Like others in the area, he said local communities accepted the mining companies out of necessity, hoping they would create jobs and development in a subsistence farming area.
“The communities wanted to contribute to the country. They wanted to create work and connect with the world,” he says. “Maybe we didn’t do it right. We don’t know.”
The answer to this question is simple, says Pablo Bergese, Mining Sustainability Coordinator at the Mining and Hydrocarbons Secretariat of Jujuy. Other efforts to alleviate poverty in the region have failed, he says. The only way to develop the area is to exploit the mineral wealth, he adds.
“People have evolved in terms of their homes, they have better amenities, they have better bathrooms, they have better buildings, they have community centers,” Bergese says. “Unfortunately the development has an impact on the environment and that is what we are complaining about. Humans influence the environment in all their activities. Mining is one of them.”
Nevertheless, many local people feel left behind.
José Sajama, a leader of the Abra Pampa community north of Salar de Olaroz, is the son and grandson of miners. But he has a completely different idea about mining here in the Puna region.
“They have developed minerals in most of the Puna. So why are people still poor? How is the development? Or who is the development for?” he asks.
María Arce, GPJ, contributed to this story.