Residents of Chinese Landing-Tassawini in Region One on Friday blocked heavy-duty equipment from being transported into the community’s titled lands, amid renewed mining operations linked to businessman Wayne Vieira and an unresolved court battle.
In a statement posted on August 21, the Chinese Landing-Tassawini Village Council said residents had observed at least nine excavators, two bulldozers and several dredge engines being transported into the area on barges in recent days.
According to the council, the equipment was taken into the village without its operators notifying or obtaining permission from the local authority. It said that, to the best of its knowledge, the machinery is registered to Vieira, who holds several disputed mining blocks within the village’s title.
An eight-minute video accompanying the statement showed residents standing in front of one of four pieces of equipment and repeatedly instructing its driver to turn around.
“This is we place, bai. This is we place…this is we own. Alyuh can’t come in we home and do wah you want. This is we home,” one resident declared.
“Alyuh would like if anybody go in you all home and do wah they want in you kitchen?” another questioned.
The exchange became heated after the operator reportedly referred to the protesters as “jackasses”, prompting residents to accuse him of disrespecting them. At one point, a man and a woman climbed onto the machine, forcing the driver to switch it off.
“The machine nah pass here, boy. Alyuh kill we,” one person could be heard saying.
The residents repeatedly told the operator that they were not blaming him since he was only an employee, but insisted that the equipment be returned to the barge.
“Turn the vehicle and put it back on the boat. You all is just workmen,” one resident said.
The operator eventually turned the machine around, switched it off and left the area with the other workers, drawing expressions of satisfaction from the protesters.
The council said the confrontation occurred after the Toshao left Tassawini Landing at about 3.30 pm for the mission and miners began what it described as an attempt to bully residents who had remained to monitor the equipment.
It said the residents resorted to blocking the road into the Tassawini backdam after a Guyana Geology and Mines Commission mines officer stationed there indicated that he was either unable or unwilling to prevent the equipment from entering Vieira’s mining blocks.
The council said it was alarmed by the volume of machinery being taken into the area, particularly since the village had not consented to Vieira’s operations as it maintains is required by the Amerindian Act and the Constitution.
It added that it was engaged in good-faith discussions with Vieira in an effort to reach an interim solution while the community’s court case remains pending.
“We consider it inappropriate for Mr Vieira to prepare for or carry on mining activities while these discussions are ongoing, as these actions undermine the legitimacy and fairness of the mediation process,” the council said.
It called on the Ministry of Natural Resources and the GGMC to halt Vieira’s operations until mediation is completed and the village gives its consent.
The council said mining resumed in March and that it was informed during July’s National Toshaos Council Conference that the ban on mining in the area had been lifted.
A letter in Kiskadee Watch by Janette Bulkan stated that concerns had been raised about high mercury levels in Chinese Landing and the government’s interventions to protect residents..
The dispute has persisted for years. Chinese Landing received legal title to its lands in 1976, while Vieira obtained mining permits within the title in the 1990s. The village has maintained that mining should not occur without its free, prior and informed consent.
In 2010, the GGMC issued a cease-work order against Vieira because he did not have an agreement with the Village Council. The matter eventually reached the Caribbean Court of Justice, which ruled in 2017 that the GGMC mines officer did not have the authority under the Mining Regulations to issue the order for a breach of the Amerindian Act.
The village subsequently brought proceedings against Vieira and the GGMC in 2021. The High Court dismissed the claim without a trial, ruling that the minerals within the lands were vested in the state and that Vieira did not require the village’s permission to access the areas covered by his permits. The village appealed that decision.
In July 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures in favour of the community after receiving allegations that residents faced threats, harassment and violence because of their opposition to mining on their lands. The government subsequently suspended mining in the area, saying this was intended to protect residents while it addressed the commission’s recommendations.
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