Peruvian Mining Activist Starts Political Party

A high-profile Peruvian environmental activist has founded a political party advocating greater state control of industry ahead of Peru's 2011 presidential elections.

Father Marco Arana told foreign journalists Tuesday that his Tierra y Libertad movement is currently seeking the 145,000 signatures necessary to officially inscribe the party. Arana is a Catholic priest who helped lead efforts in 2004 against an expansion of the Yanacocha gold mine, controlled by Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM).

Arana said President Alan Garcia's pro-business model has brought inequality, not development, to Peruvians.

He said the party will seek to increase the state's share of oil revenue, increase social spending and impose greater restrictions and regulation on key industries such as mining.

The Andean nation is the world's No. 1 silver miner and a major producer of gold, copper, zinc and other metals.

More than 350 political parties have requested registration materials from the national elections office since the April 2006 election.

Term limits prohibit Garcia, whose approval rating is at one of its lowest points since he took office three years ago, from running for a consecutive five-year term.

-By Leslie Josephs, Dow Jones Newswires; 511-98853-8610; [e-mail]