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Welcome to Hell: Peruvian Mining City of La Rinconada

Andre Vltchek

Photo credit: A. Vltchek

No one can agree how high above the sea level that La Rinconada really lies at: 5,300 meters or 5,200 meters? On the access road, a metal plate says 5,015. But who really cares? It is indisputably the highest settlement in the world; a gold mining town, a concentration of misery, a community of around 70,000 inhabitants, many of whom have been poisoned by mercury. A place where countless women and children get regularly raped, where law and order collapsed quite some time ago, where young girls are sent to garbage dumps in order to ‘recycle’ terribly smelling waste, and where almost all the men work in beastly conditions, trying to save at least some money, but where most of them simply ruin their health, barely managing to stay alive.

I decided to travel to La Rinconada precisely during these days when the socialist Venezuela is fighting for its survival. I drove there as the European elites in Bolivia were trying to smear the enormously popular and successful President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, while the elections were approaching.

As in so many places in the turbo-capitalist and pro-Western Peru, La Rinconada is like a tremendous warning: this is how Venezuela and Bolivia used to be before Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales. This is where Washington wants the entire Latin America to return to. Like those monstrous and hopeless slums surrounding Lima, La Rinconada should be a call to arms.

Just some five years ago we thought: This is how Latin America was never supposed to look again. We thought so, before the extreme right-wing forces in Washington managed to regroup and to deploy old dogmas of the Monroe Doctrine back to the frontlines, against Latin American independence and socialism.

*

A driver refused to take me to La Rinconada, alone. For me, the fewer people involved the better. Even in Afghanistan, I work alone, only with my trusted Pashtun driver. But here it is different: the reputation of La Rinconada is that “you can enter, but you will never manage to leave.” I am told about the new mafia that operates there, and about the totally deteriorating security situation. In the end, I had no choice but to accept a crew of two men: a driver and a person “who is familiar with the situation related to Peruvian mines”.

We leave the city of Puno in the morning, passing along the magnificent shores of Lake Titicaca, which with a surface elevation of 3,812 meters, is the highest navigable lake in the world, shared by Peru and Bolivia.

“From the Peruvian side, the lake is getting poisoned by mercury,” explained Freddy, a mining expert. “La Rinconada and its gold mines are still very far, but the River Ramis is now bringing contaminated water from the area, particularly from the mining town of Ananea, directly into the lake.”

There is some sort of a motorway between Puno and Juliaca, a ‘center of commercial activity’ in the region; in fact, a huge, unkempt dusty city full of slums. Right after Juliaca, it is just rural misery.

I used to work in Peru during the so called ‘Dirty War’, fought between two Communist guerillas (the Maoist Shining Path and the Marxist, pro-Cuban MRTA) and the Peruvian state, which officially ended in 1992. Since then, the rural misery of Peru has not changed: dwellings made of earth, the desperate faces of villagers, and almost no social services, have remained. Right across the border, in socialist Bolivia, life in the countryside improves dramatically, continuously. But not here; not in Peru. And so, tents of thousands of anxious men are ‘going up’, reaching tremendous heights, risking their lives and ruining their heath, for at least a tiny chance to find gold, and to escape the endemic misery.

“My wife saved me,” I was told by a driver who, two days earlier, took me from the Bolivian border of Desaguadero, to the Peruvian city of Puno:

I was totally broke. We just had a baby. I had no idea what to do. And so, I told my family that I am going to La Rinconada. My wife stood up and said: ‘If you go, you will never return. And if you do, you will not be the man that I love, anymore. You stay in Puno and work here. I will work, too. We will somehow manage. Don’t you know: La Rinconada is a death sentence.’ I stayed. She was right. I saw people who went and came back totally destroyed.”

*

It is getting cold. Our Toyota Hilux climbs up, grumpily, with badly damaged suspension, but going nevertheless. The higher we climb, the colder it gets. It rains, then it stops.

The views are magnificent, but the countryside is covered by garbage. The river is filthy. The Llamas are eating garbage, cars are being washed in the rapids, and entire villages appear to be abandoned, turned into ghost towns.

After more than four hours of driving, after insane, neck-breaking serpentines, the first mines appear on the horizon. Then more filth, primitive machinery, and a mining town – Ananea.

Ms. Irma, the owner of a local eatery, prepares strong coffee and coca leaves soaked in hot water, the best remedy for altitude sickness. She is chatty, realizing that we represent no danger:

Sometimes, miners from La Rinconada, escape here. Ananeo is a bit below, and safer. We have water here. There, it is all poisoned; by mercury and other horrible stuff. You know the concept, how they work up there: 29 days they are laboring for free, and then for one day a month, they are allowed to grab what they find. It is a gamble: if they are lucky, they get rich during that one day. Or they find very little, or nothing. And even if they do, at night, it can get stolen from them.”

