Thank you for your email and your invitation to respond to the article “Harsh sentencing of Aymara leader reveals the politics of criminalization in Peru: Aymara leader sentenced to 7 years for protesting against a Canadian mining project”, Sian Cowman & Aldo Orellana López in Intercontinental Cry, 27 July 2017.

The above-referenced article asserts that some of the criminal charges against Mr. Walter Aduviri and his co-accused (and ultimately the conviction against Mr. Aduviri) arose as a result of events during anti-mining protests in Puno, which included, among other things, opposition to Bear Creek Mining Corporation’s Santa Ana project.  Please be advised that our company was not involved, nor did it participate in any way, in the trial process or sentencing discussed in the article.  Bear Creek Mining Corporation is not in a position to comment on the Peruvian judicial system in general or on any aspect of this case specifically.