Extractivism and Exploitation in Peru
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- Published on Thursday, 13 August 2020 02:44
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2168 ... August 13, 2020
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Extractivism and Exploitation in Peru
Yanis Iqbal
Martin Vizcarra, Peru’s president, has announced that "[t]his government has taken up the challenge and has been working on the approval of a new regulation for mining procedures in order to streamline those procedures." The regulation "aims to provide certainty for investors in order to boost private investment" and will satisfy the demands of mining magnates who "have requested that the procedures be expedited in order to unlock mining projects and allow the sector to contribute to the economic reactivation."
The current government decision to elevate extractivism as the engine of economic reactivation is a blessing for extractive elites who have been pushing for deregulation, a secure investment climate and a faster economic re-opening. On 20 July 2020, Carlos Gálvez, former president of mining and energy association SNMPE, said, "To recover we have to immediately activate the portfolio of mining projects, as mining will drive the entire economy." In a similar manner, on 23 June 2020, Víctor Gobitz, the president of Peru’s Institute of Mining Engineers and... executive president of local precious metals producer Buenaventura, said that "we must look at the crisis as an opportunity."
Gobitz went on to add, "A more expeditious licensing and permit system is required," a demand that the government has diligently fulfilled. Gobitz also made it clear that the political and social climate in Peru needed to be overhauled. While speaking on the problems of mining, he said that many mining projects "confronted social problems and were halted." He tells the interviewer that the root of this problem is the system "that generates local leaders without a long-term vision or a comprehensive vision of the country." In order to stall this system, Gobitz suggests, "[i]n the long term we have to work to mature the political system, to have fewer political parties and to be more responsible with the country."
