Scanning a triumph

One year later, FACTORTIERRA undisclosed its internal reports about the popular consultation of Piura Andes in September 2007, and it found some details have not solved yet.

 

By Liliana Alzamora Flores & Nelson Peñaherrera Castillo

 

AYABACA, Peru – What difficult is logging on the Internet at this place! There are long lines! Some journalists booked the PC’s for hours.

 

Saturday, September 15th, 2007 – There was a press conference at 19:00 local time, in Casa del Campesino. The briefing was directed by Mario tabra who presented some slides, Farmers Patrol’s leader Magdiel Carrión, the attorney quique Rodríguez. They answered the questions much objective proving to be well informed.

 

They denounced that Peru’s Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo distorted the information. Attorney Rodríguez reported that Alejandro Eguren Anselmi, brother of Piura and Tumbes Archbishop, were not already a Minera Majaz’s manager, but he has bought over than 50% of shares in other mining company.

 

Ayabaca’s Radio Campesina was broadcasting spots for not attending to vote all the night. The consultation’s previous day, Ayabaca grassroot leaders explained the journalists about the projections of the event. The audience was very remarkable – from TeleSur to Deutsche Welle with Radio Cutivalú in the middle, the interest of the media was unusual and positive.

 

Sunday, September 16th, 2007 – The process began at 8:30 local time. The correctly acredited observers were at 8:00. The secret chambers were made of mat. The time were more voters atended (5000 in average)was 10:00 local time, and came from too far villages like Yanta. We talked to someones and showed to be informed and aware of what they did. A lady said: “How is the President going to lead on our lands if he doesn’t feed us, give us anything in our villages…?”

 

Elders, disabled atended. The farmer rangers kept the public safety at Pampa de Lobo Stadium, the process was well organized, logistics and the electoral kits were complete, 70% of voting board members attended, the remaining 30% was filled with voters from the lines. The observers of Spain, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland had a very hard work. There were three Transparencia NGO members.

 

We never saw many voters together and such as colorful process of male and female typical outfits. It was a democratic celebration. Many have walked three hours to reach Ayabaca. The process was peaceful, everybody collaborated. The Organized Youth in Defense of Ecology (Jode, as its initials in Spanish) helped to locate the boards of every voter. Suyo’s Santa Rosa Community and Tambograndé Fronts were present.

 

Sunday,, September 16th, 2007, 19:00 – We have taken three boards as a sample. Worrying. The voters attendance in those ones was 61%. We saw the official results passing by. They were not released yet. In a board, from 169 counted votes, 163 were Not, 5% were Yeah.

 

Sunday September 16th, 2007, 21:00 – Neither there were skarmishes. At that moment, there was some drunk peasants cheering, but nothing else. The Police officers came to do tourism. We heard the rumor that the results were going to be announced at the Main Square later. It did not seem a good idea. Like in Tambograndé, 96% of the valid votes belonged to people opposed to mining-based development model. Two similar results can’t be ssuch as a coincidence, so the government should listen so much to the ones who granted it power.

 

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007: We were returning to Ayabaca by an invitation of Montreal university’s Veronique Leblois, who came as an observer of September 16^th consultation. The task of the visit was to know the perception of the results by its protagonists, and what plans they had to defend them.

 

This trip was funded by Veronique, who worked with a Montreal University’s research team that was studying the dynamics of this kind of conflicts because they were also breaking out in Canada and there were similar frames in Mexico. Regarding FACTORTIERRA, this trip was going to mean knowing perceptions and plans for the zone.

 

Thursday, September 20th, 2007 – In general, there was tranquility at the countryside as well as in the city. After the victory of Not, the people had no cclear ideas about a sustainable strategy that permitted to prove Río Blanco that their development choice was as feasible as or more feasible than it offered – how much is the people’s opinion respected?

 

Friday, September 21^st, 2007 – It’s not exact the government version about there are blockades on the way to Yanta, although it was perceived the resentment to foreigners, indeed. As a caution, the Central of Farmers Patrols gave us a credential identifying and allowing us to visit without troubles.

