Argentina

Argentine Federal Prosecutor Gustavo Gómez describes what he calls the cycle of corruption (círculo cerrado): companies are allowed to operate without adequate regard for the environment and subsequently use their enormous profits to ensure ever-increasing impunity. Mr. Gómez firmly believes that his office is best employed in prosecuting company directors as the intellectual authors of environmental crimes – feasible under Argentinean law, but difficult to do even under relatively progressive governments.

A number of Argentinean universities have refused to accept donations from mining companies and Argentine Federal Prosecutor Gustavo Gómez calls on Canadian institutions to carefully look at company practices when considering offers of this type of funding.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was adopted in 1998 and can be viewed as a precedent, according to Argentine Federal Prosecutor Gustavo Gómez, for the establishment of an international environmental crimes court. He believes such a body is essential to ending the impunity that multi-national companies causing large-scale, long-term environmental damage enjoy. He explains how this dream could come true.

News release from the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), Santiago Anti-Pascua Lama Coordination, the Northern Chile Environmental Network, and the Huasco Valley Defence Council: Protests against Barrick Gold’s massive Pascua Lama project are taking place in the southern cone timed to coincide with the company’s Annual General Meeting in Toronto. In Buenos Aires, Santiago, San Juan, and Vallenar, communities are demonstrating against Barrick’s impacts on nature, people and democracy. They have released this open letter written to the attention of Barrick Gold’s shareholders.