Re: GUYANA Cyanide Spill Update (fwd)

Kathi Kitner-Salazar (KITNER@LAW.UFL.EDU)
Tue, 29 Aug 1995 09:30:03 EST

Hello all,
Because of all the messages I received requesting that I continue to
post info on the Guyana problem, I will do just that. To those of
you who have no interest, excuse the clutter. And to Nick, well, I
always have been and will continue to believe that as long as
something relates to human beings, it is within the purview of
anthropology. As for annotating these "reports" I feel that the
reader is competent in doing his or her own interpretation.

Thanks,
Kathi

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From: pedroj@Glue.umd.edu (Pedro Jugo)
Subject: Re: GUYANA Cyanide Spill Update (fwd)
Date sent: 28 Aug 1995 20:22:24 -0500
To: atarraya@MIT.EDU

------- start of forwarded message -------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.caribbean
Subject: Re: GUYANA Cyanide Spill Update
Date: 28 Aug 1995 11:02:19 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com
Reply-To: treefriend@aol.com (Treefriend)
NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com

Is there any concerted effort going on not on the net, to publicize the
cyanide spill, OMAI, and Cambior (the parent company based in Canada)? I'm
a writer and activist. My contact in Guyana is the Bretton Woods Reform
Organization (BWRO) which is initiating an alternative to IMF/WB
structural adjustment in Guyana. One of BWRO's major concerns is foreign
investment, the lack of government control over such foreign investors,
and the negative impact these investments have on the people and the
environment of the country. They propose much stricter government control
over foreign operations, promoting production for local needs first (over
production for exports), etc. While this seems very idealistic given the
current reality, reality (and OMAI's actions in Guyana) also prove that
the current policy, which exists to service foreign debt, is also
unrealistic if one considers the future of the country in human and
environmental terms. Patrick Budhoo with BWRO told me OMAI actually said
the reason they came to Guyana was because of lax regulations. Cambior
also has operations in Latin America, Canada, and the U.S. including
Alaska. Does anyone know anything about their track record at any of their
other sites? I just spoke with the Ministry of the Environment in Canada
who told me that in general Cambior has a "good environmental record". But
then he also told me that Cambior has denied any environmental damage,
including dead fish, in Guyana. He seemed very aware that this was most
likely not the truth, but it is the "official" line. I would like some
ideas regarding what we can do from the states or Canada, how we can get
info about the spill in Guyana and the company in general out to a network
of activists who are liable to act in some way yet who may not log onto
the net. I don't have a lot of funds for phone calls and faxes either, and
I don't know how much of the information posted on this forum are
available to folks in Guyana. I know BWRO does not have internet access at
this time. This may be true for other organizations in Guyana, I don't
know. (Do you?) There are activist networks in the states that should know
about this incident including the Rainforest Action Network, Global
Response, Earth Island, etc. Any way, I'll keep checking this forum for
more info. Susan
treefriend
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