Thirteen people were found dead on Sunday in a mine a few days after being withdrawn in the city of Pataz, in the highlands of northern Peru, said the Mining Company of Powerful, owner of the facilities where the events occurred.
The victims are employees of a powerful company service provider, an important gold extraction company that appears in the Lima Stock Exchange, which has been attacked in recent months by armed groups linked to illegal gold extraction.
“This morning, after intense investigation work, the police rescue team was able to recover the bodies of the 13 workers who had been kidnapped (…) for illegal minors in collusion with criminal elements,” said the company in a statement.
The state of emergency was established in Pataz, located 900 kilometers from the capital of Lima, due to the escalation of violence caused by gold fever. According to Powerful, “there are already 39 artisanal and minor employees killed by the criminal gangs that took control of the city.
“The spiral of non -controlled violence in Pataz occurs despite the state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent that, unfortunately, has not been able to stop the deterioration of security conditions in the region,” said the mining company, in an “urgent call” to rethink the government’s strategy.
“We want justice to be done”
In the city of Trujillo, at nine o’clock in western Pataz, the parents of certain victims hoped that the bodies of their relatives were transported to the morgue.
“We want justice to be done, not stop there,” Channel N Abraham Domínguez, father of Alexander Domínguez, whose body was found in the mine.
The mayor of Pataz, Aldo Carlos, said he would meet with President Dina Boluarte on Monday to seek solutions to insecurity. “What is happening in my city hurts me. (…) If they put me in prison or kill me, the only manager will be the central government,” he said, annoying.
Between 2013 and 2023, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Peru identified $ 8,241 billion in suspicious transactions to come from illegal mining.
Peru is experiencing a wave of extortion and violent crimes that led the authorities to declare the state of emergency in several regions of the country.
Source: BFM TV
