the regional capital from where the gold will be exported. this ago via gold mines are the oldest ones in south america they were own for a long time by an english company frontino gold mines but in two thousand and ten and gran colombia gold bought the entire concession. thanks to different teano mines the canada based multinational has become colombia's leading gold producer in two thousand and eleven two and a half tons of yellow metal came out of these for an asus the checks are very strict everyone is body searched including the boss just things a lot. see you later my friend the vice president of gone colombia moreover has a predestined name who is a auro obeying the spanish word for gold thanks a lot see you later my friend. who's a or always cuban to label former comrades or fidel castro he made the transition from marxism to capitalism with the greatest of

ease. for him columbia is the new eldorado. if it's very profitable to invest in colombia wheat that very profitable and there's a very high return on investment and a large reserves of natural resources to exploit that all human and what's more easy resources they want to replace they you know the countries behold the fruit on the lower branches of the tree has been eaten and the only fruit left is at the top . whereas here there's still a lot of fruit left to pick. but for the time being grown colombia is obliged to share its fruit while it officially wholly owns the enormous ago via deposit illegal mines have sprung up like mushrooms all over its concession. rafael to bone is a manager oath. and a legal mind that has developed into a small company he and his partners were employed by the former company frontino

gold mines bought out by grown colombia they've set up their activity here without authorization. and i guess i'm going to tell right now what i wouldn't understand is that everyone works on the front you know that well x. frontino not only they forced us into doing this because they fired us you know and they threw us out and not only got an up close so we came to find work here. under the virgin mary's protection the miners descend three hundred metres below ground. at the mine bottom areas in short supply. so it was the water good. it's better than my wife. smiles on their faces but on their backs loads weighing eighty kilos. six eight ten cents per day. before most slave labor that can be fatal due to cave ins and yet there's no

shortage of miners wanting to work here some of them can earn up to two thousand euros a month four times the average salary in colombia. meter after meter the column moves forward. gold is embedded everywhere in the rock. miles and miles of these galleries eat away a growing columbia's concession. it seems that is mine is the legal system of the place all this belongs to the people not to the company. for that point left. how we break al back to on our pesos. i don't know but we all get such suffering be illegal thing that isn't even the. inside as on the outside it's the same anger because gone colombia is requesting that these illegal mines be closed down. thanks. it's not on my for the long run with the new countries the doors there you know they come with new technologies

to steal the riches of the colombian. yes just do it's ours you don't get out of it as that lady says they come to steal what's ours because all of this is ours if you know what this is how we make our living from salvaging rocks. if the illegal mines close down everyone will lose their livelihood the miners but also thousands of women who sort through the rock debris where bits of gold can still be found. i. think it was twenty four years old and i've been working at the mine for ten years now so we've got to imagine if they close down the mine what would we do. would be forced to leave to go you know will we go this is where the money is. but the. fifty or so illegal mines such as el cho-cho are existing on borrowed time and it's a go via area. and as the price of the yellow metal continues to soar

on world markets so gold he is experiencing a new lease on life people are coming out here from all over the country to seek their fortunes. a modern day gold rush in the heart of war played colombia. from the old children mine bianca carries bags of rocks to these antiquated mills. the rock is ground up for hours. to extract the gold particles a dangerous product is used mercury. this gray paste is obtained which contains the gold. we should wear long gloves and even masks but nobody uses any form of protection everyone just ignores the danger. and that's the way that

people get older around here their hands start trembling. nervous disorders memory loss you thinks of mercury or devastating in the air in the water inside go via mercury is omnipresent it's one of the most contaminated zones in the world. these small scale miners sell their gold. to merchants gold is exchanged for large wads of notes. so here everyone protects their business. this is to protect myself from thieves have already been held up twice. the mercury evaporates and the heat of the blow torches leaving behind the yellow metal which will be melted down into ingots this is how the gold from the illegal

mines provides a livelihood force to go vs fifty thousand inhabitants. a parallel economy that has a auro head of kong colombia wants to eradicate completely. little by little we're going to regain control we have to do away with all of this but at the same time we have to give the people work opportunities. for his safety posing or all right around in an armored four by four he wants to show us that he's perfectly at ease and to go beyond that he's at home here everywhere even at the barber shop. if. someone wants to say hello does that mean my out of the major ally you have visited let me introduce you to some french journalists a major is the chief of the city police is a very good friend of ours. we have a contract with the police

