Peru

One month after the historic visit of Pope Francis to the Peruvian Amazon, the Spanish-born Bishop of Puerto Maldonado, David Martinez Aguirre, is still running on the energy high.

The organization LABOR, which is one of our partners in Peru, focuses on initiatives related to gender, family, ecology and culture, as well as on ensuring that the activities of mining companies respect the rights of communities. For nearly 35 years, LABOR has actively contributed to improving the living conditions of the residents of Cerro de Pasco, a high-altitude mining commmunity.

Near Huancayo in Peru, several communities will be affected by a major phosphates mining project that is spread out over 27,700 hectares.

The Andean mountains dominate the landscape of Peru. Yet, hidden behind their rugged beauty is a growing bleakness, as many communities that live high along those peaks are experiencing the environmental and social impacts of mining concessions. Currently, more than 13% of Peruvian territory has been given out in concessions, and generally without the consultation of communities.

A sign at the entrance of the town of Cerro de Pasco reads, “Welcome to Cerro de Pasco, the highest city in the world.”

The road from Lima to Huancayo, in the central Highlands of Peru, is a dusty and graffiti-streaked highway that climbs, at first slowly, out of a grey, mist-shrouded Lima. It is flanked by settlements of poor neighbourhoods, where pastel-coloured ramshackle houses are precariously perched on the mountainside, looking down on to a four-lane highway.

"The government is mistaken if it thinks that with bullets, torture and punches it will control the just demands of Cajamarca. The president shouldn't just defend investment. He should defend the fundamental rights of Peruvians."
- Marco Arana, environmental campaigner

Five citizens have been killed and a former catholic priest injured by police and temporarily detained – all in a context of social unrest around a proposed operation of the US mining giant, Newmont in Cajamarca, northern Peru.