Bluffing a denounce

An organization could be created just to set a lawsuit against opposers.

 

By Julio Vásquez Calle (Water, Democracy, and Development Regional Network)

 

PIURA CITY, Peru – In July 2008, Piura’s 5^th Prosecution Office began questionnaries to people accused of terrorism – farmer leaders, mayors, NGO members among them.

 

The notified were San Ignacio (Cajamarca)’s Mayor Carlos Martínez Solano, president of Northern Border Sustainable Development Front(FDSFN by its initials in Spanish), Ayabaca’s Mayor Humberto Marchena, Huancabamba’s Mayor Valentín Quevedo, el Carmen de la Frontera’s Mayor Ismael Huayama, and Ayabaca’s First Councellor Deiber Flores, as well as San Ignacio’s Municipal Manager Euler Jave Díaz.

 

Also included were Javier Janhcke Benavente (Fedepaz), Wilson Ramiro Ibañez (Muqui Network), Biologist Fidel Torres, Mario Tabra Guerrero among others.

 

Most of the accused are representatives of farmer people in Piura Andes and San Ignacio that are opposed to Río Blanco Cooper Project (formerly Majaz). It’s necessary to precise the most of accused pulled the local referendum on September 16^th, 2007, in Piura’s districts of Ayabaca, Pacaipampa, and el Carmen de la Frontera, where the locals attended massively to express their position about the mining activity as a development choice for this zone, being mostly rejected by 96% of voters.

 

San Ignacio’s Mayor rated the file introduced by the self-named Segundday Cajas Unity Front as a desperate bluff of Rio Blanco Project that presumibly funded those parallel organizations purposed to divide the town. The Segunda y Cajas Unity Front was tagged by the communitarian leaders as a parallel organization that looks for weakening the grassroot organizations.

 

Ayabaca’s Mayor assured not to meet any of the parallel front members. “I don’t know the people who filed me (…) I’m indignated because anyone can be filed without any cause, alleging me for terrorism when I am a mayor who was elected for five periods in Lagunas District and Ayabaca Province today.”

 

The FDSFN was joined by the mayors ofAyabaca, Huancabamba, Pacaipampa, el Carmen de la Frontera, and other communitarian organizations before the worry of farmer population because of the installation of Río Blanco Cooper Project, that pretends to build a cooper mine at the nascents of Chira and Huancabamba Rivers, threatening the water production for the lowlands of Piura and Cajamarca.

 

Ayabaca’s Mayor said his duty is being at the side of the people seeing their problems, when they have determined their development in agriculture, cattle, and tourism.

 

Accused about helping

Fedepaz’s member Javier Jahncke Benavente clarified he did have given some support, “this has been by a request of the authorities, the people formally established in a farmer community, and not through groups joined by four people, without any type of representativeness, neither a participation in the community that asked for supporting any kind of advisory we have brought them,” referring to the free technical advisory he have given.

 

Nevertheless about the accusation, Jahncke affirmed “it’s a bluffing denounce looking for freesing the people that is actually organized and that have a position not taken in the count by the authorities at this moment.”

 

Impartiality was expected

The defense attorney David Velasco Rondón accepted the Prosecution was doing its job when it summoned the plaintiffs to have their declarations and he expected the impartiality of the prosecutor.

 

Referring to his counselled, he said “the filed (…) have a recognized public activity in defense of the rights of native farmer communities, they are innocent persons in the environment, and they were falsely filed, we consider that, in the beginning, we don’t do anything else than obeying the order of the Prosecution for them to make their researching declarations,” Velasco affirmed.

 

The Prosecution research finished with the questionnaires ending August 2008 after hearing the statements of 35 accused people among farmer communitarian leaders, mayors, and proffessionals.

 

International concern

Washington, DC-based Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe (HEWM) bar, dedicated to protect the human rights sent a legal analysis wwhich exposed its concern because of the denounce of the self-named Segunda y Cajas Farmer Community’s Unity Front

 

The analysis sent by HEWM was caused by the concern of international organisms because of human rights vulneration, according to the clarified by the letter addressed to the Prosecutor Juan Ortiz Arévalo, presented on July 23^rd by the defense attorney Rosa Quedena Zambrano (Fedepaz) in Piura’s 5^th Prosecution Office.

 

“The reason why we are sending this analysis for your consideration is that the Environmental Defenders Law Center (EDLC)realized the existence of a quantity of cases around the world which, like this, the environmental defenders who participate in opposition to proposed development projects (…) Those files look for, in essence, charging strictly and criminally those citizens for the illegal actions of others.”

 

HEWM has about 650 lawyers in 14 U.S. and abroad bureaus. In such sense, it assigned GarretByrne and Jack Anderson in London, also William Forman, Matthew Benedetto, and Lewis Gordon, this last one as the director of EDLC, who signature and substantiated the presented legal analysis.

 

Attorney Quedena stated that the international organisms were following up those cases, concerned about: “We are introducing a report made by an American bar (…) which it is legally established there are no crimes what this persons were filed for, and that are matter of this prosecuting investigation.”

 

© 2008 Asociación Civil Factor Tierra. All Rights Reserved. Additional edition by FACTORTIERRA.