Since late 2021, protests are occuring in the copper mine of Las Bambas in the Apurimac region. It is not the first episode of protests the mine owned by the chinese government backed company MMG is facing, since protests already happened back in 2015 when the mining project began, deplacing the Fuerabamba community from their lands. Nowadays, they are block roads to/from the mine, or are taking over infrastructures, occupying it, and then blocking the production.
The community complain about the lack of compensation they received after being forced to relocate. Promises were made about the development of infrastructures in their area or more broadly, a fair compensation from the mine profits redistribution.
Who is responsable for this ? It is difficult to say.
Other mines officials believe the fault is mainly the Government's. They argument that the mine gave out enough of its profits, and that the problem is not about them not redistributing, but more about how the money they gave have been managed and processed by the State.
However this argument can be heard, even missmanaged, such quantities of money should still allows some development projects to emerge. Considering passed missconduct, we can only be suspicious of corruption or at least public fund embezzling. Also, it is always an easy way for private companies officials to criticize the way a State manages his money, particularly when it's a socialist stamped government, to descredit this very government and to redirect the fire of criticism they should receive. (imo)
Anyway, whoever the responsibles for this are, the Fuerabamba community is left behind, as so many before her in those kind of project. This time, as they did from the beghining, they decided to stand up for themselves, and to claim money from the exploitation of the gold from the bench they used to sat on (metafphorically).
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/peru-community-rejects-joke-offer-to-end-las-bambas-copper-mine-protest-2021-12-13
https://www.reuters.com/business/hk-listed-mmg-cease-copper-operations-peru-mine-2021-12-03/
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/peru-mining-protests-risk-clogging-53-bln-investment-pipeline-industry-warns-2022-05-17/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-61161250
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/peruvian-mine-protesters-reject-talks-until-emergency-order-lifted-2022-05-03/
