education and roads," the region's governor Diala Wilches, told a local radio station. The company shelled out some nine billion dollars to the state in 2022 in taxes and royalties. The coal mine brings in 43 percent of La Guajira's gross domestic product, and 0.7 percent to Colombia as a whole, according to the Fedesarrollo investigations center. The company has also highlighted its efforts to improve water supply, including distributing water and building infrastructure for communities.Įxperts say that shutting the mine, which produces 80,000 tons of coal per day and employs more than 12,000 workers-many of them from La Guajira-could deal a great economic blow to the community and the country. Last month, the mine published on its website a rejection of the accusations in the report, underlining its investment in social and environmental projects. In 2022 a United Nations report listed El Cerrejon as among the 50 most polluted places in the world, saying the mine has had "devastating" consequences for the Wayuu, and that residents living near it have "high levels of toxic substances in their blood."
His state of emergency in the region forbids the extension of mining contracts or the expansion of any existing projects. Petro has said that much of the region's scarce water supplies are now being monopolized by the "agriculture, energy, and coal" industries. Traditionally, they capture and store water in reservoirs known as "jagueyes." In August, during a visit by Switzerland's president, Petro said he was looking for a "coordinated exit" by Glencore, the Swiss commodities giant which owns the mine.Įl Cerrejon is the largest open-pit coal mine in Latin America, stretching over 69,000 hectares (170,000 acres) across a harsh landscape that is also home to the semi-nomadic Wayuu tribe, who live in huts and survive off ranching, small-scale agriculture, and fishing. The leftist leader Petro, who has championed environmental concerns, in July declared an "economic, social and ecological emergency" in La Guajira, where poverty levels are at 67 percent, and dozens of children die every year from malnutrition. Gigantic black craters scar the earth in La Guajira, northern Colombia, after four decades of coal extraction that has sucked up large quantities of water in an already-arid region hit by a wave of extreme droughts.
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