Colombia is a dangerous place to be a trade unionist. Teofilo Acuña is president of the mining federation of Sur de Bolivar, an area in which violence and disappearances have escalated since the arrival of multinational mining companies three years ago. AngloGold Ashanti and its subsidiary Kedahda SA have legally frozen 3.7m hectares of Colombian land and applied for mineral exploration. But the communities of Sur de Bolivar live on a portion of this land and survive on small-scale gold mining and subsistence farming. They are engaged in a fierce struggle to defend their territory. [also refers to Conquistador Mines, Corona Goldfields]