In the following we publish an unofficial translation of an article of the Brazilian newspaper "A Nova Democracia".
Peasant uprising shakes Peru! Government decides
"military intervention"
After a major uprising by Peruvian peasants, the government orders a military intervention. Photo: Apumayo
Hundreds of Peruvian peasants are fighting against the mining monopolies. The masses' fighting measures include strikes, work stoppages, sabotage with fires at plants, and even confiscations. The struggle, which began in late November, has spread from the departments of Ayacucho, Lima, Ancash, Loreto and Piura across the country and is ongoing.
Peru is one of the world's largest producers of silver, copper and gold. Mining is one of the engines of the economy of bureaucratic capitalism in Peru. And it is also one of the main contributors to the misery of Peruvian peasants and indigenous people, along with the latifundia on which it is based.
Hundreds of thousands of peasants are fighting against these mining activities, which they describe as predatory. Mining displaces peasants from their land and forces them to work for miserable wages in often pre-capitalist conditions. In addition, mining destroys the geographic environment and prevents the cultivation of adjacent lands, increasing the number of peasants who are forced to sell their land and join the mass of wage earners. All this with the aim of transferring large sums of profits from the exploitation of the labor force in the extraction of Peruvian mineral resources to the imperialist countries, the headquarters of the mining companies.
Ayacucho: Hundreds set fire to mining company
Peasants set fire to mining companies in Apumayo. Photo: Apumayo
On Oct. 29, about 500 peasants, organized to demand their rights, invaded the facilities of the monopolistic gold mining company Apumayo in Ayacucho. The peasants are demanding the permanent closure of the Apumayo, Inmaculada (Ares), Breapampa and Pallancata mines. Since the previous day, miners from the Ayacuchan provinces of Lucanas, Parinacochas and Páucar del Sara have been on strike against the imperialist mining companies.
The police were alerted by the imperialist company and used rubber bullets against the peasants, injuring at least ten people. The peasants then set fire to the administrative offices, as well as to about 20 company vehicles, a mining pump, the canteen and a processing plant. In addition, electricity was cut off and some items, including explosives, were confiscated.
Fearing popular uprising, the mining company in Apumayo claims that the acts were committed by "people from outside the province." The company continues to try to distort reality and criminalize the peasants' protests, claiming that the actions were "promoted by leaders with economic interests who want to prevent the development of an activity essential to the country's progress."
On the same day, about a hundred peasants went to the Breapampa mining company, also in Ayacucho, and set fire to a mechanical maintenance workshop and threw stones at the offices and dormitories of the facilities.
In Ancash there is a 50-kilometer blockade
On the same day, demonstrators set fire to a tanker truck during protests against Antamina's mining monopoly. The protest took place in Ancash district, in the farming community of Aquia. The peasant communities of Huallanca and Cátac also joined the strike.
Antamina is the largest copper mine in Peru. It is controlled by a transnational consortium, Australia's BHP Billinton (which also controls the Mariana Dam in MG, Brazil, along with Brazil's Samarco) and Switzerland's Glencore. The Antamina deposit mines copper, silver and zinc. It is among the ten largest mines in the world in terms of production volume and is the largest mine in Peru.
On Oct. 31, the imperialist mining company ceased operations in response to militant protests by peasants. Antamina called on the government to "restore order" in order to resume "dialogue between the parties" and stated that "we will not be able to continue our activity until these conditions are met." Subsequently, the monopoly stated that these were "latent risks" and that it was necessary to return to a social framework that "has always allowed the promotion of construction and development projects in Ancash over the last 20 years."
The paralysis was a victory of the strike that took place in the region. The farmers' activities against the appropriation of their land by the mining company paralyzed it. About 50 kilometers of the road were blocked with stones, sticks and piles of earth to prevent the passage of Antamina vehicles.
The community organizes and the company stops its activities
In the province of Oyón, department of Lima, the entire local population has also been on strike since September 13. As a result, on Oct. 29, the Buenaventura company filed a request for a temporary suspension of its activities at the Uchucchacua mine.
Buenaventura Mining Company is the largest monopoly precious metals mining company in Peru.
