The leader of the Tambo valley, Miguel Meza; the president of the struggle and solidarity committee, Jorge del Carpio Lazo; and two other self-proclaimed representatives of the people; Yesterday they ratified the call for a 72-hour strike, on October 21, 22 and 23; in opposition to the Tía María mining project.
In a press conference, Meza maintained that the decision was made in a popular assembly on September 27. “It is a preventive strike, with the purpose of going on an indefinite strike and this may be one of the last ones that we could develop, where we are going to seek to cancel the Tía María project.”, he expressed.
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Meanwhile, del Carpio insisted that there is a rejection of the project by the majority of residents. “The Tambo valley has never given social license to this mining project”, he expressed.
The measure will cause farmers to suspend the potato harvest, one of the main products of this season. A measure taken to avoid harm to the local and foreign public is the accelerated harvest, days before the strike.
The meeting place will be on Monday the 21st at 9:00 a.m. in Plaza España.
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Among the arguments they maintain for the opposition of the mining project are: Tía María does not have environmental certification, there is no current environmental impact study and the destruction of agriculture in Cocachacra.
This strike is in response to the announcement of the beginning of construction of the mining project. Óscar González Rocha, executive president of the mining company Southern Perú, He stated that the construction will begin in 2025 and will last 2 years.
It should be noted that the Minister of Energy and Mines, Rómulo Mucho, maintained that the Tía María copper project, located in the province of Islay, in Arequipa, has all the permits to operate since 2019.
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However, doubts arise about the validity of the EIA, since it was approved on August 1, 2014 through Directorial Resolution No. 392-2014-MEM/DGAAM and is valid for five years. Besides, The National Environmental Certification Service for Sustainable Investments (SENACE), issued 50 observations on the Sustaining Technical Report (ITS) of the project, including the lack of permits for the use of water and the invasion of the protected area of the Lomas de Cachendo.
The representative of Southern stated that “Senace will resolve them” in relation to the observations presented. It should be noted that the company presented a second ITS, a partial modification of the approved EIA, which generates uncertainty about the future of the project and its relationship with the population of the area.
It should be noted that the president of the Central Reserve Bank, Julio Velarde, stated that the restart of operations of the Tía María mining project, of US$1.4 billionstationed in the province of Islay, Arequipa region, will contribute significantly to the economic growth of the country.
