Peasant Rounds and Political Representation in Times of Conga Conflict in Cajamarca, Peru

In 2012, contentious events of great social and political impact were unleashed in Cajamarca, the northern part of the Peruvian highlands. This caused several fatalities and revealed the "betrayal" of the president of the Republic by supporting the implementation of the Conga mining project. Far from being an isolated event, the Conga case constitutes a synthesis conflict, product of several years of struggle for natural resources. The rondas campesinas (peasant patrols), communal organizations of social defense, are one of the protagonists in it. This article analyzes the political representation in times of social conflict in the subnational scale, examining the participation of young people and adult women of the rondas campesinas during the conflict in Cajamarca. It is proposed that contentious events such as "Conga" positively impact the rondera identity and the repertoire of collective action, propitiating the enlistment in the patrols. Family ties continue to be a determinant of collective identity and commitment, but they also reveal the dilemmas that both young people and women must face.