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Andean Solstice Highlights Cultural Revival and Calls to Reform Peru’s Consultation Process

Experts and community leaders urge the government to turn ILO 169 consultation duties into funded policy to reduce extractive-project conflicts.

Overview

  • Communities across the Andes held Año Nuevo Andino rituals to mark the June 21 solstice with offerings, music and seed-time ceremonies that reaffirm agricultural calendars and collective identity.
  • Researchers from PUCP and reports from the Defensoría del Pueblo show that Peru’s prior consultation process often arrives late, leaves communities with weak negotiating power, and follows a repeated pattern of project, delayed consultation, and social conflict.
  • In Puno cultural promoters pressed for language recovery by using the indigenous term Musuq Wata Inti Raymi and proposed broader names like “nuevo año andino, amazónico y costeño” to include coastal and Amazonian traditions.
  • Urban festivals in cities such as Cusco and Puno drew thousands of visitors, blending ritual practice with cultural tourism and giving local authorities a visible stage for ceremonies at sites like Kuntur Wasi.
  • Voices in civil society and opinion editors say the incoming July government has an immediate chance to fund and operationalize free, prior and informed consultations so that decisions over land and extractive projects better protect community livelihoods.