[News] Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining As Puno Rejects Plan

[Anti-Imperialist News]

popularresistance.org
<https://popularresistance.org/peruvian-coup-regime-approves-lithium-mining-as-puno-rejects-plan/>
Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining As Puno Rejects Plan
By Clau O'Brien Moscoso - April 29, 2023
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[image: image.png]

Above Photo: “The US installed Dina (Boluarte) to get lithium and cocaine.”
Twitter @OllieVargas79.
The people of Peru demand that their lithium reserves benefit that nation
through a nationalization process.

*And that their environment be protected when their resources are
extracted.*

National Strike, Day 110

The Peruvian coup regime remains entrenched in power more than four months
after the parliamentary coup that ousted democratically elected President
Pedro Castillo. On April 10th, the de facto Minister of Energy and Mines
Óscar Vera announced the coup government would grant permits to Macusani
Yellowcake
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/04/18/perus-coup-government-is-privatizing-lithium-mining/>,
subsidiary of Canadian mining company Plateau Energy Metals, which as of
2021 is a subsidiary of American Lithium
<https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/companies/macusani-yellowcake-part-of-plateau-energy-metals/>
in the Macusani town of the Puno region. This comes in the wake of the
anti-coup protests that placed lithium as one of the main resources the
coup government, serving its transnational corporate interests, would move
swiftly to privatize. Leaders of the Puno region, including the National
Platform for People Affected by Metals, Metalloids and Other Toxic Chemical
Substances, have stated clearly that until there is respect for the people
of Puno, the lithium
<https://wayka.pe/mientras-que-no-haya-aceptacion-del-pueblo-de-puno-el-litio-no-sale-plataforma-nacional-de-afectados-por-metales-toxicos/>
will not leave.

This comes after the unanimous decision
<https://muqui.org/noticias/puno-pobladores-acuerdan-no-explotar-litio-si-no-se-industrializa-primero/>
by the Council of Original Aymara and Quechua Authorities in Ilave, Puno
with the participation of 3,000 community members to continue defending the
sovereignty of their territories, and not exploit lithium without
nationalization and industrialization within Perú to benefit the people of
the 13 provinces of Puno. According to one leader, “We will not allow
lithium to leave the highlands without industrialization, we will exercise
our legitimate right over the sovereignty of lithium for the Aymara,
Quechua, and Amazonian peoples. Lithium will not be freely disposed of as
they believe in Lima.” However, the coup regime in Lima has not consulted
these communities in Puno, or so much as done environmental surveys in the
area to minimize environmental degradation.

The people of Puno, much like the coup regime and its corporate masters,
understand the importance of lithium in the 4th industrialization and have
seen the advances that nationalizing that mineral can mean for the people
in neighboring Bolivia. This coup was always about getting to the lithium
of Puno, along with all the other vast minerals and resources Perú
contains. As a young protester from Asillo, Puno
<https://blackagendareport.com/bloodshed-tear-gas-bombs-and-mudslides-100-days-dictatorship>
told me, “They have negotiated international treaties with legal contracts
with companies that exploit our raw materials; we are simply a raw material
exporting country. And we as young people think that in the 21st century we
can transform these resources.”

The battle in Puno, much like the broader struggle in Perú, is to end the
ransacking of natural resources by transnational corporations with no
regard for the people of those lands whose soil and waters become
contaminated, whose labor is exploited for 1 sol an hour, whose roads and
infrastructure remain dilapidated, and whose children must walk for hours
to get an underfunded education. As Pedro Castillo stated in an interview
with El Salto
<https://www.elsaltodiario.com/peru/pedro-castillo-entrevista-exclusiva-carcel>
publication, “the whole problem has to do with lithium. Imperialism wants
lithium and my government wanted to give lithium to the people.” One could
say this is why Bolivia’s president Luis Arce has proposed the creation of
a Latin American wide Lithium OPEC
<https://www.reuters.com/article/bolivia-lithium/bolivia-president-says-lithium-batteries-could-be-exported-by-2026-idUSKBN2W907G>
to jointly design a lithium policy throughout the region that prioritizes
the development of those countries. Mexico’s AMLO
<https://www.reuters.com/article/mexico-lithium-president/mexican-president-to-sign-over-lithium-reserves-to-energy-ministry-on-saturday-idUSKBN2UP1EO>
also recently announced the nationalization of that country’s lithium
deposits, and Chile’s Gabriel Boric
<https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/21/chile-lithium-reserves-albemarle-sqm-nationalize-boric-santiago/>
also made a similar announcement that puts the mineral at the center of
future development of Latin American countries, using their own natural
resources to fund public services like education, housing, healthcare, etc.
This is what the people of Puno are fighting for- sovereignty over their
lands and resources to improve the lives of people on those lands.

The region is making a  transition from raw material exporting countries to
sovereign nations that industrialize their own resources and trade
internationally to benefit their own people. Those at the forefront of
these struggles understand that it’s more than just raw materials. This is
about life itself, about future generations. As we see yet another social
leader assassinated by private interests (¡Santiago Contoricón
<https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-04-11/el-asesinato-a-sangre-fria-de-santiago-contoricon-y-la-desproteccion-de-los-lideres-indigenas-en-peru.html>
presente!) for defending territorial rights, the Peruvian people yearn and
are fighting for the sovereignty that the current coup regime is selling
off to the highest bidders, mostly Western entities.
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