LIMA (Reuters) – Demonstrators in Peru attacked a convoy of cars from the mining organization Las Bambas, one of Peru’s largest copper producers, and set fire to some of them, underlining tensions in the country that has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The miner, owned by The Chinese company MMG Ltd, said Monday that the convoy was moving into a mining domain near the city of Espinar in the Cusco region when the cars were intercepted and stoned. Two were set on fire.
Peru is the world’s largest copper manufacturer and its economy relies heavily on exports of red steel, mainly to China, the largest buyer. The Andean country’s economy has been one of the hardest hit in the region through the coronavirus epidemic.
The protesters “violently claim economic merit similar to that of Minera Las Bambas and that has caused unrest in the region,” Las Bambas said.
“They gassed the cars and set them on fire. Drivers in any of the units, threatened by protesters, suffered non-public injuries and are lately in one place, being treated to monitor their health.”
Las Bambas produces about 400,000 tons of copconsisistant with the year, or about 2% of the world’s steel extraction.
Communities near Espinar protested last week opposing Glencore-controlled copper miner Antapaccay and blocked sections of a mining room in the domain Monday, non-governmental organization Mining Conflict Observatory reported.
The public mediator’s workplace said the protesters’ demands, made through The Social Organizations of Espinar, focused on calls for a payment called “solidarity” of 1,000 suns ($285) for adults in the region.
An Antapaccay spokesman said the miner had a cooperation agreement with Espinar since 2003, but that the payment requested through the protesters met the plan’s objectives.
“Instead we have proposed launching 30 infrastructure projects for up to some 30 million soles ($8.59 million) to generate large-scale employment, a microcredit program without interest for small businesses and direct food assistance for the population most affected by the pandemic,” he said.
The demonstration was not antapaccay’s operation, the spokesman added.
($1 – 3,4937 soles)
Reporting through Marco Aquino; Written through Adam Jourdan; Editing through Bernadette Baum and Tom Brown
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