EnvJustice

Marco Arana, a well known environmental and human rights activist, a former priest and leader of the Tierra and Libertad movement in Peru, has been violently arrested today July 4,  in the main square in Cajamarca, as he was giving a press release about the deaths of 3 demonstrators yesterday in Celendin. He was assaulted, pushed to the floor and then grabbed and taken away.  Repression in Peru against communities protesting environmental damage due to the mines remains high, with 15 dead due to government repression since Ollanta Humala is in power. Cajamarca is once more under a state of emergency after the violent stand-off  yesterday left 3 people dead in Celendin, the spot of the proposed Conga mine by the American gold mining company Newmont .

Local EJOs from Peru ask to spread this information through your networks and to request the immediate release of Marco Arana. Please also write to the Newmont company to withdraw the Conga project, rejected by local people. For more information, contact GRUFIDES in Cajamarca: email hidden; JavaScript is required

 Update: Marco Arana’s jaw-bone was broken during the assault he suffered at the hands of Peruvian police on July 4th (An x-ray from Cajamarca’s Regional Hospital confirms this). And he has an indentation in his skull from one of the police clubs, which doctors hope will ‘fill in’ over time. He seems to have internal bleeding from his kidneys, but we’re waiting for more detailed reports.  Here is another picture of police burtality. This graphic photo from the attack (attached) was published in Somos on Saturday July 7th, the weekly newsmagazine of ‘El Comercio’, Peru’s pro-mining business press.