Lima:
Farm workers demanding better wages clashed with police on a Peru’s Pan-American highway Wednesday, leaving at least three people dead and 24 injured in a dispute over reforms to the country’s agro-export sector
The workers for agricultural export companies are unhappy with an increase in their daily wage worth $2.50 when they were asking for a USD 6.50 hike. The Ombudsmans Office in Peru said two protesters died of gunshot wounds at a road blockade Wednesday, while the third death was a 56-year-old man with cancer who died on a vehicle stranded by the protest. Office representative José Agüero said the clash caused 24 injuries, including 15 police officers
Video obtained by The Associated Press showed stone-throwing farm workers being repelled by police firing tear gas and buckshot. The Pan-American highway crosses Peru from the border of Ecuador to Chile. The protest took place in the Chao district in the La Libertad region. Reforms to Peru’s agrarian law adopted by Congress on Tuesday left neither the farm workers nor the agricultural business union happy. Business leaders say higher wages will affect some 2,000 companies and 200,000 jobs. Under the new law, workers will earn USD 13.40 a day.
