Members of a ronda campesina (peasant self-defense patrol) at March 22 rally at the site of US-based Newmont Mining’s proposed Conga gold mine in Peru’s northern region of Cajamarca. Peasant protesters occupied the concession bloc to mark World Water Day, in defiance of a heavy National Police presence and a state of emergency imposed on the region by President Ollanta Humala. Local campesinos say the project threatens the region’s fragile watersheds, and pledge to resist it. Strikes and protests to oppose the project continue—despite deadly repression in July.
Photo: Bill Weinberg
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