Members of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign accompanied a delegation organized by FIAN, Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz Kolumbien (ASK) and Paz y Accion Social (PAS) to visit the village of Orihueca, in the department of Magdalena, in the Zona Bananera so famously depicted by Gabriel Garcia's Marquez's novels. Local residents, whose homes are along the same railway line that was used to transport bananas to the port of Santa Marta during the era of the United Fruit Company, now face a severe deterioration in their quality of life due to constant freight trains transporting coal from Glencore, Vale and Drummond mines in the neighbouring Cesar department.
The coal trains run approximately every 20 minutes day and night right outside people's doorsteps. Each carriage of the train carries approximately 70 tonnes of coal, and a train has between 90 and 140 carriages. There are severe effects on the health of these residents due to coal dust and noise of the trains. Vibrations of these freight trains also caused structural damage to houses in the vicinty of the railway line. Accidents have happened: a child on a bicycle was killed when crossing the line, which does not have any type of warning system or barrier to warn that a train is coming. The fact that the line has been slightly elevated also means that homes next to the line are prone to flooding after strong rains. Given that the line is 270Km long, a similar story repeats itself along numerous other settlements that are bisected by the line.
Complaints by residents have been met with deaf ears by Fenoco, the railway operator jointly-owned by the three mining companies concerned. Amid concern that expansion of the coal mines will lead to more trains, when communties threatened to block the railway line to raise awareness of the issues they are facing, a sinister leaflet was distributed to members of the community by Fenoco.
Such a blatant disregard for health and safety and lack of respect for human life would be unthinkable in the United Kingdom or Germany (where much of the coal transported ends up being burned in power plants), and such a chaotic setup contrasts sharply with impeccably-organized Switzerland (where Glencore is from). Such a modus operandi would be unacceptable in any European or North American country, so why should this happen in Colombia? Why aren't the supposed royalties being spent to at least resolve some of even the most basic issues?
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