The time of green tea

 

The cards that Rio Blanco Cooper could play.

 

By Nelson Peñaherrera Castillo

 

A week delayed, on July 11^th, 2012, former Huancabamba Mayor Ramiro Ibáñez had a letter from Rio Blanco Cooper, the former Peruvian affiliate of the British Monterrico Metals, lately part of Zijin mining group. If the news surprised, it could must have forgotten some details of all this issue since FACTORTIERRA undisclosed it in August 2003.

 

But this Zijin approach seemed not to be casual but a skillful move that responded to the controversy’s developments and other details that happened around like the Conga Conflict. Then, to avoid a play with marked Chinese cards, here we have some cards that the Hong Kong fellas looked like to have in their deck.

 

The consultation?

The Chineses expected that the fifth anniversary of the consultation in Ayabaca, Pacaipampa, and El Carmen de la Frontera spent like the tenth anniversary of Tambograndé’s – unseen. In that occasion, 96% of people who voted said they didn’t want mining projects in their territory. But this success was relative.

 

Only 55% of legal age people voted, and that should be updated to see if the trend holds on – it was a consultation, not a referendum. The population that in 2012 was between 18 and 25 years old, according to 2007 Census, was the one who had certain sustained growth.

 

In 2007, these people was between 13 and 20, what means that few less than a third part of them voted. The legitimate question is – what do the youngest voters think of? The municipality and its allies couldn’t guess and give triumphalist answers but making an objectivity exercise and facing the truth, and honoring the result, not matter if it was favorable or not.

 

It’s not the pàramo

The entrepreneurship of Rio Blanco is located in the nascent of Del Gallo Creek amid the cloud forest under 9900 feet altitude. Just above that point, the páramo or jalca begins, which land is, otherwise, relatively far away the open pit could be.

 

If the reason of ecologist defense is the probable contamination of water sources, and (unless the evaporation) the water doesn’t flow down to up, what is its technical-scientific  basis? Before repeating it not thinking about, it has to review urgently because it seems the damage doesn’t go through there. In other words, researching more about the nature of the interaction of both mountain ecosystems and giving it the legal frame upon that substantiation.

 

Let’s open the Sciences books and let’s listen to who know of the topic, that just cheering, it will miss points, again.

 

We’re not English

Zijin said in the letter that it condems the way how the English left environmental aand social residues. It’s the first time they recognize it, by the way. Also, that they want to make a green mining. It’s probable they refer to the color of the water in a river of Central China where a company-owned tailing dam broke, as it was reported in 2009.

 

But if somebody forgot, Zijin bought Monterrico Metals, English attached, Andrew Bristow among them, the manager accused of being behind 2005 tortures, and whose didn’t know anything else. Here the Chinese had a lot to ssay despite they were running against the time because they pretended to start Henry’s Hil exploitation in 2015, in the worst case.

 

The other part should listen patiently how those allegations were responded satisfactorily – with the truth.

 

The shadow of Conga

With the effervescence of Conga mining project opposition, in the nearby Cajamarca, and what many opponent groups to Rio Blanco identify with, the question is if Zijin was setting up the dialogue in the very right moment. A cold analysis concluded it wasn’t because there was other hotspot in misunderstandings about Huancabamba River’s transfer to Upper Piura hydroenergetic project.

 

If there was a frantic dialogue attitude, shouldn’t Zijin wait until the copper cools, and not when the water was boiling? Unless it wanted to burn or spreading the boiling hot water. Anyway, it wasn’t the right moment to take out the china. Who were more skillful waiting for, would win positions.

 

Informal mining

The card under the sleeve! After Benito Guarnizo accepted in Radio Cutivalú the existence of informal mining in Segunda y Cajas, where henry’s Hill is also located, what the Chinese and the government (do you remember Antonio Brack?) did was slapping this fact tireless. The mentioned community didn’t say anything else after that statement, and the government insisted in the existence of this activity at Samaniego River flow.

 

If segunda y Cajas was doing something about, they should announce and prove it. Otherwise, the ghost of incoherence played against the ecologist side.

 

The compensation

FACTORTIERRA learned Rio Blanco announced in Huancabamba Valley it began to pay the compensations to people who were tortured in Henry’s Hill in August 2005, but it couldn’t confirm the version independently despite many sources have said it extraofficially. We posted on our Facebook account waiting for a denial, and nobody denied it. And consider the miner sector was pretty alert of what we post.

 

Did the compensations payment mean the company was regretting? Not necessarily. It was a legal order that, if it’s not honored, in other countries it brings very hard penalties like long-time jail. Said otherwise, the payment of the tortured people’s right was not a signal of the mining company’s good will but the recognition of its guilt because the evidence was hard if somebody forgot the pictures of police officers showing out sadism, sexism, and fetishism,and sexual polarization conditions.

 

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