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were operating in wretched conditions, the environment was being ravaged, the toxicity of
chemical waste was proving ruinous to public health.
IndeedaGermanscientistclaimsthattheoncesparklinglakesthatsurroundCajamarcaare
dangerously tainted and the 2 million residents of that city are at risk. But there is more than
environmental despoliation at issue here: once Peruvian ore is excavated, processed, and the
gold shipped abroad, Peru retains a mere 15 percent of Newmont's annual $3 to $4 billion
profits. The protesters and strikers in Cajamarca became so outraged about such injustices
that troops in riot gear were called out to contain what was perceived as a larger threat to the
Peruvian economy.OnJuly 4,a priest whowas an outspoken leader ofthe protest movement
was taken by force from a bench in a public park, arrested, and roughed up before he was let
go.PresidentOllantaHumala,whohadwonthepresidencyonasocialistvote,nowsaidwith
unequivocal free-market conviction that Conga would continue to mine, albeit with stricter
government oversight. Peru's boom, in other words, is sacrosanct. Gold trumps water; and
world markets take precedence over people.
In June of this year, La Rinconada followed Cajamarca's suit. Although La Rinconada is
an“informal” operation with noonebutPeruvians toblame forits troubles, workersemptied
themines,shutdowntheschools,andputdownacollectivefoot:theycalledforthePeruvian
government to give them water, a sanitation system, paved roads, health clinics, heightened
security,childcare,abetterschool,andalltheattendantbenefitsaproducingeconomicsector
deserves. The nonprofit organization CARE is willing to help ameliorate the situation and,
after having abandoned La Rinconada as hopeless some years ago, has sent representatives
upthemountainagain.InApril,theheadofCAREPeru,MiloStanojevich,madethedifficult
triptoseetheevidenceforhimself.Butit'sariskybusiness.TheinhabitantsofLaRinconada
are all too aware of the proverbial “Beware of what you wish for.” With government gifts
comegovernmentregulations,andthatmeansfederaltaxes,themarginalizationof
cachorreo
workers, and the very real possibility that the work from which women and children now
make a subsistence living—the sweeping, the
pallaqueo
, the
chichiqueo
—will be outlawed.
To Senna, the strikes in La Rinconada, which continue even as I write, have meant
something morepotentially harmful: school, inwhich shehasinvested all hopeforabrighter
future—which she had promised her dying father she would attend—has been shuttered, its
doors bolted. The teachers in La Rinconada, after all, are miners who work there for extra
cash; so school, for better or worse, is tied intimately to the mines. Even in this, even in edu-
cation,achild'slifeiscontaminatedbygold'soffal.Butit'snotthefirsttimeSennahasfaced
adversity.Onegetsthefeelingthattheseedofsurvival,plantedsocarefullybyherfather,will
take root and flourish anyway. If a girl is motivated enough to save her hard-earned pennies,
buy a dog-eared pamphlet of poetry from her teacher, and memorize whole pages of verse,
that girl stands poised to redirect her future, make Herculean changes—a woman warrior, in-
