Majaz criminalizes protest in Peru and negatively affects water, environment and life

The mining corporation Minera Majaz S.A., an enterprise developed in Peru by British transnational corporation Monterrico Metals, is being questioned for its exploration activities and the planned open-pit mining project called Rio Blanco. The project affects the peasant community in the northern Piura region, by polluting the water, affecting the agriculture activity and the health of thousands of residents, and causing desertification as a result of the large amounts of water being used. There is also a high risk of destruction and irreversible impact on the biodiversity in the Paramo region and the fog forest. The impact of the mining project extends to the neighboring Cajamarca region and it could affect the Amazon river basin.

The actions of the company and of the Peruvian government show a series of vices related with mining development in Peru. Among those vices are the fact that the company has failed to respect the right to consultation of the communities where it operates, and it obtained a license with incomplete documentation. That means that it is operating illegally in the territory of the communities affected by its operations, by imposing its “development” model to the residents.

Furthermore, the legitimate protests of the population have been violently repressed several times. Two people were killed so far (in April of 2004 and August of 2005), tens of people were injured and nearly 200 villagers were reported before the authorities. Witnesses talk about torture in the company’s facilities. Some villagers were falsely accused of terrorism and of affiliating to extremist parties.

Also, under the pretext of purported drug trafficking the government has significantly increased the police presence in the area, by forbidding the villagers to come close to their own territory, protecting the mining camp and the mining activities. The State, under pressure from the business sector, is using the legal system to create a climate of fear, and to repress any social organization that potentially opposes the company’s interests.

The mining project violates important international instruments that guarantee the rights enshrined by the United Nations, and it even contradicts the citizen guarantees provided under the Peruvian Constitution. The right to life, to physical, moral and psychological integrity, to the existence of the communities, to choosing one’s own development, to the autonomy of the communities in their organziation and in the free disposition of their lands, to freedom of information, to a previous and informed consultation, to the property over the communal lands, to association, to social protest, to live in a healthy environment and to peace and quiet, are violated.

The Peruvian legislation guarantees the participation and consultation to the peasant (indigenous) communities, so it demands a social license for the local communities to be able to gran a permit to a company to carry out activities in communal lands. But in the case of Majaz, the communities have expressed their rejection many times. However, the Minister of Energy and Mining granted the necessary permission to the company to carry out exploration activities. The government has a clear position in favor of the mining project: the corporate interests seem to be above the public interests. For this reason the case is filed before the PPT.

Key issues: Natural Resources and Neocolonialism

Denouncing organizations: Confederación Nacional de Comunidades del Perú Afectadas por la Minería – CONACAMI Perú