 

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 – There are nno major comments among the city’s people about the consultation – rather, the expectation is around the Señor Cautivo Festivity to be held since the first week of October, and that, as it’s traditional, expects the visit of many devotees nationwide.

 

The Jode’s will take advantage of the time to give flyers which demand respect for the consultation results. Their goal is informing the pilgrimns and devotees who will summon during the festivity. The initiative is self-inspired and apparently self-funded. After the consultation, the common sign was defending the results but nobody had an idea of how this was going to achieve.

 

The post-consultation scenario

Everyone in Ayabaca linked to opposition to the Río Blanco mining project who we talked with manifested to be satisfied about the consultation result –95% in average in the three districts where it was applied: Ayabaca, El Carmen de la Frontera, and Pacaipampa—and they said if the government invited them to talk, they would listen to it but they would answer that Río Blanco Cooper (former Minera Majaz) must go anyway.

 

The result aside, a new reason that, at least in a leadership level,opened up new expectations is a file against the mining company for property violation of Yanta Community. As Raúl Zevallos told to FACTORTIERRA in December 2006, Yanta proved through an inspection verified by a prosecutor and the Police that Río Blanco mining camp is inside its territory, Ayabaca Province in consequence, not Huancabamba like the government and the mining company have said. This inspection was made ending August 2007 but it was partially released to the media.

 

In addition, the community fears the mining company activities put in risk its territory where they have lands of cloud forest and páramo under communitarian protection plus cropping areas where they grow rice, potato, corn, avocado, bean, betch, fruits. Almost all the production is for self-consumption, and much of it has been migrated to organic management.

 

Yanta leaders said that it’s necessary to develop their agriculture and cattle purposed to begin a projection to the local market, especially for the rice. What they have no clear yetis how because they don’t have technical assistance of any institution about those topics. However, they reported that Ayabaca Municipality provided them seeds for real. Despite this, the leaders, in general, didn’t have a defined post-consultation plan, so they had no clear neither where to start from.

 

Some belief it should be started from agricultural improvement, but there was no uniformity about what and how to priorize. Even some leaders sustained they don’t want to do anything about until Río Blanco gets out the zone. The another detail is that they did not received nor receive neither any support from the government. Also, they ignored what strategies will develop about the consultation results, but they were demanding the government to recognize them and that the international community support them in that sense, precisely from the work of observers.

 

It’s false that the farmers were disinformed about the reasons of their opposition to the mining project. They managed in their language all the technical, scientific, and legal allegations. What would be worthy is teaching them to organize better their information so the people who ignore the issue or the people who have difficulty to understand the Spanish could understand easier the sequence of facts and reasons. A practical way to preserve the will of Ayabaca is making effective and sustainable projects that allow to improve the life conditions of the whole community.

 

Conclusions

1. If the community was informed and managed its allegations very well, it didn’t own a technical counterproposal to prove its traditional activities can face the mining.
2. The Yanta potential should be considered to make technical proposals for agriculture improvement that show the development model for defending is really feasible and sustainable.

 

Suggested actions

• Providing technical assistance & companion to improve the communitarian development model and powering it like a choice to the development model proposed by the government. So, it’s covered up a space that the organizations collective accompanying the communities have could not join in a detailed way.
• Continuing to reinforce the communication branch of the collective by incorporating the local mode to the international one we have already developed.
• We may also accompanying the work of the youth in other tasks related to the issue or matters they want to develop, since the perspective of motivation and development. This group also requires to organize their tasks and activities.
• Following to motivate the formation of international solidarity networks and motivating the researchers and activists  to get close the communities and meet them in a real dimension, so they turn in speakers of the issue abroad.
• The democracy not only has to express nominally. About the experience gotten in Piura Andes, it’s also imperative to educate the whole community about the insights and practical features of how to build citizenship.

 

With additional information of Radio Cutivalú in Piura and the assistance of Lenin Nima and Tony Alberca in Ayabaca. © 2007, 2008 Asociación Civil Factor Tierra. All Rights Reserved. The reproduction is restricted. Graphic producer: Jessica Lucía García. Editorial producer: Nelson Peñaherrera. Executive producer: Liliana Alzamora.