Gcm should have left Aris aloneMarmato has a history of resistance to mining there. The people there don't want it. The priest of the local church lobbied the government not to mine there and was murdered for it by someone tied to the mining companies. Now we have this. It would have been better if gcm left aris alone. They may end up paying for this mistake. . . "Colombia has a new President and an Anti-Miner as Minister of Mines and Energy I write these words on Saturday afternoon but by the time you read them, Colombia will have a new President as Gustavo Petro is sworn in this Sunday, August 7th. Also this weekend, we finally got the name of the person nominated as Minister of Mines and Energy. Thats Irene Vlez and if there were any doubts up to now about the policies were going to get from the new Petro government concerning mining, this should dispel them all. Irene Vlez Torres is an academic, activist and professor at a Colombia university. She formed part of Petros handover team and was first tipped to be the Minister of Science, but instead has been given the job of running the Mines and Energy Ministry. Her interdisciplinary qualifications include Political Geography, Philosophy and holds a Masters degree in Cultural Studies. She has worked on studies documenting the effects of mercury pollution from mining companies and glysophate (RoundUp) pollution from Big Agro companies on communities, as well as the effects of the drop in water tables caused by mining operations on the agricultural production of local communities."