As Ollanta Humala’s Presidency of Peru draws to a close with a new government likely to be formed by Keiko Fujimori, though she is likely to face the veteran economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in the June run-off, pressure is once again building up over Tía María. This is an open-pit mining project being pushed by Southern Copper in Islay province, Arequipa region (IM, March 2016, p36). Last week, local communities staged a 72-hour strike in pursuit of their demand to have the project cancelled.

According to the locals, economic activity in the three districts most affected, Punto de Bombón, Deán Valdivia and Cocachacra, came to a halt for the duration of the strike which was carried out peacefully. Leaders were highly critical of Humala’s decision to visit Arequipa during the strike but not to visit Islay and intercede in the conflict with Southern.

Tía María was the cause of months of angry protests last year, with farmers in this relatively prosperous valley claiming that the mining project would do irreparable damage to their crops. It appears that the Ministry of Energy and Mines is likely to give the project the go-ahead in advance of the change of government on 28 July. Local farmers claim that the project lacks a ‘social license’.