Peru’s Humala faces threat of spiralling social conflicts
President Ollanta Humala is desperately trying to douse the flames of social conflict in some of Peru’s poorer regions. Two ‘indefinite strikes’ in a matter of weeks have raised concerns that latent social conflicts elsewhere could ignite and spread like wildfire. This is a disturbing prospect for the Humala administration, which is striving to boost foreign investment in extractive industries to drive Peru’s flagging economy. But with new laws relaxing regulations governing the extractive industries, streamlining environmental impact studies and fast-tracking permit approvals, there could be plenty more ‘indefinite strikes’ in the offing.
The southern highland region of Apurímac is no stranger to protest. Apurímac, with 21, is currently second only to Ancash (24) for the region with most social conflicts in Peru, out of a national total of 211 (active and latent). But nothing has grabbed the attention here quite like the murder of a local mayor and large-scale protests against a State electricity distributor since a revolt in the regional capital of Andahuaylas in January 2005 led by President Humala’s brother Antauro, whose raid on a police station claimed seven lives and saw him sentenced to 25 years in prison.