Second lockdown controversy in Peru also hits the mining industry

Angry residents of Peru's Andean and Amazon regions last week attacked three mining and oil companies, two of which were forced to shut down following fatal clashes when a second wave of COVID-19 infections struck the country. The main reason: the demand for economic aid and healthcare support during the pandemic, which highlighted the stark divide between the rich and the often poor rural people of the country, the world's second largest copper producer. "The pandemic has lifted the veil over the reality of an inefficient, disjointed state," said the ombudsman for human rights Walter Gutierrez on Monday on local radio RPP. According to a Sunday ombudsman report, there were 162 social protests related to COVID-19 in Peru in June and July, most of them public health and requests for assistance, including 16 related to the engine of the country's economy: the Mining. According to a previous report, there were 326 cases of coronavirus-related unrest between March when the pandemic broke out in Peru and the end of May. On Sunday, three Amazonian Indians died and 17 people were injured, including local residents and police officers, after protesters clashed with security forces trying to stop production at an oil field operated by Canada's PetroTal. Another protest, affecting Glencore's own Antapaccay copper mine, was settled following an agreement with the local city that each resident would be given a $ 285 shopping card for groceries, medicines, clothing and education. Antapaccay also pledged to fund a medicinal oxygen plant. Medical oxygen, central to the treatment of COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory failure, has been declared a product of "national interest" by the government due to its scarcity, high demand and market price. Peru has the seventh highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, with over 478,000 cases and more than 21,000 deaths. The number of daily cases has risen sharply in a second wave in recent weeks after the country eased lockdown measures. "We are in an extremely critical situation," said Gutierrez. "The numbers are alarming indicators," Gutierrez said. The rise in social tensions is due to President Martín Vizcarra trying to get out of a political crisis after being forced to replace his prime minister - the second in three weeks - following an uprising in the opposition-dominated Congress.