Prayers for Healing from Violence in Peru

Mob of Doe Run Peru workers attack Student Group

The following Press Release comes from the Rev. Jed Koball -- a member of Hudson River Presbytery, and PC(USA) Mission Co-Worker in Peru. Last Wednesday, Jed and a group of students from the University of Arizona were attacked on the streets of La Oroya.

Your prayers for this group, for the people of La Oroya, and the perpetrators of this incident are certainly invited. Violence such as this reminds us all the more of the importance of our partnership.

from Jed:

Ten Americans (8 students and 2 adults) from the Presbyterian Campus Ministry at the University of Arizona, accompanied by two American leaders living in Peru (including a Mission worker of the Presbyterian Church (USA)), were in La Oroya, Peru since Monday the 14th of March, participating in a cross-cultural service-learning experience with Peruvian youth from the organization Filomena Tomaira Pacsi, a member of the Joining Hands Against Hunger network based in Lima.

Among the activities they carried out together was the painting of a mural in the town of La Oroya that reflected their common interests of protecting human rights and caring for the environment. To facilitate this activity, the organization Filomena Tomaira Pacsi solicited permission from the Municipality of La Oroya. The Municipality of La Oroya gave the permission and an exact location for the mural on a wall within the property of the Municipality located on a street in the town.

The American and Peruvian youth began painting the mural on Wednesday the 16th of March at 10:00 a.m. After having advanced on the work, at approximately 12:00 p.m., 4 male adults exited from the Doe Run Peru facility nearby and approached the area where the youth were painting the mural. The men identified themselves as workers of Doe Run Peru. With them was a female reporter. Together, the men and the reporter wanted the youth to stop painting the mural. After a period of conversation with the leaders of the youth, who explained that the mural was merely expressing the dreams of the youth to have a world clean and free of pollution and that the mural was not attacking anyone, they returned to the facilities of Doe Run Peru.

Approximately a half an hour later, more than 200 workers walked out of the Doe Run Peru facility and walked towards the youth. Among them was a manager of the plant, wearing a Doe Run Peru jacket. Within this mass of workers, approximately 40 to 50 of the workers began to verbally harass the youth as the other workers stood by and observed. The behavior of the workers quickly evolved from verbal harassment to violent action, as they took the paints, brushes, ladder and stool and threw them into the nearby river. They then began to throw objects at the youth, including rocks, bottles, rotten fruit and paint cans. They also painted on the faces of the youth before they began to push and shove the youth and their leaders.

At this moment, the youth and their leaders began seeking refuge. They walked north up a public street. The group was separated during the confusion, as the workers began trying to steal their belongings. Eventually, the youth and their leaders found a shopkeeper who allowed them to enter and barricade themselves inside. The workers approached the store and began banging on the door, trying to break it down, all the while yelling for the youth and their leaders to come outside.

Finally the police arrived at which time the door of the store was opened and the youth and their leaders exited the store. Upon exiting the store, the youth and their leaders, males and females, were beaten, pulled by the hair, kicked and punched before being rescued by the police and escorted away to the police station.

At the police station, the youth and leaders made official statements of what occurred. For fear of further danger, they left the city as quickly as possible without receiving medical attention. They arrived in Lima later that night.

* Doe Run Peru (owned by the New York billionaire Ira Rennert) has been non-compliant with Peruvian law for 14 years as he has refused to respect environmental standards, leaving 99% of the children (nearly 11,000 children) with blood lead levels far surpassing permissable contamination levels according to the World Health Organization - and even further surpassing U.S. standards. The workers, the majority who are not from La Oroya, are threatened with their livelihood if they support any effort for environmental regulations to be enforced. Therefore, when the children and youth of La Oroya want to speak out for their right to live in a healthy environment, they receive negative reaction from the workers. The mural in question, though, was not specific to Doe Run Peru or La Oroya - rather it was a mural calling for everyone to play their part to make the world a cleaner place.

--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor