The authorities of Peru and the powerful mining company confirmed this Sunday the death of 13 workers who had been kidnapped days before in a gold mine in the province of Pataza, in the northwest of the country. According to a powerful statement, the National Police rescue team was able to recover the bodies “after intense search work”. And he added that the workers had kidnapped “illegal miners colluded with criminal elements.”
The victims were employees of a contractor company that provided services to Powerful, one of the main gold mining companies in the country, listed in the Lima Stock Exchange. In recent months, the company has been frequent target of armed bands related to illegal mining.
Since February 2024, the Pataz region, 900 kilometers from Lima, has been under state of emergency, due to the escalation of violence fueled by the search for gold. This within the framework that mining is a key axis of Peru’s economy, which once became one of the greatest gold producers in Latin America.
“The spiral of uncontrolled violence in Pataz occurs despite the statement of the state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent that, unfortunately, has not been able to stop the deterioration of security conditions in the area,” said powerful in his statement.
The government of President Dina Boluarte ordered the deployment of elite teams specialized in organized crime and investigation divisions to capture those responsible. “Our agents (…) are fully empowered to use their firearms if circumstances merit it, in strict compliance with the current legal framework,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
“We have to recover governance, order and peace in Pataz (…). What is happening there is unacceptable,” said Jorge Luis Montero, Minister of Energy and Mines, to RPP radio.
For his part, the mayor of the municipality of Pataz, Aldo Carlos Mariño, expressed his repudiation on Sunday to the murder, which he referred to as a “terrorist criminal act”, in dialogue with the RPP station. Mariño also threw his condolences to the families of the deceased and asked Powerful to be responsible for the relatives of these workers.
Dozens of affected workers
Powerful warned in his statement that, with this new attack, 39 workers, collaborators and artisanal miners killed “by the criminal gangs that have taken control” of the area.
On Saturday, another attack attributed to alleged illegal miners left eight people injured, including two police officers, near the Araracoto Mining Camp. The injured were evacuated by helicopter after being ambushed in their vehicles while they were heading to the Caravelí Minera processing plant, in the town center of Jucusbamba, Tayabamba district.
Given this series of facts, the National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy (SNMPE) denounced that “illegal mining networks” have unleashed “a wave of terror.” Thus, the organization expressed its solidarity with the relatives of the victims of “this criminal assault promoted by the networks of illegal mining”, and asked the authorities to identify their authors and to be sanctioned with all the weight of the law so that this massacre is not impunity.
In a press release, the company added that “the kidnapping and murder of these workers shows that illegal economies seek to intimidate Peruvian society and assault public and private property, as is the case of formal mining concessions and operations.”
Relatives of killed workers demand justice
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims demanded justice: “We want justice, that this is not here,” said Abraham Domínguez, father of one of the murdered workers, to the local radio station Channel N.
Emilia Rospigliosi, sister of another victim, questioned the delay in the police response: “They have tortured and killed them. How is they possible that they have not done anything?” He told the Latin channel.
In Trujillo, nine hours from Pataz, several relatives expected the transfer of the bodies to the local morgue, amid pain and outrage.