a contract with the army a contract with the city hall. that we also have a school that we finance them. the company finances the police and the army which in exchange ensures that security but the company also uses its dollars to win over the inhabitants its latest project a local radio station. a little muscle for you we've been the victim of a very strong demonization campaign you know we think that's a bit of the raid. we're going to be able to change all that. but i have a good does the see the history if anyone wants to try to compete with this sort of influencing the population i'm sorry but a level they're going to lose. a lot of the. while waiting to impose its power through the radio the multinational begins by imposing it through force. is just

a look at it we've been ordered to close down these lines. and for that one but it's out we can count on the support of the employees of grand colombia which owns the mining rights in this region to try to rescue. the company lends them its premises and is present during the whole operation. first target an illegal tunnel on the outskirts of town. weapons in hand the policeman besieged the mine the situation soon gets heated. up and i'm asking you the question do you have a mining permit. no one has a permit i applied for one but they never gave it to me. yeah so we're going to start standing up that's how it is that all of you want us to want to work so we're going to steal and kill or we'll start drug trafficking.

i think the only civilian amongst the policeman an engineer from dong colombia guides the troops now a list of the mines to be closed down is displayed on his mobile phone screen to take him up if you want to take advantage of daylight we should continue on right away. ok let's go let's go meaning. but the operation is cut short the policeman fear a clash with the miners they contend. themselves with carting away a dozen or so of them back to the police station the police also seize the dynamite used to blast the tunnels. and. they let you know i am part of a minor protests he was in the middle of negotiations with kong colombia to legalize his mining operation let me like to thank you live as proof he holds out a business card in the name of who is a auro the head of the multinational and to go beyond.

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you're. in it but. it appears that jose oro is far from having one over his to go via. today made the first the employees are gone colombia are out in the street they're demanding wage increases. not a small scale miners and local inhabitants are demonstrating alongside them. amidst

the crowd one man personifies the revolt of the entire town and you know you know. one thing that you know. that. the euro ruah is president of the gobi a mine workers union today he's the multinationals leading adversary he contest the company's right to operate this a go be a mines which up until two thousand and ten belong to different you know company he speaks of theft the ninth they're going to say let me know that i'm giving the mines of the front you know gold mines company to a multinational they have violated our rights but any money stolen patrimony that belong soley to the workers to the retired workers and to all the people of sago all of the out. a speech that he repeats cecily in front of the microphones and film cameras. rising is that then likely demand is the most and we demand that once and for all they give us back the front you know mines you know those they are ours

. it would seem that the mines belong to the employees to prove it. takes us to his office and he wants to show us a document that he keeps preciously a notarized act dating back to one nine hundred seventy nine. at that time frontino was in dire financial straits and it's english and american owners wanted to leave colombia but they owed years of on. paid wages to their employees so from their head office in new york they decided to bequeath the company and all its mines to them it's all there in black and white. mayor don't document this by way of this document signed in the presence of a notary in new york. that it's now known as the new york act. yes there it is amenable as through this at the donation was made to the workers say by way of

payment. the new york act orders the managers are from tino to transfer all the property to the workers and retired workers or to their unions it was authentic aided by the colombian consulate in one thousand nine hundred nine the document was then handed over to the government which was responsible for announcing the good news to the miners get us there what happened then. and then says trade ministry and the minister did that all employment ministry at the time and the columbia consulate in new york kept these documents secret deal. for twenty years the workers were unaware that frontino had decreed them the mines the company was run by local managers who got richer and richer wagon after wagon. but in two thousand while searching through the archives of the ministry of economy by pure chance a trade unionist and earth's the new york act from then on the workers are going to

do everything in their power to recover frontino. but they have a dangerous man to contend with a certain carlos mario humanise alias macaco the macaque at the head of a paramilitary group of five thousand men he controls the entire region from the cocaine trafficking to the gold production activities. macaco is a bad time one of the unofficial owners of the frontino minds he operates them illegally by way of front might. be high on all our gold behind all our riches are the economic interests of armed groups like the paramilitaries. paramilitary groups such as macaco as were organized by rich landowners to control the marxist guerrilla group the fox. they terrorized the country for twenty years. often with the backing of the regular army. it's insecure via

moreover where they perpetrate one of their first massacres in one nine hundred eighty eight forty three people are killed in the town center their favorite targets the trade unionists and leftist political activists. since that time the trade union leaders such as the euro ruah received death threats on a regular basis for their protection bodyguards permanently accompany them wherever they go. in the early two thousand the trade unionists come up against the paramilitary leader macaco is hold over the sea go via mines. they see their frontino heritage escape them little by little this territory rich in gold. so they take their case to court and the court rules in their favor.

