MAJAZ ANTI-MINING VIOLENCE ON ECUADOR BORDER

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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

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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

MAJAZ ANTI-MINING VIOLENCE ON ECUADOR BORDER

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