By Carla Samón Ros |
Lima (EFE) rural communities that maintain conflicts with extractive companies.
The former Vice Minister of the Environment mentions, in an interview with EFE, that there are at least those three “very clearly established” connections between the anti-government protests that started after the failed self-coup by former President Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) and the previous social conflicts commonly known as socio-environmental.
De Echave refers to the latter as “eco-territorial conflicts”, as he proposes in the book “How to live peacefully again?” (CooperAcción), which investigates how disputes related to oil exploitation and mining impact the social fabric, an activity responsible for 10% of the Peruvian gross domestic product (GDP).
three constants
The first connection between anti-government protests and “eco-territorial conflicts”, he maintains, has to do with the “strong connotation of the fight against the economic and political power that is centralized in Lima” and that, in the words of the economist, “intends to decide what happens in the rest of the country, to impose those decisions in a vertical and, generally, authoritarian way”.
The second link, continues De Echave, is the “thesis of the conspiracy”, that is, the accusations made by some sectors that link the demonstrations to the alleged presence of “dark hands” related to mining, illegal logging, drug trafficking, and even the remnants of Sendero Luminoso.
Also to external factors such as former Bolivian President Evo Morales, even pointed out by the Government of Dina Boluarte.
In this way, the situation, whether they are anti-government or anti-mining demonstrations, considers that it is tackled “as an internal security problem” and, therefore, “the response is of this type: state of emergency, police repression, violence and criminalization ”.
In three months, direct confrontations between the forces of order and the demonstrators who protested against Boluarte claimed the lives of almost 50 people, while another 300 died between 2006 and 2021 due to conflicts associated with extractive activities, according to data revealed by De Echave. in his book.
Added to centralism and the thesis of the conspiracy, always according to De Echave, is the problem of identity which, in the economist’s opinion, has been a “key element” in the latest protests.
In the demonstrations, mobilized in the south of the country, they perceived the rural school teacher and former president Castillo “as someone like them.”
In the same way, identity is present in mining conflicts, where De Echave believes that “the control of the territory is in dispute” and “the ways of life” of the communities.
“Lack of legitimacy”
With this starting point, the book analyzes what happens in societies during the post-explosion, after the protests against mining companies, through the study of four “emblematic” cases: the Baguazo, Las Bambas, Espinar and Tía María.
At this stage of the conflict, says De Echave, a space for dialogue is inaugurated that is not without problems either.
For many community members, the State is perceived “as an actor linked to business interests.” On the other hand, the cohesion of the communities is diluting while the negotiation progresses and some social leaders are weakened by “facing criminalization processes.”
“The other element that is key at that time is that many dialogue tables do reach agreements, but they are not fulfilled and that is why today it is an instrument that has lost legitimacy,” says the author of the work.
How, then, to live in peace again? “As a country, we are, I think, in this search”, but “there is no magic recipe”, admits De Echave.
But a first clue, he says, is for the State to recover sustained “credibility, trust and presence” in the territories where there are extractive activities to begin to build “those balances that are missing” and find a peaceful coexistence between mining, communities and your rights.