Máxima Acuña

Máxima Acuña is a Peruvian subsistence farmer and environmentalist, who is known for her fight to remain on land wanted for a new mine, the Conga Mine, enduring years of violent intimidation by Newmont Mining Corporation and Buenaventura (mining company), for which she received the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize.

Life Máxima Acuña is a Peruvian weaver and subsistence farmer living in a remote town in the Northern Highlands of Peru. In 1994, Acuña and her husband bought 27 hectares of land in Tragadero Grande, Sorochuco District, province of Celendin, department of Cajamarca. This is three hours from the main town of Celendin, The Newmont Mining Corporation said in 2015 that it had purchased their property from the local community in 1997.

In 2011, the Acuñas' tiny grass and earth home

In December 2014, Newmont's complaint of criminal charges against the Acuñas was dismissed, and in February 2015 security forces destroyed the building foundation on the site of Acuña's planned house. Protests spread to Lima and internationally.

Newmont Corporation has continued to claim ownership saying it "exercise the possession of the site by planting in the area recently plowed by the family." On September 18, 2016, Acuña and her partner were viciously assaulted at their home by thugs believed to be in the employ of Newmont.

She is the subject of Maxima, a 2019 documentary film by Claudia Sparrow.

Personal life Acuña, who stands less than 5 feet tall, has been described as "Badass Grandma Standing Up To Big Mining" by a Brooklyn journalist.

Honors In April 2016, Acuña, then aged 47, received the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize for her peaceful activism regarding the Conga Mine by the Newmont Mining Corporation.