Peru eases indigenous law
A law that that gives indigenous groups in Peru more say over new mines and oil projects appears to be loosing some of its bite as Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino has sought to excluded Quechua-speaking communities in the mineral-rich Andes from being covered by the law.
According to a Reuters report on May 1, Merino has swayed President Ollanta Humala to water down the law.
Sources told Reuters that Humala said he fears applying the law throughout the highlands, as the government once said it planned to do, would delay a pipeline of mining investments worth $50-billion (U.S.).
The “prior consultation law,” which Humala touted during his 2011 campaign as a salve for widespread conflicts over natural resources, requires companies to negotiate agreements with indigenous communities before building new mines or oil wells around their lands.
It does not give the communities the power to veto a project, but miners have said it could snarl approvals for new mines for everything from gold to lead.
Foreign investment in mining has traditionally powered Peru’s fast-growing economy. Sources from the private sector and government said the debate over how to apply the new law has pitted the mining and finance ministries against the ministries of culture, environment and social inclusion.
Ivan Lanegra, a deputy minister for culture charged with implementing the law, plans to quit over the changes as soon as this week, two well-placed sources told Reuters.
Humala has reshuffled his cabinet twice since taking office after anti-mining protests turned violent.
Quechua – the language of the Incan empire – is spoken by an estimated three million to five million people in Peru. The Quechua are the most numerous and widespread of about 50 indigenous groups in Peru.
Lanegra maintains the law should cover Andean Quechua-speaking communities because they are “indigenous,” with a unique language and culture and shared use of land.
Merino’s position is that the Quechua should not be considered “indigenous” under the law because they mixed with Spanish colonizers centuries ago, often have formal town assemblies, and are less isolated than Amazon tribes.
Quechua towns have often been called “peasant communities” since an agrarian reform in the 1970s, but tribes in the Amazon – which holds most of Peru’s oil and gas fields – are referred to as “indigenous” or “native.”
Peru’s human rights office said “peasant communities” hold about 19 percent of all land and “native communities” 9 percent.
Mining makes up some 60 percent of Peru’s export earnings, though domestic spending has driven the country’s impressive 6 percent annual growth rates in recent years.
