Peru - Choropampa - The clergy and the gold-mines

In solidarity with the victims of the effusion of mercury of Choropampa.

The father Marcos Arana has written this letter directed to the Peruvian ministers referring to the consequences that still there suffer inhabitants of Choropampa - Peru after an effusion of mercury caused by the mine-layer Yanacocha.

A report says:
Problems of health exist in the settlers of both localities who at present are not being attended by diverse factors: insufficient coverage, lacking in insurance, inadequate reference systems and against reference of patient, insufficient human resources, equipment in the Centers and Positions of Health … Of a whole of 18 evaluated houses, seven turned out to be contaminated to all the settlers by elementary mercury with values bigger than the established ones by EPA - 1997. In the draft document it appears more times and more explicitly that one of the principal sources is a Mine-layer Yanacocha of contamination with heavy metals of several microbasins.

The final version of the document “Lineaments for a regional health politics” has smoothed or simply corrected grotesquely the original version.

It is believed that 10.000 illegal miners have already pillaged approximately 18.000 hectares of virgin forest, spilling an average of 32.000 tons of mercury in the ground and rivers every year, according to the department of Environment of Peru.