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Manhattan Minerals Must Recognize the Legitimacy of the Municipal Referendum in Peru

MONTREAL -  Aug. 14, 2002  -  The Canadian company Manhattan Minerals Corporation must recognize the legitimacy of the Tambogrande (Peru) municipal referendum which confirmed the overwhelming opposition to the company's plan to develop a gold mine in the small town.

In a report released today in Montreal, Rights & Democracy, which had sent two representatives to observe the referendum on June 2, 2002, recommends that Vancouver-based Manhattan pay heed to the results and urges it to release its long overdue Environmental Impact Study.

The report gives a stamp of approval to a process in which more than 93% of the 27,015 residents who voted - over 73% of the population - responded "no" to the question: "Do you agree with the development of mining activities in the urban area; urban expansion area; agricultural zone and agricultural expansion zones in the district of Tambogrande?"

"In our opinion, the municipal consultation in Tambogrande was conducted in a free, democratic and transparent manner, allowing citizens the opportunity to express their opinion through secret ballot with the effective guarantee that the votes would be counted correctly," said the two observers: St?phanie Rousseau of Rights & Democracy's Democratic Development Programme and Fran?ois Meloche of the Groupe Investissement Responsable, an ethical investment organization based in Montreal.

"The high voter turnout and the massive number of "no" votes lead us to affirm that most of the population of Tambogrande is opposed to mining development in their region in the current context, based on the information that it had when it voted."

In its report Gold and Land: Democratic Development at Stake, Rights & Democracy recommends to the Canadian government that it urge Manhattan Minerals Corp. to recognize the validity of this public consultation.

The municipal referendum was promoted by the mayor of Tambogrande, the Tambogrande Defence Front and a coalition of non-governmental organizations opposed to the open pit gold mine project which would force the relocation of half of the town's 16,000 residents. The 10-year project estimated at $US 240 million would create only a few hundred jobs according to the company.

Tambogrande is located in the centre of one of the country's most important agricultural regions, and the town is best known for its production of limes used in the national ceviche dish. Some analyses of the gold mine project have indicated that it could bring significant environmental damage in its wake. Funded by Oxfam Great-Britain, the referendum was organized by the municipality, and directed by a freelance electoral expert, under the supervision of an electoral committee formed of four citizens from the nearby city of Piura. It was monitored by observers from the Peruvian NGO Transparencia.

Rights & Democracy has also recommended to the Canadian government that it develop human rights criteria, in line with international human rights law, to evaluate the impact of all projects funded by Export Development Canada. It also urged the Peruvian government, potentially a 25% stakeholder in the project, to recognize the legitimacy of the June 2 municipal referendum.

Gold and Land: Democratic Development at Stake also highlights some of the major issues of democratic development at play in this unprecedented referendum, in the context of the re-establishment of democracy after the 10 year increasingly authoritarian regime of former President Alberto Fujimori. The report suggests that the Peruvian government review the process by which such development projects are approved, facilitating the participation of local residents.