Thirty media outlets in the Forbidden Stories consortium of investigative journalists, including FRANCE 24, are continuing the work of Colombian journalist Rafael Moreno, who was murdered in October 2022. In particular, Moreno was investigating Cerro Matoso, an open-pit nickel mine in Colombia's northern Córdoba region. For 40 years, its operation by an Australian company has been eating away at the ancestral land of the Zenú Indians, who accuse the mine of spreading disease and desolation on their land. FRANCE 24's Pascale Mariani, Juan Orozco, Julia Courtois and Juan Cortés report.
On October 16, 2022, Moreno was shot dead at the place where he worked in northern Colombia. A few days before his death, the Colombian journalist had contacted Forbidden Stories, an international consortium of investigative journalists offering to protect the work of colleagues under threat. Moreno shared the threats he received on a daily basis and decided to share all the investigations he was working on.
For six months, a group of around 30 journalists took over his work. A FRANCE 24 team travelled to Colombia to pursue one of the slain journalist's main topics of investigation: mining in Córdoba province.
In this northern region, the huge Cerro Matoso nickel mine is destroying fauna and flora, but also the health of the surrounding population. In some communities, diseases have been spreading for years: from cancers to respiratory, rheumatological and skin problems. But the operation of the mine, owned by Australian company South 32, is defended by powerful lawyers. In its legal battles with the local population, the firm usually ends up having the last word.
