LIMA (Reuters) – Angry citizens of Peru’s Andean and Amazonian regions attacked 3 mining and oil corporations last week, two of which were forced to operate after fatal clashes when a wave of COVID-19 infections hit the country.
The main reason: the request for financial aid and physical care during the pandemic, which highlighted the deep divisions between the country’s rich and rural deficient, the world’s largest copper producer at the time.
“What the pandemic has done is raise the lid of the truth from an inefficient and disjointed state,” human rights ombudsman Walter Gutierrez told the RPP radio station on Monday.
According to a report through the Ombudsman’s Office on Sunday, there were 162 social demonstrations linked to COVID-19 in Peru in June and July, the maxim of them similar to public aptitude and requests for assistance, 16 of which are similar to the engine of the country’s economy. : mining.
There were 326 cases of coronavirus-related disorders between March, when the pandemic gave the impression in Peru, and the end of May, according to a previous report.
On Sunday, 3 indigenous people from the Amazon region were killed and 17 others injured, as well as citizens and police, after protesters seeking to prevent production in an oil box operated through Canada’s PetroTal clashed with security forces.
Another protest, about the Glencore-owned Antapaccay copper mine was resolved after an agreement with the local city, under which each resident will get a $285 takeover card for food, medicine, clothing and education.
Antapaccay has also committed to investing in a medicinal oxygen plant. Medicinal oxygen, key to the remedy of COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory failure, has been declared through the government as a product of “national interest” due to its scarcity, higher demand and market price.
Peru has the seventh number of cases shown of coronavirus in the world, with more than 478,000 cases and more than 21,000 deaths. Daily instances have increased dramatically in recent weeks in a momentary wave after the country eased blocking restrictions.
“We are in a critical situation,” Gutierrez said. “Numbers are alarming indicators”.
Social tensions arise when President Martín Vizcarra seeks to emerge from a political crisis after being forced to update his prime minister, the moment in 3 weeks, after an opposition-dominated congressional revolt.
Reporting through Marco Aquino; Written through Adam Jourdan; Edited through Rosalba O’Brien
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