Update: Peru – Break-in and destruction of property of human rights defender Máxima Acuña de Chaupe

Publicado por Frontline Defenders

Unidentified persons who are believed to work for the Yanacocha Mining Company trespassed onto the land of human rights defender Ms Máxima Acuña de Chaupe.

They broke into her home and destroyed her recently rebuilt kitchen.

Máxima Acuña de Chaupe is a member of the Asociación de Mujeres en Defensa de la Vida (Association of Women in Defence of Livelihood) and of the Unión Latinoamericana de Mujeres - ULAM(Latin American Women's Union). She has lived in the area known as Tragadero Grande, Sorochuco, Cajamarca for over 20 years, purchasing the property in 1994.

The Yanacocha mining company claims to have purchased the land from the community as part of a package deal but the human rights defender maintains that her family has never given their authorisation nor conceded to the sale of this land. Máxima Acuña de Chaupe has become a figurehead of the opposition to the open-pit gold and copper mine, named Conga, and has supported people who have been forcibly evicted as a result of the mining development.

The invasion happened between 7:30am and 4:30pm, while there was no one in the house. The unidentified men,entered the property of the human rights defender without authorisation and destroyed her kitchen.

This incident follows several acts of harassment and threats that the human rights defender was subjected to. Máxima Acuña de Chaupe claims that she is currently being surveyed by security cameras installed by the mining company outside her property. The human rights defender received death threats in February 2014. The following year, on 3 February 2015, she had the preliminary construction of a new home demolished and furthermore, two days later the employees of the Yanacocha attempted to evict Máxima Acuña de Chaupe and her family from Tragadero Grande. More recently, in August 2015, Máxima Acuña de Chaupe reported new death threats and intimidation.

Máxima Acuña de Chaupe and her family are beneficiaries of precautionary measuresgranted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on 5 May 2014. However, the State has failed to comply with the measures since it has not taken actions to ensure the security and protection of the family.

Front Line Defenders expresses its concern at the most recent acts of intimidation and the destruction of the kitchen in Máxima Acuña de Chaupe's home, which it believes to be directly linked to her peaceful and legitimate work in the defence of land rights.