Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Living through it.

I remember hearing from several people in my town that there was going to be a strike on Thursday, November 24, because of a gold mine project here in the area. I didn’t really give it much thought or think it would be a big deal. Boy, was I wrong. I was in for an interesting and unforgettable experience.

After months of anxiously waiting, on Thanksgiving Day, I was expecting a shipment of 2000 books from the States for a library I’m helping start. I was bummed to hear they wouldn’t be making it on time. I was told to wait until that Saturday. So, Thursday comes along and all roads going into the capital city of where I live were blocked. No one could go in or out. Thanksgiving was very uneventful. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and still no books. During this time, local business owners were starting to become affected. A person that relied on their daily income by selling their milk was out of luck, any person that relied on selling fresh fruit or fish from the coast was also out of luck, food prices went up 200%. There was a scarcity of food, every road was blocked and business owners were suffering badly. Nestle or Gloria milk trucks were not allowed to enter the area. There were protestors camping out on every single entrance to the city and if you tried to go through, it was a risk of getting hurt. Wednesday, November 30, they decided to have an even stronger protest. Here in my town, every single store was closed and school was cancelled. You couldn’t find anywhere to buy water, groceries, make copies, etc. It felt like a ghost town while everyone went to protest. The two main roads in my town were blocked with huge burning tree trunks and tires. There was no way to go in or out. The whole region was paralyzed and as the government called it, “being held hostage.” Locals have every right to protest but on the contrary the mine has given thousand of jobs to Peruvians and is a huge source of investment for Perú. By this time, as a volunteer I was not allowed to go anywhere for safety reasons. This went on until Sunday evening, when at midnight the President declared Cajamarca in State of Emergency. Thousands of troops and police have arrived since and protestors would be arrested if this continued. Helicopters have been roaming the area. The roads finally opened up, protestors are starting to die down and the gold mine project has been temporarily suspended.

It makes such a difference when you live through it rather than reading about it. My heart goes out for locals who are opposed to this gold mine project because lakes that will be exploded is the source of water everyone relies on here (even me). Then again, the mine explains how they will build new lakes, although it will not be the same. There are many arguments to both stories. What I did learn form all this is that one needs to be informed to dialogue and come to an agreement. I made sure to keep my opinions to myself considering I’m an American and the gold mine is from the United States.

Here are a few articles about the situation:
http://www.economist.com/node/21538788
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15884119

On a brighter note, we are going to pick up the 2,000 books tomorrow to the capital city! Also, I’ll be visiting the States this Christmas and New Years to spend it with my family in Arizona!!! There is so much to look forward to. I have 8 months left of my Peace Corps Service and many new and exciting projects I will soon share with you all!

Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

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