this grey 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 such tremble. nervous disorders memory loss you thinks of mercury or devastating in the air in the water in seville 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 a go vias fifty thousand inhabitants. a parallel economy that has a oro had of gone 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 jose oral rides around in an armored four by four he wants to show us that he's perfectly at ease and to go via that he's at home. here everywhere even at the

barber shop. if. someone wants to say aloud to me my out of the major ally you have this in let me introduce you to some french journalists a major is the chief of the city police is he the very good friend of ours. we have a contract with the police a contract with the army a contract with the city hall. the name on it 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. those are the most of who we've been the victim of a very strong demonization campaign you know sort of cause and we think that's a bit of the radio we're going to be able to change all that. but they have a good those facilities so if anyone wants to try to compete with this sort of

influencing the population and i'm sorry but a level they're going to lose. a lot of the things that. 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 i'm putting it out we can count on the support of the employees of grand colombia which owns the mining rights in this region to try to wrestle. 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.

you know i would not but i'm asking you the question do you have a mining permit. you know no one has a permit i applied for one but they never gave it to me yet i bet you know they. are going to start standing if that's how it is you know i don't know if you want us to want to work so we're going to steal and kill or we'll start drug trafficking . and. i think the only civilian amongst the policeman and engineer from gong colombia guides the troops now a list of the mines to be closed down is displayed on his mobile phone screen to see get 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 content 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. they let you know i am part of

this is a minor protests he was in the middle of negotiations with kong colombia to legalize his mining operate i mean let's face it as proof he holds out a business card in the name of who is a auro the head of the multinational into go via. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that the americans call. a. i'm sorry i'm just a guy who cares and. you know what my son. wants to defeat terrorism. the crystal ball can secure go to

the top of the globe are going to distract us from what you and i should care about because they're a profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i'm abby martin and we're going to break that. little. live alone with. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got this huge earth covered. ok.

then it oh yes i i. it appears that jose oro is far from having one over to go via. today may the first the employees are wrong columbia are out in the street they're demanding wage increases. not small scale miners and local inhabitants are demonstrating alongside the. image of the crowd one man personifies the revolt of the entire town. but they want to know. that. the euro is president of the gobi a mine workers union today he's the multinationals leading adversary to contest the

company's right to operate as a go via mines which up until two thousand and ten belong to different you know company he speaks of theft one third artist i mean other by giving the minds of the front you know gold mines company the national they have violated all 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 to sleep in front of the microphones and film cameras. by saying is that then what do we demand the most that we demand that once and for all they give us back the front you know mind does they are ours. it would seem that the minds of our. wrong to the employees to prove it they are ruined takes us to his office 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 unpaid 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. it's now known as the new york act. yes there it is amenable it's through this that i think donation was made to the workers say by way of payment. the new york act orders the managers or 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 over what happened then. and then says oh see the trade ministry and i mean these they did that all employment ministry at the time and the columbia consulate in new york kept this document secret. for twenty years the workers were unaware the frontino had between 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 at that time one

of the unofficial owners of the frontino minds he operates them illegally by way of frontman. is that i find 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 since ago 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 sold 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 a new gold mines company belong exclusively to the workers and retired workers in tell us about it in the space of let's sit 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. 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. you've been seeing down. 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 regions. was and this was like a thorn in his side for him or more been in football. but elvira 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 a median businessman so here is 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 mini offices equipped with a hidden camera the linda has never been bothered by the legal authorities he wishes to remain discreet. at that. but. i won't give an interview i'm sorry but no. person to be on board because of the country's political situation you're working to now that president or

e bay is no longer in power and numbers all those who helped him are now being persecuted politically we got a few and we were simply a team of advisors in the private sector advisors. and we guided the president in his decisions here. but you pneumococcal personally. if he was one of my a longstanding customers getting a boat tires from. 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 grant 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 made it as a financial interests in this matter. 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 interests 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 gran colombia 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 arago ex 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 as the role moved 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 and that they needed a company that had the technical capacity and experience to operate the mines i mean you know and if we didn't have any enemies unionists or others i mean i would

be very worried. that would mean that our minds aren't worth much 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. we don't really want to. the sailor from tino to grand columbia was concluded four months before the end of all of our early days mandate. as a fighter for the people. who have strived 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 baton region bruce and she 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 you're suing. the president again i have. 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 asked me colombian government for sixteen billion euros in compensation the value of the gold instructed from their mines over these past thirty years.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok. i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. i.