Protest during Humala’s visit to Europe

Last week, Peru’s president Ollanta Humala visited Spain and Switzerland. The main objective of the trip was to promote European investments in Peru. InMadrid, on Thursday, Humala assisted the conference Invertir en Perú, a joint organization of the Spanish newspaper El País and the Peruvian daily La República. The conference was sponsored by multinationals with a poor social and environmental record in Latin America, such as Repsol and Telefónica. At the conference, Humala stressed the “reliable base of the Peruvian economy” and encouraged further investments.

With the slogan “No to investment (invasion) of multinationals”, several people gathered at the entrance of the Madrid Casino, where the conference took place, and delivered a document to Ollanta Humala at his arrival, denouncing the purposes of the event. They protested against the abuse of power exercised by multinational companies and governments to exploit the natural and cultural resources of the Peruvian people, as well as against the free trade agreements between the EU and Peru.

foto: ACSUR, acsur.org

After the conference Humala traveled on to Davos in Switzerland, where he assisted the World Economic Forum. At the Forum, Humala met with representatives of four large mining companies investing in Peru: Teck Ressources, Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold Corporation and Angloamericana. Humala afterwards said in a press statement that he wanted the mining companies to know that Peru is taking on “new rules” for mining investments, paying more attention to social and environmental issues.

In Sweden, a public action in Stockholm is planned on Wednesday the 1st of February, the day of the March’s kick-off in Peru.

Lee la noticia en español aquí.