Six thousand people, as agreed by the Government Delegation and the organizers of the Save the Mountain Platform, took to the streets of Cáceres this Sunday to once again reject the lithium mine project.
The march traveled through the main streets of the capital of Cáceres – Cánovas, San Pedro, Gran Vía – until ending in the Plaza Mayor, where a manifesto was read in which “the struggle of more than seven years” was valued. .against the project. “We will defend Cáceres in the streets and we will defend Cáceres in the courts,” they warned.
The platform was pleased with the good response to this call, since it almost doubled the number of participants in the first demonstration against the mine, which took place on February 3, 2018, when this group denounced the polls carried out in the Valdeflórez valley. . the company Extremadura Mining SL, a subsidiary of the Australian company Infinity Lithium, and a municipal decree ordered its suspension for exceeding the minor works permit granted.
The demonstration started at midday from the Plaza de América with a banner leading the way that read “No to the Cáceres Mountain Mine”. There was no political representation at the head, only members of different groups, such as Save the Mountain, AmA Cáceres and the delegate of Hispania Nostra in Extremadura, Alejo Hernández Lavado.
The regional leader of Unidas Podemos and deputy of the Extremadura Assembly, Irene de Miguel, participated in the call, alongside the municipal spokesperson of the Purple Party of Cáceres, Consuelo López. In statements to EFE, regarding the lack of participation of other political parties with institutional representation, De Miguel attributed this to the fact that there are currently no elections. “When there are elections, there are more parties here. But we have always said it and we have not changed our mind: the mining project goes against the future of Cáceres,” she stressed.
De Miguel also affirmed that “commercial and economic benefits cannot come before the well-being of citizens, as was done, for example, in Valencia,” and insisted that the mine “constitutes a danger for the heritage and for the future of this city. He also referred to the controversial municipal technical report which revealed its formation, which is “devastating” and which says that the project “is incompatible with the Communal General Plan (PGM); It was kept in a drawer and another was ordered to be made, as dictated, so that the mine could finally see the light of day and have the green light in the “Junta” of Extremadura.
The spokesperson for Somos Cáceres, Raquel Iglesias, also participated in the demonstration, without municipal representation, and slogans were chanted towards the city’s mayor, Rafael Mateos, and the president of the regional government of Extremadura, María Guardiola, both from the PP. , urging them to “defend their city”.
Another banner read “Illegal mine next to the hospital,” referring to the distance of 1.5 kilometers that separates the mining site from the University Hospital of Cáceres. “No to the Sierra de Fuentes mine,” a municipality bordering the capital of Cáceres, and “They have been deceiving us for years and hiding information about the project,” other banners said.
Also “Water for Life”, which urges the Tajo Hydrographic Confederation (CHT) to recognize the existence of the Calerizo aquifer, which anti-mining groups say is in danger due to the exploitation of the deposit . “We do not play with our health”, “Cáceres wants its mountain” and “Cáceres does not want a mine, neither open nor underground”, referring to the old project of the mining company, already abandoned, d ‘operate the open pit mine. deposit.
The platform highlighted the participation of people of “all ages, who took to the streets this Sunday”, to travel through the city center with different groups, a batukada and even groups who performed, with gas masks and even an artist, José A. Secas, who locked himself in a methacrylate box at the gates of the town hall with PPE and “no to mining” signs.
Finally, in its manifesto, Save the Mountain directly accused the mining company Extremadura New Energies (ENE) of not taking the lead. It seems like a joke to the inhabitants of Cáceres”, because it is a project with “many more shadows than lights”.
And they reminded the company that the CHT indicated in a report “that it will not grant it water because it will spend double what it had stipulated”, in addition to demanding Council “of light and stenographers on this subject”. veiled project.”
