19 April 2011 | News | Human rights | Extractive industries
Bloody Sunday
At least four peasants murdered in mining conflict in Peru
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Four peasants were killed Sunday 17 of April by the police of Oyon province in Peru. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing investigation into the violent repression in Arequipa, Peru, where the mining project Tia Maria was finally called off, and where there was a conflict between the local population and the company Compañia Minera Buenaventura.
The opposers to mining were blocking the access to a land owned by the corporation when 600 police officers arrived there to repress. There were serious consequences, according to Coordinadora Nacional de Radios (CNR).
The Peasant Community of Oyon reports they have been victim of “ill treatment and indifference” by Minas Buenaventura and they said that after almost two weeks of conflict, the mining corporation said last week that they would go to the mining site to negotiate with the affected.
“But on Friday 15 only two employees of the company showed up with little instructions other than to continue delaying the process”, they said in a public document, where they express the pain over the four murders that took place yesterday.
The residents of Oyon demand a compensation for a water and sewage project and to have their lands back, which have been “usurped” by the mining corporation.
The repression in Oyon seem to be business as usual for many Peruvians. For example, the conflict around the finally called off Tia Maria mining project, which is run by Southern Peru, located in Islay province, resulted in three people dead, according to Peruvian media.
Friday 15 April, CNR had reported that Peruvian human rights organizations were preparing to file a lawsuit against the State for damages to the family of Andrés Taype Choquepuma, Aurelio Huacarpuma and Néstor Cerezo Patana, the three deadly victims of the confrontations in Islay.
