Following a wave of anti-mining protests, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala appointed six new ministers to his political cabinet on Monday. Humala had previously replaced half of his Cabinet in December, when he promoted Oscar Valdés from interior minister to prime minister in an attempt to mitigate social unrest in the country.

According to Reuters, Juan Jimenez, a former justice minister and well-known human rights lawyer, will now replace Valdés as prime minister.

Valdés, a former army officer, led a violent crackdown on protesters opposed to Newmont Mining’s $5 billion Conga project in the northern region of Cajamarca which left 17 dead and resigned amid heavy criticism.

Jimenez maintained that the Cabinet would use dialogue as a means of solving social conflicts and would establish a political system with clear and definitive answers on how to address mining problems in Peru.

The newly appointed minister also announced that as part of efforts to maintain stability, the Executive Branch would launch a “comprehensive restructuring” and “reengineering” of the Conflict Management Office of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The cabinet change comes after an Ipsos poll showed that Humala’s approval rating fell to a new low of 40% this month. Cabinet changes, however, are not totally infrequent in Peru. Many leaders have been known to shuffle their cabinets on 28^th July, Peruvian Independence Day.

This year´s independence day marks the anniversary of Humala’s first year in office.

The General Confederation of Workers (CGTP) in Peru is marching today in solidarity with the anti-mining movement in Cajamarca. The CGTP has called a “national day of struggle” and is demanding the removal of Prime Minister Oscar Valdés.

Mario Huamán, secretary general of the CGTP, has said marches will take place in the capital, Lima as well as in ten other locations across the north and south of Peru.

“We will not be striking,” Huamán said. “This is a set of activities by teachers unions, construction workers, rural workers, young people women and leftist organisations.”

He added that the marches were in solidarity with “the struggles of the people of Cajamarca in rejecting the Congo mining project planned by the Newmont company from the United States.”

The march coincides with the second day of demonstrations taking place in Cajarmarca organised by the Frente de Defense. The North Andean region and its people will suffer from the project, according to the group.

Earlier this month Cajamarca was declared under a state of emergency following a police crackdown in which five people died and 21 people were injured.

“Valdés is to blame for all the social upheaval happening in the country. It is due to the repressive policies he has applied in order to bring economic benefits to the hands of a privileged few,” Haumán said.

The union will also ask Peruvian president Ollanta Humala to “find solutions to the unresolved issues; layoffs, rising costs of living and public safety.”

Yesterday, Humala announced his intention to set up a working group with representatives opposed to the mine in Cajamarca. The group will be mediated by two religious representatives from the Catholic Church, Bishop Miguel Cabrejos and Father Gastón Garatea.This announcement follows a meeting held by Humala with two groups protesting the mine.

Protests began in 2011 against the North American mining company, Newmont, which plans to dry four lakes in the high regions of Cajamarca to extract copper and gold. Last May, Cajamarcans declared a protest with no defined end point.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, on a short trip to Europe, has today been discussing trade agreements with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Merkel has expressed her desire to put a free-trade treaty between Peru, Colombia and the European Union into practice as soon as possible.

Speaking after meeting Humala, the German leader said: “Particularly in the difficult economic situation in which some European countries find themselves, a free-trade agreement with Colombia and Peru is a good sign to promote growth.”

“We want it to come into force very soon,” she added.

European Union trade ministers approved a free-trade deal with Colombia and Peru last month.

The president of Peru thanked his host and also voiced his wish to cement an agreement with “a very important business partner;” the European Union is Peru’s biggest direct investor.

“Obviously the crisis situation worries us … We are a country that relies mainly on producing commodities, so it does affect us to a certain extent. We have felt the drop in commodities’ prices. That has affected our exports.”

Despite this, the South American country has a “stable macroeconomic policy, with large international reserves and a manageable level of debt that doesn’t surpass 20% of Peru’s GDP,” he added.

Merkel also praised a law that protects indigenous populations in Peru – a law that Germany supported financially.

“Peru has shown its interest in taking into account the needs of indigenous people,” she said.

The two countries also signed various bilateral agreements, principally in the fields of education, science, investigation and innovation.

After Germany, Humala will travel to Brussels to discuss the details of the free-trade agreement with EU ministers.

Fighting between demonstrators and national police in the Cusco region yesterday left two people dead. Protestors claim this morning that four people have been killed in total since Monday during protests against the mining company Xstrata Copper.

The violence escalated yesterday when protestors tried to take over a camp of mining company workers in South Eastern district of Espinar.

Around 1,500 police guarding the camp fought off demonstrators, leaving two protestors dead and 15 injured, while more than 30 police were injured. Many buildings were burnt down.

