At least 21 Afro-Colombian barequeros, or small-scale miners, are dead and 28 others injured after a hillside collapsed Oct. 13 following several days of heavy rains on the banks of the Rio Cauca, near Suarez, Cauca department. The open-pit mine was alongside electrical generators of La Salvajina hydro-electric dam, built by the parastal Valle del Cauca Autonomous Regional Corporation (CVC) in 1985 and since privatized to the Pacific Energy Corporation (EPSA). The landslide was said to be caused by local deforestation, and erosion related to the operation of the hydro-dam. One of the tubes that carry the water to the generators imploded, bringing down the hillside. (Terra, Spain, Oct. 14; El Tiempo, Bogotá, Oct. 13)
See our last posts on Colombia and Cauca.
