The bodies of 13 security guards kidnapped from a major Peruvian gold mine just over a week ago were discovered on Sunday, the mining company said.
La Poderosa, a Peruvian company, reported that a search and rescue team discovered the remains of the employees on Sunday. It blamed their kidnapping on informal miners allegedly linked to criminal gangs who attacked the gold mine on April 26.
La Poderosa, a private firm based in Lima, said that since 1980, criminal groups fighting for control of the mine in Peru’s remote northwestern city of Pataz have killed 39 of the company’s workers, the most recent being 13.
“The spiral of uncontrolled violence in Pataz is occurring despite the declaration of a state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent which, unfortunately, has not been able to halt the deterioration of security conditions in the area,” the mining organization said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press (AFP).
In a particularly brazen incident in December 2023, illegal miners attacked the same Poderosa mine with explosives, killing nine and injuring fifteen. In response to the recent attacks, La Poderosa deployed additional security personnel.
Some of the victims’ relatives waited for the bodies to be transferred to the morgue in Trujillo, located west of Pataz.
“We want justice, that this doesn’t just stop here,” Abraham Dominguez, whose son Alexander was discovered dead inside the mine, told Canal N television station, according to AFP.
Peruvian police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Peru’s Interior Ministry announced the deployment of special police forces to “locate and capture those responsible for these heinous crimes.” It did not provide additional information about the attack or its perpetrators.
The Andean nation, one of Latin America’s largest gold producers, relies heavily on mining as an economic driver.
Peru, a major gold and copper supplier to the world, is unique in that it allows informal miners to operate with some protections as long as they intend to legalize their operations. However, as the metals became more valuable, new mining techniques emerged, and the government struggled to respond.
With much of Peru engulfed in a wave of crime that forced the government to declare a state of emergency last month, reports of extortion from artisanal miners and entrepreneurs in the country’s northern mining region have increased in recent months.