Choropampa: The Price of Gold (Documentary - Peru, 2002)

http://www.guarango.org/choropampa/en/

A devastating mercury spill by the world's richest gold mining corporation transforms a quiet peasant village in Peru's Andean mountains into a hotbed of civil resistance. A courageous young mayor emerges to lead his people on a quest for health care and justice. But powerful interests conspire to thwart the villagers at every turn in this 2-year epic chronicle of the real price of gold.

THE SPILL
On June 2, 2000, a truck from the Yanacocha gold mine spilled 151 kg of liquid elemental mercury along a 40 km stretch of highway passing through Choropampa and two neighboring towns. Villagers were not told the mercury was toxic. Assuming it was azogue, an ancient cure-all, they collected mercury in bottles and jars using their hands, sticks and brooms. Children were especially fascinated with the alluring silvery balls of liquid that sparkled in the bright sun; they played with it, spilling mercury on dirt floors and beds, near gardens and animals and inside the local school.
Elemental mercury, or metallic mercury, evaporates rapidly at warm temperatures like those found in Choropampa at the time of the spill. Gregory Camacho, an industrial hygienist at the University of Columbia hospital in New York, specializes in cleaning up mercury spills. "Mercury is very difficult to clean-up on regular floors," says Camacho in the film, "because it goes into every nook and cranny that
it can find... On a dirt road or dirt surface it would definitely burrow."
Camacho explains that even after all visible liquid mercury has been cleaned-up, mercury vapors may remain in the air, condensing and evaporating as temperatures rise and fall. Elemental mercury is most toxic to humans in its evaporated, vapor-form. The World Health Organization says that when elemental mercury is inhaled, approximately 80 percent of the mercury remains in the body where it can damage the lungs, kidneys and central nervous system. Chronic exposure may cause birth defects and miscarriages. Symptoms of poisoning can include skin rashes, nausea, muscle and kidney pain, respiratory difficulty and loss of consciousness. Elemental mercury can be transformed into organic mercury or methyl mercury through contact with organic matter in the environment. Organic mercury is extremely toxic to humans because it can accumulate and move up the food chain.
A World Bank report on the mercury spill in Choropampa acknowledged that "a certain proportion of the mercury that remains in the environment, either in the soil or transported into nearby waterways, can be expected to be transformed into organic methyl mercury." Chronic exposure may include neurological disorders, severe birth defects and mental illness.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Choropampa
• The
• price
• of
• gold
• mining
• cajamarca
• peru
• yanacocha
• poison
• newmont
• fujimori

[tiberio135]

@MrVyasa

Que no quede ahi estimado amigo. A quien puedas concientiza.

Averigua en que consiste la LIXIVIACION Extractiva. Veras que la contaminacion del CIANURO es total. Haz tu parte. Como peruano te corresponde.

No pueden llevarse todo el oro y dejarnos TIERRA ENVENENADA.

Eres parte del PERU RESISTE.

[tiberio135]

Ese medico miente. O ignora que el Banco Mundial es SOCIO PARTICIPATORIO !!! de la minera Newmont. ESTO ES ALGO INAUDITO. QUE EL BANCO MUNDIAL, BRAZO DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS JUNTO AL FMI...sean socios en la EXTRACCION DEL ORO.

No tenemos un estado que nos proteja. Solo el pueblo puede defenderse.

Humala es un pelele. Otro titere controlado por los Bancos y los tratados de ajuste estructural.

FUERZA CAJAMARCA. Basta ya del envenenamiento del ecosistema y medio ambiente.

CAJAMARCA RESISTE !!

[tiberio135]

@ZeroHazardPeru

Fuerza brother...son un grupo pequeno de peruanos que son parte de esa mafia, comandados por Roque Benavides...pero hagamos nuestra parte, concientizemos a la gente que EXTRACCION A TAJO ABIERTO no es desarrollo sostenible.

Haz un google en q consiste la LIXIVIACION para extraer oro. Y a quien puedas, explicale.

No puede ser posible que nos dejen tierras contaminadas con CIANURO. Ya ni utilizan el mercurio. Que tipo de desarrollo es esto?

SOLO EL PUEBLO PUEDE DEFENDERNOS.

[MrVyasa]

Estimado ZeroHazardPeru, muchas gracias por compartir el comentario. Soy cajamarquino y como mencioné, me apena muchísimo que seamos los propios peruanos los que abusemos de nuestros compatriotas. Esperemos que estas actitudes sean superadas con la difusión de este tipo de documentales. Un dato adicional, sugiero ver el documental de la FRONTLINE/World por el reportero de New York Times Lowell Bergman.

[ZeroHazardPeru]

@MrVyasa estoy de acuerdo con lo que dices... y encima son peruanos... juro que hasta me indigna.. esto...

[ZeroHazardPeru]

Es vergonzoso hasta para mi, ver como un peruano compatriota es rediculizado por otro sólo por defender sus derechos.

[SS5785]

For those who dont know, Alberto Fujimori was the most corrupted president we ever had. He and his right hand man, Vladimiro Montesinos, made illegal deals with Newmont (owner of Yanacocha SRL).

[SS5785]

Esos dos médicos son una maldita desgracia.

[SS5785]

El Peru no es "un pobre sentado en un banco de Oro", el Perú más bien es "Un banquero sentado en un pobre que vale oro".

[OriginalYTName]

@MrVyasa

barry maguiga contrompolente escabada?

danara es cantoni be trapatoni squilligia dunkstar!

hoobstank jericho pojarricho?!

jajajaajajajaj