Among the recent victims was 35-year-old Cleimer Andrade Bello, who was shot dead on April 17 in the hamlet of Lajón in Otuzco province, La Libertad. According to local residents, Andrade Bello worked at a local illegal mine, Diario Correo reported.
Gang violence was likewise blamed for the murder of 45-year-old Jhony Arqueros Obeso and his 13-year-old son, whose bodies were found on February 1.
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and in Lajón, the group’s tyrannical control over coal extraction is reportedly so tight that some residents are effectively confined to their homes so as to avoid interfering with the passage of coal trucks.
La Libertad Governor Manuel Llempén Coronel was cited as saying that the source of the hike in violence is the gangs that illegal mine operators originally contracted to provide security. Now, however, the gangs are “working in association” with illegal mining, and are also involved in other illicit activities including human trafficking.
According to News Trujillo, a Peruvian news platform, illegal mining has been going on in Lajón since at least 2012.
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Although illegal miners may have sought the help of gangs to provide protection, c
Much of the mining, both legal and illegal, that takes place in Peru focuses on gold, as is evidenced in Madre de Dios. In, however, coal has a central role.
With the coal processing plant in La Libertad’s port town of Salaverry, the gangs have a ready location where they can easily offload their goods, and every day 80 to 100 dump trucks travel the route between there and the mines.
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Madre de Dios provides a bleak example of what can happen when mining mafias manage to establish control over an area. Mining gangs there have set up sex trafficking rings and drug operations, and been accused of exploiting child workers. Those who speak out against what goes on face violent reprisals, such as environmental defender Juan Julio Fernández Hanco who was murdered on March 20.
Otuzco’s police commissioner may claim to have identified the ringleaders behind mining in the area, police have been criticized in the past for their weak response.
Quiroz Díaz had previously requested that the national police officers assigned to the district of Huamachuco in Otuzco, be changed, criticizing their “passivity” in relation to illegal mining, and alleged that authorities in the region may have been bought off, Energiminas reported.
ocals have previously complained about those in power being compliant with the mining gangs. When the community formed a committee to address the problem, the committee’s vice president was shot.