This post is for all those analysts in all those Canadian brokerages, shops, houses and newsletters that cover junior goldies in the Norte de Santander department of Colombia, for example Ventana Gold (VEN.to), Greystar Resources (GSL.to), Galway Resources (GWY.v) amongst a lot of others. And really it's more of a question for you guys up there, because I'd really like to know why you refuse to inform your clients about the unstable political situation in that region, why you refuse to pass information on the social upheavals and misery being caused by far-right wing paramilitary terrorists, why you refuse to tell people about the drug trafficking, the mass killings, the attacks on civilian populations, the displacement of entire villages under duress and the underaged girls forced into prostitution.
Why do you stay totally silent about the enormous political risks currently suffered by Norte de Santander? Do you really think that encouraging a bunch of wealthy Canadians to pour money into such an unstable region is a good idea? It seems to me that by not passing on important information about this region you are either ignorant of Norte de Santander and shouldn't be covering the stocks in the first place, or you are deliberately misleading people.
Here follows a translation of this report in Colombia's El Tiempo daily dated to last weekend, featuring the Public Defender Ombudsman Volmar Pérez Ortiz, a man that so good at his job that he was re-elected by Colombia's congress for this important role for a third consecutive term in 2008 (which runs to 2012). This person knows about one thousand times more about Norte de Santander than the equities analysts that pump these stocks to their clients.
Why do you stay totally silent about the enormous political risks currently suffered by Norte de Santander? Do you really think that encouraging a bunch of wealthy Canadians to pour money into such an unstable region is a good idea? It seems to me that by not passing on important information about this region you are either ignorant of Norte de Santander and shouldn't be covering the stocks in the first place, or you are deliberately misleading people.
Here follows a translation of this report in Colombia's El Tiempo daily dated to last weekend, featuring the Public Defender Ombudsman Volmar Pérez Ortiz, a man that so good at his job that he was re-elected by Colombia's congress for this important role for a third consecutive term in 2008 (which runs to 2012). This person knows about one thousand times more about Norte de Santander than the equities analysts that pump these stocks to their clients.
Public Defender Ombudsman Warns That Violende Impacts Vulnerable Population
Vólmar Pérez Ortiz says that violence generated by the actions of illegal groups in the Norte De Santander department has a direct impact on the most sensitive sectors.
The National Public Defender Ombudsman also indicated that the cases of violence that communities are exposed to include selective homicides, massacres, forced displacements, threats, attacks and combats using the civilian population as human shields, anti-personnel mines, use and recruitment of children and adolescents to the paramilitry and forced prostitution.
The functionary also said that the illegal groups that operate in the region such as the 'Aguilas Negras' and the 'Rastrojos' have shown a capacity of expanded control over the populations, particularly in the border areas.
"For the Defender of the People Ombudsman, the continued reality of forced transborder displacement in Norte de Santander is worrying , as in other zones of the extensive frontier with Venezuela", said Pérez, who added that the displacements do not have good estimated numbers due to the characteristics of the operations that affect undeclared refugees who do not report their situations to avoid being expelled or as a means of self-protection from the illegal groups.
Vólmar Pérez said that the forced displacements are principally as a consequence of threats and constraints from illegal armed groups on the civilian populations that live in regions close to the border.