After almost a year since the inhabitants of the old city of Morococha filed a Habeas Corpus claim against the Chinalco mining company, the Judicial Power agreed with them and recognized their constitutional rights “to live with dignity, to their moral, mental and psychological integrity. physical and free development and well-being ”.
In this way, the judge contradicted what was repeatedly used by the Chinalco company, which pointed out that they were marauders of the old Morococha and even illegal people who would be living at their own risk and expense.
Likewise, with said resolution, the Judicial Power also recognizes the right to free movement of the inhabitants, after the mining company closed access to their own homes.
When the process of resettlement of the population of the city of Morococha began in 2012, a group of families did not accept the conditions given by the company for the transfer. There the problem began for this population group that was even accused of being illegal and had, during this time, to live with the hostility of the mining company.
According to Elvis Fuster Calderón, representative of the Front for the Defense of the Interests of Morococha, the families that remained were blocked by the mining company and had to learn to live among the waste.
“Schools and numerous houses have been reduced to rubble. There is also no medical post or police station, and the houses that are still standing are exposed to the vibrations and gravel caused by the controlled explosions in Chinalco ”, he commented.
For Carlos Castro, legal advisor to the residents, with the resolution of the Judicial Power, the rights of this population group were restored. He even highlighted that the judge verified the state in which the residents who refused to transfer lived.
“The judge himself has said that you live in rubble. They have verified the inexistence of electricity, they do not have access to technology, it has been verified that they destroyed the access roads and the residents themselves had to fix it, ”said the lawyer.
Background
When the exploration stage of the Toromocho megaproject started by Minera Chinalco Peru, a subsidiary of Aluminum Corporation of China, planning and design of the population resettlement of the inhabitants of the Morococha district began to be planned, since said activity would be carried out in an open pit of copper and molybdenum reserves.
By 2009, the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) was being completed, which included the Population Resettlement Plan. According to the project’s EIA (Knight Piésold, 2009), resettlement was an extremely necessary process, not only to make way for the Toromocho project, but also to safeguard the health and safety of the inhabitants of the Morococha district. However, the mining company has not been complying with what was agreed in its environmental plan.
Only four years after the first residents began to live in Nueva Morococha, the resettlement balance is grim and the very survival of the town is up in the air.
On the other hand, those who accepted the resettlement denounce the breach of the promises of the mining company and consider it unfeasible to continue in the situation in which they are: without job opportunities, in an area they consider unfit to live due to pollution, bad sanitary conditions and risks of a disaster, and with a declining population.
Among the failures of the mining company is the construction of a mining camp for 500 workers. This, according to the residents, would have helped the dynamism of the new Morococha.
According to Juan Aste, a consultant for the Muqui Network, the little will on the part of Minera Chinalco to comply with the agreements signed for the benefit of the Morococha population has not been fully carried out. This non-compliance has a great effect on the economic and social dynamics of the Morococha district, where the goods and merchandise acquired by the workers produced an economic and social development of the population, the low volume of sales currently generated decimates the material well-being of the people. who choose to emigrate to neighboring towns, reducing the economic dynamics of the district.
For the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH), the ruling by the Judicial Power recognizes the rights of the residents of Morococha, restoring the basic needs of the residents.
“A joint vision is needed and a State that fulfills its regulatory functions. If the mining company does not comply, the State must enforce it ”, concluded the executive secretary of the CNDDHH, Jennie Dador.
Given
Yesterday, representatives of the affected area went to the presidency of the Council of Ministers to request a formal meeting with the premier, Mirtha Vásquez, and in this way request the Executive to take corrective action against the 2018 resolution.
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
