Peru’s deadly gold mining conflicts test leaders
LIMA: Both candidates running for president of Peru have vowed to create jobs and wealth.
In a land of gold and copper, that means tackling deadly disputes over mining.
US companies such as gold miner Newmont and Southern Copper are busy extracting minerals from the Peruvian Andes, helping the economy outperform many of its neighbors.
But such projects have sparked deadly protests by locals in rural areas who say the mining damages the environment.
That has put the two right-ofcenter candidates in Sunday’s presidential runoff vote in a bind.
Frontrunner Keiko Fujimori, the 41- year- old daughter of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori, has vowed to improve life for poor rural communities.
Her opponent, former banker and mining executive Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, has made similar promises.
But both have also vowed to invest in the country’s mines, one of its biggest assets, accounting for 10 per cent of the economy.
In doing so, they risk the mistrust of voters.
“We don’t expect anything from either candidate, since they both defend the current model,” said Wilfredo Saavedra, president of the Environmental Defense Front in the northern mining city of Cajamarca.
“Whoever governs the country must respect the popular will: no to mining near the heads of rivers, no to open-cast mining and yes to protection of the ecosystem.”
In recent years protests have forced the suspension of various copper, gold and silver mining projects, according to the Peruvian Economic Institute, a non-profit development group.
The investment in those projects is valued at US$ 21.5 million overall, the group says.
Civilians have been killed in clashes with police at protests, including actions against mining by Newmont and Southern Copper.
The state ombudsman says 69 people have been killed in such protests since 2011.
Meanwhile unregulated mining activities are poisoning local villages.
The government declared an environmental emergency last month in 11 Amazon jungle districts where mercury pollution blamed on unregulated gold mining poisoned people and fish.
Carlos Galvez, president of the National Mining Society, complains of a ‘ doubl e standard.’
“Legal operations with environmental precautions are not being permitted, while there are a lot of people involved in illegal mining in prohibited areas,” he told AFP. — AFP