Saldy, after the deaths and torture suffered by locals protesting the mining project of Rio Blanco (ex-Majaz) that came to light earlier this year in a series of photos, we have more deaths to report. And unsurprisingly, after the total inaction of authorities over the case it’s the locals that have taken the law into their own hands and done the deeds.
According to reports starting to appear, it seems that some 20 local people approached the mining camp at Rio Blanco last night armed with molotov cocktails and torched the campsite. Two people working at the site, namely Joel Severino Zapata of the security firm Visur and Luis Gómez Vilchez, an employee of the mining company, were killed. Reports on how they died are contradictory at this moment, with some claiming both weren’t able to get out of the buildings in time and others claiming that one was accidentally shot to death by one of his own colleagues while trying to defend the area
Previously, the owners of this project were Monterrico Metals. It’s now owned by China’s Zijin, but the nameplate on the door means absolutely nothing. At some point the Chinese will begin to udnerstand what a foolish idea it was to buy this trainwreck and sell it to some other bunch of suckers. If you know the area you’ll also know that it’s impossible to get anything done without the assistance of the local people. The same local people that have made it crystal clear how much they don’t want the project to move ahead on their land. The behind-the-back dealing of the Twobreakfasts government have again tried to ignore the desires of the people of Peru. Once again those people have lost patience. It’s all so sad, so predictable. Furthermore, it’s likely to happen in the same way at the Hunt Oil project in the South of Peru soon, too.