The State, mining concessions and local communities. The many conflicts about mining in the environs of the Qoyllurit'i Shrine (Cusco, Peru)

This article analyzes the many conflicts which have arisen about mining on the outskirts of the Santuario del Señor de Qoyllurit'í (Shrine of the Lord of Qoyllurit'í), in Cusco, the center of the biggest religious pilgrimage in the Peruvian Andes, which UNESCO has declared to be part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind. The pilgrims' organizations have protested against the mining concessions near the shrine, while the members of the local peasant-farmer community are the beneficiaries of the concessions and wish to exploit them. This conflict challenges the commonly-held belief that such problems are characterized by a clash between local communities who are against mining and a pro-mining State which imposes it on them. This study thus shows how this conflict between local and regional organizations of the civil society involves different State institutions which represent different interests and opposing factions.