Majaz: Community referendum in Ayabaca

Community referendum held on September 16th, 2007 in the city of Ayabaca, province of Ayabaca in the state of Piura, northern Peru.

The referendum was organized by the municipality in the hopes of peacefully resolving the conflict between the community and the Majaz mining company. The company plans to construct a massive copper mine in a fragile cloud forest that supplies water to the entire region.

There are more than 718 mining concessions in the state of Piura and the referendum aims to determine if local communities want mining in this agricultural area. Unlike normal Peruvian elections where abstinence is penalized, the referendum was voluntary and no one was fined for not taking part.

Although the referendum is not legally binding, the results show that Majaz and other mining companies do not have a social license to work in the area.

TOTAL Eligible Voters: 18 421
Percentage of Voter Abstinence:
General Elections 2001: 35 percent
General Elections 2006: 19 percent

Votes cast: 8,873 (48.17 percent of the total electorate)
Votes in favor of mining in the district: 176
Votes against mining in the district: 8,294
Blank ballots: 159
Spoiled ballots: 244

Produced by GUARANGO Cine y VIDEO
http://www.guarango.org/tambogrande

Camera: Tito Cabellos
Sound: Stephanie Boyd
Edition: Javier Becerra H.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Community
• referendum
• carmen
• frontera
• mining
• peru
• environment
• Majaz
• Case
• Huancabamba
• Perou
• Rio
• Blanco
• Piura
• Yanta

[jexuco]

alan garcia es un corrupto ladron ,, el no piensa en la gente pobre en los campesinos eso es INJUSTO

[balangonzales]

Me parece triste como hay gente u ONG's que trabajan para que la gente siga siendo pobre y no ven en la minera una oportunidad de desarrollo y mejor calidad de vida....comparen nada mas ...jornal de S/ 10 dia o menos versus S/. 30 soles a mas..

[johannabasten]

This M...F..just wana demish the natur and the people that lives over there,and i can remember that this loser of Alan said NOT to the minery,and now everybody knows what he has in mind,i was born there and all my family live over there,what will be the future of the people with out of peace of ground???ground where they were born his grandfather and many many generation,what a tragedy now!!!

[johannabasten]

Como dijo el precidente NO a la mineria,pero parece que ya cambio de opinion,,y es verdad que esta gente solo quiere comer y subsistir

[mcambordav]

Esto se llama "democracia directa" y es practicada por las comunidades andinas desde siempre. Lamentablemente el gobierno actual que solo busca ingresos para su caja fiscal no es capaz de exigir mejores acuerdos a la transnacional china de Zijin Mining Co. pero si es capaz de acusar de terroristas o perros del hortelano a esta humilde gente que solo quiere un espacio donde puedan producir para comer y subsistir.

[lindotimo]

It was an interesting glimpse of faces of the people, 'campesinos' in northern Peru. This is 'local democracy', and better organized than in the U.S. as one of the men states just before the end of the clip.