An opponent of the planned Chadín II [7] hydro-electric complex on the Río Marañon in northern Peru was assassinated Dec. 28, gunned down in a hail of five bullets at his home in a rural district of Cajamarca region. Hitler Ananías Rojas Gonzales, 34, was president of the local Ronda Campesina (peasant self-defense patrol), and had recently been elected mayor of the pueblo of Yagen in Cortegana district of Celendín province. Also the vice-president of the Yagen Defense Front, formed to protect the area's natural resources from development interests, he had received numerous death threats for his opposition to the hydro project, as well as legal charges of "kidnapping" (often employed against activists who block traffic during protests). He leaves behind five children. (Servindi [8], Dec. 28)
A region-wide protest mobilization was held in September against the hydro project, which would flood much land now held by campesino families. The September protests marked the emergence of a new alliance between opponents of the Chadín II project and the movement against the mega-scale Conga [9] gold mine, also slated for Cajamarca, which would consume much of the electricity generated by the hydro-dam. (La República [10], Sept. 19)
