This. Is. Awful.

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Published on Thursday, 18 April 2019 03:20
Written by editor
She's fighting a mega mine to save her home

Dear A,

Right now Máxima -- farmer, grandmother, and environmentalist from Peru -- is in court facing off a giant gold mining company, just to protect her home.

If you donate right now, you’ll be helping Máxima pay for top lawyers to fend off this legal attack.

No one should have to face down corporate bullies alone. Can you show Máxima we are backing her every step of the way?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 nowDonate CA$140 nowDonate CA$187 nowDonate another amount

Thanks for all you do,

Angus, Amelia, and the team at SumOfUs

Here's my original email:



Máxima Acuña is a target for bullies. She’s bravely sticking by her tiny farm, despite attacks from a giant gold mining corporation trying to wrestle the land off her.

But the corporation is suing Máxima and harassing her family and animals.

Máxima faces off Newmont Mining in court this week. She needs your backing now. Can you chip in CA$93 to help Máxima fight for her home?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 nowDonate CA$140 nowDonate CA$187 nowDonate another amount

A,

“My husband and I bought this land with the sweat off our backs. I was crying and I said, please don’t do this to me. Where am I supposed to go?” -- Máxima Acuña, a farmer, grandmother and environmentalist from Peru.

Máxima

This was the day Máxima and her family found themselves surrounded by police and security guards, ready to evict them from their home. They put up a fight and Máxima and her daughter were beaten unconscious.

The police retreated that day -- but every day since, for the last several years, Máxima worries they are coming back. Her fish ponds have been poisoned and a huge metal fence put up all around her farm. Security guards take photographs and video of her family daily.

She is in court again this week, under legal attack by yet another case from Newmont, the giant mining corporation that wants her land to build a big new gold mine.

Máxima has fought these cases before -- and won. Newmont knows these cases can last for years and come with a huge price tag -- but you and I can help Máxima keep fighting for her home. Can you chip in to pay for a top lawyer?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 nowDonate CA$140 nowDonate CA$187 nowDonate another amount

Máxima’s farm sits at the top of a mountainside in Peru, by Laguna Azul, a lagoon that feeds clean water to the villages downstream. It’s just 10 miles away from the biggest open-pit mine in Latin America, called the Yanacocha mine, owned by US corporation Newmont Mining.

The Yanacocha mine has poisoned streams with cadmium and lead. And yet, for years, Newmont Mining has been using every possible means to build a vast new gold mine right on top of Máxima’s farm -- turning this --

Mine-before

Into this --

Mine-after

Can you chip in to help Máxima keep her home, defend wildlife and protect clean running water for the surrounding community?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 nowDonate CA$140 nowDonate CA$187 nowDonate another amount

Máxima and her family have put 20 years of work into their land. The plants and animals they’ve nurtured provide them with almost everything they need. More than that, Máxima loves the land and the blue lagoon. She couldn’t bear to see them literally torn apart by greedy gold miners.

That’s why she’s fought for years to stay in her home -- and why Newmont Mining are getting increasingly furious and desperate that she’s in the way of their multi-million-dollar plans.

Máxima has become a local leader, speaking out for everyone affected by gold mining in the area. She’s even won a prestigious environmental prize.

But without a swift injection of funds from around the world, Máxima is at risk of finally being crushed by this giant corporation’s dirty legal tricks. A, you and I can help her keep fighting - can you chip in now?

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 nowDonate CA$140 nowDonate CA$187 nowDonate another amount

SumOfUs members like you have stood side by side with Máxima before. In 2015, 140,000 of you signed petitions calling on Newmont Mining to leave her alone. Here’s what Máxima said when she heard:

“I would like to thank everyone from around the world who signed the petition in support of my case. In truth I am fighting with my family for something just, to defend my land, whatever it has cost me. For this I thank you because your support has given me the strength to continue fighting."

No one should face down bullies alone --

If you've saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 nowDonate CA$140 nowDonate CA$187 nowDonate another amount

Thanks for all that you do,
Angus, Amelia, and the team at SumOfUs

More information:

Máxima Acuña: Fiscalía abrió investigación por envenenamiento de mil truchas de su criadero. La República. 2019-03-06

Máxima Acuña, 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize, South and Central America. Goldman Environmental Prize. 2016-04-17

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

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