The caravan is organized by the Latin American RIM-Red Iglesias y Minería, the CIMI-Consejo Indigenista Misionero Consejo de la CNBB-Conferencia Nacional de los Obispos de Brasil and the REPAMPan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network. In this III edition, the organizers propose "disinvestment in mining", and its slogan is "Mining-Energy Transition: solution or sacrifice of the poor and the earth?
In Spain, the organization is in charge of the alliance "Link Up for Justice." (Caritas, Cedis, CONFER, Justice and Peace, Manos Unidas and REDES), which this morning called a press conference with the Latin American representatives. At the beginning of the session, prayers were said for the Honduran activist Juan Antonio Lopez, who was assassinated on Sunday as he left Mass, leaving behind a wife and two children.
Proposal
Divestment is a proposal "as an option to stop financing socio-environmental crimes that sacrifice life in entire territories, as well as to support the end of an economic model based on extractivism, inequality and the new colonialisms of mineral extraction chains," the organizers point out.
The objective of the tour is "to promote dialogue and advocacy in ecclesial and political processes in Europe on the issues of extractive economies and energy transition, based on the denunciations and life plans of communities martyred by mining, who resist and propose alternatives".
Collaboration of institutions
In Spain, they also collaborate in the tour other institutions such as ALBOAN, Arrupe Etxea Foundation, the Bishopric of Bilbao, the Social Pastoral and Integral Ecology Commission of the CEE-Spanish Episcopal Conference, the PER-Platform for Responsible Business, the Spanish NGO Coordinator for Development, the Human Rights Observatory of the University of Valladolid, the "Save the Mountain" Platform of Cáceres and the Integral Ecology Commission of the Archbishopric of Madrid.
From September 16 to October 11, coinciding with the "Time of Creation", the representatives will visit Spain (Madrid, Bilbao, Valladolid and Cáceres), Belgium (Brussels and EU institutions), France (Paris), Italy (Rome and Vatican), Austria (Vienna and Linz) and Germany. On Wednesday they will be received at the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), and at the Conference of Religious (CONFER).
Defense of the life and rights of indigenous peoples
The III Caravan is composed of nine young activists and representatives of indigenous peoples from Argentina (Valentina Vidal), Brazil (Railson Guajajara, Ytaxaha Braz Pankararu, Christian Cravels and Guilherme Cavalli, who acted as moderator), Chile (Joan Jara Muñoz), and Peru (Vito Calderón, Father Enrique Gonzalez and the nun Gladys Montesinos, who although Peruvian is working in Bolivia).
In the opinion of the representatives, "the so-called energy transition is not moving towards a change of model, but continues to sustain the colonial and extractive system of raw materials, at the cost of the lives of thousands of people and territories".
In his analysis, there is no corporation or state in which the rights of indigenous peoples are adequately combined and respected with the obtaining of minerals, such as lithium, despite the appeals of Pope Francis in encyclicals such as Laudato si' o Fratelli tutti.
