In northern Peru's Pataz province, violent conflict over gold mining has intensified as gold prices soar past $3,000 an ounce. Criminal gangs, illegal miners, and established mining companies clash within tunneled mountains. Recent killings of 13 security workers, linked to the local mining company Poderosa, highlight the ongoing violence. The Peruvian government responded with emergency measures, including a mining ban for all but one company. Witnesses describe a climate of terror marked by deadly confrontations between armed factions and an alarming number of disappearances underground, indicating the high stakes of this illegal, profitable industry.
"The massacre of security contractors was just the most visible example of the brutal violence which has left countless dead, many of them forcibly disappeared under rocks and rubble."
"We are living moments of terror, says the group's leader. Many confrontations; many companeros gone, he admits when asked about how many gun battles he had fought as violence surged in recent years."
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