Workers at the Cuajone mine, operated by Southern Peru, denounce that for more than 15 days the peasant community of Tumilaca, Pocata, Coscore and Tala have cut off their water supply. So they ask for the intervention of the Government to give them a prompt solution.
Through a video broadcast in the media, the workers indicated that “their health and life are being threatened because of the water cut to their camp. “We have been without water for more than 15 days, affecting more than 5,000 people in the midst of this terrible pandemic.”
“Given this situation, our operations are also paralyzed, we run the risk of losing our jobs and, in addition, our Moquegua region, our country, is having great economic losses. We call on all our co-workers and the families of Cuajone to unite to defend ourselves against these attacks and prevent our work from being stolen because we are also Peruvians”, they urged.
Finally, they demand that the President of the Republic, the Minister of Energy and Mines, the Minister of the Interior and all national authorities “immediately intervene seeking a prompt solution to this problem and avoid any confrontation between workers and the community.”
For their part, the families of Cuajone also came out to denounce the lack of water and ask for the intervention of the State. Let us remember that, in the early hours of Monday, February 28, a group of community members stormed the facilities of the Viña Blanca reservoir and blocked the water supply to the mining operation and the Cuajone camp.
“All the families of Cuajone have the right to water, let the President listen to us, all the people in Moquegua and throughout the country. Our husbands work here in the mining company and earn their money honestly. We have our small children, because of the water they have become ill. We are tired of being silent and now we are going to protest, we have the right to water”a villager is heard saying.
:quality(75)/cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NEsWV4Z6/poster.jpg "Workers of the Cuajone mine claim water cut and request government intervention (VIDEOS)")
“THE STATE IS NOT FULFILLING ITS ROLE”
In this regard, the mining specialist, Pablo O’Brien, pointed out that this situation is quite serious. “No one can just turn off the water to another human group for whatever reason. (…) This situation is unfortunate proof that the State does not have the capacity at this time to mediate to resolve conflicts and the capacity to mediate so that all the interests, of all the parties that may be involved in such a complex issue, agree and these activities can be carried out in a sustainable and adequate way”he pointed out in dialogue to this medium
He indicated that when a group or community complies with a forceful measure such as closing the water that supplies another sector, as in the case of Cuajone, “it means that the different interests are at stake and are not mediated by anyone.” “The State is not fulfilling its role as mediator or guarantor of peace or public order”he asserted.
“Here what we are seeing is terrible evidence of the precariousness of the State to mediate in conflicts, to articulate the solution of problems, of the different interests in a peaceful way without there being forceful measures”he pointed out.
SNMPE CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AGAINST CUAJONE MINING CAMP
The National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy (SNMPE) expressed its condemnation and rejection of the acts of violence that are registered in the province of Mariscal Nieto – Moquegua, where groups of people have been carrying out illegal and unjustified acts of force forcing paralyzing the operations of the Cuajone mine and affecting the right to water of the approximately 5,000 people who live in the mining camp.
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