On Wednesday 2nd of December a new violent confrontation between local residents and police occurred in the town of Cajas Canchaque, district of Carmen de la Frontera, in the province of Huancabamba, northern Peru. During the confrontation two residents died by police fire: Cástulo Correa Huayama, 39 years old, and Vicente Romero Ramírez, 52 years old. This tragic event raised more fears of militarization at Monterrico Metals‘ Rio Blanco copper-molybdenum project: by creating the public perception of a rural population that is “unmanageable” and “violent”, the state will be able to “justify the militarisation of this area” an observer suggested. See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=9717.
Two days after the attack, Peruvian organisation CONACAMI organized a protest in front of the British Embassy (because Monterrico Metals from the UK is still officially the owner of the Rio Blanco project). A short video (with English subtitles) of this protest is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH1h1SGHlPA.