Peru-community And Indigenous Leaders Ask For The Suspension Of The Majz Mine Operations
Published by MAC on 2006-07-11Source: CooperAccion
PERU
Community and Indigenous leaders of Northern Perú, arrive in Lima to ask for the suspension of the Majaz Mine operations
They are also asking that the State reinitiate the dialogue process they reitred from.
Ximena Warnaars, CooperAccion, Peru
11th July 2006
A delegation of agriculturalists, community and indigenous leaders and mayors of the Piura and Cajamarca regions travelled to Lima this week in order to ask that newly elected president Alan Garcia, the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of the Interior as well as other public institutions, suspend the operations of mining company Majaz, presently executing mining activities the Piura provinces of Huancabamba and Ayabaca. They are also asking for the State to reinitiate the dialogue with the local population, that was suspended in May this year.
The mining company says it has been operating in the provinces of Huancabamaba and Ayabaca since 2002 with the legal authorization of the corresponding General Asembly of the Communities of Segunda y Cajas (Huancabamba) and Yanta (Ayabaca), both property owners of their lands.
The visit of the agriculturalists and indigenous farmers also has the purpose of demanding from the Public Minsiteries that they sanction the workers ot the mining company Majaz for brutal agression suffered by the participants and speakers at the Mining, Agriculture and Development Forum in March this year, organized by the Front for Sustainable Development of the Northern Peruvian Frontier.
The National Police have prepared a report and given it to the corresponding Public Ministry, confirming that the Mining company sent a group of rowdy aggressors to throw rocks and physically abuse various participants at the event, even kidnapping some of the participants for some hours.
Likewise, the farmers will be having meetings with the Ombudsman that participates as a member of the Human Rights Comission, as well as the Dioces of Chulucanas, the National Human Rights Coordinator , the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of the Interior.
The Human Rights Comission has traveled to the area of conflict seeking proof for continuing claims of fundamental human rights violations against the inhabitants of the communities by the company and by some members of the National Police. The farmers have asked for a speedy publication of the report and that proper measures be taken to stop the human rights violations. They also demand a denunciation of the company's illegal presence on indigenous lands.
The inhabitants of Ayabaca and Huancabamaba (Piura) and of San Ignacio and Jaen (Cajamarca) have confirmed that they want to arrive at sustainable development based on agriculture, especially of organic products as well as respect for the environment, since the area is their principal water source.