Green Candidate Hoffman Calls for Change in the Amazon

The negative effect of corporations may not always be immediately evident within New Jersey, but in many regions of South America, the harm is ever-present and ever-visible. Stepping outside of the borders of the Garden State for research purposes, during the last week of June and the month of July, Green Party Candidate for Governor Madelyn Hoffman made a five week venture into Colombia, including a week in the Amazon, to see for herself the damage that a non-Green supply chain, dominated by multinational corporations, is doing to our nation’s neighbors and its people. Hoffman visited various villages and cities around Colombia, all of which in some way or another have been damaged by the corporate drive for profit. The research project, named First Suppliers Colombia, was designed to look at this concept—green supply chains—and how the production of different products, ranging from avocados to gold, influence the environment and the people who grow and manufacture them. What Madelyn saw has strengthened her belief that multinational corporations are a large part of what’s causing a negative impact on the climate, not only here in New Jersey, but across the world. It is a dynamic that must be tackled by all of us, as we seek to create a more sustainable planet.

In the port-city of Buenaventura, on the Pacific Ocean, the interest of corporations constantly threatens life and culture. While around seventy-percent of Colombia’s economy passes through Buenaventura, many citizens have little to no money, and extremely limited access to basic necessities. The vast majority of citizens who work for the corporations running the port receive scarce pay and inadequate or no pension in exchange for their contribution to the company’s profit. The company-owned ports, with the support of the Colombian government, have displaced communities that relied on a culture of fishing for food, cutting off their access to cost-free sustenance.

This displacement also poses a threat to their unique culture, which was rooted in the practice of fishing. By forcing these communities to move away from their only constant source of food, industry has also brought violence and insecurity to Buenaventura. According to Hoffman, even the midwives of the port city are put in danger because of their role in assisting women and their families, and their ability to unite the community. Madelyn recounted viewing the dark figures of cargo ships in the harbor, describing them as looming ominously above the city, a perfect metaphor for industry’s harmful presence in the people’s everyday lives.

The effects of large-scale mining has also taken a large toll on the people of Colombia, a nation that has long been a hotspot for valuable minerals. Hoffman recalled visiting a small artisanal gold mine located in Bolivar, named Alacran. The mine, run by natives of the region, is constantly threatened by a larger company, Cordoba Minerals, which wants the land for its larger mine. These companies are also often backed by the Colombian and United States governments, both of which benefit from the profits of large scale mining.

A corporation called AngloGold Ashanti, in partnership with other mining companies, has made plans to jumpstart a new mining project which would touch five different “departments” (or provinces) in the Northwest region of the nation. Not only would this add to the threat towards Alacran and other small locally-run mines, but would continue to damage the diverse ecosystem of Colombia.

The country has also turned to fracking, a method of oil extraction that has caused uproar from environmentalists here in the United States and across the world, to help mend its economic crisis. This continues to desecrate the environment all across Colombia, filling the atmosphere with methane and polluting the natural water supply which is vital towards the survival of these peoples. Already, there are communities without running water and even if there is water, in many communities that water is not fit to drink.

In the rural communities that Madelyn visited, many small farmers, known as “campesinos”, have also had their cultures and land robbed from them or threatened by big farming industry, namely companies that sell a strain of avocado called avocado hass. Prior to the entrance of this industry, small rural farmers were able to grow a variety of crops, providing income and keeping their land fertile. Farms cultivated coffee beans, bananas, papaya, mango, even fish, and other types of native produce. However, due to corporate competition nearby, many of these farmers have been forced to work their own land for large, multinational companies and in some cases even sell their land for little return. A large population of farmers turned to avocado hass, a trendy “superfood” that consumers in the United States and beyond began to buy in massive quantity. However, growers of this product were required to go from natural growth processes to the use of Monsanto's roundup, a glyphosate-based pesticide that continues to pollute the air, water, and the campesinos’ land. Taking into account the vast reliance on rivers for food and water for all purposes in this region, the use of Monsanto’s product has created ongoing problems for the indigenous and campesino peoples. Corporate pressure continues to threaten the air, water, soil (territory) and a way of life.

Corporate greed and the universal non-green supply chain continues to threaten the wellbeing of the people of Colombia, and these people deserve an end to decades of exploitation of their homeland, their families, and themselves. Madelyn Hoffman is committed to exposing these injustices by publicizing this situation to the communities in New Jersey and beyond that have been decimated by the interest of multinational corporations, and would continue this fight when in the Governor’s office.

She calls on New Jersey to take the initiative against the climate crisis by ending the use of fossil fuels, as well as reminding New Jerseyans of the effect their purchase of different products has on the ecosystem, people, and culture in the regions where they are produced. Madelyn firmly believes that our country must stop backing the Colombian government as it threatens the lives of Colombians and people in nations alike, where our consumerism takes precedence over their livelihoods. Holding corporations accountable for the damage they’ve caused is a must. There is no time to wait!