Dear Editor,
WE write to update the public on the present situation of our case. On May 10, 2015, our gold-mining dredge in Konawaruk, Region 8, was illegally entered upon and shot up by agents of the claim holder (name and particulars supplied).

We were given permission to work on three blocks owned by this claim holder. In the process of mining, we inadvertently ended up on the edge of another block owned by this individual. After a visit by the GGMC officers, we were informed that we were on the wrong block and needed to move immediately.

We then told him that we had already invested 40 drums of fuel to clear and prepare the land, and requested just one month to work out that pit before moving. We had been paying the claim holder his 10% rent, for which we received receipts signed by the finance manager on behalf of the claim holder. Despite those payments, we were told to vacate the land immediately, and return to the three blocks on which he had originally given us permission to operate.

We then visited the claim holder’s office in Georgetown and pleaded and begged for some time, because we owed creditors and had invested so much already. Being unaware that we had stepped out of the boundary, I informed the claim holder’s finance manager that they had never marked out the boundaries of the three blocks for us, so we had no idea that we had entered another block. After begging and pleading didn’t work, we had no choice but to go the legal way.

In April, 2015, my attorney secured an Interim Injunction (particulars given) issued by the Honourable Chief Justice Mr Ian Chang against the claim holder, restraining him, his servants and agents from interfering with, obstructing, or in any manner preventing us from entering upon and mining the lands which he had rented us during the subsistence of the oral agreement between the parties. This injunction was valid until May 18th, 2015. The claim holder breached that injunction in the most brutal way in May 2015. He instructed his security guards, who are all Rural Constables, to illegally enter upon the land and shoot up everything in sight. There was a cameraman on the ground, and the leading shooter (name provided) raised his shotgun to shoot that cameraman, but the owner of the dredge placed himself in front of the gun to avoid bloodshed. At that point, the leading shooter ordered the other three gunmen to start shooting the engines; then they moved to the fuel, resulting in a worker being shot in his head.

At that point, 26 shotgun rounds were recorded fired. The shooters were video-taped picking up the spent shells as they fired. We were able to locate six spent shells, and we turned them over to the police.

The next day, 24 hours after the shooting, two police officers from Mahdia Police Station arrived at the camp. They took statements from four persons out of 19, and proceeded to the claim holder’s camp in Konawaruk, ostensibly to arrest the shooters. My husband, Mario Figueira, the owner of the dredge, accompanied the police to identify the shooters. After arriving and identifying the shooters, phone calls were made to a certain police commander. We understand that he instructed the police ranks not to arrest the shooters, whom he advised would have turned themselves in over that weekend.

We were dismayed, but there was nothing we could have done. A grave injustice was taking place in front of our eyes. The shooters subsequently turned themselves in, and lodged two of the four guns that were used. Two of the spent shells that we handed in matched the guns they turned in. They were then released on their own recognizance, and were told to report to the Mahdia station the following week.

The case was called in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court On June 7, 2015, and the men were each placed on $150,000 bail. They were represented by a prominent attorney. The prosecutor did not object to bail, neither did he present the case. My attorney, Mr K.A. Juman-Yassin, had to stand up and represent us, because the magistrate seemed prepared to release the men on their own recognizance. The case was then transferred to the Mahdia Court.

We have since been attending the Mahdia Court, which operates every three months. The trial has been set for start on January 18, 2016. We also had to sue the claim owner for damages. To this date he has not been questioned. We have also written many times to the President and the ministers, and have not received any positive feedback. We have also been informed that the claim owner and a very senior police official are very close friends. This leaves me to conclude that many people have already been paid to sweep this case under the rug.

We have since not been able to work, and are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that Guyana does not have the capacity to handle; and it leads to suicide if not dealt with. We have been getting counselling from friends and family members.

Our biggest disappointment is with the judicial system, the police investigation, and this new government. We have been running everywhere for some relief — just a glimmer of hope — but none has come, and we are left tattered and torn.

I would like the claim holders in Guyana that are doing the same things to other persons — if not to that extreme but similar — to know that there is a God. Small miners work hard and take a gamble every day with their lives in the interior. They risk losing their families, money, lives, health and sanity. Then claim holders, at their own whims and fancies, just decide to come and bully them because they could. It is a terrible and prevalent practice, and it needs to be addressed immediately.

Everyone has the right to work, this is our land. No one man could work 1000 claims on his own. Let the small miners eat. We sell our gold to the Guyana Gold Board; we support the local shops and stores; we provide employment, and we cause less destruction to the environment. Have you ever heard of a small miner smuggling gold, or causing a devastating environmental breach as what had obtained at OMAI?

Please Guyana, wake up and see what is going on in your back yard. Not because you can’t see it means it doesn’t exist. Let us speak out against these claim holders! Let us come together! Can we do it? “YES” we can!

Sincerely,
Alisha Figueira
FIGARO MINING