A Peruvian community have promised to restart a road blockade against the copper mine of Las Bambas.
Las Bambas produces 2% of the world’s copper supply and alone represents 1% of the country’s gross domestic product.
Intriguingly, since the opening of the Las Bambas mine in 2016, the mining road has been blocked for over 400 days by various groups.
There have been regular complaints by dozens of Andean communities who live along that 240km dirt road, about how those trucks transiting to mine pollute the environment and affect the quality of life.
Recently, the leaders of the Capacmarca district agreed to lift their blockade for about 45 days, following a meeting with Peru’s new Prime Minister Anibal Torres.
However, the demonstrators of Coporaque district have mentioned that they will continue the blockade.
The protests against the mining companies are quite common in Peru, for a variety of reasons like deteriorating public health, environmental harm, high wages for mine workers, etc.
Furthermore, these blockades have grown to be a major concern for the Pedro Castillo government over time.
Despite promising to work toward the wellbeing of marginalized Peruvian communities, the leftist government needs mining taxes in order to fund those social programs. Therefore, it exacerbates the economic strain when Las Bambas has already suspended operations in the month of December 2021 because of a blockade.