Two people were killed during a violent eviction of about 500 illegal gold miners in northern Peru, reports El Comercio (in Spanish).
The newspaper reports some 500 miners armed with stones and explosives clashed with police in incidents at La Libertad, about 300 km south of the gold-rich Cajamarca region. Locals have been protesting for days against the government’s decision to formalize all artisanal and small-scale miners by April 2014.
Illegal gold production in the South American nation has increased fivefold in the last six years and is estimated to provide 100,000 direct jobs in the country.
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