Just three months after taking office, Peru’s new government is grappling with protests over a mine in the southern Andean highlands and oil pollution in the northern Amazon. Police shot a farmer to death Oct. 14 during a crackdown on demonstrators who had blocked a road near the huge Las Bambas copper and molybdenum mine in the southern Apurímac region. Local residents were protesting the noise, dust and vibrations caused by more than 200 trucks a day traveling to and from the mine along unpaved roads. National government officials—led by Martín Vizcarra, Peru’s vice president as well as its minister of transportation and communications—traveled to the conflict zone on Oct. 22 to meet with local officials and residents of communities near the mine... [Log in to read more]