She sounds old, maternal, compassionate, concerned. She has seen it all, it appears.

We pay and drive up.

Then, we see it: enormous lakes, yellowish, brownish, with streams coming from their surface. Long blue hoses. Everything is ruined and poisoned. Freddy says that there are some new technologies that could be used to extract gold, but the miners here use mercury, as it is cheaper. Primitive machinery is at work, just like on the Indonesian island of Kalimantan/Borneo; there, illegal mining is poisoning mighty rivers, here, it is leveling entire mountains, creating huge lakes, and moonscapes at some 5,000 meters of altitude.

The guards are obviously very unhappy about our presence. Still, I manage to film and photograph, and then we drive even further up.

The piles of garbage appear. Behind them, two tremendous mountains covered by snow. And an ironic metal sign: “Welcome to La Rinconada, Do not litter.”

*

I have seen a lot, on all the continents, but La Rinconada is truly ‘unique’.

Mountains and valleys are dotted with metal shacks, with makeshift structures. The filth is everywhere. There is no water supply. Electricity is scarce.

Garbage even covers the humble graves of a local cemetery.

Photo credit: A. Vltchek

In the main square, heavy drinking is in progress. It is dangerous to photograph here. I hide; use zoom. Two plastered miners are lying on their stomachs, and someone is throwing food into their open mouths, as if it was feeding time in a zoo.

Prostitution is rampant. Children are doing odd jobs. At one of the garbage dumps, I ask two young girls about their age.

“25,” comes the ready answer. I guess 15, at most. But their faces are covered.

“How dangerous is it here?” I ask one of the miners.

He replies readily: “Very dangerous, but we have no choice.”

“Do people get injured on jobs? Do they get killed?”

“Of course. It happens very often. We are all taking risks. Some people get horrible injuries, others die. If they cannot treat them here, they take them to Ananeo, and if they are lucky, to a Juliaca hospital. Others are left here to die. It’s life. Some get saved, some don’t.”

Do they blame capitalism, the extreme savage pro-market system, adopted by their country?

“It’s life,” I hear the same fatalistic reply.

Do they know about Bolivia; about the great changes just across the border? Do they know that some 30 kilometers away from here, ‘as the condor flies’, on the Bolivian side, there is the pristine Uila Uila National Fauna Reserve?

Some know that it is much better ‘there’, in Bolivia, now. But they do not associate it with socialism or with the independent and pro-people policies of President Evo Morales. And they know very little about Venezuela.

All they know is that they were barely surviving on Altiplano, and that they are fighting for their lives, here, in La Rinconada.

Like in Indonesia, another savage pro-Western capitalist regime, people here are too preoccupied with their immediate essential problems; they cannot be bothered with ‘abstract’ thoughts about the environment, or lawlessness.

I see people pissing in the middle of the street.

“It is not just mercury,” I am told. “Everything here is mixed: poisons related to mining, urine, shit, urban waste…”

The altitude is hitting me hard. 4,000 in Puno is bad; over 5,000 here is fatal. I am being held by two people as I film on the edge of a ravine, in order not to fall down.

Somehow, in a very twisted way, I acknowledge that the vistas around me are beautiful, stunning. I am impressed. Impressed by the ability of human beings to survive under almost any conditions.

Virtually all of this is illegal. But hundreds of millions are made, and washed.

People gain nothing; almost nothing. A miner makes 800 to 1,000 Soles (roughly $250 to $300) per month. Private companies and corrupt government gain billions. Once again, Latin America is getting poorer. But the West is not pushing for ‘regime change’ in Peru, or in Paraguay, or Brazil. This is how it is supposing to be; this is how Washington likes it.

Another miner dares to talk to me:

“Most of the gold goes abroad. But before it does… If gangs do not rob us, miners, at night, they often murder small middlemen, those who buy gold directly from us.”

Is he scared?

“Everyone here is scared,” he confirms. “Scared and sick. This is hell.”

“It is like a war…” I utter.

“It is a war,” he confirms.

But almost nobody comes here to report and to investigate. The life of a poor Peruvian person is worth nothing; nothing at all.

I film, I document…It is all that I can do for them. And for Bolivia, for Venezuela.

While I work, I feel that hell is near, it is here. It is not abstract, religious: it is real. But it could, it should be stopped.

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jag37777
jag37777
Apr 3, 2019 11:12 PM

Another great piece, Andre. Thanks.

Yessica Gagliuffi
Yessica Gagliuffi
Mar 30, 2019 2:47 PM

So sad to read that news about my country!

Carlos
Carlos
Mar 29, 2019 2:54 AM

Geat article. It’s a shame that so many people suffer like that around the globe, and less than 1% are incredibly rich. God help us to be more humans!

