LatinNews Daily - 28 January 2022

* Protesters have once again blocked an access road to the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru’s Apurímac region, the source of approximately 2% of global copper production. The protesters, from the communities of Ccapacmarca, Huascabamba, Tahuay and Sayhua in Chumbivilcas province (Cusco region), live some 200km from Las Bambas, but are severely impacted by dust pollution caused by trucks using the access road. These communities refused to sign the agreement that was struck in late-December between protesters, the government and Las Bambas, which resulted in the lifting of roadblocks that had forced a two week suspension of operations at the mine. The protesters are demanding compensation for environmental, social, and cultural damage caused by the dust pollution, and for the mine to pay residents to use the access road which they say was illegally built on their land. Cayo Huaytani, a community leader from Ccapacmarca, told RPP Noticias that “not even a bicycle will get through until President Pedro Castillo comes to sort out our problems. Nor are we going to tolerate the abuse of the mining company [China’s MMG], which is in cahoots with the government.”

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