Peru is scrutinizing paid security services that federal police provide to mining companies following a deadly protest by local residents that suspended exports from one of the world’s biggest copper mines, the government told Reuters on Monday.
The three-month-old centrist government of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is also talking with the Red Cross about setting up a program to teach police to manage protests better, Rolando Luque, director of the National Office of Dialogue in Kuczynski’s Cabinet, said in an interview.
The fatal shooting of a protester in clashes with police near MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas copper deposit earlier this month derailed talks between the government and Quechua-speaking communities upset with the company’s use of a local road. Protesters blocked all roads near the mine after the incident, disrupting exports and threatening to halt output.
The government has said the police did not have permission to crack down on protesters. Authorities are investigating the death of the man, one of several dozen Peruvians killed in clashes with police in the past decade, most in poor provinces.
Luque declined to comment on whether he thought police should continue to sign pacts that commit them to protecting mining operations in exchange for payment from companies.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-mining-conflicts-idUSKCN12O2Q1