The Mining Industry in Latin America

Abstract

Objective: at the end of the last decade of the 20th century, Latin America witnessed the arrival of an intense flow of foreign investment for exploration and mining activities. This article covers the impact of extractivism on some of the conflicts in Latin America. Methodology: the research used the political science comparative method to analyze quantitative and qualitative data, both governmental and non-governmental, to understand the socio-environmental conflicts caused by mining, especially gold mining in Latin America. The results are geo-referenced as a way to represent the intensity of conflicts in the geographic space. Results: the race of corporate, state and hegemonic actors to be lords and masters of natural biomass and mineral reserves has revealed interests in controlling not only how states manage, but also nature itself. Conclusions: it is found that large multinationals are negatively impacting social, economic, and political conflicts in South America and the Caribbean. The social license to operate granted to multinationals fails to reduce conflicts in the territories. Governmental policies, despite recognizing social and environmental rights, continue to give free rein to the exploitation of nature: ignoring the objectives of sustainable development, favoring the accumulation of capital of northern countries by dispossessing the environmental and social wealth of the countries of South America and the Caribbean.