Hi everyone. As I mentioned in class, I found this 30 minute video about the mining in Cajamarca, Peru by PBS frontline, with a NY Times reporter from 2005. The video spends some time talking about the political scandal involved in the genesis of Newmont as the controlling mining company in the region.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/peru404/
WOW! Sarah - thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI like the shot of the general manager towering over the locals, patting heads. (not). What is equally disturbing is that many of the men interviewed acted as though what Newmont was doing was OK because, as they said, “the Peruvian government was corrupt.” So these men are rationalizing - if the government of a country is screwing their people then it’s ok for outsiders to come in and doubly screw people. Is CSR really too new? Or is it still too vague? Or do too many think CSR taints the capitalistic model? (will have to explore this further…)
I am surprised there wasn’t coverage on massive amounts of environmental activism as well. I would have thought a great deal of momentum could/would be generated around Yanacocha if/when all the activist groups united and collaborated.
I’m not sure I believe 30 minutes could fully cover this story – especially the strife and degradation the locals are experiencing.
A research project around this topic would be super interesting – especially if political economy theory was applied. Wish I wasn’t already on a different path…and didn’t own gold jewelry.
Yes, thank you for sharing this. I just want to touch on a few things from the video. In 2000, a truck carried mercury from a mine that accidently spilt 330 pounds of toxic cargo (including mercury- a toxic byproduct of gold mining) over a twenty-five mile range around a village. Many people were taken to the hospital due to exposure to the mercury. People there were (understandably) outraged where they filed lawsuits and protested. However, a Newmont Peruvian partner commented that since no one had died and since the mercury did not reach the water, the incident was not that bad. It was rather obvious that Newmont did not want to take responsibility and were serving their interests. What was even more shocking was that no attention was given to the people hurt (at least this video did not show any). At Newmont’s headquarters here in Denver, Kurlander wrote to management describing that “the mercury spill has cost Newmont our hard earned reputation.” Really? Newmont’s reputation was more important than people in Cajamarca? After Newmont was audited, Kurlander then discussed how mining “disturbs the earth” and when they found out that they were not protecting the environment like they should have, it was like “someone hit you in the stomach, real hard.” Yes, protecting the environment is important, but this comment is laughable because it easy depicts a statement with no substance as well as Newmont’s lack of care for the people. Later, Kurlander noted the importance of gaining people’s trust back, yet this does not even seem plausible since he (and Newmont in general) showed no compassion for the people in the first place. If any trust is going to be won in Cajamarca, it seems obvious that it will come from movements that Mirtha and the Denver Just Peace are fighting for rather than companies like Newmont who are only concerned with their interests.
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