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¡VIVA LA PUGA, VIVA EL PINCHO Y CONGA NO VA CARAJO! Christopher Santiago Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Christopher Santiago All rights reserved ABSTRACT ¡Conga No Va Carajo! Christopher Santiago My dissertation concerns peasant resistance to transnational gold mines in Cajamarca, Peru. This resistance is founded on people's experiences as expressed in songs, stories, jokes, dreams and direct political actions in the face of tremendous repression. Peasant experience itself is a powerful spiritual weapon in the lucha. Through immersion in the struggle, I wish to give a glimpse of the peasants’ lives as they confront environmental catastrophe. My work seeks to re- present this resistance movement from the inside, as much as is possible. It is heart wrenching to hear a woman sing a song about how she lost her son to the police mercenaries. These moments of communion reveal the spirit of the struggle and forge the bonds which energize the resistance movement. Threatened by the death of the Earth, there is now a resurgence in consciousness of the Pacha Mama ("Earth Mother" in Quechua) which I believe to be the latest manifestation of Andean messianism, the idea that the Inca and Andean gods will return to cast out the Spanish and redeem history. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF CHARACTERS........................................................................................................... ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ..................................................................................................... vi GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................ viii 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................1 2. ERIBERTO AND ANDEAN UTOPIA .................................................................................58 3. THE LADY OF THE BLUE LAGOON ...............................................................................87 4. TEARS AND LAUGHTER IN THE COURT ....................................................................132 5. A CHOLO RONDERO AND HIS PAPAS .........................................................................177 6. RESISTANCE AS CARNAVAL ........................................................................................201 7. STATES OF EMERGENCY ...............................................................................................229 8. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................291 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................360 APPENDIX 1 ...........................................................................................................................370 APPENDIX 2 ...........................................................................................................................377 APPENDIX 3 ...........................................................................................................................383 i LIST OF CHARACTERS MAIN CHARACTERS Atuq— (Quechua for ‘fox’) Atuq was my best friend during my time in Celendín. I lived with him for two years and became part of his extended family. By profession Atuq was a gym teacher at the central base. He was also a leader in nearly all of the social organizations that fight the mine: SUTEP, the PIC, Tierra & Libertad, the Rondas Campesinas. I hear Atuq is now the provincial president of SUTEP. The mythological foxes who narrate the ‘boilings’ of The Fox from Up Above and the Fox from Down Below were taken by José María Arguedas from the Quechua manuscript compiled in the province of Huarochirí by the priest Francisco de Avila at the end of the sixteenth century, a manuscript that Arguedas translated and published with the title Gods and Men of Huarochirí. Regarding Arguedas’s Foxes, Christian Fernández writes, “These mythic foxes appear in the novel as foxes, but they also have the power to turn themselves into characters in the narrative.”1 We should also note that the mythological foxes are “able to traverse the borders between the world from up above and the world of down below, just as they are able to leave their mythical origins to come in to the present.”2 The Chaupe Family— The Chaupe family live in the heart of the Conga mega-project, alongside the Blue Lagoon. For this reason they have been victim to countless abuses at the hands of miners, police, the media, hostile neighbors and the juridical apparatus. For four years now they’ve faced eviction, death threats, physical and psychological violence, and legal harassment all in an attempt to get the family to abandon their land. The family is composed of Máxima and Jaime, and their children: Ysidora, Daniel, Carlos and Jhilda. Ysidora’s boyfriend Elias (who along with the family was fallaciously accused by Yanacocha of ‘aggravated usurpation’) and Daniel’s girlfriend Mari- bel are also members of the Chaupe family. Máxima Acuña Atalaya de Chaupe— Máxima is seen as an incarnation of the resistance by many people far and wide. She was named the Woman Of The Year in December, 2012 by a activist collective in Lima. An article in La Republica called her the Lady of the Blue Lagoon. In 2014 Máxima received the Defender of the Year award from the Latin American Women’s Net- work (ULAM) and the National Special Award for Human Rights from the Human Rights Coor- dinator of Peru. Then in April, 2016 Máxima won the Goldman Environmental Prize, commonly called the ‘Green Nobel’. While the other winners all gave acceptance speeches, Máxima sang one of her songs. You might expect Máxima to be safe from further violence but the abuses against her and her family have continued. The Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres won the Goldman Prize for South America in 2015 for defending the Gualcarque River, its surrounding environment and people from the Agua Zarca Dam. She was killed by gunmen in her home. Eriberto Huaman— Young man of peasant origins who is studying law and political science in University. He is one of the few people in Cajamarca that still abides by Andean beliefs and prac- tices. Eriberto is also a passionate member of the resistance. Daniel Gil— Long time Rondero, political activist, permaculturalist and song maker. As both peasant and intellectual he provides a unique perspective on the struggle. ii OTHERS Milton Sanchez— General Secretary of the P.I.C. Edy Benevides— President of the Defense Front of Bambamarca who later became Provincial Mayor of Hualgayoc-Bambamarca. Roger Ponce— Provincial President of the Rondas Camepsinas of Celendín. Idelson Hernandez— National President of the Rondas Campesinas. Ramón Abanto Bernal— General Secretary of S.U.T.E.P.-Celendín. Gregorio Santos (Goyo)— Regional President of Cajamarca who supports the lucha though many suspect he only sides with the people to benefit of his own political career. Goyo is currently in prison for corruption, bribery, conspiracy and racketeering. People say Goyo’s imprisonment is a form of political persecution because of his opposition to Conga. Mauro Siles— Corrupt mayor of Celendín. Roque ‘Cyanide' Benavides— Owner of Buenaventura mining company and member of one of the richest families in Peru. Martyrs of Water— The five people killed by the police and military in July 2012 in the towns of Celendín and Bambamarca while demonstrating against the Conga project: Paulino García Rojas, Faustino Silva Sánchez, Antonio Sánchez Huamán, Joselito Vásquez Jambo, and César Medina Aguilar, a sixteen-year-old. Señora Santos— Mother of Antonio Joselito Sánchez Huamán. Maximila Aguilar Vásquez— Mother of César Medina Aguilar. Rocio Silva Santisteban— Journalist, university professor, poet, and the Executive Secretary of the National Coordinator of Human Rights. Marco Arana— Ex-priest and founder of both G.R.U.F.I.D.E.S. and Tierra y Libertad. Mirtha Vasquez— Lawyer and director of G.R.U.F.I.D.E.S. Defense attorney for the Chaupe Family. Lynda Sullivan— Irish activist who visited Celendín and stayed for 4 years. Lynda writes articles, keeps a blog in English (congaconflict.wordpress.com) and works at the Rural Library. Alexander Luna— Photographer and film-maker from Lima, Peru. Jorge Chavez— Young photographer and journalist who lives in Celendín. INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS The Guardians of the Lagoons— Peasant resistance movement dedicated to fighting the mines. Plataforma Interinstitucional Celendína (P.I.C.)— Unites all the organizations in Celendín that fight against the Conga project. Rondas Campesinas— The Rondas Campesinas or “Peasant Rounds” are a community justice force recognized by the Peruvian Constitution and found in villages throughout the country. The Rondas formed in Cajamarca in 1977. iii Sindicato Unitario de Trabajadores en la Educación del Perú (S.U.T.E.P.)— Education workers union of Perú. Grupo de Formación e Intervención para el Desarrollo Sostenible (G.R.U.F.I.D.E.S.)— A non-profit civil association that develops its activities in Cajamarca with a macro-regional per- spective, from the approaches of Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability, Gender Equity and Solidarity Economic Development. The only local N.G.O. helping in the fight against the mines. Tierra y Libertad [Land and