It's not football! Protests erupt in southern Peru

Peru: village revolts against copper company

A total of fifteen people, including two police officers, were injured on August 27th, when the village of Cocachacra, in Islay province of Peru's southern Arequipa region, exploded into angry protest following the release of an environmental impact statement at a public hearing on the Tía María mining project proposed by the US-based Southern Copper Corporation. (RPP, Peru, 27 August 2009).

Protests erupted spontaneously at Cocachacra's municipal stadium, where the hearing was being held, when the company's impact statement approved use of waters from the local Río Tambo for the proposed mining operations. Some 400 police were called in and used tear gas, as the meeting ended in chaos. (Radio Uno, Tacna, 27 August 2009).

The following day, Cocachacra's Mayor Juan Guillen Lopez held a press conference in the regional capital of Arequipa to appeal for calm and insisted that he would never allow the Río Tambo to be used in mining operations. (El Pueblo, Arequipa, 29 August 2009).

Southern Copper Corporation, formerly Southern Peru Copper Corp, is majority-owned by Grupo Mexico.