environment

Sand mining target of protest

Residents blocked roads leading to a controversial sand mine for 10 hours yesterday.

la prensa

yesterday’s protest1109940

The manager of Gethsa International, Manuel Perez, announced that he will file criminal and civil charges against the Comité Pro Defensa de San Martín, which organized a demonstration yesterday that blocked the roads leading to the company's sand mining operation for more than 10 hours.

Gethsa has a concession of 500 hectares to extract sand in San Miguel. This material is sold mainly to the constractors working on the Coastal Belt project, Perez said.

“They have caused me serious economic damage. Gethsa has no trucks, and all transportation and transit permits were obtained by Odebretch [the company in charge of the construction of the coastal belt],” he said. “We have fulfilled all environmental requirements.”

According to the demonstrators, more than 100 trucks carry material from the mine, and they have damaged the road.

Residents are also complaining about dust produced by the passage of heavy equipment and the noise of machinery at the mine, which can be heard 24 hours a day.

Resident Delfilia Espinosa said that she does not know what to do because her house is under seige.

“One of my nieces had a nervous breakdown do to the constant noise,” she said.

The water reserve in Carriazo is also in danger as it is near the excavation. It supplies drinking water to an estimated 1,000 people.

Fellow resident Tiburcio Rodríguez said that pedestrians must walk in the gutters because the truck traffic has damaged the roads to the point where they are almost impassable.