from http://www.freepress.net/news/11806
Internet? Give us irrigation, Peru farmers say
From
<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-10-12T231346Z_01_DIT283610_RTRUKOC_0_US-MINERALS->Reuters,
October 13, 2005
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) Hundreds of Peruvian
farmers living near the huge Las Bambas copper
project plan a two-day protest on Sunday against
a government program to spend a social fund on
Internet connections in an area where many cannot read or write.
As part of Swiss-based Xstratas concession deal
to develop the southern Andes deposit, the
company last year paid $45.5 million to a
government-run fund to alleviate poverty in one
of the countrys most impoverished regions.
The government has said it plans to spend the
money on installing computers connected to the
Internet, soccer pitches and developing city squares in the Apurimac region.
Were peasants, many of us cannot read or write
But we dont believe the Internet will help us
as much as an irrigation channel will, said
Cristian Huilca, who went to Congress in Lima to lobby lawmakers, on Wednesday.
Huilca said farmers planned to block the entrance
to the exploration site being developed by
Xstrata, although it was not likely to stop exploration.
Xstrata, which aims to begin copper production at
Las Bambas in 2011, was not immediately available for comment.
Mining is Perus biggest export earner and money
is flowing into poor Andean mining regions as
metals prices hit record highs this year.
But many poor farmers and a growing number of
officials worry that funds are being ill-spent on
decorative parks and buildings rather than on
badly needed schools, drinking water plants,
hospitals and electricity provision.
Kenan Patrick Jarboe, Ph.D.
Athena Alliance
911 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003-3903
(202) 547-7064
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.AthenaAlliance.org
http://www.IntangibleEconomy.org
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