Agro leaders to protest Barrick Gold contract on Friday

Santo Domingo.- The country’s agro producers grouped in CONFENAGRO on Tuesday called for a series of protests on Friday April 12, in rebuke of Barrick Gold’s contract, which calls for only 3% of the profits from the gold mined at Cotuí, in Dominican Republic’s northeast.

Organization president Erick Rivero said the associations 3,000 members will march on horses, tractors, motorbikes and even on foot to demand the Dominican people’s right to reap more benefit from the mine.

He said producers cannot sit back and allow Barrick Gold’s “abuse” of the country, adding that the mine pollutes rivers in Los Cacaos de Hatillo, killing thousands of cattle, as area ranchers sustain huge losses.