Peru: Update – Attempted eviction and intimidation of land rights defender Maxima Acuña de Chaupe an
Peru: Update – Attempted eviction and intimidation of land rights defender Maxima Acuña de Chaupe and her family
Posted 2015/2/11
On 5 February 2015, at approximately 10:00 am, some 200 employees of the mining company Yanacocha attempted to invade the property of land rights defender Ms Maxima Acuña de Chaupe. To date, approximately 80 armed policemen are maintaining a constant watch over the property. The mining company has installed a surveillance post in front of the family's home, from which the family are constantly monitored by personnel of the company.
Máxima Acuña de Chaupe is a member of the Asociación de Mujeres en Defensa de la Vida (Association of Women in Defence of Livelihood) and of the Unión Latinoamericana de Mujeres - ULAM (Latin American Women's Union). The human rights defender has lived on her land in the area known as Tragadero Grande, Sorochuco, Cajamarca for over 20 years. In 2011, the Yanacocha mining company attempted to buy the human rights defender's land and when she refused to sell, a campaign of intimidation and violence ensued. Máxima Acuña de Chaupe has become a figurehead of the opposition to the open-pit gold and copper mine, named Conga, and has supported people who have been forcibly evicted as a result of the mining development. Yanacocha is jointly owned by the US Newmont Mining Corporation (51.35%) Peru's Minas Buenaventura (43.65%), and the World Bank (5%), and aims to extract minerals in an area of over 2,000 hectares, including four mountain-top lakes, which are the sources of five rivers that provide water for agriculture, livestock and human consumption by the population.
This latest intimidation comes two days after the demolition of the construction of a new home of land rights defender. The demolition follows the trespass onto the property of Máxima Acuña de Chaupe on 20 January 2015 by 15 police officers carrying arms and shields and accompanied by engineers of the mining company and members of the Swedish security firm SECURITAS. The human rights defender has reported all of these incidents, but reportedly the authorities have taken no action to protect her or her family.
On 17 December 2014, the Court of Justice of Cajamarca ruled in favour of Máxima Acuña de Chaupe and her family, declaring them innocent of charges of trespass brought against them by the mining company Yanacocha. However, the company reportedly maintains that the human rights defender is unlawfully occupying its territory and that the demolition and trespass upon her property were performed “in the defence of its rights and in strict compliance with the law.” In August 2011 and in February 2014, Máxima Acuña de Chaupe and her family were the victims of an attempted forced eviction and they have received death threats on a number of occasions.
Front Line Defenders expresses its grave concern at the new intimidation and attempted forced eviction of Máxima Acuña de Chaupe and her family, which it believes to be directly linked to her peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of land rights.
http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/28067#sthash.6ribtDnX.dpuf
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Newmont Mining Corp: Human Rights/Environmental Violations, Cajamarca, Peru
Newmont Mining Corp. is the principle shareholder of Minera Yanacocha S.R.L, a joint venture between Newmont (51.35%), the Peruvian Buenaventura (43.65%) company, and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (5%).[1] Minera Yanacocha owns the Yanacocha mine located in Cajamarca, Peru. Spread across 600 sq. miles, it is the second largest and most profitable gold mine in the world.[2] The Yanacocha open pit mine has generated several controversies since its launch in 1993, particularly for causing severe damage to local water resources.[3]
The familiar view of mining as a driver for local economic development proved false in Cajamarca: after hosting 20 years of mining activities, the region is still one of the poorest in the country.[4] While companies claim to create employment opportunities, many residents in the area have lost their livelihoods.[5] Frequent water shortages, environmental destruction, and the disappearance of arable land in the region all indicate that mining is irreconcilable with the dominant activities in the local economy (i.e. agriculture and tourism).[6]
Minera Yanacocha began construction of the Minas Conga project in 2010. Minas Conga is located at the convergence of five major river basins in the area. Pollution from the mine puts the region’s waterways, livelihoods, and water rights at risk.[7] The Minas Conga Project threatens to destroy four lakes, affect 680 springs, and consume at least 228,000 liters of water per hour in a region already prone to water shortages.[8] The project threatens to drastically alter Cajamarca’s surface water drainage system and would affect multiple water sources, intensifying the community’s existing environmental woes. Furthermore, the Conga project has failed to implement acceptable CSR protocols and continues to operate without consent from the local population. Upon review, the Conga project’s 9,000 page Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was described as “disorganized” and “inadequate” given the scale of investment. Conga’s EIA only recognizes 32 communities in the mine’s range of influence.[9]
According to ILO Convention No. 169, ratified by the Peruvian government, potentially affected communities had the right to be consulted regarding the Minas Conga Project – something the Peruvian government failed to do. Protests intensified in 2011 resulting in violent suppressions by Peruvian police forces and countless human rights violations. In response to the protests, the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency, placing Cajamarca under a heavy military presence for three months.[10] The Peruvian government ordered the project’s suspension shortly thereafter, in November 2011. [11]
More:
http://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/newmont-mining-corp-human-rightsenvironmental-violations-cajamarca-peru/
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Jesus H. Christ. Yanacocha.
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From Yanacocha to Conga: Peruvians keep fighting against destructive mining industry
Luisa Trujillo
December 17, 2011
Throughout history, South American nations have had their futures decided by a small number of people. It began with the Spaniards, who, as soon as they touched ground, let two or three religious and political authorities rule from 5,000 miles away. Sadly, little has changed since then, except now the ruling few are the corporate elites, empowered through government deals like the recently ratified free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States, NAFTA, and thousands of illicit licenses given to multinational companies. But this trend is beginning to change, as protests in Peru over the last month have challenged the country’s largest mining project.
The story of this ambitious and dangerously exploitative project dates back to 1993, when the US company Newmont Mining Corp. arrived in Peru to open the Yanacocha gold mine in Cajamarca, a region located in the North of the country. Using a process called “micro-mining,” which requires large quantities of a dilute cyanide solution to capture minuscule pieces of gold, Yanacocha ended up contaminating the region’s water sources–a fact overloked by then-president Alberto Fujimori and his intelligence strongman Vladimiro Montesinos.
When they left power in 2000, their many crimes over the years began to come to light. In regards to Yanacocha, it was revealed that Montesinos accepted bribes from Newmont to convince the Peruvian Supreme Court to allow its mining operations in Cajamarca.
For 18 years, the people of Cajamarca have used water that was contaminated with chemical waste to irrigate their crops and, in a chain of disasters, it has affected their animals as well. Farmers reported widespread livestock deaths and a 40 percent decrease in crop yields, since 2009. The contamination has also caused breathing illnesses in children, denounced by the inhabitants but continually denied by national health authorities.
More:
http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/from-yanacocha-to-conga-peruvians-keep-fighting-against-destructive-mining-industry/