Peru Declares State of EmergencyByHeather Callaghan Latin Post reports: After four people were killed amid anti-mining protests, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala declared a 30-day state of emergency in the Apurmac region on Tuesday [Sept 29]. Suspending civil liberties and authorizing military patrols, the government announced that extra troops would be sent to Apurmac to restore internal peace. The four protesters were shot dead during confrontations with the police. Aside from the deaths, 14 protesters were injured in demonstrations against a $7.4 billion copper mine project. The freedom from unlawful search and seizure also evaporated as Peruvian police have the ability to search homes at will under this state of emergency. The right to freely assemble is gone. BBC claims that environmental concerns are at the heart of protests. Itsthe fear of area and groundwater contamination coupled with new changes in the plan that were made without consultation. Interior Minister Jos Lus Prez Guadalupe said: They arent going to prevent the mine from going forward under any circumstances. They cant block a project of this dimension, which is an immense investment, the biggest in the past few years. Protests began on Friday, September 25 and were escalated on the following Monday leading to deaths of protesters, injuries in 14 protesters and 8 injured officers. Out of the 7,000 mostly indigenous people who showed up, 21 were arrested. In aconstanthistoricaldj vu for Peru, the same sequence of events happened in May in theprovince of Islay in Arequipa, when four people, including a police officer, were killed after protests against the Tia Maria copper mine. A state of emergency was declared for 60 days.Peru deployed 4,000 military and police officers to Islay when Peruviansattempted to block the Pan-American Highway.Locals believed the Swiss-based mining project was contaminating water and sickening animals.High levels of arsenic, copper, mercury and other heavy metals were found in soil and water samples, but the company denies that. This time on national TV,Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano said: The national police with the backing of the armed forces will take charge of keeping public order. President Ollanta Humala who called the 30-day state of emergencysummarized the priorities of the conflict: I think that it is important to protect the lives of people, but also public goods and private property. Although similar to state of emergency, martial law is when the military is in complete control and all other branches of government are ignored or do not matter. In a state of emergency the government is in full control to the point of suspending rights and often uses force. Very rarely does one question whether that is necessary in a state of emergency and how often the government could declare it in order to force aplan that isrepugnant or potentiallydangerous to its people, without finding a better way or some type of recompense. Photo:A handout photo released by the Observatory of Mining Conflict of Peru shows hundreds of demonstrators Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work atNaturalBlaze.com and selfnewsPost.com. Like at Facebook. Recent posts byHeather Callaghan If I recall correctly, in the book Blue Gold The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the Worlds Water (2002), Peruvian peasants joined forces and kicked out Nestle or some other multinational corporation when they attempted to privatize public water sources and sell it back to the Peruvians at astronomical prices. Keeping my fingers crossed the Peruvians shove pitchforks at political quislings and foreign parasites to prevail, again. Thanks for the reading suggestion! I hope for them too Youre welcome, Heather, and thank you for your fantastic articles. BTW, in case you havent seen it, Richard Grove of Tragedy and Hope recently did a brilliant interview of Patrick Wood on the issue of Technocracy, dissecting the who, how, and why aspects. In the third segment, they discuss the framework being set up to remove resources from public control. Grove is an amazing interviewer, his interview with William Binney was terrific too. Were lucky to have him on our side and you too. Wow, thank you for the kind words! Looking up the interview now 