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VERDE COMO EL ORO IMPACT CAMPAIGN
SOUTHWEST ANTIOQUIA
JULY 9th 2021
SYNOPSIS
Verde como el Oro is an urgent documentary that unveils the determination of a community confronting a mega-mining project in the southwestern region of Antioquia, Colombia. It serves as a powerful warning to national authorities about the looming threat of an environmental catastrophe.
CAMPAIGN
Our case study focuses on the impact campaign for the documentary Verde como el Oro, which aimed to amplify the voices of grassroots organizations.
2021 Campaign budget: less than $3,000 USD.
Over two weeks, alongside the film’s release, we launched a flexible campaign to expose inconsistencies in the company’s environmental licensing documents. Many of these flaws, later highlighted by Colombia’s National Environmental Authority, were already outlined in the film and translated into visual materials for the campaign.
The campaign helped shift national public opinion and influenced the licensing process. In November 2021, the Quebradona mining license was officially archived, marking a major victory for environmental justice and reflecting the connection local communities feel toward their land—key to understanding over a decade of resistance to mega-mining.
While mainstream media amplified corporate narratives, grassroots organizations gathered critical evidence. Their work, along with growing support from environmental leaders and politicians, reshaped national conversations on extractivism and territorial justice.
CONTEXT
In the global shift toward renewable energy, demand for metals like copper and lithium is growing rapidly—driven by the needs of the Global North. Latin America has become a major supplier, placing immense pressure on some of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
In Colombia, over 90% of the land in southwestern Antioquia is under request for mining exploration. One of the most serious threats is a proposed dry tailings dam capable of holding 119 million tons of toxic waste, just one kilometer from the Cauca River, Colombia’s second largest river. The project would alter the river’s morphology and endanger ecosystems vital for global climate regulation.
Verde como el Oro evokes the deep connection local communities feel toward their land—key to understanding over a decade of resistance to mega-mining. A central argument in the film is the presence of the Andean bear, whose habitat overlaps the mining zone but was omitted from environmental impact studies by AngloGold Ashanti.
While mainstream media amplified corporate narratives, grassroots organizations gathered critical evidence. Their work, along with growing support from environmental leaders and politicians, reshaped national conversations on extractivism and territorial justice.
SOUTHWEST ANTIOQUIA
JULY 9th 2021
OBJECTIVE
Our strategy focused on exposing the risks and scale of the environmental and social impacts of AngloGold Ashanti’s Quebradona project. It aimed to challenge the company’s environmental impact study and question the benefits it claimed for the project.
We relied on research conducted by local organizations (Corporación GAIA, COMFAMA, Visión Suroeste, and Terrae), which had gathered evidence of the mine’s potential harm to water sources, biodiversity, Indigenous communities, and the region’s agricultural vocation.
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Activate a public conversation that could mobilize national opinion and collectively pressure the National Environmental Authority to stop AngloGold Ashanti’s mining project in southwest Antioquia, Colombia.
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Inform the affected communities of the potential consequences the mine could have in the region.
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Acknowledge the voices of resistance from the communities living in the territory.
- Amplify the social and environmental impacts that AngloGold Ashanti had minimized or, in some cases, concealed in their mining proposal.
RESULTS
The National Environmental Agency
archived mining license for Quebradona mine
October 2021
10K National Trend: #ANLANiegueQuebradona (July 16th 2021)
104K People reached daily on social media
145,066 Allied publications
41 Press publications
1 Fanzine “The Mine” with distribution in Colombia and Mexico
7,556 Podcast listens: “Soy de la Resistencia” – Dos Latina Foundation Channel
10 Media Outlets: Interviews on TV and radio
DIRECTOR
Isabella Bernal
PRODUCERS
Isabella Bernal, Felipe Macia, Andrea Gil
SCRIPTWRITER
Felipe Macia
COLLECTIVES
Salvemos al Suroeste @salvemosalsuroeste
Visión Suroeste @visionsuroeste
NGO’s
Terrae Goeambiental
Gina Borré (Dos Latinas) and Juan Camilo Maldonado (Mutante)
LEAD LAWYER
Maria Elisa Arango
THEMES
Mega-mining / Tropical Andes / Impact Campaign / Film / Human Rights / Environmental Defense
AWARDS, FESTIVALS & PUBLICATIONS
Pulitzer Rainforest Journalism Grant, France 24, Case Study Mediateca de Cine de Impacto Social Latinoamericana, Festival Planet On, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Case Study Center of Media and Social Impact at American University, Massachusetts
CAMPAIGN IMPACT STRATEGY
Felipe Macía, Isabella Bernal, Andrea Gil and Maria Paula Estrada