11 May 2011 | News | Resisting neoliberalism | Social activists at risk
Resource contention
Half of Peru’s social conflicts are environmentally driven
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In Peru, public attention is focused on the run-off that will take place next June 5, between candidates Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori. Amid polls, alliances and campaign promises, a report of the Ombudsperson about the social conflicts in Peru was leaked to the press.
According to the report, released by the National Radio Coordinator (CNR), in April there were 233 social conflicts in Peru, of which 117 (50.2%) were environmentally-related.
The defense of natural resources and the resistance to extractive industries are the main cause of conflicts in Peru, much more than the conflicts that arise from claims before the local government and the Executive Branch.
One of the most complicated conflicts that took place in April confronted the peasant community of Oyon and mining company Buenaventura, leading to the killing of at least four peasants by the police on April 17.
Everyday there are social protests in different parts of the country, waiting for the political course the country will take after the outcomes of the elections.
For instance, today May 11, the news agency Prensa Latina reports that two important access routes to Lima, the Peruvian capital, are blocked by demonstrators.
In one of the cases local organizations are demanding the annulment of a government decree that freezes public expenditure, in the other one, thousands of cotton producers protest against the monopoly of big corporations.
Amid the electoral campaign, the Network Against the Criminalization of the Social Protest raised these issues. They are part of the main workers’ unions of the country and of organizations like the Confederation of Peasant Communities Affected by Mining in Peru (CONACAMI).
According to this coalition “the criminalization of the social protest has worsened in Peru during Alan Garcia’s administration in response to the increase and worsening of the social conflicts”. The numbers presented by these groups are self-explanatory: 77 people died in social conflicts from
June of 2006 to March of 2011.
“In all cases, the responsible are police officers. It is scary, for example, in the case of Angelica Santiago Rufino who died at 9 months old because the police threw tear gases at the hospital during the Uyacali social protest”, said the Peruvian organizations.
Photo: www.cnr.org.pe
