Clash Over Water Kills One, Injures 18 in Peru

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Clash Over Water Kills One, Injures 18 in Peru
September 16, 2010

LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian police and protesters opposed to an irrigation project in the country's South clashed on Thursday, killing one man and injuring 18, as President Alan Garcia faces a new conflict over natural resources in the surging economy.

The country's human rights office said the skirmish occurred before dawn in the town of Espinar, 400 miles south of Lima. Police fought with protesters who say the Majes-Siguas II irrigation project will leave Espinar without water, said Silvio Campana of the rights office, which tries to mediate conflicts. The man who died was a bystander. The project calls for a dam and water system capable of irrigating 95,000 acres of agricultural land in the region of Arequipa.

Peru's government has encouraged the growth of export-oriented agricultural farms and the petroleum industry to diversify the economy, which traditionally has been dependent on mining and is forecast to grow abut 7 percent a year.But dozens of conflicts over natural resources have weighed on Garcia, whose disapproval rating is near 60 percent. Last year, three dozen people died in a clash over land rights in the Amazon jungle where indigenous tribes oppose oil exploration.

The government has issued a decree guaranteeing water supplies for residents of Espinar, but residents are upset that the government's investment agency awarded a concession on Monday for the project to a private consortium called Angostura-Siguas.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=11655495

[Stumbler]

1. Yet another sign of things to come

But when I bring up over-population as a cause for coming resource wars, I'm routinely ridiculed.
*sigh*

[pmorlan1]

2. You got that right

Pretty scary.

[L0oniX]

3. Being ridiculed by the "don't worry be happy" crowd is something to be proud of.

It means you are exposing the ignorant.