{"id":1200,"date":"2015-06-06T19:15:04","date_gmt":"2015-06-06T19:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mariachappuis.com\/blog\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2019-04-08T18:17:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T23:17:06","slug":"mining-conflict-and-captured-fugitive-scandal-take-toll-on-peruvian-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mariachappuis.com\/blog\/archivos\/1200","title":{"rendered":"Mining conflict and captured fugitive scandal take toll on Peruvian leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"1433206424_155462_1433206539_noticia_normal\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A mining conflict and questions concerning his relationship with a businessman facing corruption charges who was recently captured in Bolivia<\/a> have taken a toll on Peruvian President Ollanta Humala as he prepares to begin his last year in office.<\/p>\n

According to the GfK polling firm<\/a>, 77 percent of Peruvians disapprove of the way Humala has been managing his government \u2013 an eight-percent rise from the last survey taken in April.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old leader was swept into office in 2011<\/a> campaigning on a nationalist ticket. His Gana Peru party had been considered leftwing, but his style of government is more in keeping with the center right. Under the Constitution, Humala is barred from running for a consecutive term next year.<\/p>\n

Two recent controversies have put Humala in the eye of a political hurricane in his own country.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumala has two very complicated fronts and little leeway to manage them,\u201d said GfK polling director Hern\u00e1n Chaparro.<\/p>\n

First, the president has had to deal with a series of violent conflicts that have emerged in Peru\u2019s southern Isaly province over the government\u2019s plans to open a copper mine, known as T\u00eda Mar\u00eda, with financing from Mexican firm Southern Copper.<\/p>\n

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Humala is opposed to the European Union carrying out an environmental impact study<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Residents in the nearby Tambo agricultural valley and environmentalists have been against the project from the beginning because the mining company plans to use water from the nearby Tambo River.<\/p>\n

The government has said the mine could produce around 120,000 tons of copper annually and money would go back into the province by way of direct investments. But opponents are not convinced.<\/p>\n

In 2011, violent protests broke out between police and demonstrators in the region that took the lives of three civilians, and last March, provincial government leaders, including local mayors, called an indefinite strike.<\/p>\n

An environmental impact study, which was commissioned by environmentalists and local leaders, states that copper extraction would affect local rice and garlic production as well as the tuna industry.<\/p>\n

Last month, more violent protests occurred, which left three people and a police officer dead, prompting Humala on May 22 to declare a state of emergency in the province. This has forced many of the protest leaders to flee to the city of Arequipa to avoid being arrested.<\/p>\n

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Belaunde is being held in a maximum security prison following his extradition from Bolivia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00d3scar Gonz\u00e1lez Rocha, the executive president of Southern Copper, announced a two-month freeze on the project so that company officials could give people in the province more information about the T\u00eda Mar\u00eda mine.<\/p>\n

In a recent television interview, Gonz\u00e1lez Rocha acknowledged that \u201csomething was probably wrong\u201d in this case.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Yamila Osorio, the regional governor of Arequipa, said the European Union was willing to finance a second environmental impact study, but the Humala government is opposed to such a move.<\/p>\n

If the T\u00eda Mar\u00eda controversy has battered Humala\u2019s image, his reputation has been further damaged by the recent escape and capture of Peruvian businessman Mart\u00edn Belaunde Lossio<\/a>, who fled the country after he was charged with corruption and money laundering.<\/p>\n

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