Repeating Islands

As part of its Conferencias Caribeñas 8 lecture series for the 2011 semester, the Institute of Caribbean Studies of the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras (UPR-RP), invites the academic community and the general public to the lecture “¿Gato por liebre? Los hechos y los desechos de la minera Barrick en la República Dominicana” [Facts and Waste of Barrick Mining in the Dominican Republic] by Circe Niezen (doctoral candidate, Graduate School of Business Administration, UPR-RP and Industrial Engineering Department, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico) and Dr. Julia Sagebien (School of Business Administration, Dalhousie University, Canada, and Graduate School of Business Administration, UPR-RP.) Dr. Yolanda Leon (Instituto Tecnológico and Grupo Jaragua) will offer commentary.  

The activity will be held on Thursday, March 3, from 1:00 to 3:00pm in Amphitheatre CRA 108 (Carmen Rivera de Alvarado Building), School of Social Sciences, Puerto Rico-Río Piedras.

Description: This presentation examines a participatory community economic development planning process that took place in the Dominican Republic between 2008 and 2010. The plans were developed through a working partnership between the municipal governments surrounding the Pueblo Viejo mine, the Dominican Federation of Municipalities, the Canadian Embassy, Comunidad Cosecha (a Dominican development NGO), and the Canadian mining company Barrick. Despite considerable local support and a “yes” vote on the plebiscite, the implementation of the community plans has encountered many obstacles including: 1) internal differences between managers at Barrick; 2) the need for a new contract between the Dominican state, a consortia of international banks and the company; 3) extreme pollution left by the Dominican state upon mine closing; 4) the political opportunism that opposition to the mine presented for politicians during the 2010 election; 5) accidents at the mine; and 6) the Dominican Republic’s history of strongman politics, public and private corruption, clientelism, and general disregard for the welfare of its largely impoverished and politically disempowered citizens.

This activity will be broadcast LIVE online via http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cc71. Comments and suggestions on this presentation will be very welcome at iec@uprrp.edu.

For further information, you may call Dr. Humberto García Muñiz, Director, at (787) 764-0000, extension 4212, or write to iec@uprrp.edu

For photo and additional article on the situation, see http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/03/28/dominican-republic-opposition-to-barrick-gold-mining-operations/