On Sunday, June 2, a public consultation held in the Municipality of Tambogrande, Northern Peru, said no to gold-mining operations in the area. Tambogrande is a district of Piura Province, with a population of 65,000 peasants and indigenous peoples mainly involved in agriculture and distributed in 198 settlements.
In a popular consultation, 25,381 voters were opposed to mining, with 93.9 percent of the votes and only 374 voters -- just 1.28 percent – voting in favor of it. Though not a mandatory consultation, 6.8 percent of voters were absent, which was ironically less than those registered in the last national electoral national of 10.8 percent -- when it was mandatory, according to Arturo Davies Gailupo. National and international observers monitored this process.
In 1999, during the dictatorial regime of Alberto Fujimori -- now hiding in Japan while facing different corruption and human rights charges by the Peruvian State -- the Manhattan Sechura S.A., a subsidiary of the Canadian-based Manhattan Minerals Corporation, gained a concession to install open-cast poly-metal exploitation at the site. Mining -- especially open-cast mining and its indirect activities such as the construction and extensive use energy suplies-- affects forest ecosystems and destroy the land. Once the minerals are extracted they cannot be replaced. The environmental damages are also irreversible.
However, peasants, farmers and indigenous peoples of Tambogrande organized themselves around the Frente de Defensa del Valle de San Lorenzo y Tambogrande (The Front for the Defence of the Valley of San Lorenzo and Tambogrande), which played a key role in the opposition process together with the National Coordinator of Communities Affected by Mining (CONACAMI).
In response to issue of natural resources extraction -- in this case gold -- alleviating poverty in Peru, President of CONACAMI Miguel Palacin answered, “Whose poverty levels do we wish to diminish, those of the mining businessmen or of the population?”.
This case has become a new symbol of indigenous participation in development decisions and has already marked a very important precedent within Peru and the world. The right of the people to say no to a mining project is viewed as a fundamental, democratic right. The decision of the Peruvian government regarding the Tambogrande case in the coming months will be closely watched.
