The growth of gold mining gangs in Peru’s La Libertad province has led to a deteriorating security situation, with unprecedented attacks on security forces and one of the country’s largest mining companies on the rise.
A group of approximately 100 armed actors stormed a police convoy in Pataz, La Libertad, which was transporting five alleged members of a gold mining gang on January 7, according to press reports confirmed by Peruvian police.
Four of the five detainees were freed, and no police were injured in the incident, which comes amid months of rising violence in Pataz. The area is home to Peru’s largest subterranean gold mine, which is owned by the Poderosa mining company.
Poderosa has denounced increased violence from parqueros, or illegal mining gangs, since summer 2023, reporting that alleged gang members have killed at least seven of the company’s employees and contractors. Parqueros also reportedly blockaded roads and attacked Poderosa’s infrastructure with explosives.
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“This has never happened before. Never,” Pedro Yaranga, a Peruvian security expert who has followed the situation, told InSight Crime. “There has always been illegal mining, killings, and clashes with police and military using dynamite, but nothing like this.”
The most brazen attack came in early November 2023, when alleged parqueros stormed the company’s tunnels – apparently to steal gold mined there – killing nine workers and injuring 15 more when they were unable to steal the minerals.
Shortly after the attack, police reinforcements were sent to the region, but the latest assault suggests that this may not be enough.
“Politicians visit the area, a police contingent is sent, but this [attention] will last maybe three weeks or a month, and then it will go back to normal,” José de Echave, an investigator for the NGO CooperAcción and former vice minister of environmental management, told InSight Crime.
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A lack of state presence and a gold rush in La Libertad has caused informal and illegal mining to spike, leading to the rise of the parqueros. With many of the same conditions present in other mining areas, these kinds of attacks may spread.
The gangs that eventually became known as parqueros emerged alongside an influx of illegal and informal miners across Peru in the last few years. These miners hired private security guards known as chalecos, or jackets. Chalecos protected these miners and helped them settle disputes — often outside the law, either because the miners wanted to avoid security forces’ attention or because there was no security presence to enforce the law.
Eventually, the chalecos began to overpower the miners, extorting them or taking control of their territory. They have become increasingly organized, with some experts claiming that gangs from La Libertad’s capital city of Trujillo and even the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have moved into Pataz’s parquero scene.
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Parquero gangs have also emerged in other Peruvian mining regions, raising the possibility that other companies could come under fire.
“There are several areas where similar situations could arise … We’re talking about an activity that is growing rapidly, that is continuing to grow, and which aims to control more territories,” de Echave said.
The government has increased its military and police footprint in Pataz and extended a state of emergency there on January 15. However, the parqueros will not be easy to reign in now that they have become so entrenched.
“When you look at how the Peruvian state has tried to respond to the growth of illegal activities across the country, the common denominator is that it has not been able to control them,” de Echave said.