August 13th, 2015

To the widows of the mineworkers killed by Anglo American and all the miners in Southern Africa

Comrades

The miners who work in Patagonia, in Argentina, together with the oil workers of Las Heras who were condemned to life in jail, we want to send you our warmest greetings and our deepest solidarity.
We want to tell you we are mineworkers from different places of the country, working as migrant workers, extracting gold and silver in 12 hour shifts, for 14 days in a row. A few months ago we started a struggle for a 33% increase wage and against the retrenchments of our comrades in Minera Santa Cruz – Hoschschild (Canadian and Peruvian company). The answer of the employers was to put us in jail for 7 days and dismiss us as well.

Today we are fighting to be re-hired and for all the dismissed from all the mine companies.
The same was done to our comrades, the oil workers, in 2006 who fought against the income tax and against job insecurity and from December 12, 2013 we are condemned to life sentence and jail for the Videlist justice under the commands of Cristina Kirchner, all of them servants of the same oil and mining companies that plunder our resources.

Both the mine and oil companies of the world have taken fortunes by plundering our nations. And when we go to fight the answer is always the same, repression, imprisonment, death, dismissal and prosecution.
We know, because we see it every day, that we, workers, are always the ones who suffer, while the bosses and their government  get richer with our sweat and blood. We recall that on June 14th, it is 11º anniversary of the death of 14 miners in the coal mine of Rio Turbio (southern Santa Cruz). This happened when the conveyor belt set on fire and tens of workers were trapped among smoke and fire and 14 comrades died out of suffocation. The bosses and the government wanted to show it as an accident. It was a massacre of workers in hands of bosses and the government in order to get profits!
Three years ago, a "trial" was held to against some of the responsible for this real workers slaughter ... They were all acquitted.
This is the justice of the ones above; they send to jail, condemn, repress and persecute the workers in struggle and this justice sets free and protects the murderers, exploiters and plunderers of our resources.
In Chile the Bachelet government, on the other side of Andes, murdered the comrade Quichillao who was fighting for better conditions and against the removal of conquests to the contract CODELCO mine workers in El Salvador mine which operates the multinational BHP-Billiton.
For that reason, together we say: Enough of killing and against workers who are fighting for their rights!
We call all the miners to fight together from South America where we are killed as in Chile, imprisoned and dismissed as they did with us in Minera Santa Cruz or repressed as in Potosi and Peru. From here we are with the widows of Marikana miners and all the miners in South Africa who are fighting today against Anglo American and Lonmin. We call for this August 16 to place next to the crosses of the 34 martyrs another cross in honor of a comrade Nelson Quichillao Lopez of Chile.
We call you and our comrades in Chile, Bolivia and Peru to set up an international network to fight the same mine and oil companies that attack us on either side of the ocean.
Long live our mine workers martyrs! His spirit will always be in our hearts!
This August 16, we are all Marikana miners!
Never again a worker who fights for their rights alone against the attack of the bosses, its justice and its forces of repression!
Let's fight together! An injured to one is an injured to all!
The rebellion of the slaves is not a crime, is justice!

For the dismissed miners, who are in struggle, of Minera Santa Cruz: Omar Velázquez, Cristian Durán and Eliseo Chambi
Together with the Commission of Condemned Workers, Families and Friends of Las Heras