Boquerón belongs to the municipality of La Jagua de Ibirico and is located in the center of the Mining Corridor. Population of about 1,500 inhabitants, the vast majority of Afro-descendants, 20 minutes from Jagua de Ibirico by paved road and completely flat terrain, with very hot temperatures and with more than 100 years of existence, history and tradition in the site in where it is currently located.
The resettlement of Boquerón, which was ordered more than a decade ago by the National Environmental Licensing Agency ANLA, was not achieved because negotiations between the mining companies and the community did not reach a satisfactory agreement; The ‘Boquerón Advances’ Pact could not be implemented. Laziness, greed, deception, internal divisions, planned delays, everything was seen in that process, one of the most difficult to carry out in the modern world. Resettlement of a population is an extreme measure, which breaks history, familiarity, neighborhood, and known means of production, which is why it is so difficult to achieve. These difficulties were going to lead to an unexpected turn.
In 2020, a ‘counterorder’ came from the ANLA, ensuring that the resettlement of Boquerón was no longer necessary because after more than a decade the negative environmental effects of dust and explosions did not affect it, according to a new measurement of the air quality indicators in said area.
The arguments had to do, among other reasons, with the fact that the ‘pits’ of the mine (specific exploitation area) move: in the direction in which the excavation moved away from the town, so did the trucks that transported the waste and the mineral inside the mine and spread the affecting material, the dust.
Also, the external transportation of trucks was changed by a train that does not pass near the town. The nearby road was paved and the generation of dust was eliminated and garbage burning was controlled; However, it was no longer necessary to resettle Boquerón.
But, having been in a negotiation process with the expectation of moving the town, for so many years, there was no necessary social investment, the school or the health post were not fixed, nor were any new works carried out. Consequently, it became necessary to make up for this investment deficit, and, as determined by the ANLA, it was the mining companies that were called upon to do so through a Socioeconomic Management Plan, PMS, agreed upon with the community. A trust program to show not only at the national level, but also worldwide, as part of a joint Community-Business-State effort, which strategically invests a considerable amount of resources (in the order of $50,000 million), defined in a participatory manner and with the help of a Study Center, it can radically transform a community from extreme poverty to a prosperous one, but this requires that promises be kept. The works and activities began well as we record today in a special report; If we continue like this we will be able to say: colorín colorado this story is over!
