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06-05-2025
LIMA: Thirteen miners have been found dead inside a mine in Peru after being kidnapped several days earlier.
They were working at a gold mine owned by Peruvian mining company Poderosa, which is based in Pataz province, north of the capital Lima.
The victims had been sent out to confront a group of people involved in illegal mining in the area but were kidnapped by a criminal gang which was trying to gain control of the mine.
The gang kept them hostage inside a mine shaft. For a week, they sent threatening messages to the miners’ relatives.
There has been a spike in criminals attacking mines in the country in the past few years.
On Friday, the company which employs 8,000 people released a statement saying it was disappointed that the police were not doing enough to prevent illegal mining.
“The climate of violence continues to escalate in the region,” the company said.
Peruvian news site Diario Correo reported that a video spread on social media allegedly recorded by the captors themselves showed the miners had been executed at point-blank range.
It is not clear what prompted them to kill the group.
Since 2020, illegal mining has taken over several mines run by Poderosa, forcing them to abandon some operations and “putting the physical safety of our employees and the artisanal miners at risk,” the company said.
In March, criminals working alongside illegal miners near La Cienaga ravine in the Pataz district attacked contractors at the mine, killing two people.
The same month the company also said illegal miners blew up a high-voltage tower supplying power to the mines and tried to “invade” several mine sites. Poderosa said the police and army were unable to take control, and called on the government to restore order.
The company said illegal mining and organized crime were able to operate with “absolute impunity”.
Peru is one of the world’s largest gold producers, mining more than 100 tonnes a year or about 4% of the entire world’s annual supply.
A media outlet reported in March that Commuters and residents in Lima were facing new security measures on Tuesday after Peru’s government declared a state of emergency in the capital to combat growing crime rates that have prompted some lawmakers to seek the removal of the interior minister.
National police director Victor Sanabria announced there would be an increase in patrols at train stations and bus stations where tens of thousands of commuters gather each morning. Peru’s military on Monday announced it would deploy 1,000 soldiers in Lima to patrol key areas such as train stations and support local police.
Some residents of the city of eight million people said they still felt unsafe, while local media reports said there was little sign of extra security at transport stations during the morning.
“We’ve been abandoned and left to fend for ourselves” said local resident Pedro Quispe, 48, as he waited for a bus that would take him to the city center. “If you get on a bus you can get shot, if you go to work, you can get asked for extortion payments” he said.
Peru’s government declared the state of emergency on Monday as a group of legislators prepared a vote of no confidence against Interior Minister Juan Jose Santivanez, who has been accused of failing to stem growing levels of crime. (Int’l News Desk)
