En Perú, un juez acaba de sentenciar a Máxima Acuña a ser desalojada, a 2 años y 8 meses de prisión suspendida y pago de 5.500 soles a la minera Yanacocha por supuesta usurpación de tierras. Firma la petición para impedir el desalojo, cese el acoso y violencia contra Máxima por defender la tierra y las lagunas de Conga.
Originalamente en Salva la Selva.
La minera Yanacocha, la más grande de América del Sur impone su proyecto Conga por encima de los derechos de pobladoras y pobladores como Máxima Acuña de Chaupe, mujer peruana cajamarquina que vive con su familia en tierras codiciadas por la minera.
Máxima, su esposo e hijas se dedican a la agricultura y el pastoreo, cultivan ocas y papas que comercializan en el mercado local, con el fruto de su trabajo construyeron su pequeña casa en la que viven humildemente y educan a sus hijas e hijos.
La tierra no se vende
En los últimos 10 años Máxima Chaupe y su familia se han negado a vender sus tierras. Por ese motivo fueron agredidos brutalmente en más de una oportunidad por personal de la minera que irrumpió en su propiedad, destruyo su casa junto a la laguna Azul. Máxima ha sido golpeada, arrastrada, su tierra invadida, mataron a sus perritos y ovejas. La familia Chaupe Acuña quedó en la intemperie de la jalca, con la solidaridad de amigos y familiares reconstruyeron su choza. Después fueron denunciados por la minera y ahora condenados.
Y por si fuera poco, después de emitida la sentencia condenatoria, el 8 de agosto del año 2014 Minera Yanacocha interpone nuevas denuncias penales contra la familia Chaupe en la fiscalía de Celendín, por usurpación del mismo predio Tragadero Grande. A pesar que las leyes peruanas impiden que una persona sea investigada o sentenciada por la misma causa, el Ministerio Público de Celendín admitió estas denuncias, aun sabiendo que existe ya una primera Sentencia sobre este tema.
Por favor, no dejes de firmar hoy mismo la carta. Tu firma se suma y la carta será entregada próximamente a las autoridades peruanas por la Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres y la Coordinadora de Mujeres por el Agua, la Vida y la Paz.
Más información y puntos de vista actuales sobre el proceso ofrecen estas dos columnas en La República: Máxima y Máxima contra Goliat.
Testimonios de los abusos sufridos por Máxima Acuña de Chaupe por ella misma.
ONU alerta persistencia de conflictos en Perú por proyectos extractivos
Video: El caso de la familia Chaupe en 12 minutos.
On the 5th of August, Máxima Acuña, a Peruvian small farmer, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. Her “crime”: refusing to give up her family’s small farm to make way for a gold mine.
Originally posted on Rainforest Rescue.
Yanacocha, a 51% U.S.-owned company that operates the largest gold mine in South America, wants to launch a new project in the Andes – the Conga mine. In pushing ahead with its plan, the company is ready to run roughshod over the human rights of local communities unfortunate enough to be in its way.
Máxima Acuña and her children are among Yanacocha’s victims. An indigenous subsistence farmer, Máxima happens to own land that the company wants. Together with her family, she uses her four hectares for grazing, as well as growing potatoes and other tubers to sell on the local market. It’s a modest living – the farm brings in just enough to provide a small house for herself and her children.
Over the past ten years, Máxima and her family have endured repeated threats and intimidation by police special forces, as the Peruvian media report, just because they refused to leave their home by the edge of the blue lagoon. The police intruded on her land and wrecked the family’s house. Máxima was beaten and detained and the family’s dogs shot. The family had no choice but to sleep outdoors at an altitude of 3,600 meters until they were able to rebuild the house with the help of friends and relatives.
The mining company then stepped up the pressure by fabricating squatting charges against her. On August 5, 2014, she was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. Furthermore, Máxima was ordered to pay 5,500 soles (nearly $2,000) in damages to the company. The family was evicted from its own land with immediate effect.
Please speak out against this injustice and sign Salva la Selva’s petition to the Peruvian government and responsible authorities.
Background
The Yanacocha mining company
Yanacocha SRL is a joint venture of the U.S. mining multinational Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, Colorado, as the majority shareholder (51.35%), the Peruvian Buenaventura Minas (43.65%) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group (5%).
The Yanacocha gold mine is located north of the city of Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes at an altitude of 3,400 to 4,200 meters. The gold deposit, which is located in the headwaters of several major rivers, was discovered in 1980 by a French geologist. The mining operation leaches the precious metal from millions of tons of mined rock under the open sky using highly toxic chemicals. For years, the region has been the scene of determined protests against gold mining, and police brutality has taken several lives.
The Conga project
In recent years, the yields of the Yanacocha mine have been in a steep decline. Yanacocha now wants to exploit further gold deposits in the area, the so-called Conga project. Here again, locals and environmentalists are fighting tooth and nail against the project, which not only threatens the livelihoods of the area’s residents, but could also contaminate the drinking water supply in the local mountain lakes.