US embassy cable - 05LIMA3571

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 003571 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EB FOR A/S WAYNE; WHA FOR MONSERRATE; INL FOR AGUILERA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2015 
TAGS: EMIN, PGOV, SNAR, ASEC, EINV, ENRG, PE 
SUBJECT: MAJAZ ANTI-MINING VIOLENCE ON ECUADOR BORDER 
 
REF: A. LIMA 1432 
 
     B. 04 LIMA 5874 
 
Classified By: Ambassador J. Curtis Struble. Reason: 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Violent protests against British firm 
Majaz,s exploration for copper near the Ecuador border have 
resulted in three deaths and several kidnappings.   An 
unusual combination of anti-mining NGOs, the Catholic Church, 
leftist groups and narcotraffickers have marshaled protesters 
from the surrounding provinces, inaccurately claiming that 
Majaz is contaminating water.  (In fact, only exploratory 
drilling of core samples has occurred.)  The Mission 
continues its work with other Embassies and mining investors 
to promote conflict resolution.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Sporadic protests began a year ago in the Minera Majaz 
exploration zone along the Rio Blanco, on the Ecuadorian 
border in northern Piura.  In July, local radio stations, 
several Catholic priests and rondero groups claimed that 
Majaz was contaminating rivers while extracting minerals; the 
claims were not substantiated, as Majaz has only been 
test-drilling.  On 7/28 protesters began road blockages and 
confrontations with the Peruvian National Police (PNP).  The 
GOP sent a negotiating team to the zone to lower tensions, 
but Vice Minister of Mines (MEM) Romulo Mucho was injured by 
a protester as he left a negotiating session in Cajamarca. 
Despite claims that police killed many protesters, only one 
death (gunshot from an unknown assailant) was confirmed 
during demonstrations.  The PNP reported also that two locals 
died in their home when their explosive device detonated. 
 
3.  (SBU) On 8/6 Ronderos kidnapped two Majaz employees and 
took them to villages where they were beaten.  The two were 
released, but on 8/14 ronderos kidnapped ten other employees, 
releasing them only after the employees signed agreements not 
to work for Majaz.  Ronderos have announced plans for more 
demonstrations on 8/18. 
 
4.  (C) Conversations between Mission officers, MEM VM Mucho, 
Majaz executives, NGO representatives and PNP officials 
yielded a common theme that the protesters have no negotiable 
complaints, but rather want to keep outsiders away.  The 
forces overtly arrayed against Majaz are the local ronderos, 
mayors, several Catholic priests and some NGOs.  Working 
behind the scene are a combination of the Peruvian Communist 
Party/Patria Roja, national teachers, union SUTEP and 
perhaps opium poppy traffickers. 
 
5. (SBU) The Peruvian National Police have said publicly that 
they believe opium traffickers have also played a role in 
stoking the violence -- an assertion the police have 
amplified in private conversations with Emboffs.  Police 
report that they have destroyed over 70,000 opium poppy 
plants in Northern Peru since June 2005.  Company 
representatives have also asserted that the Majaz exploration 
site lies along a foot track used by couriers who convey 
opium latex to Ecuador. 
 
6. (C) Comment:  This area of northern Peru is in fact a 
priority target of our efforts to collect intelligence on 
poppy cultivation and opium trafficking.  We are working with 
both the police and company representatives to further 
develop the information they have.  So far, however, the 
information is general.  There have been past instances when 
non-U.S. mining companies have claimed unconvincingly that 
narco-traffickers were behind opposition to their operations 
in an effort to enlist our assistance. End Comment. 
 
7.  (C) NGO Oxfam America has become a frustrated actor in 
the Majaz community negotiations.  Javier Aroca (Protect), 
Oxfam representative, was present for negotiations from 7/28 
to 7/31.  Previously critical of GOP and mining industry 
conciliation efforts elsewhere in Peru, Aroca told us that 
Majaz and MEM VM Mucho were making reasonable efforts to 
mediate; here, he said, the ronderos refused to negotiate and 
simply wanted Majaz to leave.  Aroca noted that other 
mediating NGOs, such as Catholic University and the National 
Commission of Communities Affected by Mining (CONCAMI) were 
experiencing the same frustration with the ronderos. 
 
8.  (U) Minera Majaz is the Peruvian subsidiary of British 
firm Monterrico Metals.  Majaz has spent $20 million 
exploring for copper for over a year, building roads and 
providing services and employment to area residents. 
Exploratory drilling has finished; surveying of a planned 
copper concentrate pipeline (the last step for Majaz,s 
feasibility study) ceased during protests but resumed on 
8/11.  Militants still deny access to most of the pipeline 
route.  The planned $800 million investment in a deposit of 
1.3 billion metric tons (MT) of copper ore could produce 
220,000 MT of copper concentrate and 500 MT of molybdenum per 
year. 
 
9.  (U) Embassy Lima has recently stepped up efforts to 
improve coordination with the embassies of Canada, Great 
Britain, Australia, Switzerland and South Africa as well as 
with major foreign mining investors with an eye to reducing 
anti-mining violence (Septel/Reftels). 
10.  (C) Comment: The anti-mining forces in action in Majaz 
represent a strange group of bedfellows indeed -- the 
Catholic church, violent radical leftists, NGOs, ronderos and 
perhaps narcotraffickers.  These organizations are competing 
for a leadership role but in some cases also cooperate.  The 
extent to which the church is tied into the ronderos and 
radical left is both controversial and still open to 
question.  Unlike recent conflicts in Southern Peru (e.g., 
Tintaya) the protests in Majaz are not aimed at forcing a 
redistribution of royalties or more generous economic support 
from a mine.  Northern Peru has a reputation for being more 
anti-mining than the South, where the industry is better 
developed and more of the local populations see benefits from 
the activity.   The objective of protesters in Majaz is to 
kill the project while it is in the exploration phase -- 
before, presumably, a pro-mine constituency can develop in 
the area. 
STRUBLE