Reports of Another Assault on Maxima Chaupe by Denver’s Newmont Mining

Hundreds of marchers at the December 10, 2014 Great People’s Climate March during the COP 20 Lima Climate Talks carried signs and banners protesting the destruction they say Denver’s Newmont Mining Corporation has caused to their land, environment, and water in the highlands of Peru.  One particular resident near Newmont’s mine, Maxima Chaupe, has become a household name in South America, but also in Denver among those who locally address Latin American mining issues.  Several members of the Denver Justice and Peace Committee as well as members of the U.S. Alliance for Global Justice have traveled to Cajamarca, Peru near where the mine is located and have met with Chaupe.

On December 17, 2014 KGNU’s Early Morning News team covered one of the many legal proceedings between Chaupe and Yanacocha Mine-majority owned by Denver’s Newmont Mining Corporation-in December when the Peruvian Court of Appeals in Cajamarca rejected a lawsuit brought by Yanacocha that attempted to remove the Chaupes from their home.  However, on February 3, 2015, Newmont’s Yanacocha security forces and 200 National Police arrived to the Chaupe home as they have in the past, and destroyed a newly constructed portion of the mud brick home.  Lynda Sullivan, a local environmental and human rights activist based in Cajamarca spoke to KGNU by SKYPE about events leading up to and during the invasion.  Sullivan had earlier spent the day with Chaupe and said that a Global Day of Action is planned for Thursday, February 12 to support the family.

Amnesty International has released an urgent action directed to Interior Minister Daniel Urresti: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR46/002/2015/en/aa39845d-57a9-4bd4-a347-887da3990ff3/amr460022015en.pdf

For more information and donations: email [email protected] or phone 0051 996179135, a Peruvian number.

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