On February 27 and 28, 2001, residents and farmers attacked the office and mining camp of Manhattan Sechura (a subsidiary of Manhattan Minerals Corp. of Vancouver) in the remote Peruvian village of Tambogrande. They also attacked a camp belonging to Britton Brothers, a sub-contractor of Manhattan that undertakes drilling in the area and destroyed it, burning some drilling machines.

Manhattan has been trying to establish a gold-silver-copper-zinc mine in the village of Tambogrande, a project that would necessitate the relocation of much of the town as well as threatening the water supply that the surrounding farms depend on for irrigation.

Graham Clow, President and CEO of Manhattan, had previously told MiningWatch Canada that the company would withdraw if the people definitely did not want mining to proceed. Meanwhile, Manhattan spokesperson Peter Tegart has been quoted saying that the company "has a very advanced program of community consultation," that it has "undertaken public consultation before exploring," and that

The leaders of the Front in Defence of Tambogrande and the San Lorenzo Valley, Francisco Ojeda and Nicolas Sandoval, are worried about what might occur in the future. They are asking that a dialogue be established with the government to demand the definite withdrawal of mining from Tambogrande. According to the Front, Manhattan can no longer argue that the opposition to the mining project is the work of a few malcontents and not representative of the population, since these demands are being made by the residents of Tambogrande, their organizations, their representative institutions, and their primary civil and ecclesiastical authorities.