The Chinese invasion of Peru’s mines

A picture posted on an internet mailing list prompted Peru’s Minister of Environment to contact me, asking for further information. It was not an ordinary image. A huge dredge belonging to the Chinese was operating in the mines of Madre de Dios, where, one year earlier, the government tried to encourage illegal prospectors to legalize their activities. My picture surprised the Minister. A few days after, a veritable “war effort” involving over 150,000 Navy soldiers was deployed in Madre de Dios, destroying all Chinese equipment.

Once he became aware of large-capacity dredges mining for gold in the rivers of Madre de Dios, Minister Antonio Brack said in an exclusive interview that "every day this situation becomes more uncontrollable, requiring support and help from various sources to solve it definitively. It is a mid to long term process, and it must be constant. But it is worth remembering that other countries used the Armed Forces, in other words, the Army, to put it down", said the Minister. Said and done. The action came shortly after the promulgation, on February 18th, of an emergency ordinance from the Peruvian Executive Branch allowing control of illegal mining activities by the Armed Forces and the National Police.

On the night of February 20, I received an email from the Advisor to Minister Brack, saying: "I don’t know if you've followed the latest news. But I thank you for everything; I believe your photo of the dredger was instrumental in the decisions made by the Council of Ministers. Finally concrete actions were taken."

How it all began

The picture that mobilized the Peruvian government to act strongly against the Chinese prospectors was the outcome of a trip that I usually make to the region of Madre de Dios. Once again, I had been assigned to take foreign journalists to the areas of illegal gold mining along the South Interoceanic highway. For the Swedish television crew, the trip was a chance to portray for the first time the alarming situation in this part of the Amazon rainforest. For me, the opportunity to return to the mines of southern Peru, one year after the promulgation of the emergency ordinance intended to formalize the gold mining activity in the region of Madre de Dios.

On the morning of January 31st, this year, we were in the office of the Native Federation of Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (FENAMAD), at the capital of Puerto Maldonado, waiting for the teacher and haramkbut Indian leader Marcia Tije. The plan was to travel to her community so she could explain the conflicted relationship between natives and prospectors coming into the area in search of gold for decades.

Over the years, attempts made by previous governments to formalize the activity in the department produced a complex situation: the overlap of mining concessions in indigenous lands. Illegal settlements have always exceeded the borders of the territories set for indigenous peoples. The natives sometimes face the invaders, sometimes associate with them.

Márcia arrived at FENAMAD saying that she wouldn’t join us because she had to attend to a meeting with legal counselors, in order to figure out how to proceed legally against the latest raid occurred in the lands of her people. Two months ago, prospectors from China began to build two dredges to extract the precious metal without the consent of the majority of the community members. "My son will take you so you can see with your own eyes and take records. Once the meeting is finished, I’ll catch up with you."

Disaster, threat, and a hidden story

We started towards the Native Community Arazaire, 163 kilometers away from Puerto Maldonado. On the way, we filmed from our car window, the prospectors’ camps that have formed on the roadside during the work of paving the InterOcean South, started in 2006. We had to decide the strategic place where we would stop to conduct interviews. The rain wouldn’t stop.

At Kms 98, 100 and 102, the scenery was of abandonment. Canvas-based tents, which hosted the trade of inputs for mining, canteens and brothels, were left behind. The gold had ended and left the desert. The movement now is on the banks of the KMS 108, 110, and especially in KM 115, where the illegal prospectors on bikes gain access through a hour-long trail to reach the Malinowski River basin, in the buffer zone between the Tambopata National Reserve and the Bahuaja Sonene National Park.

"The Chinese are taking gold over there too", said Araoz Duberli Tije, the 23 year old son of prof. Márcia. In the Kotzimba Native Community, formed by natives and settlers, the president has associated with the Chinese citizens in illegal business installed near the limits of the two protection areas - one of the areas with greatest biodiversity in the Amazon.

When the storm ended, we stopped at KM 108. Duberli chose not to go down. As a local, he was afraid to follow our news team and suffer some kind of retaliation later on. Despite the tense atmosphere, we obtained statements and images. I asked Swedish reporter Lars Moberg about his impressions of the situation. "A disaster for the environment in Peru. A real threat to indigenous peoples of Madre de Dios. A story still hidden."

