Clash between farm workers, police leaves 3 dead in Peru

Farmworkers 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 $6.50 hike.

The Ombudsman’s 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 $13.40 a day.

The protests began in early December and the death of a protester in the southern Ica region led to the repeal of the old law with Congress promising reforms.

Representatives of the workers say agro-export companies have enjoyed state support for two decades paying less taxes than other sectors despite high profits. Farm workers are often hired on short-term contracts, impeding unionization and wage bargaining.

According to official data, in the Ica region, one of the largest agro-export areas in Peru, there are roughly 80,000 farm workers but only three unions with a few hundred members each.

“As there is no collective bargaining, wages cannot grow," said labor lawyer Javier Mujica. "They have always been close to the minimum living wage, which in Peru is subsistence.“

Peru is the world’s leading exporter of blueberries and also grows grapes and other produce.

(Image credit: AP)