Takeover of oil station by peasants
In the community of Manseriche, more than 200 peasants and indigenous Peruvians have been controlling and preventing the operation of an oil station since October 4. Station 5 of the North Peruvian oil pipeline of the bureaucratic state monopoly Petroperu has been unusable since then. It is located in the Amazon region of Loreto.
The regional strike was called by the Awajún Federation of the Apaga River (Fenara) and the Organization of Peoples Affected by Oil Activities (PAAP) and has been going on for over a month. "It is the result of the exhaustion of demands for dialogue in the capital Lima," said Jorge Perez, president of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (Aidesep).
The protesters are demanding compliance with promises made by previous governments, including the decontamination of areas affected by the oil spill. They are also demanding health and education facilities and the construction of basic infrastructure. Fenara warned the government "not to provoke by sending police officers."
The blockade of the oil filling station will continue until early November, with crude oil transport suspended. Damage is estimated at over $3 million (nearly R$17 million).
Indigenous farmers take over an oil station in Peru. Photo: Reproduction
Sugar cane plantations set ablaze
Amid the nationwide rebellion, dozens of peasants invaded the Canãbrava monopoly in La Huaca, Piura Department. The bureaucratic mining company is responsible for planting over 100 hectares of sugarcane for ethanol production.
The mass protest took place at 2 p.m. on October 30, when peasants and workers stormed the Cañabrava company headquarters and set fire to vehicles and a number of the reactionaries' goods. The crowds were protesting the burning of sugar cane to produce ethanol, which damaged the entire region and caused heavy smoke.
"It is something catastrophic! The children are intoxicated by the smoke in our homes. We have no one to complain to, there is no authority," complained a resident who participated in the protest in an interview with the Peruvian press monopoly ATV. Residents also denounced that they sought solutions in the capital, Lima, and were not received. There are also complaints that the community has been harmed by the activity of the Latifundium for more than 10 years.
According to landowner Rocco Zelota, who was startled by the farmers' struggle, 100 hectares of sugarcane land with its technical irrigation system, a motor pump, a tractor, an excavator, two company pickup trucks, a supplier's pickup truck, four Caña Brava motorcycles, a quadricycle and office equipment, among other things, were damaged and destroyed. The total damage is estimated at more than one million dollars.
Rocco Zelota also stated that he is "working closely with the Peruvian National Police," which is conducting investigations with the appropriate resources. The Piura Prosecutor's Office stated that it is conducting an expedited investigation of the case and is treating the case as a "forest fire."
Fahrzeuge des Latifundiums werden in Brand gesetzt. Foto: Vervielfältigung
The opportunist government uses the reactionary armed forces to suppress the masses.
The government of opportunist Rondeiro Pedro Castillo has ordered a month-long military intervention. "Supreme Resolution 191-2021-IN" authorizes the "intervention of the armed forces in support of the Peruvian National Police" with the aim of "ensuring the control and maintenance of internal order." The deadline for the actions, which will also be carried out in the major cities of Lima and Callao, is 30 days from November 29.
The opportunist, corporate and fascist government of Pedro Castillo (with the tacit support of the rats of the right opportunist line , the revisionist and capitulationist ROL organized in the Movadef) has declared that "organized crime has exceeded the capacity of the police in Lima and Callao" and that the government has authorized the armed forces to intervene in "the work of citizen security." However, it conceals that the real reason for such a resolution is the peasant uprisings in the countryside, where the People's War is taking place, led by the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) in general reorganization, guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thoughts.
The criminal hand of the Movadef in the government
While the opportunist Pedro Castillo leaves the reactionary armed forces in control of the internal order to repress the masses, the rats of the Movadef (composed of former leaders of the PCP who turned away from Maoism and Gonzalo thought and capitulated to the People's War, led by Elena Iparraguirre or "Miriam") continue to support this government as accomplices. It should be recalled that this same government was responsible for the execution of President Gonzalo, the leadership of the PCP, the Peruvian Revolution and the World Proletarian Revolution; a leader that the same traitors of Maoism claim to be their "defenders" and "heirs."
According to Peru's own press monopoly, Pedro Castillo met with at least 17 opportunist union leaders in early October, including prominent Movadef leaders. This was at least the second meeting of the opportunist and fascist president with the revisionist rats.
