NewsLatin AmericaA group of Peruvians fights against metal contamination in a pioneering lawsuit

A group of Peruvians fights against metal contamination in a pioneering lawsuit

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For Maricruz Aliaga, a 28-year-old Peruvian nurse, living next to a metal foundry changed her life. Since she was little, she and her family had to live with the effects of contamination by lead, sulfur, cadmium and arsenic in the La Oroya complex, in the central Andes. But also with the rejection and discrimination generated by her activism against the toxic activities of the company. Her parents were among the dozens of people who sued the Peruvian State before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2006 for violation of their rights.

Last week, in a hearing that opens the final phase of the lawsuit, the young woman testified before the Inter-American Court of what it is like to live with heavy metals in the body, in a toxic environment and under harassment for complaining. It is expected that in the coming months the magistrates will issue a ruling that could set a precedent in the region on the right to a healthy environment and the obligation that States have over polluting industries.

“It was painful and shocking,” Aliaga recounted distressed during the hearing held in Montevideo. “Since I was a child, in the classrooms, when we had a little plant, the teachers told us to take care of it as our life, but what happened? That didn’t even last 15 days, despite the fact that you watered it and spoke to it with affection. How many plants a year my mother bought to see that they grow, but they never grew: they dried up! What happened to the plants was just a reflection of the ailments that, according to her story, the neighbors suffered.

In his case and that of his sister, their eyes were inflamed and they often suffered from allergies and pimples on their skin, which also cost them the teasing of their classmates. As she told the hearing, that discrimination made her parents change schools five times. While the harassment grew and at times it became episodes of violence against his family for being part of the Movement for Health of La Oroya, who filed the lawsuit with the IACHR. Some residents did not believe that the smelter was contaminating them and did not understand why they were opposed to a project that created jobs in the area.

When Maricruz was 13 years old, her family decided to move house due to a doctor’s recommendation that her parents take their daughters out of La Oroya for their health. It was precisely this experience that led the young woman to study nursing after she and her relatives did not find adequate care for her problems in the health system.

sacrifice zone

In his intervention as an expert witness in the Montevideo hearings, the UN rapporteur on toxic waste, Marcos Orellana, explained that La Oroya is a sacrifice zone, that is, a community affected by highly polluting and dangerous infrastructure that generates devastating consequences. in physical and mental health.

La Oroya is among the 50 most polluted places in the world included in the March report on sacrifice zones, prepared by David Boyd, UN rapporteur on human rights and the environment. In 2007, the IDH Commission granted precautionary measures to guarantee the rights to life, personal integrity and health to 65 people from La Oroya. Then, in 2016, he expanded them to another 15 people.

The metallurgical complex began operations in 1922 at the hands of a private company and passed to the State in 1974. In 1997, the Government of Alberto Fujimori sold it to a company owned by the American billionaire Ira Rennert, who used to acquire businesses that he later abandoned by declaring them bankrupt. . The smelter stopped operating between 2009 and 2012 because the Doe Run company declared insolvency and failed to comply with its adaptation and environmental management programs despite the fact that the State extended the terms three times. It never built a sulfuric acid processing plant, one of its obligations to continue operating.

Since October 17, the former workers of the La Oroya refinery, to whom the Doe Run company owed wages, legally control the metallurgical complex through a new company. Their representatives must apply for permits from the authorities to return to operations and they hope to produce zinc in the first quarter of next year, and lead as of May, among other metals.

During the hearing before the Inter-American justice last week, Mercedes Gallegos, an expert in Peruvian environmental legislation, commented that the first environmental regulations in Peru date from the 1990s and that, before that, there was no supervision of pollution in La Oroya . In response to a question from the judges, the expert witness presented by the State agents stated that the Doe Run company complied with between 60% and 70% of the environmental adaptation programs. However, one of the lawyers for those affected, Liliana Avila, reported that the State never carried out a cleaning and remediation of the soil —despite being obliged to do so— because the company disappeared from the site.

The three representatives of the Peruvian State argued at the hearing that there is no correlation between exposure to heavy metals and the pathologies of the inhabitants of La Oroya. One of the experts, doctor Jonh Astete, reported in his testimony that in 2004 the State began to carry out environmental monitoring in La Oroya and the repercussion on the population’s health. In addition, when asked by the judges, he informed that, although heavy metals only remain in the blood for 30 days, they can remain accumulated in the organs for up to 30 years.

For his part, Rapporteur Orellana, also a lawyer specializing in environmental law, maintained that there is no uncertainty about the effects that lead, mercury and arsenic have on health. “They are widely toxic elements. In this case, the adverse impact of these metals and metalloids is overwhelming and in La Oroya there has been contamination for hours, days, years, decades: that is documented”, he stated.

The life that couldn’t be

Environmental defenders Rosa Amaro and Yolanda Zurita, leaders of the La Oroya Health Movement, also testified at the hearing. Both said that, in addition to health problems, they also suffered violence from citizens of the district who stigmatized them as enemies of the company and mining. Amaro had to flee La Oroya due to lack of guarantees for her life and because one of her children received death threats if she continued to talk about pollution.

Yolanda Zurita, one of the plaintiffs, poses in Montevideo on October 13.PABLO PORCIUNCULA (AFP)

“We just wanted to show that there is contamination; our request to breathe fresh air has been considered a crime for them. I want my name to be cleared and not to be blamed for the closure of the (metallurgical) complex,” said Amaro, 73, when asked by the judges what he expected of them. “I just want a treatment [de salud] open to everyone, I want to return to my land, I want to be there”, he added.

For her part, Zurita, a 63-year-old pastoral agent, declared that she was unable to finish her studies in social work due to the seizures she began to suffer when she was a teenager, something that she blames on the effects of contamination. “I am losing strength in the muscles and I have involuntary movements in the foot: this is related to the presence of metals in my body: all this hindered my professional work,” she added.

Zurita recalled that in past years the radio stations in La Oroya were branded as enemies because they publicized the health risks faced by the residents of that district. “A council led by a mayor at the time declared us persona non grata, with a first and last name, and they published them in a newspaper. The least we expect is public apologies,” he detailed.

At the end of the two days of hearings, the president of the Inter-American Court, Ricardo Perez, announced that they will request authorization from the Peruvian government for a field visit to La Oroya before issuing their decision. Gloria Cano, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, hopes that, as in other cases, they will issue the sentence in three or four months. “It is a historic case because it is the first before the Inter-American Court of State obligations regarding a healthy environment, the right to health and the integrity of citizens, and it is important that it establishes standards,” she commented.

For their part, plaintiffs like Aliaga are happy that their case has reached the Inter-American Court. “For the first time the case is becoming known after so many years of struggle, many times our representatives have been the voice of protest,” he said. “Today I do feel happy because we were listened to. Along this path there have been victims who are no longer with us. But I am also outraged that the representatives of the state treat us as if we were telling a lie. We are here just to defend the health of an entire population.”

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