Empty seat at the table highlights the plight of women in the energy transition in Latin America

But one participant was conspicuously absent: Colombian union and community activist Greyci Solano Pérez had to pull out at the last-minute following credible death threats and acts of intimidation. She is now lobbying the prosecutor for protection, with the full support of SINTRACARBÓN and IndustriALL Global Union.

Greyci works at Cerrejón, the biggest open-cast coal mine in Latin America owned by the mining giant Glencore. She is a rank-and-file leader of IndustriALL affiliate SINTRACARBÓN. She is also the chair of her local community action, which has been harshly impacted by the mine. She heads up a municipal group that has been vocal in demanding that mining royalties contribute to lift local communities out of poverty and in calling for popular involvement in the municipal budgeting process. The group also spearheaded demands for Cerrejón to provide employment opportunities for local youth.

This did not sit well with oppressive municipal authorities or with the armed groups that routinely use violence to silence anyone who gets in their way.

Speaking by video link during the meeting, Solano Pérez said: "If we allow royalties from the mine to be misused while the mine is still operating, how much worse will it be when the time comes for the mine to close. This is a social catastrophe in the making".

Greyci is right to be concerned. Glencore's track record in the north of Colombia is appalling. When coal prices dropped in 2020, Glencore put its nearby Prodeco mine on care and maintenance, later closing it without putting a proper social plan in place. The mine closure left thousands workers jobless, failed to made reparations for its environmental devastation, and turned local communities into ghost towns.

Participants at the Bogotá meeting expressed their full solidarity with Greyci Solano Pérez and reiterated demands for the prosecutor to investigate and take all necessary measures to preserve her life and her integrity.