Los chinos in Arazaire

"Look, the bulldozers are coming!", noted the young Tije, as we talked the next morning, and, finally, in Arazaire. The Swedes rushed to capture the image. I kept listening to the story. "They invaded our communal house, and pitched a camp near the river Inambari, where they are working" said Marcia, summoning all her family, so we could follow the trail to meet the Chinese.

Twenty minutes of hiking were enough to see and record the foretold environmental tragedy. Since February 2010, the Emergency Ordinance #02-2010 prohibits the operation of dredgers, who prospect the bottom of rivers for gold. Still two highly mechanized boats are being built in the community in full swing.

Our attempt to communicate with the Chinese was unsuccessful. They do not speak Castilian. But the Peruvian workers hired by them said that each of the dredgers costs one million dollars.

The natives feel that the danger is very close, because they already lived through an unsuccessful experience with Asians. The Arazaire Native Community maintained an agreement with Korean prospectors in exchange for royalties in 2000. Then they saw that the experience not beneficial, and with the support of FENAMAD, evicted the Pekosac company.

Today, the case is different: the Chinese came at the invitation of two people who have their mining concessions inside native territory, and are married to former members of the community. "We do not authorize the transfer of the lease to third parties, only those who develop the activity personally. There is no documentation authorizing their entry here", said Márcia, the current president of Arazaire.



An uncontrollable situation

With the pictures of the Chinese dredger, I searched for Oscar Guadalupe, a sociologist at the Huarayo Association, to discuss the situation in Madre de Dios. Last Feb. 5th , it was issued the Emergency Decree #04-2011, which extends the validation period of Emergency Decree #02-2010 for another 12 months.

"The emergency decree temporarily suspended mining requests and nothing else. The activity was intensified by illegal mining", said Guadalupe who, astonished by the images, said he never saw a dredge like the Chinese one in Arazaire.

At FENAMAD, Attorney Marleni Canales explained that, initially, the indigenous movement of Madre de Dios sought as strategy to protect the territory recommend the State that native communities have preferential rights when applying for mining concessions, thereby preventing others from exploiting the resources. "However, in recent times, conflicts have been increasing, and concessions belonging to indigenous groups are gradually changing hands, reaching others".

On February 12th, a FENAMAD delegation accompanied members of the Arazaire Native Community to the Chinese camp. Despite some language difficulties, they managed to discuss and clarify that the prospectors need the approval of 2/3 the community to explore the gold in the area. A follow up next meeting was scheduled. The community will decide whether it is for or against the presence of foreign prospectors. Marcia Tije explained to me by telephone: "Now we will discuss this internally, because we still lack a clear position on the matter".

Operation of war

To stop illegal prospects, it is necessary to end corruption The Peruvian environmentalist Antonio Brack is the first Minister of the Environment of Peru. Since May 2008, has the difficult task of combating the illegal exploitation of gold in Madre de Dios, which began more than 50 years ago. Currently, he leads the process of formalizing the activity with associations of artisanal prospectors and takes the issue to national politics. One year after the Emergency Decree #012-2010, that suspends the carving requests in Madre de Dios, and prohibits the operation of dredges, Brack talks exclusively to ((o))ecoamazonia. Read the complete interview.

This week, Environment Minister Antonio Brack explained to the peruvian press that the operation against the dredges of Madre de Dios, directed by him in partnership with the Ministers of Defense, Mr. James Thorne, and Internal Affairs, Mr. Miguel Hidalgo, was performed to ensure the health and future of the department: "The informal mining not only pollutes the water and soil with mercury, but also brings slavery and sexual exploitation." Recalling that the prospectors had a year to formalize their affairs, Brack said, "now the law will be obeyed”.

Minister Thorne announced that in the next three weeks intervention will be made in 250 smaller vessels known to be used for illegal activity. At the time of the publication of this article, 19 dredges were destroyed with the support of the Armed Forces. According to DICAPI (Dirección General de Capitanias y Guardacostas), the vessel built by the Chinese in the Arazaire Native Community was annihilated. To prevent the return of the prospectors, a military contingent will permanently patrol the areas where the operation was performed/took place.

The current regional president of Madre de Dios, Luis Aguirre Pastor, criticized the military action and said that it was not coordinated with his office. He also warned of possible social upheavals that may arise in response to the intervention in the coming days. According to the National Superintendency of Tax Administration in Peru, 80,000 people live directly from mining activities in the country.


Maria Emília Coelho Maria Emilia Paulo Coelho is a journalist living in Rio Branco, Acre, and lived almost three years in Puerto Maldonado, Peru.