In recent years, there have been many strikes and protests. This has led to hundreds of arrests, scores of injuries and several protester deaths.
The struggle has broken out again with renewed intensity, provoked by the aggressive posturing of a mining company with a deeply flawed history in the area.
At the end of last year, the Peruvian government reluctantly announced a suspension of building work at Newmont-Buenaventura’s proposed open-pit copper and gold mine at Conga.
The US$5 billion mega project is an extension of the existing Yanacocha mine, notorious for devastating mercury spills that have led to a local epidemic of birth defects and cancer. It is backed by Wall Street and the World Bank, whose investment arm has weighed in as a minority shareholder.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/54431
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