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Lima (AFP) June 14, 2010 Thousands of Peruvian workers blocked a key highway on Monday, risking clashes with police at a US-owned smelter that is at the center of a bitter year-long environmental dispute. Defying a massive police operation to prevent the blockade, workers from the facility in the central town of La Oroya placed boulders and tree trunks across sections of Highway 20, a main east-to-west artery in the Andean nation. A similar blockade at the complex, which refines lead, zinc, gold and copper, boiled over last September into ugly clashes with riot police that left one officer dead. "The town is totally paralyzed, 3,500 workers are taking part in the action with the support of the entire population of La Oroya," union leader Roberto Guzman told AFP by telephone. The Peruvian government deployed 2,000 police officers and 500 troops to stand guard over the highway. The protest marked the start of an indefinite strike to compel the government to push back a July 15 deadline imposed on the US firm Doe Run to comply with new environmental regulations. Privatized and sold to Doe Run in 1997, the mine is notorious for making La Oroya the most polluted town in Peru. Sulfur dioxide from its smelters have prompted serious health concerns for the local populace of some 60,000. It was hoped Doe Run would be able to convert it into a clean-running facility, but the company has failed to meet several deadlines to do so as has run into financial trouble. Doe Run is accused of resorting to "blackmail" by inciting its workers to side with the company's demand for a deadline extension. The company owes more than 200 million dollars in debts and back taxes and is asking for a 20 year repayment moratorium, which the government says is unacceptable. Peruvian President Alan Garcia accused Doe Run of being behind the protests and renewed a threat Monday to close the facility if production does not resume by June 24. Doe Run, an affiliate of the US group Renco, is one of the world's leading lead producers and is based in the central US state of Missouri.
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