over those go a court and they did mean to get a court that deals with matters relating to labor disputes rendered its decision at the end of two thousand and six and recognize that the minds of the front two new gold mines company belong exclusively to the workers and retired workers and that was the loudest in the face of the city and in two thousand and seven the supreme court of justice confirmed that decision. but strangely enough it's the colombian government that opposes frontino being given to the workers it appeals and manages to overturn all the decisions in favor of the trade unionists and the government at the time is led by president alvaro. he becomes personally involved in the case the frontier no company is overindebted he places it under direct control of the state . is busy and down but already. again if they the president. if there is from this region was very preoccupied and.

nationality he had managed to resolve the major problems of the country but not those of his own region. it was and this was like a thorn in his side for him or more now it's been and for all. of our a rebate has to deal with macaco the local paramilitary leader he names a commission of four experts to advise him on frontino his future according to our investigation three of them have ties with macaco one of them is even his financial advisor rolin day i'm a businessman so here's a man who at the same time advises both the colombian president and a mafia leader as these documents from the chamber of commerce prove at the time the lindy runs at least two of macaco companies they serve as fronts for laundering money from cocaine trafficking. we make an unannounced visit to these mid enough asus equipped with

a hidden camera to linda has never been bothered by the legal authorities he wishes to remain discreet. that. bugged me. i won't give an interview i'm sorry but no. person to feel important because of the country's political situation your work and now that president or e bay is no longer in power. all those who helped are now being persecuted politically want to be brought to you and we were simply a team of advisors to the private sector advisors. and we guided the president in his decisions here. but you knew macaco personally. if he was one of my a longstanding customers get in the boat tires for. lindy won't tell us anything more he denies this collude. between the mafia and the government which prevents

the unionists from recovering frontino that in two thousand and eight president a rebate is going to become sole game master he manages to eliminate macaco and washington's request he extradite him to the united states together with the other main paramilitary leaders all accused of drug trafficking macaco is sentenced in florida to thirty three years imprisonment but there's still no question of handing over the mines to the workers the rebate looks for a more powerful investor. frontino his fate is sealed in two thousand and ten the government sells the company to a newly set up canada based multinational corporation granted colombia gold in suburbia workers and trade unionists give vent to their anger. in some most recently believe and are almost sure of it that the president already begun as financial interests in this matter say what he wants in fact and says to take our minds into. the unionist accuses of our rebate he can't prove that the

ex-president has direct interest in the new company but strangely enough the main winners in this matter or people closely connected to of are a rebate. at the side of the foreign investors at the head of grand columbia we find mario pacheco his first campaign manager. martinez his minister of mines and more importantly occupying the post of chairman and managing director maria consuelo next minister of culture and a close friend of the president delighted to celebrate in two thousand and eleven the company's entry into the toronto stock market is little more such an act of theft is totally unprecedented. not only in colombia but in the world. i've never heard of such a case as ours where so much money and gold has been stolen for so many years. for the managers of the multinational the tribune with claims or without foundation.

many people thought that they would obtain this mine defacto. through violence and usurpation. but i think that the colombian government made the right choice that they needed a company that had the technical capacity and experience to operate the miners i mean if you know and if we didn't have any enemies unionists or others i mean i would be very worried. that would mean there are mines aren't worth much at all to me and. how do you explain the death rates received by the trade unionists not you know no the contrary would be strange you know of year there's nothing unusual about someone receiving a threat. how often have we received threats some people have offered millions were done jose said. i mean if someone receives it right here it's. if we don't threaten anyone. the sailor from tino to grand columbia was concluded four months before the end of our early base mandate.

as a fighter for the people. who have tried for a safer more prosperous and more just country the former president left power in two thousand and ten he tours around the country to defend his track record long left colombia. still very popular he loves to mingle with the crowd but hates interviews we made several attempts to question him about from tino in vain we made another attempt during a political meeting in the build a tar region the us and see go via the workers' union a frontino claim that the company belongs to them and that your government sold it to your friends or you have to say about that mr president soon. as the president began to say. no answer but his campaign smile has disappeared we want to give us his version of the facts as for the trade unionists

us to go via they continue their combat before the law courts they ask the colombian government for sixteen billion euros in compensation the value of the gold extracted from their minds over these past thirty years. it's.

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