UPDATE: Ok, so this is going to get interesting. DNT has come out with a NR that does the, “Oh, we hear there was some sort of vote but it’s not legally binding and we don’t care and we’re going to drill anyway“. In Argentine Spanish, it’s known as “hacerse el boludo”. Meanwhile, this (excerpt translated):
“During the eight hours of the vote, 1,896 members of the local population of more than 4,000 registered members of the San Juan Batista de Cañaris Rural Community cast their votes. Although 100% of the population did not show at the urns, the numbers of voters is nearly six times greater than the number of locals that went to the assembly on July 8th when the social licence was discussed.
Of the 1,896 people who took part in the referendum yesterday, 1,719 voted against the project and 106 in favour. There were 71 spoiled ballots. At least 120 police officers came from the cities of Chiclayo and Jaén to oversee the vote were present in Cañaris, Huacapampa and Congona.”
But of course, a meeting convened by DNT.to and run by DNT.to at which 6 times fewer locals had a say is legal, and the vote yesterday can be ignored, 120 police officers and all. And the company can just plough ahead and ignore the vote and expect no trouble whatsoever when it starts drilling. The IKN “Bridge for Sale” alert is now in operation.