**Exhibit31.1**

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO

Section 302 of theSarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Oscar Gonzalez Rocha,President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Copper Corporation, certifythat:

1.             I have reviewed thisquarterly report on Form 10-Q of Southern Copper Corporation;

2.             Based on myknowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of amaterial fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statementsmade, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, notmisleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;

3.             Based on myknowledge, the condensed consolidated combined financial statements, and otherfinancial information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in allmaterial respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flowsof the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterlyreport;

4.             The registrant’sother certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing andmaintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange ActRules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15-d-15(f) for the registrantand we have:

a.     Designedsuch disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the registrant, including its consolidatedsubsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularlyduring the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

b.     Designedsuch internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal controlover financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to providereasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and thepreparation of condensed consolidated financial statements for externalpurposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c.     Evaluatedthe effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this project our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by thisreport based on such evaluation; and

d.     Disclosedin this report any change of the registrant’s internal control over financialreporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter thathas materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5.             The registrant’sother certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recentevaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’sauditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (orpersons performing the equivalent functions):

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a.     Allsignificant deficiencies and material weaknesses on the design or operation ofinternal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely toadversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize andreport financial information; and

b.     Anyfraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees whohave a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financialreporting.
|                  | /s/ Oscar  Gonzalez Rocha              |
|------------------|----------------------------------------|
|             | Oscar Gonzalez  Rocha                  |
|             | President and  Chief Executive Officer |
|             |                                   |
| November 3, 2006 |                                   |

 

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