Crisis Is Rocking Latin America. Peru Is an Island of Uneasy Calm.
President Martin Vizcarra is engaged in a high-stakes gamble.
Photographer: Miguel Yovera/Bloomberg
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Roadblocks of mud, sticks and steel wire bar the entrance to villages lining the northern side of the Rio Tambo, a sign of revolt in the fertile valley cultivated since Inca times.
For almost a decade, the farmers of this green strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean have resisted the construction of a copper mine they say will pollute the water course and destroy their livelihoods. Now they feel betrayed by Peru’s president after his government gave final approval to Southern Copper Corp.’s Tia Maria project.