Parán is a small Indigenous community in the hills of Huaura, in central Peru.
It’s far from the highway, along a winding dirt road that’s carved along harrowing precipices.
Up here, the air is cool… and their town of adobe and cinderblock homes is nestled on the side of the mountain.
As are their fields of duraznos. Peach trees, which cover the terraced hillsides down into the valley and up toward the craggy peaks.
This has been their home and the life-blood for generations. The people here are simple. Humble. They hold on to tradition. Women wear colorful dresses, the same sewed and worn by their grandmothers before them. Men’s hands are calloused and strong from long days toiling in the fields.
It only rains during the rainy months, which turn the hillsides green. And then, slowly they fade to brown throughout the year. The residents of Parán get their water for their homes and their peaches from the precious springs that dot the mountain.
Life slows down, here.
But they have had to battle.
In 2012, the Canadian mining company Lupaka Gold acquired an old mine and set to turn it back on. They called it the Invicta Mine.
Lupaka Gold would extract precious minerals. Gold and silver.
The company met with other nearby communities. It made agreements. But not with the people of Parán… even though Parán had the most to lose.
See, Parán sits down the mountain from the entrance to the mine and on the outside of the mountain where the mine is operated. When the mine workers blast, at night in particular, the people of Parán feel it. Their homes shake and rumble. They awake from their dreams.
And the residents of Parán fear the upgraded mine will contaminate their only water source—the springs that flow from the mountain that feed both their groves of peach trees and their families. The springs that flow from the very mountain where the mine is located.
And so, when the Invicta mine opened and its trucks began to rumble up and down the windy roads with precious metals extracted from deep inside, the people of Parán said, “no.”
They blockaded the road leading to and from the mine. They hauled logs and rocks onto it, and refused to move. Day and night they remained. The mine trucks sat idle. So Invicta took action. They sent in thugs to attack the roadblock. And attack they did. Firing live rounds. The Parán protesters fled down the mountain to their homes.
But if this act was meant to scare, all it did was unite Parán unanimously that they would fight.
They held a community meeting. Everyone decided. All adult men and women, that they would join in the roadblock. They split into teams of 30 to 40 people each. And they returned to the roadblock even stronger. Each team would spend 24 hours there. They would camp overnight, then the next team would arrive and they would switch. Day after day. Month after month. Together, the Parán people stood.
But the mine pushed back. As did the Peruvian police. In the beginning of 2019, they sent in a brigade of 200 officers that was meant to end the roadblock once and for all.
Still the people of Parán resisted. But at a great toll. During the operation, a police officer shot a man. A community member. The nephew of one of the community leaders.
Nehemías Román Narvaste.
A great loss.
But finally, also, came victory… The community held on. Lupaka Gold agreed that their losses due to the Parán roadblock and the mine shutdown were too great and that they would close the mine.
The people of Parán had won.
“Yes, whenever, there’s a problem, everyone participates, women and men,” says community leader Leonel Roman Palomares. “We decide what to do in a meeting. And everyone decides together with one voice.
“In that sense, we’re very united,” he says. “Whenever there’s anything that may harm the community. We are very, very united. And this community has been through a lot.”
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In 2020, Lupaka Gold took the state of Peru to court under the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement for lost profits. It is demanding the state pay it $100 million in lost profits for the closure of the mine. The decision is expected in the coming weeks.
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Hi folks, thanks for listening.
I’m your host Michael Fox.
I visited Parán last month, spoke with residents and shot some pretty incredible drone footage of the community and their surrounding peach fields. You can also check out exclusive video and photos of the community on my patreon. Patreon.com/mfox. I’ll add a link in the show notes.
This is episode 39 of Stories of Resistance, a podcast series co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance and hope like this. Inspiration for dark times. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment or leave a review.
As always, thanks for listening. See you next time.
Parán is a small Indigenous community in the hills of Huaura, in central Peru. They are peach farmers. Their orchards line the mountainside. The same mountain where a new Canadian mine, known as Invictus, was beginning to operate. They feared for their future and that the mine would contaminate their precious springs, their only source of fresh water for their town and their peach trees.
In 2018, they began an around-the-clock roadblock against a new mine. When they were attacked by armed thugs, they held a community meeting and the entire village—all adult men and women—agreed to participate in the protest against the mine.
They were finally successful.
This is episode 39 of Stories of Resistance—a podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.
If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review.
You can see exclusive pictures, drone footage, and pictures of the Parán community in Michael Fox’s Patreon account: patreon.com/mfox. There you can also follow his reporting and support his work.
Written and produced by Michael Fox.
Resources
You can find out more about Lupaka Gold’s case against Peru through the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement over the Invicta Mine here: https://gtwaction.org/egregious-isds-cases/#lupakagoldvperu
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.