Marmato is a town and municipality in the

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Caldas. Founded in 1540, Marmato has a population of 10,000 people. It is one of the historic gold-mining regions of the hemisphere. The town used to be the home of a large population of Cornish miners, who were drawn to this location from their native land to work the mines.

Strip mining and the murder of a priest

In 1946, after various disputes about mining rights, the government established a zone in the hills where the town stands, which was to be the preserve for mining by the various small miners of the town. This was in effect until 2007, when the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

mining company Medoro Resources merged with a Colombian company to form the conglomerate called "Gran Colombia Gold". This corporation proposed digging a massive

strip mine Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

on the site of the town, which would require the total demolition of the town and the relocation of its populace. Naturally, the people of the town have resisted this, claiming that the government had violated its own rules in agreeing to this. On 1 September 2011, the local

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

the Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

José Reynal-Restrepo The Reverend José Reynal-Restrepo (1977–2011) was a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manizales and the parish priest of the town of Marmato, Caldas in Colombia, South America. Founded in 1540, Marmato is one of the historic gold-mining ...

was returning on his

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from a trip to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, the nation's

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, to clarify the company's claims that the local

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had agreed to the sale of the Church's property in the town. He was stopped just outside the town and shot to death. Opponents of the plans to move the town claim that it was agents of the mining company who murdered him, due to his opposition to the plans. Reynal himself had made a video just days before his death, in which he said that only his death would end his opposition to the move. Spokesmen for the mining company say that his death was a regrettable case of random

banditry Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

. A partially crowdfunded documentary released in 2014, directed by Mark Grieco, chronicles six years of the battle between Gran Colombia Gold and the community.

Strip mining and the murder of a priest

Sources

See also