"Arequipa: Intigold claims no responsibility for death of 14 people in Atico" - 9 June 2022

...The company Intigold, through its lawyer, has denied any responsibility for the death of 14 miners during the confrontation on 1 June between two groups of informal workers. Intigold is the owner of the mining concession where gold is mined in the Huanaquita sector, in the district of Atico, province of Caravelí...This Thursday, after the meeting that took place in Atico with the presence of the interior minister, Dimitri Senmache; Intigold's lawyer, Frank Melo, maintained that the company has no "causal relationship" with the events. He asked to wait for the authorities' investigation... He even compared the case to an accident. "If I lend you my bicycle, you go around the corner and get hit by a car, I am not to blame (...)", he told La República... At another point, the lawyer indicated that they had never established a mining contract with either of the two associations in conflict: Atico Calpa and Calpa Renace... When the journalists asked him if the area had been taken without authorisation by these associations, he replied that it was obviously the case. However, after a few seconds, he rectified himself and said that they were on "cordial terms with those of Atico Calpa and that "the invaders are the ones from Calpa Renace"...

(Translated by the BHRRC)

Full article (in Spanish) here.