Rudecindo Manuelo Puma, 27, died on the way to hospital in Espinar after being shot by a bullet in his heart. The other victim has yet to be identified.

“I want to investigate four deaths,” Óscar Mollohuanca, the Mayor of Espinar who led the demonstration, told Peruvian radio station Radio Programas. He added that police while had shot point blank at protestors, “we only used stones to defend ourselves when we were attacked.”

Official government reports contradict the mayor’s accusations, stating the police only used weapons in self-defence. Interior Minister Wilver Calle claimed that only two people have died in fighting so far. The government also claimed that 70 police have been injured in total.

After eight days of clashes in anti-mining protests, the Peruvian government has called for a state of emergency in the district of Espinar, Cusco Province. Oscar Valdes, the Peruvian prime minister, announced the state of emergency on the grounds that “it is no longer a peaceful demonstration, but one with extremists.”

The state of emergency will provide police with special powers for 30 days to restore peace, but also suspends the civil liberties of the people of Espinar. This is the second state of emergency since President Ollanta Humala took office 10 months ago.

Protestors claim that the Swiss company, Xstrata Copper, who are the fourth largest copper producer in the world, are harming the environment and do not provide enough for the local economy.

The farmers of Puno lifted the blockade that they had kept for 45 days on the border crossing with Bolivia. This came after reaching an agreement with the Peruvian government, which pledged to meet 70% of their demands.

The farmers demanded of the government the abolition of the decree that authorized the mining company Santa Ana to operate in the Puno region.

After a meeting, the Aymara farmers and the Peruvian government reached an agreement to annul the aforementioned decree.

However, the Aymara leader Walter Auviri said that he continues to wait for one of the demands, which involves the cancellation of all the mining concessions in the Puno region.

For this reason, he said that he will give the president elect of Peru, Ollanta Humala, 30 days to attend to said demands. This grace period will begin on 30^th July.

Further, he indicated that the farmers’ protests will enter a recess period.

Last Friday, a protest of farmers against the miners left six dead by police gunfire in the city of Juliaca. The protesters had been trying to enter the runway at the city’s airport.

Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators successfully entered the airport and took over the runway.

In the negotiations, the Peruvian government also stated that the new mining claims will be submitted to referendum.

It is worth remembering that the protesters claim that mining causes pollution in Lake Titicaca and the Desaguadero River, including tributaries.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC.

President-elect of Peru, left-wing nationalist Ollanta Humala, has begun a tour to meet heads of state of regional Latin American countries. The trip includes visits to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile and aims to “foster regional unity” and increase Peru’s participation within UNASUR and MERCOSUR.

Humala, a former military leader, was elected as president on 5^th June via a run-off vote against Keiko Fukimori.

Humala said in an announcement: “We will strengthen integration ties with all countries and will work with regional organisations, trying to see things from the viewpoint of solving the common problems we have … as Latin American people.”

A second tour will include visits to Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia at an unannounced future date.

Humala faced immediate problems when his election victory caused the Lima stock exchange to lose 12.5% of its value before it closed on Monday. He has since made efforts to reassure the market with the announcement of an agreement on tax increases in the mining sector and a refusal to issue debt to finance social programmes. Reuters also cite Humala as having reiterated that he would not seek to follow the ‘Venezuelan route’ of nationalising key economic sectors.

Mining companies Xstrata and Buenaventura have since confirmed that they will maintain their investments in Peru, while Southern Copper will wait for signs of confidence in the economy under new leadership continuing with its US$2bn investment programme.

As a result, the stock exchange has almost recovered to its pre-election results level.

Humala takes office in Lima on 28^th July.

Yesterday, collectives, social movements and human rights groups held a demonstration in Lima, Peru. It was to reject the candidacy of Keiko Fujimori. The motto of the demonstration was “With hope and dignity. Never again Fujimori”.

The rally was prompted by the “Citizens’ Movement So it Doesn’t Happen Again”.

The Executive Secretary of the National Coordination for Human Rights, Rocío Silva Santisteban, and representatives of other organizations called to vote against the policy option from Fujimori’s party, Fuerza 2011.

This week Peruvian writers including Mario Vargas Llosa and Alfredo Bryce Echenique, disseminated a letter warning of the possible return of the “Fujimori dictatorship” to an eventual triumph of Keiko Fujimori. The document has the signature of 55 intellectuals.

In April 2009, former Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori, father of the candidate Keiko Fujimori, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity.

Another former Peruvian president, Alejandro Toledo, has backed the candidacy of Ollanta Humala in the second round of elections.

All this  happened a little more than a week before the second round of presidential elections in Peru. The scheduled date is 5th June.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC.