Friday, January 2, 2015

Check out my new website with my completed history of Siuna, Nicaragua!

www.jastrzembski.com/siuna/

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Former Headquartes of La Luz and Los Angeles Mining Company

This site (I don't know if it is the same building, but it looks like it could be old enough to be the same one) once housed the headquarters of La Luz and Los Angeles Mining Company, which operated in Siuna, Nicaragua.


View Larger Map

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Translation?

I am looking for help in the future translating the history of Siuna, Nicaragua I am working on into Spanish. This is a very important aspect of the project because it would make the information I have collected available to the wider Siuna and Nicaragua community. I do not have any resources to support this, so it would have to be on a volunteer basis. If you are a fluent English and Spanish writer, let me know if you are interested!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

History of Siuna, Nicaragua Part I (draft)

I have posted the first part of the history as a pdf here.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

I have been working intermittently on this project since September 2008. The work was part of my Fulbright Grant in Anthropology in Nicaragua from September 2008 to July 2009.

Part II will be coming sometime before June 2010. The next version will have more polished writing and include recent history and more details. I want to transform this somehow into a more academic article in the future. I also hope to get a version translated into Spanish eventually.


A great companion to reading about Siuna are the historical and contemporary photos of Siuna collected by Jim Drebert.

Also helpful for those unfamiliar with the geography of the area is this 1961 map from La Luz Mines Limited (Courtesy of University of Western Ontario Libraries).

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Migrant Farm Worker Killed in Tragic Farming Accident.


For Immediate Release                                                             
December 23, 2009 


Contact: Brendan O’Neill
Vermont Workers’ Center
802-825-1609

Vermonters Grieve “Invisible Life and Death”
of Migrant Farm Worker Killed in Tragic Farming Accident.
Candle Light Vigil remembers and mourns
“Invisible Life and Death” of Oveth Santis Cruz and
calls for Immediate Immigrant Rights in Vermont.

On December 22, 2009 on a bone chilling winter afternoon in Fairfield, Vermont on Howrigan dairy farm 17 year old Oveth Santis Cruz from the town of Las Margaritas, Chiapas, Mexico was killed in a tragic farming accident. The death was confirmed by his co-workers and family members last night as concern and sadness spread throughout the migrant farm worker community mourning the young migrant farm workers’ death. Oveth is survived by roughly 80 extended family and community members who currently live and work on Vermont dairy farms.

Although, Oveth Santis Cruz’s family members might like to gather together as a family and community here in Vermont to mourn this tragic death they expressed fears that doing so would mean risking deportation—they are not free to do so. As Vermont resident Brendan O’Neill, a family friend, migrant farm worker advocate, ESL teacher, and member of the VT Workers’ Center, who was in touch last night with relatives who survive Oveth, commented, “Sadly, here in Vermont and throughout the United States migrant farm workers cannot even gather as a community and mourn family members deaths without fearing deportation. Family members have expressed concern to ensure that Oveth’s body is respectfully and swiftly returned to his family in Chiapas, Mexico.”

Today, Wednesday December 23, 2009 Vermonters are invited to gather for a silent and solemn candle light vigil organized by O’Neill and hosted by the Vermont Workers’ Center that will begin at 5 p.m at 294 N. Winooski Avenue in Burlington at the Vermont Workers Center to honor the hard work, sacrifice and tragic death of migrant farm worker Oveth Santis Cruz. The candlelight vigil procession will leave from the VT Workers’ Center at 6pm and make its way through the streets of Burlington to continue the vigil in front of the UU Church on Church St. O’Neill adds, “Oveth Santis Cruz is one of approximately 2,000 migrant farm workers who have come to the aid of our Vermont Dairy Farms in crisis and yet despite their essential contributions to Vermont due to an unjust, broken and oppressive U.S. immigration system they are forced to live and in this case die in fear, silence and in the shadows.” He added, “In the state of Vermont and throughout the United States the invisible hands that milk so many of our cows and pick so many of our vegetables, which literally puts the food on the table, live and die invisibly without the dignity and respect that all human beings deserve.”

The vigil is dedicated to the life of Oveth Santis Cruz and calls upon Vermonters to commit themselves to work for real immigration reform that recognizes and respects the basic needs, dignity and human rights of all immigrants.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Artisanal Gold Mining

Here are two things related to my projects with Artisanal Gold Mining in Nicaragua.

Below is a video I made that describes the artisanal gold mining process using mercury-gold amalgamation in the Mining Triangle, Nicaragua.



Here is a document I wrote based on the work of Marcello Veiga that describes in Spanish some of the ways to reduce the risks of working with mercury in the artisanal gold mining process. I made this document as part of a project with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center I am working on investigating the potential ototoxic effects of mercury on hearing among gold miners in Nicaragua.

¿Cómo Reducir Los Riesgos Del Mercurio? (How do I reduce the risks of mercury?)

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Old Newsreel from Mining Triangle, Nicaragua

Paramount News Newsreel describing jet plane transportation to the gold mining town of Siuna, Nicaragua. Includes Spanish subtitles. Thanks to SPPN Images for finding this footage.

Released December 13, 1946