Ramdan
Ramdan
Mar 29, 2019 12:04 PM
Reply to  Carlos

Remember “free will”? Is only to ourselves to become humans (to become…cause given current state of human civilization we are just the worst of all animals). God can not help unless we are willing to work in our own transformation.
We are the only ones responsible for what happens today, we will be the only ones responsible for what happen from now on.

James Doyle
James Doyle
Mar 30, 2019 2:22 PM
Reply to  Carlos

The warmongers in Trumps government in Washington DC are on the warpath yet again.. After destroying the middle east and North Africa they are now trying to create the same mess in Latin America In Venezuela they are trying to over throw the legitimately elected President and grab all their natural resources, for their friends and backers in the big corporations. Only for Russia and China, they would already have invaded Venezuela despite breaking international law. Americas European lackeys should be ashamed for supporting such a blatant violation of democracy by the American neo cons and warmongers Bolton, Abram’s and co.

Loverat
Loverat
Mar 28, 2019 11:28 PM

Another great article from someone reporting on the ground. Thank you very much for your great insights Andre.

Your recent articles here an inspiration to many.

Gezzah Potts
Gezzah Potts
Mar 28, 2019 10:15 PM

Much appreciate your work Andre, and thank you for continuing to report on the rest of the World; the world that the vast majority in the West are completely clueless about, and don’t want to know about anyway; the world of such extreme poverty and destitution, a dystopic hellhole far far removed from the glitzy, gawdy, mega Malls and binge consumerism and hedonistic excess of the West, many of whom are fully enslaved to digital technology. A sad, screwed up world Andre, while Neoliberalism reaches its logical outcome. It all comes down to $$$.

Fair dinkum
Fair dinkum
Mar 28, 2019 9:51 PM

Peru, Indonesia, Africa, the Philippines, India, South East Asia _ _ _
What hope humanity?

Badger Down
Badger Down
Mar 29, 2019 12:12 AM
Reply to  Fair dinkum

USUKisrael: What hope humanity?

Denis O'hAichir
Denis O'hAichir
Mar 28, 2019 9:41 PM

Hosea 4:3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

ChristopherJ Williams
ChristopherJ Williams
Mar 28, 2019 8:58 PM

thank you, Andre. Eye opening and heart wrenching too

John Ervin
John Ervin
Mar 28, 2019 8:19 PM

Heartbreaking. It puts one’s personal travails in a different perspective and it’s food for conscience. Thanks for that….

Ramdan
Ramdan
Mar 28, 2019 8:15 PM

Reading this I could not help but see images of the world that human society has built….and worst, of the one being built by the elites of the western “democracies” (USA, G7…colonial powers) and it looks a lot like one of those distopian movies where the few (rich) live in secluded, closed spaces sorrounded by high walls while the rest of humans live outside the walls in situation prety much like the one described here….
Then I realized this distopia is not something of the future but in fact the very world we live in TODAY…
the only thing is that walls are not finished…. yet….

Runner77
Runner77
Mar 28, 2019 5:35 PM

Eye-opening and mind-changing. This is real journalism, and it puts the mainstream media to shame . . .

summitflyer
summitflyer
Mar 28, 2019 5:26 PM

Thank you André for this article . Such a sad situation in Peru .You are doing a great service in exposing the ravages of greed through capitalism .
Am looking forward to meeting you next week in Winnipeg and to listen to your experiences of your travels.

douglas
douglas
Mar 28, 2019 9:38 PM
Reply to  summitflyer

Right blame everything on USA or Canada
Peru has a new president all others last 5 anyway are all corrupt . New president had sent in the army to cleanup this mess . And yes the people litter not governments .. the people shit in own back yard .. animals don’t even do that .
But you are clearly pro commy
Like that works .. lol

Makropulos
Makropulos
Mar 28, 2019 10:06 PM
Reply to  douglas

“New president had sent in the army to cleanup this mess . ”

How very American.

Bootlyboob
Bootlyboob
Mar 28, 2019 10:32 PM
Reply to  douglas

Thanks for providing valuable information on how the president is fixing up the mess, Douglas. Do you have any ‘on the ground’ information that pertains to this issue? From your advanced knowledge of the situation it sounds like you do. Please keep us posted on when the situation discussed in the article above is rectified by the efforts of the army. I would really like to hear back on the results that help the people in any way.

mark
mark
Mar 31, 2019 7:53 PM
Reply to  douglas

Millions of homeless people shit in the street in your North American Utopia.
Go ask the Mayor of San Francisco if you don’t believe me.
With diseases like tapeworm and hepatitis spreading like wildfire.
This Peruvian hell hole would probably compare quite favourably with the cardboard cities of SF.

This is what you have to expect from 21st century crapitalism.
Most of the world is actually far worse than this.
When I lived in Africa and India, most people earned £30 a month or £70 a month in those places. That was the normal wage.