We reported last week on the tension and violence arising between the Las Bambas mine owned by the Chinese firm MMG and the two communities directly and most strongly affected: Fuerabamba and Huancuire. It is perhaps worth repeating the statement we quoted last week from the president of the Fuerabamba community, whose representatives had been forcibly removed by the police: “There will be no more talking. We have hoped and waited in good faith … They have waited to massacre us. They have declared war on us …”

A letter was sent by the two presidents of Fuerabamba and Huancuire, dated Sunday 1 May, responding to an invitation from the PCM (Presidency of the Council of Ministers) on 29 April. The letter states that they require the state of emergency to be lifted for dialogue to take place. They also require the ending of “all types of criminalisation in regard to our just struggle and the ending likewise of all persecution of our social leaders”.

The letter also reminds the government to act on its offer to hold the next decentralised session of the Council of Ministers in the provincial capital of Cotabambas. The communities now want the meeting to be held at Pumamarca in the immediate vicinity of the mine. If these conditions are met, they say they are happy to enter into dialogue with representatives of the company and the state.

However, protest and violence have been as much in evidence as ever. By the morning of 3 May protesters were apparently launching homemade explosive devices against the mining enclosure, damaging both the transmission plant and radio equipment. Operations have not yet restarted at the mine.

The communities say that dialogue cannot take place under a state of emergency; the government says that as of this moment the state of emergency cannot be ended. The police report groups of protesters armed with stones. Various groups continue to camp out in precarious shacks on land belonging to the mine.

Meanwhile contractors, employees and others who benefit from working with or for the mine are expressing growing disquiet at the failure of the government to sort out the conflict so that work at Las Bambas can restart. Thousands of workers, both directly and indirectly employed by Las Bambas, marched in Lima on 3 and 4 May, anxious for their jobs.

At Cuajone in Moquegua, the scene of protests by communities against Southern Peru Copper, the situation has seen some progress and production has resumed. The government’s promise to set up a round table to discuss community complaints helped bring an end to the occupation of the mine’s reservoir and the blocking of the access railway line. On 2 May, the company issued the following statement: “As of today, the industrial railroad and the Cuajone mine concentrator and related facilities are operating at full capacity … We trust in the good will of all the parties to obtain agreements that benefit both the community and the company’s employees.” Community representatives have signed a truce, operative for an initial 45 days.

As is the case at both Las Bambas and Cuajone, different local actors have different agendas. Those working in the mine take a different approach from those living in communities who suffer the impact of mining activity but gain few benefits, as do small and moderate sized local service firms that lose business and income with the failure to restore production. José de Echave reflects on this complexity of interests in a useful article from Cooperacción.