peru indigenous struggle

An injured protester and his family at a hospital after clashing with police during protests in Juliaca [Reuters]

Thousands of protesters opposed to mining and energy projects in southern Peru have taken over a commercial airport as the government struggled to restore calm a day after five died in a clash with police.

Officials said that approximately 3,000 protesters had occupied the runway at the Juliaca airport in the region of Puno on Saturday. Several hundred police officers retreated to avoid another clash after weeks of protests over a controversial Canadian mining project.

Protesters often mobilize to protect scarce water supplies, what they see as ancestral lands, or complain about potential pollution from new mines.

Often times they also demand direct economic benefits from mining and oil projects, which have helped turn the Andean nation’s economy into one of the world’s fastest-growing but left behind a third of its people in poverty.

Halted project

After earlier clashes on Friday, Fernando Gala, the deputy mining minister, announced that the government had revoked a 2007 decree granting approval to the British Columbia-based Bear Creek Mining Corp to mine silver at Santa Ana.

The decree was required because the mine site is within 80km of the international border with Bolivia.

“It has been agreed to repeal the authorisation,” said Yohny Lescano, a politician who participated in a government dialogue on Thursday with protesters over the Santa Ana project.

Bear Creek Chief Executive Andrew Swarthout told Reuters news agency that the company would sue the government to get its concession back and mining analysts have said the government’s move could lead foreign companies to think contracts aren’t respected in Peru.

But Garcia said stability and social peace was more important. In the days before the clash at the airport, the first time the protests turned deadly, protesters had set fire to government buildings in the area.

“I think there are more important objectives and the first one is to guarantee a peaceful transition and a trouble-free start to the government of Ollanta Humala,” Garcia told reporters.

Some 5,000 protesters, mostly Aymara Indians, have descended on Puno over the past few weeks to demand concessions be revoked for all mining companies, not just Bear Creek’s Santa Ana project, ostensibly over concerns about potential pollution.

Protesters have paralysed the area with road blockades since May 9 in an attempt to cancel the Santa Ana mine, as well as a proposed hydroelectric project on the Inambari river.