LIMA -- Farmer, activist and land-rights-defender, Maxima Acuña and her partner were severely hurt in an attack by thugs allegedly hired by the mining company they are fighting against, activist sources said Wednesday.

 Campesino activist Acuña refused to sell her land in the northern region of Cajamarca in 2011 as the Yanacocha firm was setting up the largest gold-mining project in South America called Minas Conga, which The International Finance Corporation owns a 5 percent stake in.

 At around 9.30 am Sunday, “people hired by mining firm Yanacocha illegally broke into the property and started damaging the whole site with various tools,” said Ysidora Chaupe, daughter of Acuña and Jaime Chaupe.

 “When Maxima and Jaime approached them and demanded they stop invading the property, the mining firm’s security staff violently attacked Maxima and Jaime, hitting Maxima in the head and body with a weapon, leaving her seriously hurt,” she added.

 Acuña’s husband, who was badly injured, managed to report the attack to the police at around 12 p.m. But the police did a routine check, leaving both farmers in a critical condition and in urgent need of medical attention.

 “They punched me, they hit me, they pulled me here by my shirt, almost trying to undress me. I hurt and ache all over,” said a very weak Acuña, bed-bound in hospital.

 “We are prisoners here, we are not free to go in and out of our property, the mining company bought all the surroundings and have security guards watching the public roads, they check the identity of all the cars and vehicles, and don't let some people come in,” she said, talking about the daily fear and intimidation they are forced to live in, especially if anyone tries to protest.

 Acuña won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for stopping Yanococha, a subsidiary of US-based mining giant Newmont, from constructing an open-pit gold mine that threatened to contaminate the water supply and cause water shortages for thousands of people living in this agricultural and cattle-rearing region.

 She is still fighting in court for the property rights for her piece of land, although a December 2014 court decision overturned an earlier sentence of three years in prison for her and her husband for allegedly invading Yanacocha’s property.

 Foreign mining companies operating in Peru often hire police as security guards, while the Peruvian government often deploys police, military and intelligence personnel on behalf of mining, gas and oil companies to crush any dissent and local resistance.

  Latin America is the most dangerous place in the world for environmental activists. In Peru alone, 61 activists were killed in the past 10 years, according to the human rights organization Global Witness.

 nkd