Today marks the 45th day of protests against the Southern Copper Corporation’s mining project, Tia Maria, in the Arequipa region of southern Peru. A resolution to the conflict is unlikely any time soon after police killed construction worker Henry Checlla, shooting him in the back, during ongoing clashes. In response to his death, protesters extended the demonstrations to new locations and launched a three-day strike in which businesses and schools have been closed. The government and most of the corporate media have portrayed the demonstrators as vandals and insist on the continuation of the Tia Maria project despite the fact that 90% of the people in the area reject it because of its negative impact on agriculture. Rael Mora reports from Lima for teleSUR.
