The bodies of the men were found in a ravine of 70 meters and the prosecutor of the area announced the arrest of 31 people.
Clashes between groups of miners who were in dispute over gold and copper deposits in mountainousa remote area of southern Peru has had an effect to kill 14 peoplethe authorities announced yesterday Wednesday.
«We have 14 miners dead, all men, after the clashes that started at the weekend in the area of Attiko“1,000 kilometers southeast of Lima,” a police officer in the area told AFP by telephone, on condition of anonymity.
«The bodies are found (in a morgue) in Arekipa, first seven were found and then another seven in a ravine seventy meters deep“, He added.
Although the clashes broke out at the weekend, the authorities were not informed until yesterday, as the area is isolated. Conflicts of this kind are common in remote areas, where the presence of the Peruvian state is almost non-existent.
Prosecutor in Arekipa, the Maria Losadaconfirmed on a local radio station the death of 14 miners and announced the arrest of 31 people and the seizure of firearms.
Two groups of miners, working in relatively small structures, were involved in the conflict, as “accused each other of trespassing“Deposits from each other in exploitation sectors which”are not yet clearly defined“, Explained through social networking sites the director of the NGO CooperAction, Jose de Etzave.
Peru is one of the world’s leading producers of silver, copper and gold, and mining is considered to be the engine of the Andean economy. In 2021, according to official data, Peru produced 96.6 tonnes of goldthe largest quantity in all of Latin America.
The big companies in the sector employ around 200,000 miners, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, but another 300,000 people work, according to union sources – either legally or illegally – on smaller farms, in isolated areas in the highlands and jungle of the Amazon. where the authorities are virtually absent.
Even the largest mines are not free of conflicts in the Latin American country.
For example, the Las Babas copper mine in the Andurimak region of the Andes, operated by the Chinese company MMG, has been paralyzed for 50 days due to attacks on its facilities and staff members by residents.
The Las Baba mine accounts for almost 15% of national copper production. The forced shutdown affects about 8,000 employees.
